Post by racingteatray on Aug 29, 2023 18:11:13 GMT
So this year’s holiday rental for 8 days in the island of Astypalaia in the Dodecanese was a VW e-Up!, the world’s only electric car named after a Yorkshire expression. It was white, 2023 vintage and had around 2,800kms on the clock. That might seem a lot on a very small island but actually we managed to rack up 200kms during the week, a goodly chunk of which were dirt roads.
I rather enjoyed it. Compared to your average breathless small rentacar, it absolutely zipped along and did a fair impression of a rat up a drainpipe in the way it shot up hills with four adults on board. The “B” setting on the gearbox with the aggressive recharge deceleration was also perfect for dealing with switchbacks with minimal braking, and you quickly learn to measure it out. It also handled and rode perfectly adequately.
It’s quiet but not silent - there was an audible “wheeeee” when you accelerated uphill.
Fully charged, it gave a range reading of approx 240kms with a/c on, or 290kms with a/c off.
Talking of charging, Astypalaia seemed to have decided to brand itself as a sustainable island and to have partnered up with VW. Quite a few e-Up!s and ID4s, and the most common taxi was an ID5. Also the “Astybus” service used the new electric VW minivans. This meant charging points were readily available in just about everywhere that could conceivably be called a place (ie more than a handful of houses and named on the map) and our rental car come with a charge card included in the price, so that we had free charging all week. This was very handy, because when parking places were at a premium, there was always a free charging bay available in all the most convenient places, so we just used those, hooked it up and had zero parking issues.
Was it the ideal car for our trip? No, but only because of the road network. I’d have rather had a Panda 4x4 or Suzuki Ignis Allgrip, as there is basically one asphalted road from one end of the island to the other, and everything else is a rocky and very dusty dirt track. The VW did cope remarkably manfully with the dirt tracks and perhaps would have been better with some grippier/mud&snow tyres, but on some of the steeper bits up from the best beaches (which my wife likened to the Camel Trophy), it was touch and go as to whether there was enough grip to get us back up with four on board. But thankfully with much bouncing and a bit of a hot smell on the worst part one day, the car overcame everything we threw at it.
Interior-wise, it was surprisingly spacious, easily swallowing four adults and our beach paraphernalia.
Being an e-Up!, it wasn’t as basic as some rental Ups either - it had niceties such as a leather steering wheel, alloys, climate control and an intelligently designed holder for using a mobile as sat nav. The carbon dash trim was a bit questionable - looked cheap and a bit greasy.
So yes I was rather converted to the joys of electric driving, at least in the context of a small island - I didn’t actually miss having a petrol car although my incorrigible Alfista friend who was with us felt otherwise (then again he hates modernity in general in my opinion). I am absolutely sure we’d love an electric car as a city car. It is just the prices that are off-putting.
I rather enjoyed it. Compared to your average breathless small rentacar, it absolutely zipped along and did a fair impression of a rat up a drainpipe in the way it shot up hills with four adults on board. The “B” setting on the gearbox with the aggressive recharge deceleration was also perfect for dealing with switchbacks with minimal braking, and you quickly learn to measure it out. It also handled and rode perfectly adequately.
It’s quiet but not silent - there was an audible “wheeeee” when you accelerated uphill.
Fully charged, it gave a range reading of approx 240kms with a/c on, or 290kms with a/c off.
Talking of charging, Astypalaia seemed to have decided to brand itself as a sustainable island and to have partnered up with VW. Quite a few e-Up!s and ID4s, and the most common taxi was an ID5. Also the “Astybus” service used the new electric VW minivans. This meant charging points were readily available in just about everywhere that could conceivably be called a place (ie more than a handful of houses and named on the map) and our rental car come with a charge card included in the price, so that we had free charging all week. This was very handy, because when parking places were at a premium, there was always a free charging bay available in all the most convenient places, so we just used those, hooked it up and had zero parking issues.
Was it the ideal car for our trip? No, but only because of the road network. I’d have rather had a Panda 4x4 or Suzuki Ignis Allgrip, as there is basically one asphalted road from one end of the island to the other, and everything else is a rocky and very dusty dirt track. The VW did cope remarkably manfully with the dirt tracks and perhaps would have been better with some grippier/mud&snow tyres, but on some of the steeper bits up from the best beaches (which my wife likened to the Camel Trophy), it was touch and go as to whether there was enough grip to get us back up with four on board. But thankfully with much bouncing and a bit of a hot smell on the worst part one day, the car overcame everything we threw at it.
Interior-wise, it was surprisingly spacious, easily swallowing four adults and our beach paraphernalia.
Being an e-Up!, it wasn’t as basic as some rental Ups either - it had niceties such as a leather steering wheel, alloys, climate control and an intelligently designed holder for using a mobile as sat nav. The carbon dash trim was a bit questionable - looked cheap and a bit greasy.
So yes I was rather converted to the joys of electric driving, at least in the context of a small island - I didn’t actually miss having a petrol car although my incorrigible Alfista friend who was with us felt otherwise (then again he hates modernity in general in my opinion). I am absolutely sure we’d love an electric car as a city car. It is just the prices that are off-putting.
