Back to the Future… gave stardom to the DeLorean DMC-12. And let’s be honest that was the last we heard of it.
Until now….
Because, DeLorean are back, with an electric car!
DeLorean just revealed its new all-electric Alpha5 concept car featuring the iconic gull-wing doors
The DeLorean Motor Company revealed an all-new concept EV that harkens back to the iconic DMC-12.
Dubbed the Alpha5, the new model seats four and features gull-wing doors.
DeLorean says the Alpha5 will make its debut at Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week in August.
Like the original, the Alpha5 features a sleek silhouette and gull-wing doors. In place of the 2.8-liter V6 engine, a 100 kilowatt-hour battery is expected to deliver a top speed of 155 mph and a range of 300 miles.
To paraphrase the time-traveling Doc Brown, “Gas? Where we’re going, we don’t need gas.”
The new model also makes room for two rear seats, doubling the capacity.
While the cars share some branding and design elements, the new DeLorean Motor Company is not the same as the one founded by John DeLorean back in the 1970’s. After just a few years of production, the original DeLorean went bankrupt, and the branding was eventually sold to a service and parts company now known as Classic DMC.
Classic DMC has an ownership stake in the new DeLorean, but is otherwise uninvolved in the operation of the company. Also, the Alpha5 was designed by the team at Italdesign, which was co-founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who shaped the DMC-12.
So there you go… want an electric car? want something that’s got a bit of heritage?… then this could be for you. I do believe though.. the flux capacitor is not part of the accessories offered. Currently.
So I thought I’d share with you. I’ve gone Electric. That’s right. If you read my blog posts – you’ll know I have a Tesla Model 3. (Oh… if you are thinking about getting a Tesla, reach out to me first! – I can share my referral link – and using that, you can get 1,000 supercharge miles free!)
So, back to the car. Why did I go for a Tesla?
Well, firstly – the key thing was charging. Tesla are miles ahead with their Supercharger network. Having used them a few times, they are so easy to enable (just input your credit card on your Tesla acct), easy to use… when you pull up to one, you just plug it in! And easy to navigate to! (You’ll find out more what I mean about this down below)
At a supercharger in West London – from 17% to 70% took 17mins! (That’s like adding about 220 miles approx!)
The biggest fear – when moving to an electric car, is something called ‘range anxiety’. Yes, this is a real thing. People fear – that they’ll run out of battery or won’t have enough – what are they going to do!!!??!!
Well, another great thing about the Tesla is – you put in where you are going into the Sat Nav – and it’ll determine;
a) Your route, the battery percentage that will be used and other handy information
b) If you don’t have enough battery, it’ll suggest you’ll need to charge!
c) It will tell you where to charge!
An example of this – I was travelling from London, up north – and it told us, I’ll need to stop at the Supercharger at Northampton (just a minute of the M1) and charge up for 15mins! That would be sufficient enough for me to get to my destination!
Then there’s home charging – when you get an Electric Vehicle – I’d recommend you get a home charger. It usually works out cheaper and better if you can charge at home. Appreciate if you don’t have a driveway and it’s on-street parking only, you’ll have to look at options!
If you’re moving from an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle, suggest you look at hybrids first. My previous car was a hybrid. And that helped me understand more about driving on electric/battery only. Obviously, it was nice to have the engine to kick in and support when required.
If you’re going to jump straight to an electric car – always do the maths. By that, size of battery (miles it can do), miles you do… and the rest of the analysis you would normally do when looking for a new car.
Interior is very important. Let’s be honest, it’s what you’ll be seeing most of the time! And Tesla, as you may know… just have one giant iPad type of screen!
Inside of my Tesla Model 3 – with the big iPad type of screen to control everything.
Now, the photo above – is mine (minus all the information!). I thought it would be difficult to get used to this. Let’s be honest – always had something in front of me telling me speed, revs, time, fluid levels, etc… and now… I have an iPad!
In all fairness, it’s not that hard to use. And for the past six months of driving. I’ve got used to it! And it isn’t that bad. Everything is conveniently located to make it easy as possible. For example, the speedometer is top right of the screen – so closest to you.
A lot of new cars – like the Polestar and others, have big screens. Everything is moving that way. Though I did hear this morning that Audi will be sticking with sticks and knobs.
So, in summary… If you are thinking about going Electric, here’s some steps you should think about…
Have a think about going hybrid first before fully electric (may help reducing that range anxiety!!) and you’ll increase your knowledge about vehicles that are powered by a battery.
What type of electric car will suit your needs. There’s more and more coming to the market – with a variety of battery ranges, etc… so check what works best for your lifestyle.
How technologically savvy you are. Tesla 3 have one big iPad (the model S and X come with a display in front of you), Audi are sticking to knobs and cars such as Polestar have a mix.
All manufacturers now have an electric car in their model line up. VW have the ID models, Ford have the Mustang E, BMW have some great hybrids (such as the 330e) and electric such as i3, i4, etc… and Mercedes have the EQ models. So go to their show rooms and have a look at the cars.
I hope the above helps. In my next blog posts, titled EV:…. I’ll share more about servicing, driving, everyday use and more!
Ok, you may have missed this but new laws are coming in soon (2030) which will ban the sales of petrol and diesel vehicles only. Hybrid vehicles will be available to purchase till 2035.
It’s already started – many people are buying electric cars – but most are opting for an hybrid option first. And I agree.
Now you can get self-charging hybrid or a plug-in hybrid.
Either way – I think hybrid is a natural way forward from a petrol or diesel only car. It’ll help you a) understand more about the electric motor, b) how, where and when to use your battery power and finally c) will help bridge that gap from petrol to electric.
I used to have a hybrid car. It did about 30miles on electric. Which was ok for town driving. And then on the motorway – the petrol engine would kick in. This was good for me – regular trips of 140miles + single way, were not a problem. Petrol Stations readily available, easy and all I had to do was pop in, fill up – 5 to 10minutes later – I was back on my way.
I’ve moved from Hybrid to fully Electric.
Now whilst there are more and more fully electric car options – I personally opted for a Tesla.
And if you’re thinking of ordering a Tesla, before you do – use my referral code/link – and you’ll get 1,000 free supercharger miles! – it’s bal71307 (and the link – http://ts.la/bal71307
Whilst the choice is getting bigger and bigger by the day – there’s some great small electric cars that are now available… such as the VW ID range…
BMW are releasing a number of fully electric cars – and you may have noticed, a number of Nissan (the original Leaf has been upgraded many times – and is a very good car), Toyota, Mini and many others – have great electric cars on offer.
But before you buy an electric car, you may be concerned and questions I got whilst I was talking on BBC Radio on Sunday night was… what happens if my battery runs out?
Well, ‘range anxiety’ was one of my fears also.
Honestly. It all comes down to one thing. You just have to plan your journey a little better. Because – there are not as many electric car chargers currently as you’d like compared to petrol stations.
Saying this, I’ve done a few long trips. and was concerned about not having enough battery. However – the sat nav in the car helps. I put in my destination and the car asked if it was a round trip or anywhere I was going – and then magically (well, it seemed to be magical) worked out, how much battery would be used, and that I would not have enough for a return journey! – now, the reason I got a Tesla was because of their Supercharger network…. and what happened was, the Sat Nav told me – where and when and for how long I’d need to charge in order to complete my trip!
Again – a number of factors were taking into account, like how fast I’d be driving, conditions, etc…
Over the past year – there’s more and more chargers being installed in a variety of locations. There’s various apps you can download and see where your nearest charging station is, the cost to charge (you’re paying per kwh) and on some apps, even tells you if the charging point is busy or available!
Back to why I went for a Tesla – 1) their supercharger network is fantastic. I’ve used it a few times, just pull up – plug in and wait a short while. No need to tap anything, anywhere – the charger recognizes the car, payment details are already registered – the process is so easy and simple. Love it.
2) Tesla seem to be more advanced than some of the other manufacturers – they’ve been doing it for a while and are learning and pushing out updates regularly. And finally, 3) they can’t be doing that bad of a job- they had record sales in the last quarter and in the UK – was one of the best sold Electric Vehicles! I’ve driven others – and yes, others may have a better ride quality, or something else that is better – but overall, the Tesla experience has been great.
So there you go- start thinking about your next car being a fully electric – and start to think about home charging units (the grant for these will expire soon – so suggest you look at getting one installed sooner rather than later) and don’t worry about running out of battery – your car will warn you well in advance and there’s more and more charging stations popping up. Everywhere. Even Tesco. Because every little helps.
Remember I wrote (a while back) that Dyson (yep…. the ones who make the vacuum cleaners) are making an electric car… well, they’ve decided to park it… but before totally leaving it, they’ve shared some information and images.
Dyson revealed that his electric vehicle, codenamed “N526,” would have been a seven-seater with a whopping 600-mile range per charge.
This was largely thanks to the company’s proprietary solid-state batteries, which could apparently sustain such performance “even on a freezing February night, on the naughty side of 70MPH on the motorway, with the heater on and the radio at full blast.”
The car could go from zero to 62MPH in 4.8 seconds (about half a second more than the long-range Model X), with its top speed apparently reaching 125MPH (30MPH shy of the Model X’s). This is all coming from the twin 200kW electric motors rated with 536BHP.
Dyson told The Times that this project ended up costing £500 million of his own money before he put a stop to it. Unlike other traditional car brands, Dyson doesn’t have a fleet of profitable gasoline cars and diesel cars to offset the “huge losses” on every electric vehicle made — each Dyson electric car would have needed to make £150,000 to break even, according to the entrepreneur.
So it’s all parked for the moment – but the ideas keep coming and Dyson has said his team are working on a number of other projects and open for collaboration. Have you got an idea?….
In a recent survey, 71 percent of those surveyed said that they didn’t feel they received enough information about in-car tech when they took delivery, while a quarter said that they didn’t get enough information at all.
Admittedly – over the past few years, there’s been alot of tech… and I mean alot… appearing in our cars!
From Self-driving features… to the Sat Nav letting you know a route that is either the quickest, most fuel efficient or cheapest (avoiding tolls).
In addition, the survey said – one fifth of drivers (20 percent) of drivers said they use less than half of the features in their cars, while a further 10% said they understood only some of the features and just drive their cars.
So what should you do?
Well, firstly… when you take delivery of your car (new) or purchase it (second-hand)… ask!
Ask about the main features, what the car has and what it can do. YouTube is always a good source of information about your car and it’s technology.
Go to the Dealer! – that’s another option. They now have experts who help individuals to understand their cars… this could include downloading an app (that controls features on your car), or other certain features your car may have.
Whilst the features grow… the screens get bigger…
… keeping up can be a task! So refer to the handbook, ask the dealership or phone a friend.
Don’t be afraid of the technology – it’s their to help and support you, to provide you with a better driving experience. And let’s be honest… it’s only going to get more technologically advanced when the cars can fully drive themselves!
A few weeks ago, I wrote about self driving cars – and how GM have invested heavily into them (in the US) and how they reminded me of the pods they have at Terminal 5 Heathrow parking.
I honestly do think – self driving cars will be the norm and will be coming very soon. What does that mean for you and me….?
Well… for the congested towns and city centres – it’ll be great. I don’t think they’ll be everywhere, because those who live in villages and outside the main cities… they’ll need their cars to get them places. But even then… most of those cars, will be able to self drive… through their connectivity (which I spoke about on Monday) and through the number of sensors they’ll have!
Waymo is a self driving car that’s currently being tested…
Do we need self driving cars, Bal?
Technically, no. But like everything – there’s so many positives to having this technology.
Safety. All the self driving cars that have been tested to date have been safer and less likely to be involved in an incident compared to a human behind the wheel. This is because, of the number of sensors that are able to pick up things and predict what could happen. Rather than having 2 eyes on the road… you have many many more!
Cost. This does depend on the amount you use a car – but honestly, if it’s able to take you somewhere you want to go without you being behind the wheel (and they’re self driving), it’ll find the most economical way to get you there – that’s both, using the maps/sat nav but also speed/efficiency driving behaviours!
Tesla have the self driving feature.
Many other manufacturers have various forms of technology to aid the driver… but remember, no matter what feature you have, until we have the true self driving car – please do not attempt to read a book at the wheel…
Last week it was super cold! – but it’s ok… my car was nice and warm when I got to it…
How’s that, Bal?
Well… my car is connected. And through this connection, and via the app – I could select an option that heats the car! How. Awesome. Is. That?
More and more cars are becoming connected. Allowing options like heating, etc… a norm. I remember a few years ago, when I was in Atlanta, with my friend Wes… we jumped into his car (it is a mahoosive one!) and he pressed a button, went to a call centre… Wes then said he wanted to go somewhere… and the information (directions) were sent to his sat nav in the car and off we went!
Cars are clever. And becoming even more clever. There’s so much data that your car produces – and there’s so much your car learns about you… which will then give you the experience you’ll love!
Whilst cars become more clever… they’ll also be talking. Talking to dealerships. Talking to the manufacturers. Talking to those who sign up to get their hands on the data!… (insurance companies?)
We are living in a connected world. Look around you, everything is connected and there’s vast amounts of data being sent back and forth. Don’t forget, Data is the new Oil!…. and whilst I said this on stage at an event in Toronto last July…. it was non other than Sir Tim Berners Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) who approached me afterwards and said… whilst data is the new oil, just remember… oil can’t be re-used, whilst data can.
This did get me thinking… wow! This means data is even more valuable than oil!
Back to connected cars – so this data, that your car is collecting about you, your driving, your destinations, your habits… will be stored by someone (manufacture maybe) and then sold to various companies…. now, the optimistic in me will say… being sold so my experience can be much better… the pessimistic will say… being sold so companies can make more money.
Either way… this is stage 1 of connected car. The next stage will be the self driving cars… with more data being transmitted…. through the connected car.
Ok…. who remembers the big bad boy motor, also known as the Hummer?
What a classic! That’s right – these beasts were massive!!! I don’t remember seeing too many on the British streets, well… let’s be honest… the streets are too small for a massive vehicle like this! But in the US and everywhere else (where they have larger streets) you could see them…
Now… as you can guess, they were heavy on the fuel… big and that’s about it! (You know you still wanted one!)
Times are changing… in my last blog post, I spoke about if you should get an electric car.
Couple of questions I got were – ‘….but Bal, I like the traditional big cars, with the big V8’s…’, and also, questions like… ‘Bal, I’d got for a hybrid or full electric if it didn’t look like a Prius!’.
I hear ya. I do… and so do General Motors (GM) – the makers of the Hummer…. and even they are embracing the electric car revolution!
That’s right – there’s going to be an ELECTRIC HUMMER!!!
Over on their website… they shared some impressive stats…
1,000 HORSEPOWER!!!
0-60 in 3 SECONDS!!!!
Oh MY!!!!!!
Personally, I can’t wait. And here’s your answer to a Prius!
So… still thinking if you should go electric? Definitely start thinking about it.
GM pulled out a commercial about the new Hummer…
But personally… still don’t think it’ll get down our British streets!
During the month of February, I’ll be talking about the subject of Cars… to be a little more specific – technology and cars. Because let’s be honest, technology has rapidly advanced in cars over the recent years.
That’s right – the shift from the traditional diesel and petrol cars (which is on the decline) to hybrid and fully electric vehicles (which are on the increase!). So the question is… should I buy an electric car?
Well… it was my brother who asked me questions about my hybrid a few weeks ago. He needed to replace his car… and naturally, I did suggest a hybrid.
Now… it does depend on a number of factors – such as what kind of driving do you do, distance, motorway/town driving, where you live (charging points), etc…
Someone who is up and down the motorway, may still be better off with a diesel (dare I say it!). You have to take into account the mpg (miles per gallon). Diesel still provide good value in the miles you can get from the gallon on long distance journeys. This was backed by Gottfried… a colleague who informed me that he’s getting a new 320d (BMW)… because, from where he lives (in Berlin), he drives a very long distance to his second/holiday home and if he had electric or hybrid, he’d need to charge it on the way – and not sure of charging points. A diesel gives you not only good economy but also a very good range (I remember my old diesel giving 600+miles on a tank!)
So back to the question – should you buy an electric car? – In my opinion, it’s a great time to be alive!
We are at a pivot. There’s more and more charging points being installed. There’s more and more cars that need charging being sold. There’s more and more garages and technicians being trained to service electric/hybrid cars.
Personally – I’d thoroughly recommend a hybrid. Part electric. Part combustion engine.
Why?
It’s a ‘safe’ transition to the world of electric driving! – you’ll have a battery but also an engine. It’s like riding a bike with the stabilizers. If you think you’re going to fall (or run out of battery power) it’s ok… the side wheels stop you and keep your balance (similar, the engine will kick in – and save you…. assuming you’d put some petrol in!)
New laws coming in soon (2035) which put a ban on only petrol or diesel engines being produced. Yes, i know it’s only a few years away… but time flies… and isn’t it a great time to start thinking about going electric.
You’ll be surprised – it’s cheaper to charge an electric car, they’re much kinder to the environment and most importantly, it’s your first step… maybe… to a fully electric car.
Most people won’t go for a full electric car because of the mile range (most do around 250 miles – yes, some can do a little more…). This will change over the coming years, as manufacturers are working on longer range batteries.
Again – does depend on your driving needs. If you just drive around town/local driving… then I’d say yes… buy an electric car!
And to charge your car… there’s apps available on your phone to let you know where charging points are!
Electric vehicle changing on street parking with graphical user interface, Future EV car concept
And if plugging in your car may seem a chore… wait for wireless charging pods… where you drive your car into a space with a wireless charger built into the ground!
