Henry Catchpole - Carfection review

[frazzer]

Henry confirms the review is coming...

 

[NickR]

A bit of a hijacked thread this!
1) HC. IMHO he's definitely stalling or changed his mind. He's got a good relationship with Lotus so.... Logical explanations are: he's waiting for the i4 or GT4 to make it into a different piece. He's decided to wait for a full production car with both touring and sports get up to do a comprehensive review. *** EDIT, looks like I might be wrong then !!****
2) EVs. I had an EV since the iPace came out and id honestly say for a daily car they're great. So long as you don't need a charging point. Which currently is either pot luck or a frustrating joke. Buy the longest range you can get. Sports Cars need ICE engines though!

 

[emiraspain]

I've rocked up at quite a few chargers (non-Tesla) and found them to be broken. I've downloaded apps and paid for charging only to find the charger is not working properly with the app. I've charged up at a Shell garage and it just charges me a flat £20 regardless of how long I'm charging. The charging network in the UK is rubbish in my experience. However I do have a 7kwh charger nearby that is free to use, so that makes up for all the failures! I effectively have free motoring which is very welcome at current petrol prices.

Of course this is not everyones experience, as we all know journalists tend to be naysayers

I will be in the UK with my EV for the 1st time in about 10 days so I will see first hand how good/bad it is and will report back. I am 100% sure there is room for improvement and if you are in a hurry, an EV is not for anyone.... and if you want cheap charging, sometimes you pay the price one way or another.... I have it free where I live too, but at 50 kwh so not bad at all either.

I hope to get through france and up from dover to birmingham with no issues... i dont care so much, but the dogs will

 

[emiraspain]

View attachment 7557

Henry confirms the review is coming...

yes didnt he do that 1 month ago too.. haha... weird... they dont take more than a weekend to edit these things, but maybe editor is away..... or over busy....

 

[GetawayDriving]

As for Google, they're hard left so their results are compromised by their ideologue agendas. Everything in the media is nowadays.

In all sincerity, this might be why you’re not seeing any positive news about EVs. There is a LOT of it already out there.

In my post, I SPECIFICALLY requested that those of you with positive experiences, submit those to the media

I’m not sure which media to submit this to. The media on the right prints the negative stuff (if you notice in the article I referenced the driver of that Bolt still loves her car despite the frustration, and the article pats her on the head as a silly progressive who doesn’t know any better), meanwhile the media that prints the positive stuff is written off by those on the right as media with a left agenda.

In my case, I’ve spent a year of my life creating a website and app that helps people understand EVs without all of that noise. In that sense I’ve taken your advice already, but instead of submitting to existing media I’ve more it less created my own.

I then referenced a few articles showing other than positive things, to show what's being pushed out there.

(This was part of my problem with the article I referenced, it wasn’t even really about EVs. It was about how wrong a progressive was. It was literally the lede of the article. But I digress, and take your larger point.)

At the end I said it would be nice to have a balanced perspective, referring to the positive posts some of you have made of your EV experiences. What I was saying is it would be nice if your experiences would be submitted and published to show the other side of the EV experience.

I linked my site already, I’d be curious about your thoughts because ultimately I created it for people who didn’t have EV experiences and didn’t know where to start. There is a LOT of info out there, and as we’ve already pointed out it’s absolutely brimming with bad information and bias. We’re supposed to go from 2.5% of annual sales being EVs today, to a predicted ~30-40% by the end of the decade (including hybrids). That’s a LOT of people who probably don’t care much about cars, who need to make a very pricy choice and are diving into that ocean of info that’s difficult to parse. They were my focus.

 

[VL3X]

I responded back too. He's commented back to me in the past... Hopefully we'll get another update.

 

[MickOpalak]

The car on the right with the stripes is my old Exige! Man I loved that car.

 

[Eagle7]

In all sincerity, this might be why you’re not seeing any positive news about EVs. There is a LOT of it already out there.



I’m not sure which media to submit this to. The media on the right prints the negative stuff (if you notice in the article I referenced the driver of that Bolt still loves her car despite the frustration, and the article pats her on the head as a silly progressive who doesn’t know any better), meanwhile the media that prints the positive stuff is written off by those on the right as media with a left agenda.

In my case, I’ve spent a year of my life creating a website and app that helps people understand EVs without all of that noise. In that sense I’ve taken your advice already, but instead of submitting to existing media I’ve more it less created my own.



(This was part of my problem with the article I referenced, it wasn’t even really about EVs. It was about how wrong a progressive was. It was literally the lede of the article. But I digress, and take your larger point.)



I linked my site already, I’d be curious about your thoughts because ultimately I created it for people who didn’t have EV experiences and didn’t know where to start. There is a LOT of info out there, and as we’ve already pointed out it’s absolutely brimming with bad information and bias. We’re supposed to go from 2.5% of annual sales being EVs today, to a predicted ~30-40% by the end of the decade (including hybrids). That’s a LOT of people who probably don’t care much about cars, who need to make a very pricy choice and are diving into that ocean of info that’s difficult to parse. They were my focus.

I went to your Instagram link. Very nice photos and photography. I don't have an Instagram account so I wasn't able to read the EV link. Is it available anywhere else? Maybe as a pdf?

 

[Cutting42]

I went to your Instagram link. Very nice photos and photography. I don't have an Instagram account so I wasn't able to read the EV link. Is it available anywhere else? Maybe as a pdf?

This is the link to the web page, it is an excellent primer to EV IMO, I wish it was around when I was debating an EV.

Your Electric Vehicle Journey Starts Here | EV.Guide

Find an electric vehicle that fits your life. We'll help you understand your EV needs, and search for vehicles that work for your lifestyle and habits. We cover what you need to know before buying an electric vehicle. EV basics, charging, batteries, range, buying & leasing, and what to expect...

www.ev.guide

 

[eriegz]

View attachment 7558

Thanks! I guess the question needed an account with clout like yours in order to merit a reply.

 

[First Lotus]

In all sincerity, this might be why you’re not seeing any positive news about EVs. There is a LOT of it already out there.



I’m not sure which media to submit this to. The media on the right prints the negative stuff (if you notice in the article I referenced the driver of that Bolt still loves her car despite the frustration, and the article pats her on the head as a silly progressive who doesn’t know any better), meanwhile the media that prints the positive stuff is written off by those on the right as media with a left agenda.

In my case, I’ve spent a year of my life creating a website and app that helps people understand EVs without all of that noise. In that sense I’ve taken your advice already, but instead of submitting to existing media I’ve more it less created my own.



(This was part of my problem with the article I referenced, it wasn’t even really about EVs. It was about how wrong a progressive was. It was literally the lede of the article. But I digress, and take your larger point.)



I linked my site already, I’d be curious about your thoughts because ultimately I created it for people who didn’t have EV experiences and didn’t know where to start. There is a LOT of info out there, and as we’ve already pointed out it’s absolutely brimming with bad information and bias. We’re supposed to go from 2.5% of annual sales being EVs today, to a predicted ~30-40% by the end of the decade (including hybrids). That’s a LOT of people who probably don’t care much about cars, who need to make a very pricy choice and are diving into that ocean of info that’s difficult to parse. They were my focus.

Is there anything on your website which analyses the battery production and disposal once degraded? Its something I am interested in finding out about.
I am (with some but not extensive research) a believer that EV has its place, but should not be being pushed as the panecea as there are pitfalls. One of which seems to be the amount of resources that are required to produce the batteries. But I'd like some focused impartial information on that so I can be a bit better informed

 

[Hedge]

Genuinely don’t see anything he’s going to add to his Evo article in the same car. Essentially supported what Jethro said. I’m sure it’ll be a nice video though

I can’t believe it’s simply editing time that’s causing the delay. Maybe just doesn’t think it will be a money spinner.

Anyway, will pop back in a week or 2 to take a look & see if it’s up.

I must admit, I’m now in the ‘it’s not happening this year’ camp despite being in the first 200. Every day that passes, I’m less interested in the car. More & more interesting cars are coming out regularly, especially in EV form. I’ve an S1 Elise to give me my Lotus kicks.

 

[Scruff111S]

This is a theme from all the reviews and the Harris review is with the earlier pre-prod, so he could change his mind…

Just a thought, does anybody know the spec of the Harris Top Gear car?

 

[Scruff111S]

That is NOT Dark Verdant. It's an Elise color called Empire Green. Which (to be quite confusing for everyone) is a different color from the Empire Green that was sold on the Evora.

Here is the response from Lotus Cars Thailand to my thread trying to identify the exact color of this Elise... they confirm and describe the color in detail and provide additional photos:

Elise Sport 220 in unusual color in Thailand. What color?

www.lotustalk.com

The color disc image inset on the upper right is what Lotus showed at the Emira roadshows as Dark Verdant, and the particular color disc I used here is from the same location on the same day shot with the same camera under the same lighting. The online configurator is also similar. All point to the DV color on Emira being very similar to this particular Empire Green.

BUT... the painted DV cars look nothing like that, they are near-black and not particularly identifiable as green at a distance. It's the cause of a lot of angst and negative customer feedback on this (and other) forums online.

Did anyone notice the Top Gear Harris studio car looked to be Dark Verdant? Look almost black to me.

 

[GetawayDriving]

Is there anything on your website which analyses the battery production and disposal once degraded? Its something I am interested in finding out about.
I am (with some but not extensive research) a believer that EV has its place, but should not be being pushed as the panecea as there are pitfalls. One of which seems to be the amount of resources that are required to produce the batteries. But I'd like some focused impartial information on that so I can be a bit better informed

In the Myths & Misconceptions section, I raise the issue of disposal and call out battery recycling as a problem that needs to be addressed. I don’t go particularly deep on these issues, I only give enough info to raise awareness and spark curiosity for deeper learning elsewhere. I see my audience as a more casual buyer and I want to level with them in a balanced way, but once informed they can decide whether to dig further in other places. (With that said, I have plans to significant expand the scope of this site, this is the first iteration).

Personally I believe the market will solve it. It might take improved chemistries, solid state, or a similar technology to work hand-in-hand with the recycling aspect but being able to reuse materials will improve the economics and ethics of electric vehicle manufacture significantly, so I expect innovation. But absolutely true that consumers need to keep the pressure on here.

One of the reasons I admire the BMW i3 so much is that BMW took a wholistic view of the battery lifecycle, made 90+% of that car recyclable and repurposed the batteries into energy storage programs after a vehicle was taken out of service. The storage solution is one angle and it isn’t perfect - essentially just buying us more time to figure it out - but the effort was commendable and more manufacturers need to be thinking this way. Ideally those materials need to find their way back into new batteries.

 

[GetawayDriving]

I went to your Instagram link. Very nice photos and photography. I don't have an Instagram account so I wasn't able to read the EV link. Is it available anywhere else? Maybe as a pdf?

I saw someone else posted the link, I just wanted to thank you for the kind words.

 

[Leonard]

Just a thought, does anybody know the spec of the Harris Top Gear car?

It was a V6 Touring on Goodyears

 

[PhilCP]

It was a V6 Touring on Goodyears

How was this found out?
I didn’t see any mention of it in his review.

 

[Leonard]

How was this found out?
I didn’t see any mention of it in his review.

I believe its the known spec of that white car. @TomE mentioned/confirmed it a while back also I'm sure

 

[Porter]

It was the same car as driven on the track (Evo) by 'he that should not be named'

Different car. The Evo review at Anglesey was a Shadow Grey car with Sports and GY.