A BMW i3 EV Camping Trip? | VW I.D & Tesla Model 3 Order News

Firstly, apologies for the couple of week hiatus, a lot has been happening in the world of Volt-Age. Enough of that, lets talk E.V’s.

UK CAMPING TRIP in a BMW 13 Hire car - how did the Electric vehicle get on?

Camping is a subject that divides the population, but whether your a Motorhome user, Caravanner or old fashioned Tent pitcher, it’s still something millions of the UK population do every year. What would you say then, if I told you that it’s perfectly feasible to take a family of 4 (2 adults 2 kids) camping with all the gear, including tent, cooking equipment etc in a BMW i3?

We thought we’d put it to the test, and did just that over the past bank holiday weekend. Why, you ask? to demonstrate that the little car made in Leipzig is more than capable of being an everyday family car, that can cope when it’s outside it’s urban comfort zone.

The decision was made to take the family on a jaunt to the Brixham Pirate Festival for a couple of days, and what better way of heading from Portsmouth to South Devon than in an BMW i3. Now I’ll admit, the i3 doesn’t have buckets of space in the boot area, however we managed to fit a 4 person Tent and large storage box in the boot alone with the rest of the gear stowed in a universal HandiHoldall Roof Bag, attached to universal HandiRack roof bars. With a distance of around 150 miles each way to cover, the 94 Ah i3 REx didn’t quite have enough range to get us there on a single charge, so we would need to rely on a little bit of that dinosaur juice just to complete our journey. Some pure E.V enthusiasts may baulk at the thought of petrol being used, but I think it’s important to remember that in this instance it made the journey entirely possible. It’s clear the future is pure E.V, and the REx isn’t even an option on the i3 anymore, but it certainly isn’t out of date.

Having arrived at our campsite in Paignton at 10pm, the last thing on my mind was charging the car, the next day however, I was extremely pleased to see the local Lidl store had a Pod Point Rapid Charger, which was free to use. What a win! Charging at the station was a piece of cake, with an 80% charge taking little over half an hour. Plugging into the campsite was another option, which considering the vehicle was sat for long periods of time, seemed like an ideal opportunity to keep the i3 topped up. This system worked a treat. In total the 300 miles covered getting there and back, the journey cost around £25. On a lot of modern diesel cars, that’s £60 and also a tonne of emissions being pumped out.

With the recent death of the REx model, I’d like to pay tribute to it, and think it’s a real shame it couldn’t hang on for a couple more years. It’s the perfect combination of old and new, and while not the future, emitting only 14g CO2 on the odd long journey surely is far better than a would be E.V buyer being put off and going for one of them so called “Self-Charging”” vehicles from Toyota. I doth my cap to the i3 REx, and thank it for being a great car, not only around town, but on longer harder journeys. Range anxiety? Not here.

THE Tesla MODEL 3 IS COMING. NOT EVERYONE’S IMPRESSEd.

This week has seen the arrival of the most highly anticipated vehicle for many years. The Tesla Model 3, was going to be the Tesla for people, with prices starting from around £35,000 for the standard range variant. Unfortunately, not everyone was overjoyed with the news that the cost would be nearer £40,000, with the Hire Purchase costs proving to be far to expensive for most people. Regardless, there’s no doubt the Model 3 will still be a huge hit in the UK and throughout Europe. You’ll be able to try one for yourselves, as both the Long Range and Standard Plus models to joining our fleet in June. The standard plus version comes with WLTP range figures of 258 miles, with the long version adding an extra 90 miles at 348.

For those of you who are keen to get behind the wheel of the existing groundbreaking and popular models from Tesla, you can already drive the future courtesy of Volt-Age. Hire a Tesla for a day, a weekend or week at reasonable rates from us and even though we are based in Portsmouth, you can hire our vehicles throughout the UK.

PRE ORDERS ARe OPEN for VW id.3, as Volkswagen look to embrace the electric vehicle.

You have to hand it to Volkswagen, what a time to come in and steal the hearts of all the disappointed Tesla Model 3 reservation holders, with their own new and exciting E.V.

Volkswagen have rolled up with the opening of the order books for their first serious E.V offering. The ID.3 pre orders have begun with 10,000 of the 30,000 units being snapped up within the first 24 hours. The ID.3 is a Golf sized car, which has a confirmed WLTP range of 261 miles, with costs confirmed to be below £34,000.

The vehicle is the first to be launched using VW’s MEB platform of which over 50 models are planned to use. More details on the ID.3 will be announced later this year at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with VW confirming there will be 3 battery sizes available with the entry level car costing around £25,000. Our pre-order is placed, so naturally you’ll be able to grab your chance at trying one out when the vehicles land in 2020.