Full disclosure…I’m writing this about a month after taking delivery of the car. I had thought to start writing earlier, but also thought no one would be interested. Over the past week I have had so many similar conversations about the car (some with total strangers), that I thought I’d just have somewhere to record my thoughts and anecdotes to see where it leads. The idea is to make this as generic about EVs as possible, but I guess some things may only be relevant to Peugeot E-2008 – we’ll see how that goes.
So first impressions were…well, it’s exciting. I have owned many many cars and motorcycles in the past, but only ever 2 brand new cars and 1 brand new motorcycle. The excitement of your choice of vehicle arriving nice and fresh will always feel that way. There was, however, something different about this. I have driven for over 30 years and had so many millions of driving miles behind me (my work used to be UK-wide), experienced so many different cars, and expected to spend a little time familiarising myself with controls etc. But this…this, for all of its familiarity, was so very different.
The car itself (Peugeot E-2008) looked like a car; had 4 wheels, 5 doors, windscreen, steering wheel etc etc. There were a few more screens than necessary and some new toys such as wireless charging for phones and colour LEDs inside that you could change, but nothing so obvious that screamed out EV. The manufacturer had either gone out of their way to make the transition as familiar as possible, or they hadn’t put any effort into making this the entirely different driving experience it had the potential to be – still not sure which.
So what was different? Well first off, despite appearing to have a fuel filler cover, it just hid a charging socket and in the boot was a cable. This new experience will absolutely be one of my next updates – that first weekend of working out the benefits and pitfalls needs to be passed on to others.
The next next difference was simply when starting the car. I’m really not sure what I was expecting. I pressed the “Engine Stop/Start” button, but nothing happened. No engine noise, no shaking of the car, no…well, just nothing. The electronic dash changed a little, but it was quite an underwhelming experience. Then it was time to move.
After a few seconds of checking and double-checking that the car was indeed started, I used the ‘Gear’ selector to put it into ‘Drive’ and just like a good Automatic car, it started to try to pull gently against the handbrake. Releasing the brake (another button), had the car moving and off we went. There is no other more accurate word here than…smooth. The gentle whirring of an electric motor, a gradual increase of wind and tyre noise, and nothing else. This was certainly peaceful motoring.
How smooth? I hadn’t really thought of the drive train beyond it being an electric motor, but actually there was another fundamental difference. This wasn’t an ‘automatic’ car. There was just no need for any gearbox. The car got quicker and quicker, the windnoise seemed to go faster, the whistle from the motor got a little higher, but at no point was there even the slightest hesitation that comes from even the smoothest auto changing gears. A month on, and this is still the thing that brings a smile to my face as I expect to feel that gear change which never occurs.
On a related note, the other significant difference is the instant nature of the power delivery. In an ICE (internal combustion engine) car, you deliver the revs and then release the power with the clutch – even with the fanciest of auto boxes, this is how it work and there is that hesitation/delay as the power is delivered to the wheels. Not with an EV. The power delivery is instantaneous. It something that definitely brings a smile at every set of traffic lights when the noisy boy-racer pulls up alongside and you car hear them rev’ing their engine in anticipation of the ‘grid lights’ starting their next mini-F1 experience.
So, first impressions of an EV? Well, they seems to have made it as familiar as possible, but there are still enough surprises to make it noticeably different and exciting. I’m looking forward to this.
My EV and Me 