BEVs

[UpWrong]

Top selling electric cars global report. Shows move away from hybrids towards pure electric, https://cleantechnica.com/2026/05/02/to ... arch-2026/

[geocycle]

Citroen planning sub £15K "2-CV" electric car, https://share.google/VwgcnRXSGwyNHpJTE

An interesting article, thank you. More affordable BEV’s are becoming available, the Citroen e-C3 looks interesting and the closely related Fiat Grande Panda appears to be being well received. The Dacia Spring is an interesting option too. What many of us want is a 2CV / Renault 4 type car that’s cheap to buy and run, we neither need or want high performance or luxury features.

As commented on in the article, I’d agree that there are a lot of people out there who would buy a new car but can’t because nothing much small and affordable is available to them. Manufacturers have neglected that part of the market whilst they concentrate on wealthier buyers / higher profit margins.

One might wonder whether BEV sales and models are maturing, and whether people are also putting off a purchase because the market is changing so rapidly.

I have a Renault 4 EV, its a great option and you can get a Thorn tourer in it without removing a wheel. New price is between £25-£29k depending on spec. Range was about 200 miles in Feb and is now about 250 miles. So far so good in terms of driving experience.

[Carlton green]

I have a Renault 4 EV, its a great option and you can get a Thorn tourer in it without removing a wheel. New price is between £25-£29k depending on spec. Range was about 200 miles in Feb and is now about 250 miles. So far so good in terms of driving experience.

I remember the original Renault 4 and the new one is somewhat larger and altogether a rather different beast, nice marketing though …

The Dacia Spring, though of limited range and much more complex drive, is more in-line with those old post war basic mobility cars. I suspect that even in the next five years drive and battery technology will, again, dramatically change making many modern cars appear technically dated and less desirable.

As an old guy the latest version of the Spring still appeals; it’s limited range will be enough for nearly everything I do; longer journeys could either be done slowly or by public transport, and the relatively low purchase price is almost within the depreciation of larger vehicles (buy it with what you save ).

[PDQ Mobile]

As someone who has never spent more than £1500 on a car ( last one was £800 and I have had it 19 years and counting) and where the ability to pull a trailer of up to a ton is important, what possible BEV vehicles would even vaguely fit the bill?

A tall order I know, but a genuine question.
And not FUD!

[Jules59]

what's a FUD ?

That's why we keep holding onto our 14 year old Freelander - for its towing ability. Its cheap to run , is not depreciating like a new car would and in the main its very repairable by myself.
We use the BEV for 95% of journeys though; its biggest cost is depreciation, by far.

[Jdsk]

FUD is the use of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt to create negative feelings about a subject. It's a nasty little habit, and has unfortunately been far too common in this thread.

Our chief defensive weapon is plain language, plain language and supporting evidence when requested, our two weapons are supporting evidence when requested and plain language, and calling it out, our three weapons are calling it out...

And PDQ Mobile's question shows not a hint of it.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

As someone who has never spent more than £1500 on a car ( last one was £800 and I have had it 19 years and counting) and where the ability to pull a trailer of up to a ton is important, what possible BEV vehicles would even vaguely fit the bill?

A tall order I know, but a genuine question.
And not FUD!

I wouldn't waste any time trying to find a road-legal car-like object that meets that specification.

Even at 20x that price towing with a BEV is still a problem, but options are appearing. (Of course carrying bikes and other HPVS in or on BEVs is easily solved.)

Jonathan

[al_yrpal]

Not just FUD for me. The new price of all vehicles seems to be bonkers. If it wasnt for company 'purchases' and heavily financed deals favoured by most new or nearly new buyers, the new car market would hardly exist.

You can easily purchase great relativly inexpensive second hand vehicles that are ultra reliable and which are devoid of most of the unnecessary annoying electronic frippery that seems to be the worst unreliability factor in modern vehicles.

Hopefully we will eventually get a government with sensible practical policies and a sense of freedom that lets BEVs stand on their own merits rather than forcing them on all and sundry.

Al

[RickH]

As someone who has never spent more than £1500 on a car ( last one was £800 and I have had it 19 years and counting) and where the ability to pull a trailer of up to a ton is important, what possible BEV vehicles would even vaguely fit the bill?

A tall order I know, but a genuine question.
And not FUD!

I still tend to balk at cars costing over £25,000 as we paid less than that for our house. But that was back in the early 80s & the current value would have an extra 0 on the end.

£1500 25 years ago is the equivalent of almost £4000 now. You can get a few EVs for less than that, mostly early Nissan Leafs.

Tesla are probably the longest running EV brand that lets you tow. I think they are all rated for at least a tonne. An older model X, S or 3 can be had for 8 to 10 grand (plus a few hundred for a towing kit). Pre 2017 they often (always?) came with free supercharging for life, which stays with the car. That's probably the nearest to your spec.

[PDQ Mobile]

As someone who has never spent more than £1500 on a car ( last one was £800 and I have had it 19 years and counting) and where the ability to pull a trailer of up to a ton is important, what possible BEV vehicles would even vaguely fit the bill?

A tall order I know, but a genuine question.
And not FUD!

I still tend to balk at cars costing over £25,000 as we paid less than that for our house. But that was back in the early 80s & the current value would have an extra 0 on the end.

£1500 25 years ago is the equivalent of almost £4000 now. You can get a few EVs for less than that, mostly early Nissan Leafs.

Tesla are probably the longest running EV brand that lets you tow. I think they are all rated for at least a tonne. An older model X, S or 3 can be had for 8 to 10 grand (plus a few hundred for a towing kit). Pre 2017 they often (always?) came with free supercharging for life, which stays with the car. That's probably the nearest to your spec.

Yes all true.

Though whether a second hand Leaf of that age would provide the outstanding reliability of my old Astra is uncertain.
And yes it will pull a ton and has done so once a year for all those years to the far flung Continent.

Tesla, not for me I'm afraid.
Very poor reliability feedback by some owners here.
To big, too heavy, too teccy.
And then there's the firm's owner.

[Carlton green]

Though whether a second hand Leaf of that age would provide the outstanding reliability of my old Astra is uncertain.
And yes it will pull a ton and has done so once a year for all those years to the far flung Continent.

Tesla, not for me I'm afraid.
Very poor reliability feedback by some owners here.
To big, too heavy, too teccy.
And then there's the firm's owner.

The BEV market is say a decade old now and it’s both changed a lot and is still changing a lot - we’ve only seen the beginning of things, battery and propulsion systems are going to change an awful lot more. My suspicion is that charging will change too, in that people will want and pay a - likely smaller than presently - premium for rapid charging. With that rapid change in mind I think that any model bought today will be very much outdated in even a few years time, that said what is bought today will likely still function for a decade and satisfy the needs it was bought for - but don’t spend too much ‘cause the depreciation on (perceived as) outdated models will be brutal.

Gen 1 Leafs seem to be continuing in use but possibly on borrowed time; like many of the earlier BEV’s once a Leaf’s battery fails they’re pretty much beyond economic to repair. Until say five years back the models (of BEV’s) available were somewhat limited on range, massively expensive and rarely capable of towing, relatively speaking few were sold. It’ll be a long time before there are second hand BEV’s that are both at the price point you infer and capable of towing, we might not live to see it and particularly so if an old Tesla isn’t acceptable.

As general comment, whether we like it or not, BEV’s are going to become the norm so we’d best identify and play to their strengths. imho the ICE Astra’s were good cars (I liked mine) and (for your purposes) it might be as well to be considering getting a newer one whilst you still can. When I eventually replace my car it’ll probably be with a small BEV, one should suit my limited needs well enough and there’ll come a time when Petrol both stops being widely available and becomes even more expensive. What BEV will I seek and what will I end up with? I’ve had a few models in mind to seek out, but when the change happens it’ll be a pragmatic case of what’s both available and sensible enough. Things are changing but imho there’s a relatively limited supply of small second hand BEV’s, and what is available seems compromised to me.