Very short journeys - C350e

[tunnie]

Hello,

Since Lockdown(s) - I've been working from home, even post Covid, that is here to last our CEO has stated. I'm considering a C350e to replace 1 of our 2 family cars, as we do so many short runs. I drive only about a mile or 2 up the road to a local Forest (eg at lunch) to walk girls (3 & 6). I drive as they are young it would take ages to walk there.

For school runs, it's less than 3 miles each way. This would represent at least 90%+ of the journeys, there are 5 of us (have 7 month as well), so I would keep one family car for longer-run stuff. (It's a 7 seater)

My concern is with C350, is the regular car battery. Would lots and lots of sub 5 mile journeys kill the 12v battery? (as is the case now with family cars) - My understanding is that 12v one is not charged via the plug-in system, only the drive-train battery is.

Does anyone here use theirs 99% in electric and super short runs?

What is the real world range of say 2017 model estate in 350e form?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Sounds pretty much how ours gets used these days. The 12V battery gets charged from the HV system so don’t worry about that aspect. The 12V battery on ours has never shown anything other than ‘charged’ any time I happen to look at the status. Last put petrol in ours last March (no, not a typo), still got 39% left in the tank, currently on 822 miles from the tank so far and 128.4mpg. Maybe 10 trips beyond battery range in there, the rest have been all or almost all on battery.

In the depths of winter, unless you pre-heat the cabin with it plugged in and drive very gently, you’d probably struggle to get much more than 8 miles on a charge. The missus tends to be a bit more heavy footed than I do and rarely makes the trip to the shops without using the ICE this time of year. I can usually manage it by being more economical and also I will put the car into EV mode if I reckon there’s a decent chance of completing the trip on battery (EV mode lets you have another 10% of the battery before it forces the ICE on and will try it’s best to not use the ICE if at all possible) Shops are an 8 mile round trip.

That said, in your situation, I’d be looking for something pure EV, not a hybrid and definitely not an MB hybrid, although I suppose the painful depreciation these suffer means you’ll get a lot of car for your cash buying used.

Battery and HV electronics have a 6 year, 100000km warranty, the rest is 3 years.

If I was buying now, I’d be looking at an EV for sure.

 

[markjay]

If, like me, you're not Tesla fan, then look at the Polestar 2... it's not as good as the Tesla 3, granted, but it's nearly[/o] as good, and as said it's an alternative for those not wanting to become part of the Tesla crowd.

 

[tunnie]

Thanks for the responses. Reason for Hybrid and not full EV as there is the hope I could still meet up with my mates, do camping trips etc with my eldest. Meaning I would take it on much, much longer runs. Keep using EV for just local lunch runs and school runs, ICE for longer stuff.

I do like Polestar2, but it comes down to monthlies really. I don't really want to pay £450+ a month for something. Looking at some approved used C350e, they are 16-20k or so. So half price of T3 or P2.

Put a little bit of cash down and the monthly payments can be sub £200. This is why they were attractive to me

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Stock faults so far seem to be starter motor, air suspension compressor and wiring and the fuel pipe across the back of the engine. Not seen many issues with the HV battery as yet. One or two maybe I think on here. A known issue on early cars was poor waterproofing on the charge socket/cable that could lead to destruction of the charger unit in the car, but they sorted that in mid-2016 so any car made after that will be fine, and earlier ones should(!) have been sorted.

Worth asking if any of these things have been looked at on any potential purchase. Approved used seems to be somewhat worthless based on more than a few accounts. Basically, don’t assume it’ll be any better than buying it privately or from a generic dealer. Caveat Emptor.

 

[tunnie]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.