Vauxhall/Opel Ampera

tom1ie

So just reading another thread on this forum and I seen the ampera mentioned. I gather it can do up to 50k in ev mode and then a petrol motor kicks in.
So how efficient is the petrol motor?
Will the ampera still do 50k (I believe it’s a few years old now so batteries might have degraded)
Are they still being made or do vauxhall make a different hybrid?
Can it be drove on a motorway on full ev, or is it only full ev once there’s juice in the battery and below a certain kph?
Is there ccs charging, dc fast charging?
What is the max amps it can be charged at?
How well speced are they?
Thanks all if I missed anything important please add.

slicedpanman

tom1ie wrote: »

So just reading another thread on this forum and I seen the ampera mentioned. I gather it can do up to 50k in ev mode and then a petrol motor kicks in.
So how efficient is the petrol motor?
Will the ampera still do 50k (I believe it’s a few years old now so batteries might have degraded)
Are they still being made or do vauxhall make a different hybrid?
Can it be drove on a motorway on full ev, or is it only full ev once there’s juice in the battery and below a certain kph?
Is there ccs charging, dc fast charging?
What is the max amps it can be charged at?
How well speced are they?
Thanks all if I missed anything important please add.

Mine is a 152... Still doing 50km per charge
They are defo still being made in the US not sure what's happening in Europe after the takeover by PSA
Yeah no problem driving full EV on motorway. It's quiet so found myself heading to 140kph, indicated, without realising
No CCS, no fast charging of any sort... Only 3.7kW charging
Mine is the mid range spec, positiv, and is pretty well species - leather, heated seats, preheating from key fob, auto lights, Bluetooth phone, etc. Things missing - auto wipers, Bluetooth audio, Android auto, wireless charging, remote app.

Not worried about most of the missing features, added wireless charging and Bluetooth streaming myself.

unkel

slicedpanman wrote: »

No CCS, no fast charging of any sort... Only 3.7kW charging

You don't need fast charging in a PHEV. In fact it is better for everyone if you don't!

You don't even need anything faster than a 3.3kW charge point. Hell even just a granny cable would be perfectly fine. Charging all night overnight at home, or all day / night at work or at any destination charger does the job

n97 mini

I'll do a full write up soon, but to answer some questions.

50-65km per charge. 3.7kw charging max, so about 3.5 hours on a home charger. Longer on a granny cable. Type-1 connector (the only connector in the US regardless of car make), same as Leaf.

Petrol engine drives a generator. It can drive the wheels but never does. 40mpg at 130km/h, mid 50s mpg at 110km/h.

Battery is 16.5kwh with 10.5kwh usable. This is an unusually large buffer, so over the lifetime of the car no degradation should be seen (if it does degrade it's hidden). Battery is liquid cooled LG Chem, so one of the best.

NIMAN

Well wear.

Looking forward to your updates.

slicedpanman

unkel wrote: »

slicedpanman wrote: »

No CCS, no fast charging of any sort... Only 3.7kW charging

You don't need fast charging in a PHEV. In fact it is better for everyone if you don't!

Exactly

TomOnBoard

I think they stopped making Right Hand Drive Ampera in 2015-2016. It was basically the Chevrolet Volt back in the day. Opel/GM/Vauxhall not doing RHD PHEVs at the moment.

n97 mini

TomOnBoard wrote: »

I think they stopped making Right Hand Drive Ampera in 2015-2016. It was basically the Chevrolet Volt back in the day.

The same car was sold as the Ampera and as the Volt in the UK. The Volt is virtually identical to the US version, whereas the Ampera has a different front bumper and side skirts and is more in keeping with Vauxhall's styling of the time. But otherwise the cars are identical. As the Volt sold even less than the Ampera, all servicing for the Volt switched to Vauxhall dealers around 2014 or 15.

Round Cable

Almost bought one of these 3 years ago. Really impressed with the test drive.

The pro points include a decent electric range for a plug in hybrid (or extended range EV as GM liked to call it, still though it's a plug in hybrid!). To this day I don't think there is a PHEV with more electric range. Engine is there for longer trips, no need to rely on charging infrastructure. It goes like a rocket in electric mode, also goes like a rocket when hold mode is on and the engine is fired up.

Some of the cons: obviously it is 4 seater only, rear head room isn't great, I'm 5' 8" and my head was pretty close to the glass of the hatch, I wouldn't like to be a six footer in the back! My other concern was around servicing and if it developed issues, as I assumed Opel Ireland wouldn't touch it with a barge poll, as they never sold the model here, meaning it would require a trip up to Northern Ireland.

tom1ie

brilliant stuff, there's great knowledge on this forum!
i checked out electric autos and they have an ampera due in next week for 13950.
we are a family of 4, my office is 6 km away, i can charge at home and in the office, my new job may have me doing inspections up to 250km away.
To me this car sounds like its the best of both worlds for the price.
An ioniq or leaf wouldn't really have the range without doing a dc fast charge, which brings its own problems with the charging network, and a niro isnt released yet and will be crazy money.
i think this could fit the bill.

unkel

I wonder has any owner managed to hack the BMS to give access to more of the battery? If you got 13-14kWh usable (out of 16) it would make a huge difference over having just 10

tom1ie

unkel wrote: »

I wonder has any owner managed to hack the BMS to give access to more of the battery? If you got 13-14kWh usable (out of 16) it would make a huge difference over having just 10

Yeah, what was the reason Opel set the cat up with such a buffer of battery you couldn’t access. I read that when the battery drops to 20% the petrol generator automatically kicks in to drive the electric motors.
Also when this happens does the petrol generator trickle charge the battery whilst driving the wheels via the motors, thus renewing your range or is the only way to charge the battery, to plug it back in?
Is there re generative breaking built in, is there anything similar to the ioniq with its paddles for different levels of regenerative breaking?

slicedpanman

There is regen but no paddles
From watching the gom and the power display, similar to leaf - shows what's currently happening; battery power or regen or generator running, it looks like it runs till practically zero, available, battery left before the generator kicks in

But I've only been driving it for a week, I could be reading these displays incorrectly

n97 mini

tom1ie wrote: »

Is there re generative breaking built in, is there anything similar to the ioniq with its paddles for different levels of regenerative breaking?

There are two driving modes, D and L, which are roughly equivalent to the Leaf's D and B modes. D has minimal regeneration, whereas L is good enough for one pedal driving most of the time.

Round Cable

tom1ie wrote: »

brilliant stuff, there's great knowledge on this forum!
i checked out electric autos and they have an ampera due in next week for 13950.
we are a family of 4, my office is 6 km away, i can charge at home and in the office, my new job may have me doing inspections up to 250km away.
To me this car sounds like its the best of both worlds for the price.
An ioniq or leaf wouldn't really have the range without doing a dc fast charge, which brings its own problems with the charging network, and a niro isnt released yet and will be crazy money.
i think this could fit the bill.

It's cheap and cheerful, it could be an ideal car for your situation.

Round Cable wrote: »

The pro points include a decent electric range for a plug in hybrid (or extended range EV as GM liked to call it, still though it's a plug in hybrid!). To this day I don't think there is a PHEV with more electric range.

Bless me Mad_Lad for I have sinned! Forgot about the BMW i3 REX.

zilog_jones

tom1ie wrote: »

brilliant stuff, there's great knowledge on this forum!
i checked out electric autos and they have an ampera due in next week for 13950.
we are a family of 4, my office is 6 km away, i can charge at home and in the office, my new job may have me doing inspections up to 250km away.
To me this car sounds like its the best of both worlds for the price.
An ioniq or leaf wouldn't really have the range without doing a dc fast charge, which brings its own problems with the charging network, and a niro isnt released yet and will be crazy money.
i think this could fit the bill.

I think the Prius Plug-in (2012-2015) is also worth considering at that price. Range is much smaller (I get about 15-16 km) but it would suit your commute, it also has 5 seats, and Toyota Ireland have no problem servicing them or maintaining the warranty despite not selling them here (they're mechanically mostly the same as the Gen 3 Prius). There's probably more around than the Ampera (though only 6 in Ireland the last time i checked), so might be easier to get. Base spec is quite good - LED headlights (very good too), Bluetooth audio, heated seats, keyless entry, synthetic leather, remote aircon (but no pre-heating), etc.

KELTICKNIGHTT

zilog_jones wrote: »

I think the Prius Plug-in (2012-2015) is also worth considering at that price. Range is much smaller (I get about 15-16 km) but it would suit your commute, it also has 5 seats, and Toyota Ireland have no problem servicing them or maintaining the warranty despite not selling them here (they're mechanically mostly the same as the Gen 3 Prius). There's probably more around than the Ampera (though only 6 in Ireland the last time i checked), so might be easier to get. Base spec is quite good - LED headlights (very good too), Bluetooth audio, heated seats, keyless entry, synthetic leather, remote aircon (but no pre-heating), etc.

I'm debating about buying this ampera but o my concern is electric charging system maintenance as only cn do in belfast. Says on honest John is maintenance free

slicedpanman

I got one about 4-5 months back and live in Limerick. I got it knowing I was never going to travel to Belfast for a service

I've a local garage that will do a general service for me. I know they will not be able to do any of the specialist stuff but I was, and still am so far, happy to take a gamble on it

Still enjoying the car and very glad I got it. If I get 5 years out of it I think it will owe me nothing - and I should have a decent choice of 3 year old 60+kWh cars by then

KELTICKNIGHTT

slicedpanman wrote: »

I got one about 4-5 months back and live in Limerick. I got it knowing I was never going to travel to Belfast for a service

I've a local garage that will do a general service for me. I know they will not be able to do any of the specialist stuff but I was, and still am so far, happy to take a gamble on it

Still enjoying the car and very glad I got it. If I get 5 years out of it I think it will owe me nothing - and I should have a decent choice of 3 year old 60+kWh cars by then

Good plan . Saw a link for garage in wexford who do work on hybrid .think in couple years we speciality garages doing hybrids . I'm surprised opel don't service in Ireland but maybe I shouldn't be

slicedpanman

Btw I was mulling over the exact same choice as yourself; Outlander phev or ampera

The Outlander is a very nice car, great space and I was so tempted. But this current car is a stopgap till decent range EVs appear on second hand market

When I put it to myself that way I simply could not justify the Outlander on the price difference

For me the ampera is still a gamble (that I may regret but hopefully not) but happier to take it with the much lower sale price

KELTICKNIGHTT

slicedpanman wrote: »

Btw I was mulling over the exact same choice as yourself; Outlander phev or ampera

The Outlander is a very nice car, great space and I was so tempted. But this current car is a stopgap till decent range EVs appear on second hand market

When I put it to myself that way I simply could not justify the Outlander on the price difference

For me the ampera is still a gamble (that I may regret but hopefully not) but happier to take it with the much lower sale price

I check it bit more. I see only 1 for sale in Ireland and 2 in northern Ireland. If I want to northern Ireland they ouldnt take trade in so I see . I'm in no rush .

yannakis

I was looking into the Outlander PHEV and Ioniq PHEV when I realised that the 330e goes for around the same monies. Then I remembered about the rather unpopular Ampera which looks waaay more attractive price-wise, and now I'm hooked!

slicedpanman

Got my first "engine maintenance" message this morning. I'd about 420 electric only km on the clock since the generator last kicked in.

Is the short generator burst determined by time since last run? Or km since last run?

Oh, and another thing that's been happening recently :- random radio station changes. Anyone else seen this? Maybe I need my 12V battery checked

n97 mini

slicedpanman wrote: »

Got my first "engine maintenance" message this morning. I'd about 420 electric only km on the clock since the generator last kicked in.

Is the short generator burst determined by time since last run? Or km since last run?

I think it's time as opposed to distance. When did you last run the ICE?

slicedpanman wrote: »

Oh, and another thing that's been happening recently :- random radio station changes. Anyone else seen this? Maybe I need my 12V battery checked

Do you mean the presets have changed? Or the station changed of its own accord? If it's the former, it took me a while to figure out that the presets are unique to each fob. i.e. my wife's fob has her station presets, my fob has mine. A couple of other things are fob unique too, like some of the climate control settings.

Alkers

n97 mini wrote:

Do you mean the presets have changed? Or the station changed of its own accord? If it's the former, it took me a while that the presets are unique to each fob. i.e. my wife's fob has her station presets, my fob has mine. A couple of other things are fob unique too, like some of the climate control settings.

Also, there can be multiple pages of "bookmarked" favourite stations - I never figured out how to cycle between them so just ended up setting it to one page only

slicedpanman

n97 mini wrote: »

slicedpanman wrote: »

Got my first "engine maintenance" message this morning. I'd about 420 electric only km on the clock since the generator last kicked in.

Is the short generator burst determined by time since last run? Or km since last run?

I think it's time as opposed to distance. When did you last run the ICE?

slicedpanman wrote: »

Oh, and another thing that's been happening recently :- random radio station changes. Anyone else seen this? Maybe I need my 12V battery checked

Do you mean the presets have changed? Or the station changed of its own accord? If it's the former, it took me a while to figure out that the presets are unique to each fob. i.e. my wife's fob has her station presets, my fob has mine. A couple of other things are fob unique too, like some of the climate control settings.

In the radio - it's the latter. Changed station on its own while I was driving. Skipped to the next preset. It's done it a few times in the last week... Defo not touching any buttons when it happens.

On the engine maintenance - I'd say it was 4 or 5 weeks since the ice last ran

n97 mini

slicedpanman wrote: »

In the radio - it's the latter. Changed station on its own while I was driving. Skipped to the next preset. It's done it a few times in the last week... Defo not touching any buttons when it happens.

Weird. You're not bumping the button on the steering wheel by accident?

slicedpanman

n97 mini wrote: »

slicedpanman wrote: »

In the radio - it's the latter. Changed station on its own while I was driving. Skipped to the next preset. It's done it a few times in the last week... Defo not touching any buttons when it happens.

Weird. You're not bumping the button on the steering wheel by accident?

Definitely no button bumps or brushes. I think it might be related to newstalk...

It seems to take a few seconds to lock on to the channel. And sometimes seems to give up and moves to the next preset

KCross

slicedpanman wrote: »

Definitely no button bumps or brushes. I think it might be related to newstalk...

It seems to take a few seconds to lock on to the channel. And sometimes seems to give up and moves to the next preset

Any chance its auto retuning based on signal strength?

Most radios have that function and you can turn it on/off. Maybe its just too sensitive and is retuning.

If it going from say Newstalk on 107 to 2fm on 92.2 then that wouldnt be it. But if its just skipping a few Mhz up/down then it might be the auto retune feature and its not clever enough to know that it has gone to a completely different station.

Just a guess. I dont own an Ampera.

gunnerfitzy

slicedpanman wrote: »

Definitely no button bumps or brushes. I think it might be related to newstalk...

It seems to take a few seconds to lock on to the channel. And sometimes seems to give up and moves to the next preset

Was Ivan Yates on by any chance?

Maybe the radio has some taste...

KELTICKNIGHTT

Can ampera be charge with 3 pin house socket or does it need a decated charging point
Cheers

Alkers

3 pin socket but it draws 10 amps so you need to be sure your wiring can cope and it's better to have it on a dedicated circuit

KELTICKNIGHTT

Simona1986 wrote: »

3 pin socket but it draws 10 amps so you need to be sure your wiring can cope and it's better to have it on a dedicated circuit

I have a separate electric supply to workshop in back of house which has 30amp separated supply off main board. Was hoping to use that till I got a charging point installed by electrician after I got car. Would have to future proof if we both have ev in future so Probably looking at 1000 euros with everything.