Serial hybrid?

MichaelR

Hello,

Is any serial hybrid model available in Ireland? I really like the idea but somehow they are not popular.

Also: why are they not popular? One drive train sounds more reliable than two, and the room can be used for a bigger battery.

Sabre Man

BMW i3 Rex

unkel

Chevrolet Volt / Vauxhall Ampera / Opel Ampera (all the same car)

Never sold here new, but a good few UK imports around. Clever purchase imho. You can buy them cheap enough (saw one a few months ago for GBP8k), it has a very decent EV range from it's 16kWh battery, of which just 10kWh is available (all from memory) which means you will never suffer any decrease in range because of battery degradation. Not even in 15 years.

Not registered here for either cheaper tolls or €600 subsidy for home charger though iirc

MichaelR

Aha, very interesting. But who can service them here? Opel dealers? I'm in Limerick, so going North for a service is not a welcome prospect.

Also, does the VRT rebate for plug-in hybrids apply? If so, a self-import becomes a possibility?

VRT for this car should be 14% of an "open market selling price". Amperas are available in the UK in years 2014-15 with decent (around 50k) mileage for around 12500 GBP, which is slightly over 14k Euro. If the OMSP is the same, the raw VRT is around 2000 Euro, but there is a rebate of 1500 for a PHEV that is 4 to 5 years old. 500 Euro is not a huge tax to pay.

Sounds fun, I'll ask the Opel dealer (also known as the Chevrolet dealer) if they would service a car like that and if they would be able to get parts if something were to go wrong.

But then there's the question of who can check the quality of a used car if I'm buying it in the UK... I would not want to be stuck with a lemon.

unkel

Yes afaik the VRT rebate applies. If I were in the market for one, I would probably buy an older one and not bother about having it serviced in the North for big bucks to maintain service history.

Your last question has always been universal. If you can't cope with the risk of buying privately, buy from a dealer with warranty and confidence and pay a lot more...

MichaelR

The problem is that if I buy from a dealer *in the UK*, I can't really use any warranty they offer, as I can't get the car to them if crap were to happen.

Never mind service history! I just wonder who can *do* the service properly here. And get parts and all.

zilog_jones

The Volt/Ampera is a series-parallel hybrid, the ICE can drive the wheels through a planetary gearset (like Toyota hybrids) when the battery is depleted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt#Drivetrain

It's just more series than parallel compared to others, I guess.