Does anyone know if Skoda will launch a hybrid any time soon? I'm starting to get close to replacing a company car and with the BIK escalator running at 2-3% a year a 2.0TDi or 1.4TSi will be at 30% BIK within the next two-three years. That's absurd. A hybrid (say a Prius or Ioniq) is about 8% less ans that means around £800 stays in my pocket. The Octavia has been useful for the rear legroom, less so for the endlessly broken panoramic sunroof and subsequent 5 trips to the dealer (so far - it still plays up). The facelift also makes it as ugly as the Prius. Seems Skoda are way behind on this.

Skoda are waaaay waaaay behind, it's a bargain parts bin brand. Similarly I wouldn't expect to see Dacia to receive electrification treatment either. (a harsh comparison, I know, but we all know it's true)

 

VW Golf GTE, VW Passat GTE, Merc C350e, BMW 330e or Prius/Ioniq are your only options. Nothing from Skoda what so ever.

 

 

 

If you don't drive mega-mileage, I'd be tempted to go full electric. Myself, I am thinking to keep my Octavia 3 long term as long distance car. Then buy the Tesla Model 3 as my daily commute car, I commute 60 miles in total each day, so unfortunately I'll need 200+ miles of EV range to do my commute plus possible errants comfortably in dead of winter. Model 3 fits in perfectly and I can ride sleep in the car after a few Tesla firmware updates.  

I guess there are two ways of looking at this:

 

1. There are cars within the VW stable that have this tech, so there is no technical reason why they can't make a hybrid Skoda.

 

2. Why would they make a Skoda Hybrid when VW can sell a Golf/Passat for more profit. 

 

I would expect to see a hybrid Skoda in a few years when the tech is less "niche" but not imminently.

40 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

VW Golf GTE, VW Passat GTE, Merc C350e, BMW 330e or Prius/Ioniq are your only options. Nothing from Skoda what so ever.

 

 

There's the Toyota Auris Estate Hybrid and the BMW 2 series Active Tourer Hybrid which may be of interest as Octy Replacements.     

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/skoda/superb/94894/skoda-superb-to-get-plug-in-hybrid-power

 

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/skoda/kodiaq/97711/skoda-kodiaq-hybrid-due-in-2019-with-full-ev-to-follow

 

So looks like 2019.....maybe only the premium Superb/Kodiack however? 

Edited 19 July, 20178 yr by juan27

http://autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/seat-evs-lead-upcoming-model-offensive 

I was considering a C350E Estate, but will now keep my Octy for a another year or two before jumping to pure EV. I think the hybrid-window is now rather narrow, and that EV's such as the Tesla 3 will soon supercede them. What I really want is a Tesla Model 3-like Estate car (something that is affordable, practical, has a usable range, and offers decent performance).

 

The whole hybrid principle has a flaw. Half of the time you carry the weight of an internal combustion engine that is not being used, and the other half of the time you're carting heavy batteries and an electric motor that are being pulled along by the ICE. Hybrid is a stop-gap technology.

Edited 19 July, 20178 yr by Orville

 

27 minutes ago, juan27 said:

 

There's the Toyota Auris Estate Hybrid and the BMW 2 series Active Tourer Hybrid which may be of interest as Octy Replacements.     

Good shout, I had forgotten about those two because adaptive cruise control was my number 1 reason for my car change, and Auris didn't offer it. BMW 2 series because I am not on a school run.

 

I test drove Prius and Ioniq, they were okay cars. Prius were more kitchen appliance than a real car. Ioniq was better in feel, but felt cheaper and more rattle than my 10 year old Mercedes. In the end, why spend £10k+ on depreciation when I could spend less than £9000 to own an ACC enabled car outright?

 

 

16 minutes ago, Orville said:

I was considering a C350E Estate, but will now keep my Octy for a another year or two before jumping to pure EV. I think the hybrid-window is now rather narrow, and that EV's such as the Tesla 3 will soon supercede them. What I really want is a Tesla Model 3-like Estate car (something that is affordable, practical, has a usable range, and offers decent performance).

 

The whole hybrid principle has a flaw. Half of the time you carry the weight of an internal combustion engine that is not being used, and the other half of the time you carting heavy batteries and an electric motor than are being pulled along by the ICE. Hybrid is a stop-gap technology.

 

Well put. 200+ miles EV should be enough for most people. Only infrastructure needs catching up, and that's why only Tesla is a viable options when all other manufacturers still don't understand this.

Just check major Motor Manaufacturer share prices to see which way the market is going. Full EV is the way.

 

Tesla is currently the World's Most Valuable car manunfacture, despite having sold just 200K cars within their entire history. When you consider that Ford and VAG sell >2.5M cars each per year, it enthasises the future direction of motoring. Being 3 or 4 years ahead of the oposition has been key for Tesla.

 

Edited 19 July, 20178 yr by Orville

23 minutes ago, Orville said:

Just check major Motor Manaufacturer share prices to see which way the market is going. Full EV is the way.

 

Tesla is currently the World's Most Valuable car manunfacture, despite having sold just 200K cars within their entire history. When you consider that Ford and VAG sell >2.5M cars each per year, it enthasises the future direction of motoring. Being 3 or 4 years ahead of the oposition has been key for Tesla.

 

 

I wouldn't disagree that EV is the future, but Tesla's share price could just be a bubble.  It was certainly visionary however to have decided to make a $100,000 luxury EV when we had the G Wiz.

 

Either way, hybrid or pure EV, the lack of an Octavia hybrid in the present is a huge mistake. Arguably Skoda is the most price sensitive brand within VW Group, and most Octavias are company cars, and they are very sensitive to BIK, which they are now noncompetitive on. It's odd and a shame as Skoda were usually right on the ball with offering what the market needed.

 

With Volvo announcing that all future models will be hybrid's or pure EV only, the other manufacturers will surely follow. Very few brands lack a hybrid or EV's within their range. Skoda is one of the exceptions. Perhaps Skoda invested all of it's Octavia R&D budget on perfecting headlight design instead?

 

Of course the real reason is because VW and Audi are the premium brands, and Skoda and SEAT are the bottom-feeders who mostly get the cast-offs several years laters. It wouldn't do for the lesser/cheaper brands to be more enviromentally attractive than premium.

Edited 20 July, 20178 yr by Orville

17 minutes ago, Orville said:

With Volvo announcing that all future models will be hybrid's or pure EV only, the other manufacturers will surely follow.

If you look at the detail of Volvo's announcement they list THREE categories not just the TWO that the media have widely reported.

 

The extra category? "Mild hybrids" i.e. internal combustion engines fitted with stop/start that includes regenerative elements - which is what some stop/start systems (e.g. BMW) have been doing for years.

 

So Volvo's announcement isn't quite as earth shattering as it has been widely reported...

 

My only experience with hybrid/EV is a short ride in a friends C300h, but that was so smooth and refined I was almost converted to the cause. 

Smooth and refined are TSI Octavias, you're just use to TDI.

 

 

2 hours ago, SWBoy said:

If you look at the detail of Volvo's announcement they list THREE categories not just the TWO that the media have widely reported.

 

The extra category? "Mild hybrids" i.e. internal combustion engines fitted with stop/start that includes regenerative elements - which is what some stop/start systems (e.g. BMW) have been doing for years.

 

So Volvo's announcement isn't quite as earth shattering as it has been widely reported...

 

They say that EVERY new model will be designed to offer mild-hybrid, plugin-hybrid and full-EV options. That's a lot more choice than any other mainstream manufacturer.

 

The difference between Stop-Start and Mild-Hybrid is that the latter can shutdown the engine completely during braking and coasting, in-addition to when stopped. It doesn't sound much (and hybrids and full-EV will be vastly cleaner), but mild-hybrids can actually drive about with the engine totally shut off for ~30% of the time, resulting in 10-15% fuel saving.

Edited 20 July, 20178 yr by Orville

Most likely to rock up first in the Superb (prestige government barge in some markets) and Kodiaq (where higher weight and higher margins make it sensible/profitable).

 

Below that, unlikely until technology costs come down/taxes on fossil fuels become prohibitive.

 

As for Tesla, its tech advantage relates to the way in which it is developing self-driving capability rather than batteries (which are supplied by Panasonic). The main business advantage it gains from using batteries rather than internal combustion engines is a much smaller supply chain.

Edited 20 July, 20178 yr by MorrisOx

Dont forget Tesla is yet to make a profit on any cars they sell....

 

Ford, GM, VAG etc are not as clueless as people think....

They all offer some form of electrification or clean-technology but nobody buys in the volumes they buy petrol or diesel.

They let Tesla put in all billions of $$$ developing battery technologies & electric drives technologies until it is affordable, reliable & proven.

Once its affordable, they will be quickly along with equivelant cars with a fraction of the development costs.

 

Volvos announcement was quite a clever marketting stunt as Im sure most manufacturers are years into planning the same.

 

The infrastructure for electric cars is years & years off too.

The national grid doesn't have enough power for even 10% of the population to switch to electric & local power lines cant handle 10 people on the same street with an electric charger without improvements.

I've never seen a charging point at a service station or shopping centre etc.

 

 

Nethertheless, hats off to Elon Musk for fighting against the estabilshment (oïl companies & governments who love fo$$il fuel).

Im sure before my kids are driving, electric vehicles will be much more mainstream.

58 minutes ago, Gabbo said:

The infrastructure for electric cars is years & years off too.

The national grid doesn't have enough power for even 10% of the population to switch to electric & local power lines cant handle 10 people on the same street with an electric charger without improvements.

For me this is the "elephant in the room" that will lead to people buying electric cars and either being stuck with a flat battery nowhere near their home or their destination, or causing power cuts when too many people try to charge them.

 

Generating and distribution capacity needs to be in place BEFORE the rollout of electric cars outstrips the ability to charge them, and the costs of that will be significant.

 

IMHO hybrids are a better interim solution to ease the transition and allow time for charging capacity and facilities to be in place.

Edited 20 July, 20178 yr by SWBoy

Current mainstream EV's have a range of 100+ miles, with Tesla's hitting 200-300 miles. If you drive serious miles then perhaps EV's are not yet ready for you, but for most people who do 2-50mile commutes or shopping trips they will be fine. I rarely drive more than 60 miles, and to be honnest I would rather plug my car in at home every night (or every other night) than have to visit a garage for petrol every week or two. Refilling at home has beneifits.

3 hours ago, Gabbo said:

Dont forget Tesla is yet to make a profit on any cars they sell....

 

Ford, GM, VAG etc are not as clueless as people think....

They all offer some form of electrification or clean-technology but nobody buys in the volumes they buy petrol or diesel.

They let Tesla put in all billions of $$$ developing battery technologies & electric drives technologies until it is affordable, reliable & proven.

Once its affordable, they will be quickly along with equivelant cars with a fraction of the development costs.

 

Volvos announcement was quite a clever marketting stunt as Im sure most manufacturers are years into planning the same.

 

The infrastructure for electric cars is years & years off too.

The national grid doesn't have enough power for even 10% of the population to switch to electric & local power lines cant handle 10 people on the same street with an electric charger without improvements.

I've never seen a charging point at a service station or shopping centre etc.

 

 

Nethertheless, hats off to Elon Musk for fighting against the estabilshment (oïl companies & governments who love fo$$il fuel).

Im sure before my kids are driving, electric vehicles will be much more mainstream.

 

Well put.

 

I must admit to an admiration of Tesla for their ability to disrupt the traditional car market so innovatively.

 

Particularly their spectacular achievement with securing so many deposits for the model 3, before any have been built, never mind sold or test driven by the press in general, and thereby part funding it's development.

Geely that own Volvo are building the Hybrid London Cabs with the small ICE to charge the power pack so a Brexit UK will be a great market for any Manufacturer that is able to churn out less polluting vehicles to use in cities.

 

Volvo was Ford owned, and the Head of Volvo with Geely from 2010 was Stefan Jacoby that was head of VW USA 2007-2010 so during the introduction of the defeat devices,

He left Volvo and now heads GM Global, but he is related in to VW and was a VW person boy to man, but then he had time with other manufacturers that were researching EV's, Mild Hybrids etc.

 

VW had its share in Suzuki until they bought their last shares out the night the Emissions Scandal Broke.

Suzuki worked with GM and Fiat on EV's and Mild Hybrids and small capacity turbos and electric Superchargers.

Hence why VW bought into them, the usual VW way, why research when you can just use others new tech.

 

It is a small world in Vehicle Manufacturing & there are the likes of Stefan Jacoby that goes around the manufacturers but maybe finally and always will be a VW man,

So manufacturing can be in any country but for Electrics and components Hungary is so handy, cheap & obviously in the EU so why Audi built plants their to engine build when they were going TDI / Electric Superchargers, and Suzuki build in Hungary and are doing light hybrids now for not much money.

 

There are lots of manufacturers that just need to finally be pushed to very low emissions for passenger vehicles or actually given no choice but to have them affordable and then the Governments will have to get the infrastrucures in place to store and use renewables,

 

Maybe Qatar has too much of a financial interest in the VW Group to be letting them move away too quickly from carbon fuels.

Re infrastructure:

 

The grid is ready for mass EV adoption, it's just the chargers that need changing. Smart chargers allow EV to smooth out grid load, even putting electricity back onto the grid if demand is high. This will allow less fossil fuel power plants be on standby. Same principle can be applied to house batteries, to take advantage of per second (for example) electricity price fluctuation and even get paid by the grid for helping to smooth out demand.

 

The public charging is sufficient for now (for Tesla vehicles), it's the people's view needs to change. During daily use, EV does not require use of public infrastructure. Unlike fossil fuel, EV re-fuelling should be done at home most of the time. On-street charging via lamp posts can be made available ubiquitously. The ONLY place Really need public charging spots (and hundreds of them) is service stations for long distance traveller to charge.

 

Tesla is doing really well to enable this, it's not just about cars. I think people here understand that infrastructure is key, but most don't see Tesla superchargers as their main competitive advantage over other marques.

12 hours ago, Orville said:

Current mainstream EV's have a range of 100+ miles, with Tesla's hitting 200-300 miles. If you drive serious miles then perhaps EV's are not yet ready for you, but for most people who do 2-50mile commutes or shopping trips they will be fine. I rarely drive more than 60 miles, and to be honnest I would rather plug my car in at home every night (or every other night) than have to visit a garage for petrol every week or two. Refilling at home has beneifits.

My nearest major shopping centre is over 60 miles away...

 

Don't forget many us don't live in or near major cities, so range anxiety is a very real concern - and has to be addressed before EVs can become mainstream throughout the country.

55 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

The grid is ready for mass EV adoption

Really?

 

The grid has just enough capacity to cope with Winter power surges, but does not have the capacity to cope with millions of EVs being charged at the same time.

 

Not only does the grid need more generating capacity, but also much of the distribution network will need to have its capacity increased to avoid overhead cables overheating and prematurely falling.