Hello all,
So i am in a canundrum. I am going to buy a new car (EV) and of course want to buy something from which the EU benefits. I am considering the Skoda Enyaq and the Cupra Tavascan. Both car brands are part of the VW group, which is a European company. However, I found out that the Cupra is built is Hefei, China, while the Skoda is built in Czechia which is of course in europe. The Cupra is in fact more equipped than the Skoda while also being cheaper. This may of course in part be explained by where they are built. How do you guys feel about this?
Thanks for your insights in advance!
I don’t mind myself a little bit of Porsche but in terms of the wagon vs SUV discussion. The Porsche has an average milage of 167 wh/km while the enyaq coupe base a milage of 168 wh/km. This difference is insignificant if you ask me. Furthermore the Porsche weighs 2165 kg while the enyaq weighs 2140 kg. So the enyaq is actually lighter! (All data from EV database).
So the fact that the enyaq is an SUV doesn’t seem to matter here?
Frankly, if we’re talking EV, then it’s really hard to point out on actually eco-friendly vehicle. It’s just a no-no with their absurd weight and how their battery production hurts the planet.
Hello thank you for tour commentaar, But i dont think this is entirely true. Looking on the internet I find many sources like this one:
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/09/1250212212/ev-batteries-environmental-impact
It is stated here that EVs are indeed worse for the environment when being built, however in the long term they catch up to petrol cars and when disposed off have a net positive effect.
Yes it is true that the car size is a problem. But this is also true for large and heavy combustion engine cars. So as this article also states: it would be best to buy a small EV with limited battery capacity to reduce environmental impact. That being said: I am going to buy a larger one so your argument is at least more true in my case.
Additionally I do think electric cars are the future. But maybe not with Li-ion batteries. We need lighter and more energy dense alternatives which are currently not (yet) available. By investing in our electrical infrastructure now and adopting electric cars now, even though they are only marginally better than combustion engine cars, we are moving to a greener future. By sticking with combustion engine cars, there is only a dead end in 50 something years even if we would ignore climate change.
Also before someone brings up hydrogen cars: hydrogen has its own challenges and H2 cars are in fact also electric cars with electric motors. So hydrogen which is lagging behind in battery development may also profit from the development of EVs. Personnaly I think hydrogen will not become very interesting for consumer cars, but rather for trucks, boats and other heavy duty vehicles.
I end up having this discussion with my brother alot, whether an EV is environmental friendly or not.
Our conclusion each time is that no consumption is, but if you need a car to exist then an EV is the best option. That and the truly environmentally friendly option would be to kill ourselves immediately :)
No denying that
I wasn’t really suggesting the taycan, luxury cars are heavy by default, and the whole car (while beautiful) isn’t making good use of it’s interior. Not exactly a family car. Just saying that so far it’s the only euro wagon with 70+ batteries.
rambling about comparisons
Comparing bodystyles would be more interesting if both cars were roughly in the same segment (like Astra wagon vs Mokka e vs Combo e) and the same ev evolution branches.
Taycan wagon is bigger in every dimension except height, has a bigger battery in most trims, and weight (for 21-24 models according to arenaev) is 2245 kg unladen, 2885 kg gross. Also if I remember right, it’s built on an ICE-derived platform taken from the Panamera. Enyaq is built on a platform designed specifically for EVs since day one. And funnily enough it’s got abetter drag coefficient than porsche.
By the way efficiency is very different on this database, they use WLTP and taycan is slightly ahead. Weight is very much trim-dependent, but even a 77kWh enyaq 80 is lighter at 2090kg unladen. If you want the heaviest enyaq RS, that’ll be almost 2260 kg.
TLDR: affordable midsize suv on an ev platform is most likely better at being an EV than a luxury executive wagon built on an ice (derived) platform