ELECTRIC CARS & HYBRID

Are Electric Cars a sensible option yet?

HIQ MAIDENHEAD BARNSIDE MOTORS

ELECTRIC CARS

Should your next car be electric or are they just a load of expensive hassle?

Barnside services and sells an increasing number of electric vehicles and we have generally found them to be reliable, though owners universally roll their eye’s about range and the manufacturer claims… Range, electricity cost and charging points fill most electric car conversations.

Roughly 660,000 motorists have so far bought an all-electric cars and whatever your view of this technology they represent a major element of the future of motoring.

Most are unfazed about the 2030 deadline set by the Government when motorists will not be able to buy a new car powered by an internal combustion engine. Instead, they will have to choose an all-electric car, a hybrid, or one maybe fuelled by hydrogen.

HiQ Maidenhead Barnside Motors is busy training staff and buying specialised equipment to allow us to service and maintain EV (Electric Vehicle) and Hybrid vehicles. We have EV level 3 technicians on site. We are now able to replace Nissan Leaf battery modules and have ‘gateways’ to service several makes of cars. But the manufacturers are not making it easy for independent garages to access the systems and we advise you call us for up to date information before booking your car in.

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Delphi

We are working with Delphi to get all our technicians to the highest standards of EV training certification.

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BEST SERVICE WHATEVER THE CAR

Whatever vehicle you have we will care for to a high standard.

We collect and deliver cars for our customers and provide courtesy (loan) vehicles free of charge. Please enquire whether you are located within our collection and delivery radius. Areas we cover include Maidenhead, Marlow, Cookham, Slough, High Wycombe, Wooburn Green, Well End, Taplow, Fifield, Holyport and Beaconsfield.

Nissan Leaf

We currently maintain a variety of electric & hybrid vehicles including Nissan Leaf, Kia, Hyundai and Renault. Please let us know if we can help.

We are seeing a lot of Leaf’s with customers raising three issues/questions frequently.

Range

Battery Health

Heaters not working
Early model Leaf batteries degrade over time, there are 12 bars on the instrument cluster that give an indication of battery health, though be wary as it is possible to reset these bars with diagnostic equipment (it will not increase range). The most accurate measure is the SOH (State of Health) check with Leaf Spy. In the winter expect lower range, using the heater also significantly reduces range; even the type of journey and speed of the vehicle will have a strong impact. If you buy a Leaf get one from a specialist who will give you honest information on the health of the battery and what to reasonably expect in terms of range.

We are looking at options for replacing battery modules within the Leaf battery, if you want further information then we need to run a battery assessment on your vehicle – which takes about half an hour. It is still marginal as to whether it is worth replacing modules, and new modules are difficult to obtain, though certainly when a module fails and is replaced with a good second hand unit, a noticeable improvement may be made.

We are happy to discuss this with you. Peter McConnell is our expert – so email or call to speak with him.

The heater failure in so many Leaf S1’s is most commonly a result of the PTC unit failing and/or the main fuse. We do have a stock of used heaters, but currently new units are unavailable, give us a call to check stock.

recharging-electric-car-2022-11-08-08-55-50-utc

WHY CHOOSE BARNSIDE MOTORS?

As a member of the Good Garage Scheme, Barnside Motors strives to meet the highest standards for our customers and we welcome feedback to tell us we’ve done a good job or how we might improve. Our MOT and servicing customers are generally located in Cookham, Marlow, Bourne End, Maidenhead, Slough, High Wycombe, Beaconsfield and surrounding areas; but people who have been regular customers and may have moved away from the area still come back to us every year for servicing, a properly assessed MOT or occasionally a new car, we have a lot of customers who travel along the M4 from London!