I got completely burned at a set of lights by a little Renault electric car a few months ago. I didn't try to take it on, I just pulled off normally, but it was streets away from me within 5-10 seconds. I just had to laugh. I would be happy to go 100% electric once the range issue is resolved. Why wouldn't you? The power is instant. That will be in another 10-15 years though.

The Tesla Model S can do 250 miles on a single charge if driven sensibly. How often do you actually drive further than that in a single day in a year? If you do have to travel from one end of the country to the other (or across Europe for that matter) you can stop at one of the free Superchargers and have a cuppa while it gives you an 80% charge in 15 minutes http://www.teslamotors.com/en_GB/fin...er&name=Europe. I want to stretch my legs every 4 hours of driving anyway.

Electric is the future. Instant torque, green (and will get more so as our electricity generation is decarbonised), no nasty pollutants, less maintenance/things to go wrong and less reliance on what is going to become an ever increasingly unstable supply of oil. If I had the money I would be in a Model S now - all the big manufacturers will be following Musk and is merry band of engineers soon enough. Porsche already are.....http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/porsche-mis...e-time-1519775

Got my Hybrid now.
To sum it up .... Brilliant!! Love it.
In terms of the criticisms I have read about, yes I would agree the steering is a bit weird and lacks feel also needing a bit more lock than you would expect so am still running wide at roundabouts. Space .. well I know I have bought a sportback and not a V70. Ride ... what's all the fuss about, after all my M-Sports and S-Line's, this feels just fine with no body role. Like it.
Very smooth, refined, quick, very quiet (surprised at that after all critical comment I have read) and am forced to really boot it in order to actually hear the D5 engine noise that I love so much anyway.
Love the quiet running in electric mode and already having fun keeping the charge when on a run using the SAVE button.
POWER button only lightly used out of curiosity at the moment as I am still in ECO-warrior mode (plus wife in the car so far). It is kind of exciting though as you feel everything sharpen up around you and the car leap forward. Will have to experiment more to give a full objective observation.

I've mastered immediately kicking off the pre-conditioning from sitting in the car and with the VoC app. However, the PCC resolutely refuses to pre-condition as per the manual which is irritating me as that was my preferred option when getting ready in the morning.

Still to figure out how to defer charging until a) Economy7 cheap period starts and b) when sun comes out so I know PV panels are giving a free charge. I guess it is more RTFM time required, although the VoC app hints at setting locations so maybe that is how DieselElectric has mastered it??

If you have never driven one, I can thoroughly recommend it. You can simply jump in and blast off without a second's thought about electricity, saving the planet etc. if you like as it defaults to Hybrid mode. Alternatively you can play the Geek and have fun avoiding the engine kicking in, watching that pointer stay below the bar, twiddling with all the Volvo Driver support aids.

I must confess, I thought I was savvy enough to master the adaptive cruise control without reading the manual. After a little play I did manage to follow a car at a fixed distance for a couple of miles, then the car turned off and it all stopped again whatever I pressed. Yep - must read the manual.

The other observation is the Sensus Connect media ... on picking the car up from the dealers, my wife serenaded us with her iPad and Spotify via the USB port .... at least until we stopped at the M-way services. On returning to the car it refused all attempts to play the iPad again, saying something like "no files read". Driving us mad, especially as the Premium Sound is so very good!

I think I have been pretty economical as used SAVE whenever on open road at national limits, then hybrid around town. I would love to be able to view these figures in detail and maybe a bit geeky, put them in a spreadsheet, but have not figured out if the car or the VoC will tell me them. If anybody knows the answer, or the page in the manual, would appreciate knowing?

In summary, a brilliant car!

I will join you on that list!

VOC app will give you all our journey stats, chain link each part of your journey, tag as business or private and export to excel.

Often enough is my answer. Often with the car loaded so that range gets less, going up and down hills which takes more off again. I then don't want to spend half of my journey planning where I can stop and hoping no one else is on the charger point. There are enough worries involved in a family journey without throwing in will the car just run out of juice and stop on me.

Chargers may be free for now but that can't last and frankly why should it. They will suit some people but they need to keep eeking that range further and further. I am looking forward to going fully electric, personally I don't get excited by an engine noise so the quiet of electric appeals, but I suspect I will have to go hybrid first of all, if those prices ever come down. To sum up, keen to change but not there yet.

Just checked my mileage returns. 68 times last year.... :car-smiley-003:

All electric *might* work if you are driving between main cities or on routes that you know you have plenty of charge points. But even then, most cars/chargers won't do the 80% in 15 mins thing.

Go off the beaten track, or commute outside the main thoroughfares and its a different story.

250Mile range sounds good, but what happens if I take the car from here to Dublin airport (about 100 miles), park it in the £30 a week airport car park for a couple of weeks, and then come back. I'm now notionally on a 150mile range, less whatever has seeped away in the 2weeks, and I'm driving up the road at 2am not knowing for sure if it's going to last the course. And if it doesn't and I don't have a charger on route I'm beat. And if I should have a charger on route, it's much more likely to be the type you need to leave plugged in for hrs to get some range, so that's hours sitting around in the wee hrs, when I want to get home.

And given the above scenario, I'll likely just not take the car, in which case it's failed for me.

I think hybrids are the way forward for quite sometime. Great for a short commute, and no range anxiety.

In the far future, when ultra fast chargers are everywhere, then it might go differently. But that's 20+ years away IMO.

V60 hybrid always seemed a little expensive to me.

this, however, seems relatively good value !

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-rev...-2016-review-/

Comparing apples and oranges. The V60 is diesel ICE, combining diesel and electric power is relatively specialised Volvo, Mercedes (? not 100% sure) and PSA being the only options the rest have all been petrol.
If there was any mileage in diesel hybrid surely Lexus and/or all those mini cabbing Toyota's would be there?