I am now officially in my third year of EV ownership. 2022 has been a pretty crazy time for cars and energy - regardless of its source. The I-PACE I have now is not the one I started with as my original lease ended and I have now purchased a second one.
I am now in a better position to evaluate how much difference the extras on the First Edition (FE) add over my old SE. The biggest difference is the suspension which is air not steel. On the 22” wheels of the FE the ride is close to the 20” on the SE. It is better where both are on 20’s. There is a more noticeable difference in Dynamic mode and it feels sportier and grippier. I haven’t needed to ford any rivers but having the height options is nice. I have put it into ADSR mode (think Land Rover Terrain Response Light) during a recent snowstorm. Combined with All Season tyres, it felt totally in control when other cars and trucks were getting stuck.
Other highlights are the matrix headlights which are brighter and smarter than the non-matrix on the SE. The lane-keep function is also subtle and reliable. Overall, I am happy I tracked a First Edition down. The only downside is about a 10% hit on my range if the 22” wheels are on. I think 20” wheels are probably the sweet spot.
The total mileage for the year was 7,792 miles across the two cars and 3,437kWh consumed at the charger (so includes losses). I only used fast chargers on 9 occasions, but that accounted for £171 of the total £383 energy bill. This shows how much the cost disparity has grown between home (off-peak) and commercial chargers in 2022. My estimate of the fuel cost of those miles in my last fossil car is about £1,400.
2022 did not bring any issues needing attention apart from a self-inflicted trip to get new tyre-pressure monitors calibrated following the summer wheel swap. There is one potential issue that can afflict all EVs. The brake disks on my SE became quite grumbly. This is because of regen braking. Having to use the physical disks feels like a personal failure once you get used to one-pedal driving. The result of this is the disks don’t get used and start to corrode. VW used this as a reason for going back to rear drums on their EVs. I am going to have to make a conscious effort to brake hard enough to use them once in while when nothing is behind me.