A new car!

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My brother and I just bought a new car! 

A little background: We've had an 2005-ish Volvo V40 for about 2 years. Cheap, simple car, did what we needed. But it did not pass the recent vehicle inspection, and the repair would cost at least 25 000 NOK. And scheduled next year is some other expensive maintenance. So we started looking for alternatives. We had a few demands for our next car:

  • Electric
  • Cheap
  • Good range for the price
  • Easy to rent out
  • A format/type we need
For it to be electric is mostly a principle. We also despise all the greasy maintenance, all the weird fluids and moving parts, having to visit the gas stations etc.

It had to be relatively cheap. But the cheapest electric cars have terrible range. So we had to go a bit up in price. Owning a car is in itself a money pit in my mind. So for it to make a bit more financial sense, we're going to rent it out as much as possible.

So what's the car? A 2020 Maxus e-Deliver 3!

(Photo: Maxus.no)

The short body, with the biggest battery. Still fits two pallets and can drive for about 220km.

We got it for 268 000 NOK, slightly used for a year by the dealer.

The big hack we discovered that made this decision a bit easier - basically, electric vans with one seat row have two perks:

  • Can park for free whenever in the "Beboerparkering"-zones in Oslo, where we live. Basically in all the residential areas right outside the city centre.
  • Can drive toll free. Non-van electric cars have to pay a little, fossil cars a lot.
These incentives are there for the plumbers, carpenters, roofers, etc to go electric. I'm a software developer, lol.

Initial impressions can be summed up in a few words:

  • Cheap
    • No luxuries in this car. The smartest feature might be the potatocam used when reversing.
  • Simple
    • It is an electric van. No more, no less. We're going to use it for moving stuff from A to B, and letting other people move their stuff from A to B.
  • Loud
    • Its electric motor is barely audible, but the wind against the body and tires against the road make noise. The cheapness shines through when it comes to sound deadening.
We're planning on fixing the loudness, and some other quirks. I might blog about them when they get addressed. Ever heard of DAB-USB? Or is it USB-DAB? Me neither.

Have a great day!


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