Kilowatt Half Hour Ep 99: The 1100hp Audi A2, and EVs that pay for themselves

#electriccars 2026 #podcasts #kilwowatthalfhour

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Weekly, the Electrifying.com fulfill online to go over all the concerns at hand. Such as the weather, what we're all having for our tea and who discarded who in last night's Love Island. Between these heavyweight subjects, we also speak about electric vehicles. A lot. Most likely an unhealthy total up to be honest.

And when we do go over vehicles, we learn a lot. From industry gossip to the more ordinary usefulness of electric car ownership, it's the location where we dish the dirt on the vehicles we have actually been driving and deliver our own verdicts on the current electric automobile news. We likewise like to have a good laugh at the daftest little bits of anti-electric news that we have actually seen in journalism.

We can't assure that you'll find out much. You most likely will not. But if you expensive thirty minutes of idle chat and chatter about the world of electric cars, we're here for you. If you like it/ hate it/ believe it's too long or too short, let us understand.

Chapters are below so you can jump directly to the topic you're most thinking about:.

00:00 Welcome to the Kilowatt Half Hour.
00:15 Skeleton team and EV chaos this week.
00:53 Strange weather condition, winter season tires and charging panic.
02:54 Porsche Cayenne EV initially drive impressions.
07:19 Renault Twingo teaser: looks brilliant already.
09:44 Photovoltaic panel and heatpump for brand-new homes.
11:52 MG's semi-solid-state battery explained.
16:10 Utilized EV deals: MG4, Zoe, i3 and more.
20:01 Lease deal dispute: Leapmotor B10 vs Renault 4.
23:21 Volvo EX30 battery problems and owner feedback.
27:02 Octopus tariffs, over night rates and charging costs.
30:46 Kona performance, Twingo economy and EV development.
34:13 Audi A2 comeback rumours.
36:21 Listener comments, Lucas love and old-man energy.
37:42 ID7 deal of the week.

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Posted

March 29, 2026

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Comments

24 responses to “Kilowatt Half Hour Ep 99: The 1100hp Audi A2, and EVs that pay for themselves”

@winfriedtheis5767

March 29, 2026

I would see the Zeekr X as the actual 1:1 alternative to the EX30. I have driven that and it was lovely. And it does have a tiny screen behind the wheel…

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@stevelanghorn1407

March 29, 2026

Thought that was Alexei Sayle sat in your thumbnail for a second!

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1. @davidjack3
  
  March 29, 2026
  
  Bulofski !
  
  Reply
@cameronajz

March 29, 2026

I am on Intelligent Octopus Go, I received an email a few days ago saying the my 23:30 to 05:30 rate will reduce to 5.2 pence in April.

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@usaverageguy

March 29, 2026

Nice show guys.

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@royagyei1099

March 29, 2026

Has Vicky got a flashing neon sign in her office? She seems to have an intermittent blue hue every now and then. Interesting video, but just got a bit distracted by the facial colour changes. 😁

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1. @tomoconnor6479
  
  March 29, 2026
  
  Totally agree, picked up on this on last weeks podcast. I thought that there was something wrong with my screen at first
  
  Reply
2. @johnnodge4327
  
  March 29, 2026
  
  @tomoconnor6479
  I think it’s her camera auto colour trying to maintain a correct colour balance when she turning her head while being illuminated from the side by a window or studio light.
  
  Reply
@stephenwensley

March 29, 2026

I’d say the Cayenne’s range is enough. 400 translates to 250ish motorway miles or 4 hours, which is about as long as anyone wants to do in a car in one stint. Plus Porsche has proven battery tech when road-tripping, it’ll charge fast at the right points of the charging curve every time. The old BMWs would do it once, then charging performance dropped off a cliff for the rest of a long road-trip. To see whether the BMW iX3, Volvo EX60 or Cayenne have enough range and which is best, you really need a pan European 2000 mile road-trip. I’d think the Porsche will still be competitive at the end, if not even home first.

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@WagnerGimenes

March 29, 2026

Love the show. Thanks guys.

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@DavidJones-jz9sb

March 29, 2026

The Range obsession is becoming crazy let’s be real. I would rather have a smaller battery and better efficiency. 250 to 300 with a fast charging speed is enough for the U.K. in my opinion.

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@PorthLlwyd

March 29, 2026

Semi solid and solid cells have a higher gravimetric energy density ceiling. Current liquid NMC cells have had years of development to get where they are now but have reached their ceiling.

Cell manufacturers will be bring higher densities online over the next 2 years, so you can expect those cells in cars in another 3 to 4 more years.

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@ifanlappage1033

March 29, 2026

Loving the show. I’ve joined the club, got a second hand 22 plate kia e-niro, in December, had to include the price of a charger in my finances, but loving the electric experience, getting between 3.2 to 4.6 miles per kWh, driving around town, depending whether the heating is on. 😀

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@mikadavies660

March 29, 2026

We currently own an early EQC…. One of the greatest things with it’s lack of efficiency, is it’s second hand price! It is still a wonderfully built car and on the overnight electricity costs, it only costs us £30/mth to run!!

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1. @MaticTheProto
  
  March 29, 2026
  
  Isn‘t it also pretty fast
  
  Reply
@PaulDee-k4p

March 29, 2026

The Semi Solid State from MG is just a marketing ploy to boost sales. The real cost of actual solid state ones will be high and only in high end cars to start with. The RD spent so far on solid state means the costs are very high. After a few years of production when the eventual cost per battery will get lower and maybe turn up in normal cars but over 50K for a battery will not work yet for the general public.

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@urbanstrencan

March 29, 2026

Another great podcast episode.
Vicky with you being at Porsche Cayenne Electric first drive (actually really like it even if being SUV, Turbo definitely competition for something like Aston Martin DBX, Lamborghini Urus,.. ).
Were there any talk or updates on electric Porsche Cayman?

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@DFID7Tourer

March 29, 2026

It is about time that New Builds are built Gas main free and fully electrified with solar cells although a shame that batteries are not being spec’d but in most contries they operate on a net metering system so at least it is a step in the right direction and the cheaper and least problematic of the solutions. I would hope that building firms would partner with reognised decent solar firms to subcontract this work such that the returns are maximised however I feel we will be shaking our heads in future when building firms known for the lowest standards they can get away with put the simplest cheapest system on the roof to save money rather than maximising the system size. A good shout out also to plug in solar cells for those who need portable of moveable simple solutions to help a little as well.

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@johnkellett7797

March 29, 2026

The only range necessary in an EV is the distance that can be covered between toilet/drink/food stops (about 4 to 5 hours. I did consider a B10 but too large to get down the back lane to the house so pick up my Renault 4 e-tech on Thursday. Oh yes, and keeping the 23 year old Audi A2 with 225,000 miles I’ve owned for 22 years, and not just because it’s faster (illegally) but half the horsepower than the R4 😻
I do have a question though. As I do not do many miles now as I work from home, what sort of mileage do I need to be doing annually for it to pay as I’ll be paying more for the electricity I use working from home. I’m tempted just to stay on the ordinary rate for car and home.

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@DFID7Tourer

March 29, 2026

Welding mask, kayak, solar cells and a wet suit…..Either an amazing holiday being planned, a survival kit for rising sea levels or the Electrifying S&M dungeon is getting some refreshing gear in it.

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@DFID7Tourer

March 29, 2026

On your economy numbers I have gone from an Eco diesel small family hatchback which got me 56 mpg and cost me about 18p per mile in fuel when I despatched it over a year ago (probably 22p per mile now). After just over 13 months and 9,000 miles later in an ID7, a tank of a car in comparison and driven far more enjoyably than said family car it is costing me a whole 2.14p per mile (12% of the fuel costs!).

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@DFID7Tourer

March 29, 2026

Are we finally retiring the Skoda Enyaq swear box and exchanging it for the VW ID7 Christmas Curry Fund (with an extra donation for a tourer)?

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@gavkenny

March 29, 2026

99 – so near and yet one short

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@PaulMeier-cu3ds

March 29, 2026

You are in a strong position to cover energy costs as they affect driving. So I do wish you would point out that lec prices may dip for a bit in the next couple of months but are bound to rocket once oil at >$100 barrel and gas, if you can buy it from Qatar at all, are going to rise. Lec will still be cheaper than petrol or diesel by miles, and the story here is that the war in the gulf gives a greater incentive to switch to EV than anything our government could have done with grants.

The second point you alluded to is if you are going to rely ever more on Lec you can now make it at home. Doing solar, or in some limited cases wind, has a capital cost up front but thereafter produces free lec. At the moment when we start to worry whether we have access to energy at any price a home supply of it looks attractive. If it also fixes the price of £0 for the foreseeable future it looks very attractive. Over more than ten years for a large energy inefficient house I have found you really need at least 8-10kwh peak capacity of the solar. To make the most of tariffs you also need battery storage and much more of it than you first thought of. We are still adding PV and battery capacity and are heading towards about 24kwh capacity with associated battery storage this year. So we will be running heat, light, multiple cars on renewables for most of the year. We also have a supply which continues in a grid power cut without a flicker – we get grid power cuts about once a quarter.

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