Neither does a BMW 😀
The cost differential between an ix3 and an Ev6 or an id7 was negligible, and it came w a tow hook for me thule velospace..... So.....
Ultimately putting money into a depreciating asset doesn't make sense, but if the taxman is taking some of the hit.....
And looking at your list of requirements, the ix3 meets almost all of them. So in the real world it's worth a closer look
My comment was re a 2022 ioniq 5 (same platform as gv60 and ev6) where eco pack bundle was heat pump and preconditioning. I couldn’t stretch to it at the time but wish I had.
it may well be different options or standard now and on the other two group brands.
I’m sure this has been covered before in the preceding 00’s of pages - but I’ll ask anyway - is a heat pump a must have ?
My 2017 Model S just had resistive heating. And as a 75D rather than 100D had a realistic range of about 200 miles. It was fine. Driving from Manchester to holidays in Cornwall, the Lakes, and Dundee were fine. Cambridge and Colchester runs were fine. Daily driving was no problem.
sure, driving against strong northerlies on the A1M in winter sucked a bit more out of it more rapidly but NP.
if I were buying a NEW car today I’d expect a heat pump just for the efficiency. Surprises me that several manufacturers have it as a ~£1,000 option. Still, if it was a car I liked and it had no heat pump? Not a deal breaker.
OK, I can't believe there is anybody left on here (or in the world) who wants to read more of my EV pontifications, but writing them down helps me get my thoughts in order and nobody has to read them. Plus, you keep giving me useful feedback, so it's your own fault 😀
I think I've narrowed my choice down to three (maybe four or is that five) options but there simply isn't enough information for me to make an informed choice. So I guess I'll end up picking one then regretting not getting one of the others.
As was pointed out above, a Renault scenic comes close to ticking my boxes. It has the range I think I want, I like the use of Google automotive (more frequent updates, putting the map on the driver display etc), I like that it is made in Europe and I like the single physical button that you can press to set all of the ADAS systems to your personal preference. But there are two major (and one minor) issues with it:
First, my number one requirement for a new car is something that has a good chance of doing 200,0000 miles over the next ten years without too many issues. The only EV brand that I really have any confidence could do that at the moment is Tesla. There are plenty of Teslas on the road already that have done those distances and are still going strong. Plus there are just so many Teslas on the road now that independent garages (and parts suppliers) are bound to spring up to keep those things on the road for many more years. To be honest, if it wasn't for Elon I'd probably have bought a model Y months ago. On the other hand, the history of Renault EVs doesn't inspire confidence. Plenty of stories of Zoe motors failing well before 100k and Renault refusing to supply the parts to repair them. Maybe they are better on the newer cars, but it is just too soon to know.
Second, I don't want (or need) a car that big. I much prefer smaller cars. The kids are grown up, we have narrow country lanes with awful sight lines and I just find a smaller lighter car more fun to drive. The only reason for going for a big car like the Scenic (or Model Y for that matter) is for the range. But I also know that, for around 360 days of the year I don't travel more than 150 miles in a day. So I'm having to live with a bigger car than I want just for those half a dozen days of the year where I want the longer range, which seems daft.
A Megane would be a better option for me for most of the year (and is around £7k cheaper like for like). But lots of stories of alarms going off for no reason (which would drive me mad) and already some tales of motors failing early. Plus I know that I'd regret not getting the longer range car at least a few times a year.
Then, if I'm going to accept shorter range, there are the heart vs head options. The 5 looks cool and I keep looking at a moss yellow, dual-motor Volvo EX30. Makes no sense. As expensive to buy as a Scenic, more expensive to insure, worse range than a Megane, a soundbar stereo that just can't sound as good as multiple speakers whatever badge they put on it, all the minimalism of a Tesla with much worse software (plenty of tales of drivers getting locked out of their car etc). But I love the size, think it looks great and 0-60 in 3.5s would be hilarious 😀
Oh and the minor issue with the Scenic (for anyone keeping count) is that to get the decent stereo I need to go for the iconic trim, which has pale grey fabric seats. I often jump into the car covered in mud after a long trail run or ride and often have muddy dogs with me, so I'd really much prefer black wipe clean seats (which is another tick for Tesla). I've never really understood why car reviewers make such a fuss about soft finishes in a car. I think my ideal car interior would be something I could clean with the pressure washer 😀 But I guess I could just stick on some seat covers (but know I almost certainly wont bother).
Thanks for the suggestion @susepic I don't generally care about brand or looks and don't really have anything against BMW. I think the i3 was an amazing car. But there is just something about the looks of the ix series that I can't get over. I think it is just that super aggressive looking front end, which brings to my mind all the worst stereotypes of BMW drivers. Each to their own though. They are undoubtedly good cars. As are lots of others that I have looked at and removed from my shortlist. None of them were bad cars, they just didn't quite seem to be what I was after.
To be honest, if it wasn't for Elon I'd probably have bought a model Y months ago.
My thoughts on replacing our 2022 Model Y LRAWD next year are similar.
there are lots of EV options these days, but I think your assessment of Teslas is on the mark - loads around, likely lower prices now due to the Elon factor, long track record.
They’re also fully featured compared with some other manufacturers’ offerings. Access to all of the Supercharger network, more might open up to other vehicles in time. Computer-scheduled servicing. Only service things I’ve had to deal with on our 3 and Y have been tyre wear. The S, at the time, needed a scheduled coolant change after 1 year. The following year that requirement was removed.
for me the only competing vehicle I’ve seen is the Polestar 4. And tech wise it was not as good. [Edit] New I’m undecided between the P4 and the new Model Y LRAWD (or Performance in due course). [/Edit] Used, I’d likely plump for a Tesla. Almost tempting to complete my set and get a used Model X …
forum struggle
Struggling with the ‘new’ forum still
To be honest, I think other manufacturers have caught up (and even overtaken) Tesla in terms of the driving experience. The suspension on the (second hand) Model Y, for example, is awful. For all the talk of FSD, the insistence on using exclusively video (rather than radar) sensors means the enhanced driving systems are generally worse than other manufacturers now (more phantom braking, autopilot switching off just when you need it etc). The decision to open up the supercharger network to other manufacturers, while no doubt good for revenue, takes away one of the big reasons for buying a Tesla too.
But if you want to buy a car today that will last many years of relatively high mileage then they are probably still the safest bet. If only because there are so many on the road and yes, used prices have taken a bit of a hit in the past six months too. Maybe not as much as I'd expect, but around 5% cheaper like-for-like than they were last year and lots more due to come on the used market this year as lease deals come to an end.
But then there is the facts that all my family and friends would disown me 😀
roverpig, I think in your position I'd be looking at a Kia EV3 - great tech, lots of space, 7 yr warranty, well priced.
First, my number one requirement for a new car is something that has a good chance of doing 200,0000 miles over the next ten years without too many issues.
I have a good deal of confidence in Hyundai. We've got an 82k mile car with the same range at 100% as the brand new car we had before it. They have had a big problem with the ICCUs as I said earlier but this should now be fixed on new cars. One thing that does give me faith in them is that even though my car has been out of production for I think 3 years, they are still releasing not just updates for the infotainment but new features, where it's possible.
Re the Tesla autopilot - I'm sure you've all seen the Road Runner test video?
I think other manufacturers have caught up (and even overtaken) Tesla in terms of the driving experience.
From the cars I’ve tested, not as much as I’d have expected.
I'd be interested to know in what ways you think Tesla is still ahead in terms of driving experience. The refusal to fit lidar sensors just seems to be tying a hand behind their back for no reason.
Hyundai/Kia certainly make goof EVs and I do still have searches on autotrader for both. It's all personal preferences of course, but a few things tend to put me off each time.
- The long warranty is a selling point but it is still limited to (I think) 100,000 miles. Since I do at least 20k per year that's less than 5 years in reality and most manufacturers offer what (for me) is the same 100k warranty on the battery/motors anyway. There are also stories of Hyundai/Kia being quite fussy about exactly when and where all the services were done when it comes to honouring that warranty. It's still a plus point, but I'll take a car with proven reliability over one with a long warranty any day.
- As well as the Hyundai charging issues (which I agree seem to have been fixed) there also seem to be issues with the reduction gear failing fairly early.
- I like the idea of Google automotive. I'm always going to want to use Google maps just for the live traffic and camera/crash/obstruction data. Any car that tries to force me to use the in-built navigation (e.g. to find chargers or pre-condition the battery) would be annoying. I know you can use carplay but there seem to be questions over whether the driving directions appear in the instrument cluster and/or HUD when using google (or apple etc) maps through carplay. On the Renault, for example, I know that it will display whatever map you are using through carplay on the instrument cluster.
- It's a minor point but I've never liked the interior in any Kia (with the possible exception of the EV6). All that grey/beige just says "pensioner car" to me.
- Prices on the EV3 haven't really come down far enough for me yet. It's still the "hot new thing" and I'm sure the nearly-new prices will drop a fair bit more in the next six months to year, so it would be worth waiting. It's also annoying that you need to go for the (not so cheap) top spec model to get a decent stereo and even then it's another grand if you want a heat pump. It's also not that small. OK, it's 17cm shorter than the Scenic but only about 1.5cm narrower (and still 7cm wider than my current "SUV").
The Times today reports that EVs are losing more than 50% of their value over the first 24 months. Good for us bods who buy cars second-hand.
Oh great, so we'll have another batch of YouTube videos from the pro and anti EV brigade. Both (along with most journalists) are as bad as each other in my book. Taking isolated bits of "data" out of context and trying to spin it to fit whatever narrative they are trying to push.
High EV depreciation in the first couple of years is just a natural consequence of government initiatives aimed at supporting the transition to EVs. Most new cars (EV or ICE) are either fleet/company cars or leased through a salary sacrifice. The government offers tax breaks for EVs designed to support the industry by allowing them to charge inflated prices for new EVs. It's still a bit cheaper for the consumer to lease the EV than the ICE equivalent and the manufacturer makes a higher profit on the EV than they would if they had to sell at market rates (funding their transition from ICE to EV). So everyone (except the treasury) is happy.
Once they hit the second hand market though there are no more tax breaks, so they have to sell at the market rate. Hence high depreciation. It's not news. It's just an inevitable consequence of the way the EV market is currently designed.
I'd argue that those of us looking to buy a second hand EV are not actually getting a good deal out of this either though. Yes, the price you pay for a second hand EV is much lower than the price it was when it was new, but that's irrelevant. That new price was artificially high and propped up by our taxes. The comparison should be with an equivalent ICE car and not with the original fantasy sticker price. But that's a much more complicated news story to write and doesn't get as many clicks.
- As well as the Hyundai charging issues (which I agree seem to have been fixed) there also seem to be issues with the reduction gear failing fairly early.
Hmm, I really don't think this is common. The only one I saw in my FB groups is one that went at 200k miles and it was fixed using normal transmission servicing techniques and equipment. That also seems to apply to 1st gen cars like mine (which is fine btw) and not Ioniq 5/6s
I'm always going to want to use Google maps just for the live traffic and camera/crash/obstruction data.
In car satnavs have that now too - mine does.
The comparison should be with an equivalent ICE car
Agree but when I bought my car for £13k the same car in diesel hybrid was £16k.
On the subject of pricing, the price of my wife’s Hyundai Inster (in Ireland) has gone up €500 in the last 2 months with, according to the dealer, another €1,200 coming in the next couple of weeks so about +7%. Either the cost to make them are increasing or they are selling so many they are trying to cash in. Felt a bit miffed there was no negotiation on price when we bought ours but now glad we nailed down the deal when we did.
In car satnavs have that now too - mine does.
How does that work? Have you tried comparing it to Google? I would have thought that Google would always have more accurate data on things like delays, obstructions, mobile speed cameras etc just because there are far more people using Google maps at any time than there are using a particular manufacturers satnav.
These days I find that I tend to always stick Google maps on even for things like my regular commute, because it will let me know expected arrival time (which tends to be very accurate) and whether the current route is still the best given current traffic conditions.
Maybe that's all standard now though. I know Tesla basically take Google data for their navigation system so maybe other manufacturers do too.
The Tesla/Google route finding isn't perfect, we always cross check against Waze for longer trips.
For some reason it also won't see the Rotherhithe tunnel as a viable route to cross the river, which is tedious as it's on my car commute....
12 months and 10k miles into our MY RWD 3 year lease and aside from the major issue of the company owner, and the pain of the insurance renewal, a so far excellent experience.
The Tesla/Google route finding isn't perfect, we always cross check against Waze for longer trips.
You do know that Waze is a Google company and uses the same data?
Yep but it seems to disagree often, particularly on the M25 vs through town options. I suspect like some weather apps, same data, different processes lead to different outputs, but I'll defer to the IT crowd on here.
How does that work? Have you tried comparing it to Google?
It works the same way as Google does - some sort of crowd-sourced data, maybe it's Waze, not sure. In any case, last weekend we had both the Satnav and Google Maps running, and they did both update a few minutes apart, but we don't know which one was correct since the jams were due to traffic volume and kept appearing and disappearing as we were approaching. I do know though that Hyundai's live charger information is much more up to date than Zap Map's, at least the free version.
You also get live routing up-front with Hyundai, not just as you drive, along with colours on the map etc, but it's only free for the first 5 years. It's £2.99 after that, which for us is coming up. I think it's worth it, because it also covers remote control of the car and so on.
These days I find that I tend to always stick Google maps on even for things like my regular commute, because it will let me know expected arrival time (which tends to be very accurate) and whether the current route is still the best given current traffic conditions.
Yep it does that. You put 'work' in, and it gives you the best route. What it doesn't do though is notify you before you leave for work, which Google can do via your phone.
My little Pug e208 uses TomTom maps and live traffic data for it's built in sat nav. I still use the TomTom app via Carplay most of the time, but when I look at them side by side the traffic data is the same.
It's somewhat personal preference, but after years of comparing TomTom to Google/Waze/Apple I still find TomTom is by far the best at using live data to route you round issues. So kind of nice that that's what is built into my car.
All the systems including in car sat navs will be using traffic information from multiple aggregated sources including traffic sensors and other vehicles on the road, so you should be seeing very similar information. I guess there are likely some systems differences in algorithms for re-routing, but unlikely to be huge. BMW uses Here technologies as it seems do Audi/VW/Mercedes/Volvo, and each of those vehicles will be updating the Here traffic map......
Thanks everyone. That’s really useful. I assumed that Hyundai/Kia/Peugeot/BMW systems would only have access to data from people using the same system, so Google would always be better due to the size of the user base. But it sounds as though they might be getting data from a number of sources (maybe including Google).
Rule number one, always check your assumptions 😀
I still like the way you can put the map on the driver’s display with the Renaults but it’s not such a big deal and I should perhaps look again at some of the cars I’d ruled out on that basis.
I have been able to see Google maps on the screen of my BMW, using android auto for at least 8 years I think. But actually I prefer BMW's mapping and navigation. This is particularly useful in the ix3 (not the iX, which I agree is ugly) and other evs, as it knows the state of charge and can point me to fast chargers when on a long trip. All ev manufacturers are pushing hard to upgrade software for route planning/charging so this will only get better. Google on your phone doesn't know the state of charge of the car.
@roverpig, with respect, you seem to be stuck in analysis paralysis 🧮. I suspect no car is ever perfect and there will always be compromises, you just need to work out the important ones and redraw your decision grid. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
A couple of mates moved from Teslas to an ioniq6 and polestar 2, both much happier with the non-tesla
Thanks @susepic You are right about the analysis paralysis of course. Although it's mostly because I enjoy the researching part more than the ownership. Understanding all the different trade-offs and decisions made by different manufacturers is fascinating (for me at least) and once I buy a car the fun stops 😀
I'm also aware that I have better options now than I did when I started looking around 8 months ago and I will have better options in the future too. For example, you can't buy an EV3 with a heat pump for under £35k yet, but I bet you will be able to before the end of the year.
Of course, by then there will be something even better on the market and the temptation will be there to wait another six months for those to start appearing on the used market. I've also now got a charger that reminds me every time I pull into the drive that I really should just buy something.
As an example of the temptation to wait:
There is a 9-month old Scenic with 10k on the clock that I've been watching on Autotrader. It was listed at the beginning of May for £10k less than the new list price, which sounds good. But it's already dropped another £2.5k in the (less than) month it's been on the site.
I've got a fair few EVs on my watch list and the story is essentially the same for them all. Buying a used EV at the moment is basically a Dutch auction. Wait and the price just keeps dropping, until eventually someone nips in and grabs it. But even the initial listing price for equivalent cars is dropping all the time. You see a car listed as being, say, a grand below the market rate one week and the next week the same car at the same price is just marked as being the market average.
It's undoubtedly a good time to buy a used EV, but I suspect next month will be an even better time and it's hard to say where and when the bottom will be.
TBH you sound like someone buying a PC in the early 90s - any model on the shelves was out of date because the next generation had already been announced, so you waited a few months for those to become available and by then there was another next generation on the way. That meant that some people ended up on ancient hardware because they couldn't bring themselves to buy something that wasn't at the cutting edge.
The sensible way to operate back then was to buy the one that met your requirements and then not look at the market until you were ready to buy again. That's what I've done with my used EV - don't care about prices now because I set my budget and bought a car I like, so why play "what if".
I don’t fully understand the analysis paralysis on buying secondhand, a new EV though, there’s a new model coming out every 5 minutes it seems, from new manufacturers, aome with every bell and whistle imaginable, 500+ hp accessible in a family suv for not bonkers money… nio, geekr, rivian, and there just a few, some of the new EV models only available in China are really very cool.
secondhand in the uk slightly less exciting
Those new models are all available second hand (with big discounts) after only a few months though.
I see what you are saying @thepurist and there is some truth in it. Only my ICE car isn't really ancient hardware and still does the job just fine. If it would give even a hint that it might be about to break down on me it would probably spur me into action, but it just keeps chugging along.
Since I'm interested in longevity, I thought I'd better educate myself on the different motor designs used in EVs. There is a lot of noise in the media about battery life, but that really isn't an issue. I'm sure any modern EV battery will be able to retain around 90% of it's original capacity even after 200,000 miles. But motor failure is much more common and often expensive enough to make it uneconomical to repair an older car. There are also fundamental differences in the design used by different manufacturers.
I've said before that I like what Renault are doing with their EVs at the moment. In terms of driving experience, tech etc there is a lot to like. But Renault and BMW seem to be the only manufacturers currently using Electrically Excited Synchronous Motors. While these are great from an environmental point of view (fewer/no rare-earth metals required) the need for bushings on the rotor means that these are unlikely to last as long as the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors favoured by most manufacturers. Indeed, experience with the Zoe suggests that these motors often fail before 100,000 miles let alone 200,000.
In general, if longevity is the issue, then much like Japanese ICE cars in the 80s/90s it looks as though Chinese built is the way to go at the moment. Lots of high mileage Chinese built Teslas on the road but also a fair few examples of Chinese built MGs being used as taxis and racking up high mileages with very few problems and a few tear-down videos suggesting that the Chinese built cars are generally very well put together.
On Zoé forums it's not the motors that are a weak point but the drop gears. You can hear the characteristic whine on many Renault EVs. Our first Zoé whined from new but the latest one much less so. The bushes don't run on segments but on a smooth axle so they wear very slowly and are easily replaced - not an issue.
I'm test driving a Megane E later today.
Thanks @Edukator. I've spent far too long watching Gary C rebuilding Zoes on Youtube so probably have an unreasonably negative view of Renault 😀 Although having bushes and an electrically excited rotor sounds fundamentally less reliable than just having a permeant magnet, it does seem to be the bearing that fails before the bushes or, as you say, the reduction gear. Either way, there is not much to suggest that Renault know how to build an EV that lasts 🤔
Interested to hear how you get on with it @stcolin. I still find it hard to resist the extra range of the Scenic even though the Megane is the more fun car to drive and a better option for me for 90% of the time. Main complains I've seen from owners tend to be an alarm that sets itself off for no reason (on some cars), a very flaky app (with limited functionality) and complaints about the range in winter. But that seems to be common with all EVs and mainly down to owners not understanding how EVs work yet as far as I can tell.
I've had my Megane since Dec '22, a non heat pump early Techno model. No alarm issues - in fact no issues at all (touch wood), currently on 32k miles. I've test driven a Scenic and love the idea of the battery that's a third bigger, but the whole car is bigger and heavier and doesn't feel quite as much fun as the Megane. I like the bigger central screen on the Scenic but that comes on all newer Meganes too apart from the base model.
The Renault app doesn't seem to work all the time which was an issue over last winter when it wouldn't reliably pre heat the cabin on cold mornings. I found a third party app which has been rock solid called "Kelec".
Range is definitely lower in winter. In lovely warm weather the on board computer shows a range of 240/250 miles when it's full, that drops down to 170/180 in very cold conditions.
I reckon the reduction gear would be an easy fix. The assembly is tiny, it's not like a transmission or final drive on an ICE. A lot of manufacturers seem to suggest it sealed for life, but people are saying to replace the oil. It's a 5 minute job, there's no filter and it only takes like two litres in many cars.
But again don't worry about it that much. These things are fixable, and they are no more dramatic than having a transmission failure in an ICE and people don't always jump on the internet as soon as this happens.
In lovely warm weather the on board computer shows a range of 240/250 miles when it's full, that drops down to 170/180 in very cold conditions.
Well, I think I'm converted. My full proper drive in an EV. The Megane was really really nice. Very nice cabin, quality seems great too, and the ride was plush. Genuinely surprised at how good the ride was on the 20" wheels. The instant shove was actually addictive and had me laughing out loud.
The extra range on the Scenic would be nice, but it's too big for me really. My average work distance is somewhere between 125-150 miles (I'm a rep of sorts), so the Megane should cut it for most journeys I'd say.
Think I have now kicked the EV can a good few years down the road now. Well I would like one but as the next car needs to be suitable for a new 17year old driver too, it's just not insurable at a sensible cost. Stupid really as something like a used Kia Soul EV at £5k and 100k miles is insurance group 18 yet isn't at all quick. I need insurance group 5 or so for a new driver so it's so far away from being a sensible insurance cost that it isn't going to happen.
Imagine if a generation of new drivers could be encouraged into EVs. No, the insurance industry have decided that isn't going to happen.
We switched to a plug in hybrid earlier this year. To be honest it’s a bit of a pain in the arse. We can’t have charging infrastructure at home as don’t have off road parking on a main road.
But I frequently drive a few miles to a local rail car park to get the train to work and the car park has four charging points which are never in use. Great I thought I’ll just top up there a few times a week. So far, at least one of the chargers per visit has been unresponsive so had to move to another. Another time the car wouldn’t charge at all even though showing on the App. And now this morning all spaces are free but none showing on the App to initiate. Pretty shit really and a good job it’s a hybrid as this is one of only a handful of public chargers in my part of a major city (Sheffield). It’ll have been said a million times before but the infrastructure needs to be infinitely better than it is now for people without home charging to switch.
The extra range on the Scenic would be nice, but it's too big for me really.
That's basically my dilemma in a nutshell.
The Scenic gives an average of 65 miles more range, which is not insignificant.
It is longer, taller and heavier but (ignoring the slightly larger mirrors on the Scenic) the width is pretty much identical. So it's not really like you can fit the Megane through gaps that the Scenic wouldn't make.
I've spent a bit of time playing with the ABRP route planner, which is fun as you can select different cars and see what it suggests for journeys that you know. I've found that, with the Scenic I basically wouldn't have to change anything from my ICE car. Even for my longest (500 mile) journeys I'd basically make the same number of stops in roughly the same places as I do in my current ICE car and the total charging time is less than the time we are typically stopped at each point. But with the Megane I would have to change the way I approach those journeys. Basically more frequent (but slightly shorter) stops. Whether or not that matters to me seems almost impossible to know but it does mean that the car is now dictating when I would have to stop, which isn't the case for the Scenic.
I've spoken with a fair few EV drivers now (virtually and IRL). Some say the extra stops are no big deal and you quickly adapt while others say they are a pain and they wish they had bought a car with a longer range (or just stuck with ICE).
What you can say is that, with charging infrastructure still being a bit flaky, more stops means more chances of things going wrong. But even that is a picture that is changing quickly.
Genuinely surprised at how good the ride was on the 20" wheels
They do trash range but for some reason manufacturers fit them as standard. I know that Hyundai have an option to spec smaller wheels on Ioniq 5s from the factory which is more comfortable and gives a big range boost, so it's a bit of a no-brainer when cars are sold on range. So I'd ask if Renault can do the same.
No, the insurance industry have decided that isn't going to happen.
It will happen eventually, just not yet because most young people aren't buying EVs due to cost.
I've spent a bit of time playing with the ABRP route planner, which is fun as you can select different cars and see what it suggests for journeys that you know
ABRP massively under-estimates the range I get from my car though, not sure why.
Insurance is an interesting one. It seems to be mainly down to price and availability of spare parts. There are fewer places that can repair an EV and repairs generally take longer than for an ICE car, which means higher costs for the insurance company (who have to provide a replacement car) even if the parts themselves don't cost much more. All of this should change over time though as EVs become more common.
Pretty shit really and a good job it’s a hybrid as this is one of only a handful of public chargers in my part of a major city (Sheffield).
Looks like there's quite a few?
I've noticed a bit of a change recently from the (pro and anti) EV brigade on YouTube when it comes to chargers. These guys (and it is mostly guys) are chasing clicks of course so everything is over dramatised for effect. But while there used to be lots of content about how poor the public charging infrastructure was (lack of chargers, poor reliability, complex payment etc) that content has largely dried up. Instead we are seeing more videos showing big banks of chargers with no users. It's like we've gone from under supply to over supply.
Mind you, that doesn't seem to be supported by the data that I can find. According to the RAC the number of BEVs on our roads increased by almost 40% in 2024, while according to ZapMap the number of charge points "only" increased by 30%.
Pretty shit really and a good job it’s a hybrid as this is one of only a handful of public chargers in my part of a major city (Sheffield).
Looks like there's quite a few?
Unfortunately (for access to public charging) I live right on the edge of the city right at the Derbyshire border, and around me is very limited compared to the city centre. I really dont want to drive into the city as it’s a pain and you also have to pay for the parking as well as the charging. I can just about stomach 50p/KWh but not as well as £15+ for the car park too for the day. Slightly ridiculously we’re now looking as possibly moving house to in part having our own off street parking space for a charger as well.
Looks like there's quite a few?I've mentioned this before, but if you look at the same map for similar sized city over here, it's "quite different".
Both are cities of around 550-600 thousand people... Just a little tweak to legislation and you get chargers springing up like weeds. Some of these locations have 200+ chargers.
And looking at my nearest city, it's got almost as many charger locations as Sheffield, but around 1/10th of the population. (a couple of the locations have more than 50 chargers as well.)
My council has just ruled out an EV for me. Our house has a footpath one side and a service road the other where we can park next to our shed. However the council has decided to include the service road in the area wide ban on pavement parking despite the fact nobody needs to walk down it and there is no obstruction to bin lorries etc.
Had an email from Ohme saying OVO are ditching integration as of 15th July. Nothing from OVO though which is a massive own-goal, but I did find a post on their forum and as my car is compatible I can use their app and essentially put my Ohme charger in a dumb mode but still approve plug-ins (allegedly - not tried it yet).
Forums are blowing up by the look as they were recommending Ohme 3 months ago, so people are rightly annoyed. In fact it all seems a bit half-baked as they're partnered with VW for free miles but VW are partnered with Ohme to provide the free chargers for their offer.
Handily we're not currently contracted to OVO, so if the new way is rubbish it'll be easy to jump ship to Octopus.
Yes, see my long rambling post from earlier. I'm with OVO and when I signed up to get a charger installed (back in November) the Ohme Home Pro was one of only two options, but a couple of weeks before the install (in May) I got a call to say that was no longer an option so went with an Indra instead.
I can understand them changing the recommended charger for new installs but it's a bit off if they stop supporting existing customers who installed the charger that they recommended only a few months ago.
Looks like it's all driven by the need to distinguish where the power comes from, by the sound of it there's scenarios where a customer has solar and that energy goes in to the car but due to not knowing that, OVO give the customer a credit for the energy even though they never paid for it in the first place.
Appears that the chargers left on the approved list can provide that data and also explains why they now want the energy usage to come from the car rather than the now incompatible chargers.
Did quite a positive post last year on our trip to France (440 miles each way) in an e+ Leaf. Repeated the trip this year and frankly, it was a bit of a pain in the arse. Plenty of planned stops that were easy last time involved a divert into the nearest town because we couldn't get on to a (usually sole) chademo charger and coming back on the last leg before the shuttle we had 4 attempts in a row where we couldn't get on a charger, ending up at the Coquelles Ionity on 2%. And despite cruising at 60mph the battery still got too hot and slowed charging right down. Electroverse card still worked everywhere and avoided any extra hassle.
CCS adaptor (now sub £600) would have avoided some aggro but the battery would have still overheated. They're a decent car for 300ish mile days but this is pushing it a bit too far. I think we'll be using the old petrol MPV instead and when the Leaf gets handed back soon we'll go for something smaller for an everyday runabout.
There's the same number of chargers at the aires we used as last year but way more French cars using them - some places could do with double or triple the number and still be busy. Lots of new Renault and Peugeot EVs, and I suspect it'll be a right pain in the proper holiday season. More off-motorway options now though, although since the chademo requirement has gone away many are 2-4 CCS and a 22kw AC.
