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We’ve had an id3 for nearly 4 years. End terrace house with no driveway. MrsL works in planning and I’m in sustainable development.
We’ve pestered the council for solutions; volunteered ourselves as a case study, pointed out how many people like us are stuck and shown them solutions like kerbo and similar.
Nothing. They have no plan, no idea on how to make a plan or why they might need to. They have supplied a good public charging network to be fair to them but we have to pay 67p/kwh.
I love our car, it’s ace but it’ll be going back in the summer when the pcp ends. At the moment I really want another leccy car as anything else is a backwards step but it’ll have to be cheaper than the id3 to compensate for the charging costs.
Councils need central guidance and help to make home charging happen.
We’ve pestered the council for solutions; volunteered ourselves as a case study, pointed out how many people like us are stuck and shown them solutions like kerbo and similar.
Unless you're paying for it they will have neither the funds nor the interest to help you out.
The guidance to local authorities on on street residential charging using cross pavement channel solutions came out in December
However, for most this isn’t a priority area of work. There is significant time required for the legal work, and the uptake at this point in time seems limited in some areas. In my LA area we’ve had enquiries from 3 residents, out of a population of 200k.
The current focus is on LEVI, where there was success in bidding for this, as this will provide on street public charge points. The big unknown being the tariff for these. As abou’ve, 55-80p/kwh isn’t close to the savings of residential rates, but this is how government have decided to invest.
If LEVI = on street lamp post charging at >60p a KWh then that's a crazy approach compared to that neat in pavement solution leading from a home wallbox. It completely dis-incentivises EV adoption. Both from an electricity cost and availability perspectiv. How would you ever be able to guarantee an overnight charge ahead of needing your car next morning, when 1 lamp post point has to serve what, 5+ cars either side on a terrace row?
House owner, low overnight tariffs and even solar installation are what make EVs and general households become more sustainable in terms of energy use.
Councils need central guidance and help to make home charging happen
They'd need it fully funded by central government to even consider it. Most councils are struggling to provide the legal bare minimum services these days, funding something like kerb-side EV charging infrastructure just isn't feasible.
They'd need it fully funded by central government to even consider it. Most councils are struggling to provide the legal bare minimum services these days, funding something like kerb-side EV charging infrastructure just isn't feasible.
In this version the ask isn't on councils to provide it - it's for them to allow it. If you live in a terraced house and want to install a charger, at present the hurdles make it a real faff, even if the council allows it full stop. A quick google suggests about £1000 for a cross pavement gulley, on top I assume of the £900 odd for the charger itself. So double, but not impossible if you want to have a home charger.
But at present you need the same approval granted as if you were digging the whole road up, for a job that takes under 2 hours. Incl, so the article says, a £2900 fee for the application.
Now, councils might be thinking cha-ching! to overcome their deficits but that's another matter. It should be permitted development, just get on with it.
I saw these E motorbike guys at the Excel at the weekend https://international.naxeontech.com/
They are being sold from a distributor from the Wirral. Looks great and would be a decent choice of commuting vehicle.
Ive finally settled on a Indra smart lux charger for home which should work with either car or bike in the future.
I liked the idea that I could charge conventionally or by wall charger plus I could take the batteries out to render the bike less value.
I found it ironic from some of the rest of the chats people complaining about charging points then not thinking of solutions like these. It means you can keep your old ICE car for longer, but use EV for shorter journeys like commuting and me just getting around North Somerset because it's filled with Nimby's lol
Have you seen the flying flea:
https://flyingflea.royalenfield.com/uk/en/home
The Naxeon looks like a two wheeled C5 lol but cool. I liked the retro classic look to be honest but the thing that sold me was the removable batteries to charge out of the bike at the office 😉 and no queues or fights for the EV points that i see lol
JeZ
Just started with a new company a few weeks ago and the company car policy is fairly open, however most of the relatively small fleet are EV's. So, it appears I might end up going down that route. I'm still not sold on EV's as this job can entail 250+ miles in a day and I'd rather not drive with range anxiety. However, one of the guys in the team recently took delivery of a Renault Scenic EV. Very nice car tbh, and he regularly gets over 250 miles between charges. So he says.
It completely dis-incentivises EV adoption. Both from an electricity cost and availability perspectiv. How would you ever be able to guarantee an overnight charge ahead of needing your car next morning, when 1 lamp post point has to serve what, 5+ cars either side on a terrace row?
Yeah it's not ideal. In theory it shouldn't be so much of an issue: 57% of cars do less than 100 miles a week, so would probably only need charging a couple of times a month? In practise, I can see it there being people like those weird obsessives who insist on having their parking space right ouside their house. They'd hog the lamp post every night, just in case they unexpectedly need to drive to Aberdeen tomorrow
I'm still not sold on EV's as this job can entail 250+ miles in a day and I'd rather not drive with range anxiety
Then don't. On the motorway network, recharging is an absolute doddle. If I drive 2hrs to my office I pass something like 100 chargers each way.
On the motorway network, recharging is an absolute doddle
Agreed... Having just driven several hundred miled from East Sussex, Chunnel, France, Belguim, and to the Netherlands, and back... The limiting factor in 'making non stop progress' was bladders and bellies!
My car realistically does about 220 miles at motorway speeds fully packed, and i was literally getting frustrated at how fast the 'expensive motorway services electricity' was going into the car whilst we grabbed a bite and a pee! I was hoping to charge for cheap(er... 50cent compared to 64cent) at my destination!
DrP
EDIT - as a counter to teh EV situation - the only time I think i'd miss my Octavia (which could get near to 550 miles from a tank) is when I've got a few bikes on the roof. EVs are so efficient, that anything that deducts from that efficiency REALLY eats into the range...
I reckon with 2 bikes on the roof, my range (motorway speed) would drop to 150 miles.. This could make cross country biking trips a bit more of a faff.
DrP
Motorways not too bad. The issue is when you are in an 'EV desert' like the North Yorkshire coast. A recent journey to cornwall was fine with plenty of chargers on the way (although i wonder what it would be like in summer - waiting a lot?) but going to Scarborough only yields a couple of fast chargers. This was ok in December, but I can imagine this will be a real struggle in the holidays.I'm still not sold on EV's as this job can entail 250+ miles in a day and I'd rather not drive with range anxiety
Then don't. On the motorway network, recharging is an absolute doddle. If I drive 2hrs to my office I pass something like 100 chargers each way.
The deployment of chargers is getting better, but there are still large areas with poor coverage.
A recent journey to cornwall was fine with plenty of chargers on the way (although i wonder what it would be like in summer - waiting a lot?)
We drove to Cornwall from Manchester last August, charging was fine. Set off on Saturday am, First stop at Gloucester Services for breakfast and used the tesla chargers, second stop at Exeter but found they were all busy, so carried on for another 50 miles or soto some tesla chargers in small village in Cornwall. Once we arrived in Fowey I plugged it into some slow chargers in the public car park for an overnight charge
Did the reverse on the way back, it was all pretty uneventful.
Discovered an issue with my EV yesterday.
My dad is pretty ill at present and at one point yesterday i thought i may need to rush off on a 230 mile trip to the hospital. My car would do that in one go but i wouldnt have much left and i would be desperate for a recharge. However i only had 70% in at the time so i would have needed a charge before setting off as well.
In the end i had my wifes car as back up instead so no issue. It all came to nothing as i wasnt needed to travel but it highlighted that i could have been in a bit of a pickle as i sometimes run it for a week on 50% or less. I also dont think having to stop for 45mins charge on a last second mission to see my dying father is a good state of affairs.
Anyhow, it didnt come to that and i had a back up but for 10 minutes i was trying to fathom how i was going to do it.
I made a similar point earlier in the thread. Its all very well making jokes about how people always think they need to drive to Aberdeen towing a caravan non stop etc but actually if your car is sitting on 50-60% which is fairly common and you need to do an emergency dash of 200+ miles which is also fairly common then it could easily be 2 charges plus needing to find one when you get there which might not be convenient depending on the situation. I too have very elderly parents four counties away, as I expect many do here who can call me in the middle of the night and I need to jump in the car. I also have a vulnerable daughter who is studying on the other side of the country and the only way she can do that is knowing I'm an emergency car journey away.
Its not the planned journeys that are the issue - I'd happily set out for the Netherlands or Germany on holiday without a second thought, its the unplanned ones....
Discovered an issue with my EV yesterday.
My dad is pretty ill at present and at one point yesterday i thought i may need to rush off on a 230 mile trip to the hospital.
I would hope this isn't a regular occurrence, and if your dad has been ill for a little while, that's *probably* something you should plan for.
i.e. leave the car at 90% charge, set the charge target to that as well and leave it connected (it's not going to do any damage to the car). Then as soon as you know you've got to leave, knock the limit up to 100%, pack your shit and leave when it's at 93%.
Or have a back up, partners car, access to a hire car etc. Know where the chargers are at your destination and so on.
It's only an "issue" in that we've got incredibly used to the 100% availability and 3-5 minute refill time on ICE cars.
If either of my parents fall ill it's essentially a minimum of 24 hours to get to them, more likely 48... So i do feel your pain!
Have you got zero access to another car Winston? In my instance it was more a case of me having not considered it before. Once i had given it some thought it became apparent i needed to use the alternative car. In the grand scheme of things, it didnt effect owning a EV for me and i suspect a huge majority of EV owners too.
but for 10 minutes i was trying to fathom how i was going to do it.
How much charge could you have put in the car in that 10 mins at your cars peak charging rate?
In that situation i’d have spent that 10 minutes hooked up to a 350kw charger somewhere along the way and whacked 40 odd percent into the battery.
16.66kw at 100kw/h. Not really enough to make a major impact on having to charge again.
Without the emergency situation its easy. I am driving down tomorrow. Have a stop at 150 miles to top back up which will take about 30 mins to put 50kw in. Drive a further 100 miles to destination and arrive with 150 miles range. Do my visit, come back to same charger with 50 miles range left. Put in about 75kw which will take about 45mins and travel back.
It was extremely last minute and that was the only reason i highlighted the issue. It hadnt occurred to me. Not even an issue going forward.
The Polestar managed 2.8miles/KWh while in my care and I drove it like my gran.
I lost count of the number of times it failed to unlock with the fob and the various software issues included the dash not powering up, the heads up display not working despite the main display saying it was on, the cameras not initialising, the car losing the fob in the time it took me to open the door and sit in the drivers seat and other faults that I can’t remember off the top of my head.
The Pilot Assist is really good when it works.
Polestar 2 here since the start of December so for balance.
I have done 4000 miles in really crappy weather. I live in a hilly part of Cumbria where my old mpg was always noticeably lower than when I was staying in other parts of the country. I travel mainly between Manchester and central belt Scotland. The car has managed 3.5miles/KWh and too often the ease of the speed means I am not driving like my Nan.
Absolutely no issues to report so far
Bit of advice wanted/sanity check. My wife's MG4 (standard range) is on a 2 year PCP contract finishing May. We've been really happy with it other than its incessant bonging and the mildly annoying info system. We're not interested in buying the contract (it's prob worth at least 20% less than the settlement price).
We're sticking with electric. She'd like a rear wiper and heated seats, and MG are keen to keep our custom. They've offered us some very good deals on the Trophy which has both of these.. Apparently the MG4 is going to get refreshed soon-ish but she's happy with the car if it had those extras. She also is thinking of the longer range which is mad as 95% of the time we home charge and we have my trusty Skoda ICE as well. Which I need to change but that's another post.
We did look at what else came in near/close to the deal MG have offered. Not much is the answer, maybe the new R5 but she doesn't like that at all (whereas I love it, but it's not my car/choice).
I really cannot be a$$$$d to go car shopping if I don't have to. MG does loads of short journeys, a few longer (120ish return) and a very occasional 250+. It's done 16k in two years and we don't expect that to increase. We've also two big doggos that need to fit in any replacement but again it's only for 15 mins max, once or twice a day. As you can see they are very happy with the MG4!
so TLDR- go car shopping (maybe look 2nd hand) or take the deal that seems to be better than anything else we can get with the stuff we want. I think you can probably tell what my view is...
You don’t say what the total cost for running an MG4 for two years and 16,000 miles was, but I think that’s the crucial part.
Look at what it would cost to buy, say, a two year old MG4 trophy with less than 20k on the clock. Then look at the price of a four year old one with less than 40k (or 1 and 3 years at 10k vs 30k if you prefer). How does that compare with what it would cost on a PCP deal?
That's a good shout. I think "not much" based on our Octopus Tariff but I have all that data in my Home Automation stats 🙂 We could certainly buy a used one for cash if a lot of its value has already gone. I'd expect we'd keep it at least 3 years and then give it to one of the offspring.
Definitely worth investigating.
An engineer who works for me has had a Polestar 2 for few years now. His other car is a nice 911. No complaints from him, nor the other people I know with them, but he's a decent reference point.
(Engineer in this context means senior, mechanical and electrical, not software or other faux )
LRDM Polestar driver here. its an early model so NOT super efficient (we had an eNiro prior to the P2) but I knew that would be the case and in reality it costs a couple of quid more a week to run. cracking car only let down but its shoddy infotainment system.
Polestar 2 LRDM with performance upgrade here... running Bridgestone all lseason tyres on 19" rims (which, i think, has stolen a bit of range..)
Did a 700+ mile round trip to the netherlands and back last week..averaged 35.6kWh/100miles... so just under 3miles/kWh.
I knew the polestar wasn't the most efficient car, but in reality didn't really affect the drive as we had to stop to pee and eat.
Also...this wednesday I spent the morning in a DIY garage type place (which was SOOO much fun, and something I've always wanted to do!) taking out the old suspension components and fitting KW coilovers! Just cos!
Yeah, I'm a big kid at heart really!
DrP
Can't wait for Mert's response.....
So I did my first home charge with my Ohme Home Pro, scheduled overnight on intelligent Octopus go. It duly charged up as expected but the charger appears to be dead. I've turned it off and on again but the display is blank and the buttons do nothing. Arse.
So I did my first home charge with my Ohme Home Pro, scheduled overnight on intelligent Octopus go. It duly charged up as expected but the charger appears to be dead. I've turned it off and on again but the display is blank and the buttons do nothing. Arse.
You can set it in the app to lock the charger so it can't be tampered with, presume you haven't done this?
You can set it in the app to lock the charger so it can't be tampered with, presume you haven't done this?
Nope! And I can't change any settings because the app shows the charger as offline.
Nope! And I can't change any settings because the app shows the charger as offline.
Have you tried rebooting the charger by turning the circuit breaker that supplies it off for 30 seconds then back on again?
I've had to do this once with mine when it got itself into a locked state
Ohme technical.support number is 020 4571 0520, my installer called them when mine appeared to be faulty on arrival on first powering up. They did a remote reset and update, it's been fine since. Id.suggest giving them a call.
I also dont think having to stop for 45mins charge on a last second mission to see my dying father is a good state of affairs.
That is likely to be me in a few years' time. It will not stop me getting an EV. I will leave my car charged during that period but it will take as long as it takes to get there. Sure, I could save 30 minutes if I had a diesel, but I could also save 90 by moving closer. Plus there could be traffic. I could also save 10 minutes by driving as fast as I possibly could everywhere but I am not going to do that. Same as I am not going to pollute everywhere I go on the off-chance that 30 minutes makes a difference once in a lifetime.
I don't mean to be callous but I feel like we are subject to fate.
I think people forget about the pollution they are causing in an ICE vehicle and the impact that poor air quality has on the health of others and the media has polarised the discussion it into a lifestyle choice one.
We still have petrol car and a new to me EV, so not taking sides. Taking the EV plunge is daunting but it will become the new norm for me. I understand that range is a worry, but having driven down to Cornwall from the NW, with a bit a planning, it was not really any more inconvenient having to add another stop on the way and this is with a car that has a 180 mile real world range.
An environmental guilt free trip for me !
However, if I was to buy a motorbike, it wouldn't be electric, it would be an old 2 stroke 🙄.
EV's aren't as environmentally guilt free as you might think at first impressions. The CO2 in producing a new one isn't insignificant; volvo's analysis of the EX30 suggests about 14-18 tonnes [1]. By my calculations that is equivalent to about 50 000 - 70 000 miles in a diesel car doing 45 mpg. So for folks cranking up really high mileages, it is a definate environmental win - although the practicalities may be limiting for some use cases. However, for people doing lower milage, keeping an old petrol or diesel running is likely better.
There also isn't zero environmetal impact from running an EV. The UK grid relies on a significant amount of gas generation. When I did the sums comparing an ID buzz to a diesel caddy for motorway usage, for a given journey the CO2 for carging the buzz would be around 1/4 the diesel in the caddy. So, a lot better, but still not entirely guilt free. I really want an excuse to get a buzz but running the caddy until it dies is the lower CO2 option. As ever, the environmentally best solution is to sit at home not going anywhere!
1.
By my calculations that is equivalent to about 50 000 - 70 000 miles in a diesel car doing 45 mpg.
Have you included the CO2 to produce the diesel car?
for a given journey the CO2 for carging the buzz would be around 1/4 the diesel in the caddy.
Including the CO2 to extract, refine and distribute the diesel?
Agree that it's not a simple calculation but you need to make sure you're comparing apples with apples.
By my calculations that is equivalent to about 50 000 - 70 000 miles in a diesel car doing 45 mpg.
Have you included the CO2 to produce the diesel car?
No, because it already exists, which is my point: Running an old ICE vehicle for longer is lower CO2 in a lot of cases than replacing it with a new car or - possibly even worse - adding an EV whilst retaining the old ICE car for long journeys where the EV would be annoying. I'm not arguing that buying a new diesel is lower CO2 than new electric. I wouldn't contemplate buying a new ICE vehicle and support the policies to phase them out.
In terms of the CO2 in diesel, I used the UK Government official conversion factors which should include all lifecycle emmisions. (See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/647f50dd103ca60013039a8a/2023-ghg-cf-methodology-paper.pdf)
No issues with what have been said, but air pollution from vehicle exhausts isn't just about CO2.
Running an old ICE vehicle for longer is lower CO2 in a lot of cases than replacing it with a new car
Which is relevant only if you are planning to buy a new car specifically because it's electric.
MrsJ is expressing an interest in a road trip to Ireland, specifically Donegal. Anyone got experience of touring that area in an EV? I’m obviously interested in the availability and reliability of charging!!
MrsJ is expressing an interest in a road trip to Ireland, specifically Donegal. Anyone got experience of touring that area in an EV? I’m obviously interested in the availability and reliability of charging!!
no info specifically on Donegal but over here I mainly used ESB chargers when out and about as they have decent coverage. I also use EasyGo occasionally (hotels/lidl). Both are via an app. A quick look on Zapmap.for that area shows a few ESB 50kw+ chargers about.
Even taking your figures, if the construction of the EV is equivalent to 70k miles in a diesel and the EV emits 1/4 of the CO2 of the diesel in use then after under 25k miles the EV would have been better (25k ev miles is equivalent to 100k diesel so that's the 70k ice mile production equivalent and 25k actual diesel miles)
So is it simply that "if you're going to drive 25k more in your ice then it's better to replace it with an EV". Hell no, because that means you'll likely replace the EV sooner than you would have done if you'd kept the ICE for a bit longer but running the ICE until it dies isn't the best solution either. It's complicated to do it objectively and the answers will always depend on individual use cases.
Ignore that - can't edit it now but sums are baloney. don't post and cook at the same time...