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Just setting the dishwasher and washing machine on a delay timer so they only run in the cheap window makes a big difference.
agree in principle but for us, with family sleeping, just not worth the fire risk.
We are on IO and use it for all the car charging and it saves us a heap compared to previous with 2 ICE cars.
I’m on IO and always force the 7.5p window to start earlier in the evening by asking for an unachievable charging demand.
The 7.5p/kwh is a great headline, but does the sneaky +2p on every other kwh not eat into that?
No, our average price is 14.68p. And our diesel bill is zero where it would have been about £80. The money we are saving is paying for half the price of the car.
agree in principle but for us, with family sleeping, just not worth the fire risk.
There are scare stories, but I really don't think the risk is very big. When was the last time you saw a house fire? Plus, our washing machine and dishwasher are in the kitchen surrounded by not very flammable things, and are not exactly highly flammable themselves so at worst we'd get a scorched kitchen like you see in the photos. And we have smoke alarms.
There are scare stories, but I really don’t think the risk is very big. When was the last time you saw a house fire?
lovely place close to us, house about 25 yrs old, burnt to a crisp, lucky nighttime escape for the family that were all sound asleep - about 18 months ago… source traced and reported as washer/dryer.
The insurance funded replacement is much nicer mind you !
I don't dry clothes at night, just wash them.
I'm on old Tracker V1 which still has a standing daily charge at pre 2020 rate of 18.96p/day (incl VAT). I've worked out that I'd maybe save something like £20pa on Go and maybe £90pa on IO (based on av. Tracker rates of last 3 months). So, for various reasons it would suit me to pay a bit more and just consume unrestricted. Also, can't shift washer/dryer to night time. I'm mulling over going full Agile in the hope of making that work, but seems to mean really dedicating yourself to half hourly price monitoring/shifting usage and I'm not sure I'd keep it up. Also, almost certainly no going back onto old Tracker V1 if it didn't work for me.
These are my estimates, if anyone cares to pull them apart
Current Tracker V1 Tariff
daily charge 365 0.1896 £69.20
house 2000 0.1666 £333.20
car 4000 0.1666 £666.40
£1068.80
ToD Intelligent Tariff
daily charge 365 0.5396 £196.95
house 1500 0.2956 £443.40
car/house 4500 0.075 £337.50
£977.85
ToD Go Tariff
daily charge 365 0.5396 £196.95
house 1500 0.2956 £443.40
car/house 4500 0.09 £405.00
£1045.35
Standard Tariff
daily charge 365 0.5396 £196.95
house 2000 0.2779 £555.80
car 4000 0.2779 £1111.60
£1864.35
There are scare stories, but I really don’t think the risk is very big. When was the last time you saw a house fire?
Brother has been called out to two this year in this area (Galloway), one a washer/dryer and the other a tumble dryer, both on cheap nighttime time tariffs, thankfully only a lot of smoke damage and well contained so no extensive fire damage, make sure smoke alarms are linked and working.
How do people find Octopus’ EV tariff?
Intelligent Octopus is marvellous but then I do have a Tesla Powerwall.
Brother has been called out to two this year in this area (Galloway), one a washer/dryer and the other a tumble dryer
Dryers are a lot more of a fire risk, clearly, so this still isn't too bad.
Dryers are a lot more of a fire risk, clearly, so this still isn’t too bad.
I'd not be surprised if it's the same sort of mentality that leads people to bring their charcoal grill inside to cook on because it's raining...
I don’t dry clothes at night, just wash them.
I have a few friends who are firemen and they have all warned me never to use a washing machine or dish washer at night or when I'm out. This is by far the biggest cause of fire they see. Based on their advice (which I totally trust), I would suggest you rethink washing your clothes at night.
I do have smoke alarms though, I can't see myself sleeping through a dishwasher fire.
molgrips
Plus, our washing machine and dishwasher are in the kitchen surrounded by not very flammable things, and are not exactly highly flammable themselves so at worst we’d get a scorched kitchen like you see in the photos. And we have smoke alarms.
Tell me you haven't experienced a housefire, without telling me you haven't experienced a housefire 😉
I had a very minor electrical housefire, and caught it very early as the smoke alarm was right above it. Even so, the smoke was so black and thick throughout the house that I could barely navigate and breathing was uncomfortable. Plus obviously in an electrical fire the power trips so at night it's dark in the house anyway.
Tip: do not allow people in your house to leave piles of shit on the stairs, you cannot see it through the smoke
Tip 2: put a glow in the dark keychain on a set of housekeys and attach a small torch. I actually knew exactly where my keys were, yet still couldn't find them!!
I like the tips - I do always leave my keys in the exact same place for that reason but a glow in the dark bit might be good. Torches also.
molgrips
Free MemberI like the tips – I do always leave my keys in the exact same place for that reason but a glow in the dark bit might be good. Torches also.
Thanks for taking it in the spirit intended 👍
Nightlight torch, always charging, normal mode is nightlight, pick it up and it switches to torch.
They ought to put sprinklers inside dishwashers. There's already a water supply, just run some hose around it with little plastic sections that melt when it warms up and spray water. Of course, it's an electrical fire, but make sure there are enough earthing points and fuses and you'd be fine.
They ought to put sprinklers inside dishwashers
Isn't that how they work anyway???
Tip: do not allow people in your house to leave piles of shit on the stairs, you cannot see it through the smoke
Tip 3 - have a plan on where everyone assembles outside (sisters bil died 10 days after going back in his house looking for his daughter who was actually safe in the back garden)
Not in the casings... presumably that's where the fires start because I'm sure it's not your dishes and leftover bits of pasta catching fire.
Here you go. Plugged in the car to my Ohme at 1700. Told the charger I wanted 90% by 0400 and it gives me cheap electricity all evening.
My average electricity unit cost last month was 12.5p, running a 4 bed family house, with 2EVs on Intelligent Octopus and a wfh wife.
Ive set the kitchen electric ufh to come on for 3 hrs 0230-0530 daily during the cheap rate too, which warms up the house before we get up and keeps the dogs very happy indeed!
Plugged in the car to my Ohme at 1700. Told the charger I wanted 90% by 0400 and it gives me cheap electricity all evening.
It doesn't always do that - only when there's plenty of renewable energy. I've had it just say 'nope' when I've asked for more than can be delivered in the off-peak period.
Anyway - I may have to rethink the caravan towing idea. The Caravan Club have done tests on current cars, and most of them are only doing 45% of their range. I was hoping it would be a little more than half, as per my diesel experience. What Car have tested some cars at only 80 miles - which is rubbish. That said, they did test each car with a van weighing 85% of its kerb weight so heavier cars came off worse. They mention one car that was tested with a 1900kg caravan (huge) and a 1300kg caravan and that increased the towing range by 27%.
I know you'll all think I am mad, but I would like the option to have only one car, and I would like it to be electric. With current prices we could swap the two current cars for an Ioniq 5 long range and come out better off each month.
Mine has never said no. Maybe because IO can’t talk to my car, it has to just take my word for it.
I drive an Ioniq 5, and it’s pretty inefficient as EVs go, so I’d imagine it would lose less range than one of the higher efficiency ones like a M3
I was hoping it would be a little more than half, as per my diesel experience.
What are you towing? Though you had a small caravan, 12-1300 kilos?
My current and previous diesels get about a 25-30% reduction towing a 1150 kilo caravan (straight I4 turbo at 330Nm and the new I4 turbo mild hybrid at 420Nm)
The petrol before that (only 250Nm) saw a ~50% reduction though, which is one reason i got rid of it and didn't replace with another petrol!
Mine has never said no. Maybe because IO can’t talk to my car, it has to just take my word for it
Same for mine - Neither IO or the charger know the actual state of charge of the car, they just have to believe me when I say it needs 100% adding
Current van is 1280 or something. My current car gets about 56 ish solo and 27 hitched up, the Passat was about 60/31 ish.
I could handle 150 miles of towing range, which is around 50% of the WTLP of an Ioniq 5, but 100 miles is a bit annoying. That said, with the charging speeds we discussed the other day, it might not be too bad. Then again, in Mid Wales there aren't many motorway services so you might end up messing about like leaving your caravan in a lay by and going back for a charger.
Regarding IO, I think you have to be able to talk to either the car or the charger no? Otherwise you're just on Octopus Go? My charger occasionally fails to connect to the crappy Nissan systems and it assumes I need a full charge.
I think you have to be able to talk to either the car or the charger no? Otherwise you’re just on Octopus Go?
yep thats right, in my case IO talks to the charger, but the charger hasnt a clue on the state of charge of the car, so I just tell the charger that it needs to add 100% and it has to believe me. So IO always schedules about 11 hours of cheap electric - the car doesnt take 11 hours worth of charging, it takes what it needs (usually about 50%)
My current car gets about 56 ish solo and 27 hitched up, the Passat was about 60/31 ish.
So about half as efficient. Similar drop in efficiency to electric then?
Obviously the overall range of the ICE vehicle is much longer in the first place which negates this loss somewhat but interesting that your real world figures don’t represent the 25-35% reduction that others are quoting.
So about half as efficient. Similar drop in efficiency to electric then?
It seems to depend mostly on the aerodynamics rather than the weight. My first van had a stupid little spoiler flick on the back; the next one was rounded, and I gained about 2mpg.
Also I tow with a car, not an SUV or van, so it's more aero to begin with and the addition of the caravan makes a much bigger difference. In a previous discussion towed their caravan using a van and said that their MPG hardly changed - I think that was also quoted by a Range Rover driver as well.
My current car gets about 56 ish solo and 27 hitched up, the Passat was about 60/31 ish.
Jesus, Just checked my last journey with the caravan and a similar trip a couple of weeks before. 5.1l/100 without and 7 on the nail with... So 57 and 40 mpg.
What caravan is that?
What car/caravan?
The trip computer in my Passat was honest, it told no fibs unlike some seem to. Also, when we tow it's with two large kids in the back, bikes on the roof and loads of stuff.
Have a look on the Ioniq forum. Theres bound to be some caravan towers on there. The other great thing for an Ioniq 5 camping ( or any if it’s siblings) is the Vehicle to Load option, allowing you to use the big battery for camping power.
Tip 2: put a glow in the dark keychain on a set of housekeys and attach a small torch. I actually knew exactly where my keys were, yet still couldn’t find them!!
you guys lock yourself into a building at night? Our front door is locked but both it and the back door needs no key to re-open whenever needed
Deadlocks. A locksmith showed us how easy it is to get something through the letter box and pull down the handle, after my son shut the front door before any of us had picked up a key. Front door gets deadlocked when we leave, and at night.
I almost rang a garage today about an Ioniq 5 long range 2WD. Their advertised PCP deal for 15k miles a year would have worked out cheaper than us running the current 2 cars by about £100/m. We may just need a second car for another month or two though, which stopped me. According to the blurb it had a towbar already too.
Mrs g-d has just sent me details of their new salary sacrifice ev/hybrid scheme.
Having failed to jump out of my SMax for a nice auto estate in the autumn my brain is ticking this over...
Now I'm pondering 300mile WLTP range Golf ish sized car.
I do 180-200 miles of mixed commute type driving/week = 1 charge/week (+maybe a top up for the Tuesday to go off biking). Each round trip about 20 miles each way split very roughly suburbia 3 miles, motorway 13 miles, urban 4 miles.
Install home charger and spend some time working out tariffs for cheap overnight leccy and this is
It'll also handle 100miles to and from a meeting relatively easily.
This is suddenly feeling like prime EV territory.
Big journeys and trailer lugging is still looking like an existing ICE car job but that would slow the mileage accumulation and wear and tear on the older car.
Downside of this strategy is all the big trips are in the "old banger".
OR
Passat GTE or similar plug in hybrid that can tow a bit
30 or so miles EV range?
Gets me to work, but not home again, on a charge or use hybrid mode for the motorway bit and EV round town.
Seems to do about 45-55mpg mixed use according to reviews. Not amazing but at least it's not stinky diesel like the current big car. 🫤
Main upside is the big trip car is the "nice" car but we're losing a lot of the EV running costs wins to get that. Is this in fact the worst combination of all other than for urban emissions?
I still don't think we can manage the tow car being a pure EV. There are a narrow set of circumstances that I just can't figure out how we could do what we needed to even with a really expensive big one.
Am I roughly barking up the right tree on this?
Some of he newer phevs give a lot more range, prius (new one that isn't around yet is quick and gets great reviews) and RAV4 are both into the 40miles, I think the 2 series is 50ish? If there's no charging at work that might get you nearly all of your day to day driving on electric
Passat GTEs aren't really good for 30 miles of range, at least they weren't. We looked at these, and the range wasn't enough to make it worthwhile for our usage. The new Merc hybrids have a genuine 60 miles of range, and whilst the C class is spendy it's not that expensive next to a lot of EVs.
That new Prius is not going to be sold in the UK, apparently.
What are you towing?
That new Prius is not going to be sold in the UK, apparently.
Thats what Toyota said originally, but they changed their mind. Its coming to the UK soon. It does actually look nice/stylish.
Fantastic news. The US motoring press loved it.
What are you towing?
Not so much what as where. This is the most common one (although it now has 4 additional storage tubes mounted). It weighs about 500kg with the little boats and weekend kit and probably 600-650 with a week's gear or the bigger boats.
Definitely not as aerodynamic as a caravan 😉 but quite a lot lighter. A trip to Pwllheli was enough to knock 10mpg off the long term average (and I never reset that).
The issue is not so much what we tow but where we take it. Weymouth (at 100 miles) was one example although I see Lidl now has fast chargers near the sailing academy 🙂 (I haven't looked for a while).
Last year's Topper Nationals at Pwllheli in North Wales would definitely have caused us issues and we love Snowdonia and CYB but there are some holes in the fast charge network that I haven't worked out yet in the context of a 50% range drop for towing / bikes on roof. Mainly because where there are decent chargers they seem to be centred in urban car parks that are not designed for trailers 🙂
Maybe I need more time with ZapMap (or something else?).
I do feel more positive than I might have done a year/few months ago.
What car/caravan?
Those figures are from the current car, a V60 B4 Diesel, prior to that a V60 D3 and a small 4 berth (4m long on an Al-ko chassis) plated at 1150kg i think.
The trip computer in my Passat was honest, it told no fibs unlike some seem to.
My last two cars have been using dataloggers to gather data... So *pretty* accurate. I can even see torque request, injection volumes, pressures, ramps and timing!
Also, when we tow it’s with two large kids in the back, bikes on the roof and loads of stuff.
Kids aren't large, but it's usually 2 or 3 of them, plus some combination of bikes (random number between 2 and 5) and/or a 6m Canadian. (Have a rack on the front of the caravan for 2 bikes as well).
Kids aren’t large
Mine weigh as much as two adults, the oldest is 172cm and 85kg. You are doing very well to get 40mpg with that lot. I might have seen somewhere near that in the Passat with steady 50mph roads, but your average Welsh A road involves lots of braking and accelerating usually. Our caravan isn't small though, so perhaps your height is different?
@garagedweller - that trailer might have a higher drag coefficient than a caravan but it's got a much smaller frontal area. I bet that would not drop your range anywhere near as much. Also, at that weight you have a much wider choice of car. A Hyundai Kona for example can tow 750kg and I would not be at all surprised if you could get 150 miles from the longer range one. Those figures in the test I linked to earlier are for big heavy caravans in winter. The issue you have is that it's rather hard to test this theory out!
Also, re North Wales, they have put more chargers in recently. Of course, they are still rare, but not quite as rare 🙂 then you also have the issue that you have to un-hitch. Still, for me, I tow a few times a year and I'm prepared to put up with it for the benefits the rest of the time.
For the campers / caravanners amongst us I’d recommend toughleads.co.uk ModulEV system.
I got them to make me up a 15m IP65 13a extension lead with an interchangeable plug on the other end that is thin enough to fit through a letterbox. I have a 13a plug that I can use as a normal extension lead and a CEE 16a T-connecter that I can use to tap off the caravan site supply so I can use the granny charger without plugging it into the caravan itself and potentially overheating whilst still powering the caravan.
I use the extension quite often with the V2L to power stuff from the car.
https://toughleads.co.uk/collections/ev-electric-vehicle-extension-leads/products/modulev
I thought I'd try and get a handle on the battery health/capacity of my 2 yr old e208. Nominally 50kWh, but actually 46.3 kWh usable I believe. I noted battery start and finish %, along with distance and m/kWh from the trip computer to work out kWh used per 1%. Do you think this is a valid way to estimate battery capacity, or am I missing a crucial factor?
I also tried it the other way round based, on battery % before and after charging + kWh added by charger. This seemed to give better than possible numbers, presumably as the amount of energy the charger has supplied is more than than is actually added to the battery as it's not an 100% efficient process. I'm not sure if I'm missing a similar factor from my 'energy out' method?
Digging out the figures was part prompted by the latest Harry's Garage video where, among other things, he says that he thinks it's scandalous that battery health is not displayed by the car as it's an equally as important factor as the mileage of the car when looking at buying a used EV.
You are missing a few factors I think.
- The capacity of the battery varies by temperature - a warmer battery gives up more kWhs.
- The percentage displayed on the dash is not the true battery state of charge, there's always some headroom
- charging is not 100% efficient and that depends on temperature as well.
I'm assuming that added % also comes form the charger, not the car. There will be losses. It's usually about 75-99% efficient. Most are toward the upper end, but even at 97%, you'd still be losing 1.2kWh.
This raises a point that's been bugging me for a while. It's no wonder residuals are so poor when there is no easy way on most cars to display a battery health %.
I get why the manufacturers don't want it to be easy to see, but it is flipping annoying as a used car buyer.
I seem to recall that you can read the battery health using a modded OBD dongle on PSA cars. I know some dealers are able to give you a diagnostic readout showing the health percentage if you ask for it too (for a fee, natch).
It’s no wonder residuals are so poor when there is no easy way on most cars to display a battery health %.
There is on many cars.
Also I don't know what you mean by residual value being 'so poor'. They were still more expensive than equivalent ICEs when I was buying - although the specific car I bought was very cheap, ended up about the same.
molgrips
There is on many cars.
Also I don’t know what you mean by residual value being ‘so poor’. They were still more expensive than equivalent ICEs when I was buying – although the specific car I bought was very cheap, ended up about the same.
I think the word 'many' is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting there. 🙂 The Leaf...erm...struggling now.
I mean we're talking about one which makes it difficult five posts above this!
I certainly couldn't see it easily available on any of the EVs I've been in (Tesla 3 - without a 24 hour diagnostic test at least, Kia eNiro, MG 5, some others i've forgotten). In fact I don't recall ever seeing it readily displayed except on an old Leaf.
I never thought of that..
The leaf has it displayed on a standard info setting..
The Polestar.. No idea!
On another note..ohme charger installed this am.. Octopus go switched to intelligent go.. And the Leaf is now charging at 7.5p/kWh, and hence the rest of the house is too... Nice!
DrP
I hope you have better luck with the Ohme app than I have, DrP.
I have a Kia EV6 (77.4kWh battery) and the Home Home Pro. Worked great for about 3 weeks but then the app kept failing to recognise the car when I plugged it in and assumed the battery was at 0%. Contacted Ohme and they sent me a 'fix':
"I would advise refreshing the API connection between Ohme and Kia.
You can do this by following these steps:
1. Make sure the charger is unplugged. This is always important when making any changes in the app.
2. Log out of your Kia app and log back in. Avoid using biometric login such as facial or finger recognition and manually type in your credentials to confirm they are correct.
3. In the Ohme app go to the 'Manage My EV' section and tap 'Switch Car'.
4. Select a different make and model to your own car. Plug the charger into the car for about 30 seconds to save this change.
5. Unplug the charger and go back into the Ohme app, 'Manage My EV section'.
6. Tap 'Switch Car' and this time select Kia again and when prompted to, log in with your Kia account credentials.
7. Once you have successfully changed the car, you should be returned to the 'Manage my EV' section with the battery status showing on the right side of the car image."
That worked for a month or so until an Ohme app update about 3 weeks ago. Now if I try the 'fix' the app things I have a Kia EV9, which has a 100kWh battery.
Contacted Home again and their response this time was:
"Unfortunately, we are still experiencing some issues with the API connection for Kia.
Our Product team is currently investigating this issue and will look to resolve this as soon as possible.
As an Ohme Labs feature, communication directly through your vehicle (via API) is still in development. As a result, it may not work as intended from time to time.
For the moment you would need to disconnect the API link (by clicking Continue Without Account after selecting your car make) and then adjust your charge schedule slightly to 'add' a certain amount of charge rather than meeting a 'target'.
We're sorry for the inconvenience this may cause."
I read that as meaning they haven't got a clue why the app has screwed up.
It worked absolutely fine when I got the car last September but subsequent updates have screwed it up.
It's not all bad though. The app can still tell the time and I get the Intelligent Octopus Go 7.5p/kWh tariff overnight.
Sounds annoying...
So we've got 2 EVs ..leaf and polestar...
I'm the ohme app I've just put the car as the polestar...
I guess it'll just keep pumping out electrons, and once either car is full, they'll stop it..
It seems to be charging the leaf even though the app has the polestar as the car...
DrP
Thats what Toyota said originally, but they changed their mind. Its coming to the UK soon. It does actually look nice/stylish.
Saw the new Prius in Tokyo last month. Genuinely didn’t know what it was at first but it stuck out as it was a lovely looking car. Was quite stunned when I saw the badge on the back. Even the car nut I was with said he thought it was a bonny motor!
It worked absolutely fine when I got the car last September but subsequent updates have screwed it up.
I actually think you're better off with the charger not being able to talk to the car because that way you just Configure a default charging schedule in the ohme app to add 100% every time you plug the car in, and io will give you loads of slots outside the usual off peak hours so your house gets cheap elec for longer. If you can, just set a charging limit in the car to 80%.
My car doesn't have an api for the charger so this is how I do it, and I'm always getting cheap elc for the house in the early evening when I plug it in.
And the Leaf is now charging at 7.5p/kWh, and hence the rest of the house is too… Nice!
how does that work then ? I have IO, a BMW i4 and a Easee charger. As normal the IO App takes control and has the car ready at 100% by 0700 as per the IO App settings. I have just plugged the car in , at 55%, and it has mapped the charging from 11pm till 0600 tomorrow.
So from now till 11pm we are paying normal rate, not cheap rate, then whole house goes to 7.5p in charging window
I have IO, a BMW i4 and a Easee charger. As normal the IO App takes control and has the car ready at 100% by 0700 as per the IO App settings. I have just plugged the car in , at 55%, and it has mapped the charging from 11pm till 0600 tomorrow.
That is because io knows the current state of charge, your desired state of charge, and the time you want it at that state of charge by, and knows that it can hit those targets just in the fixed off peak window.
If you said you needed it full by say 7.30pm and you plugged the car in at say 2pm, then it would have to give you more cheap slots outside the usual hours to achieve it.
I actually think you’re better off with the charger not being able to talk to the car because that way you just Configure a default charging schedule in the ohme app to add 100% every time you plug the car in, and io will give you loads of slots outside the usual off peak hours so your house gets cheap elec for longer. If you can, just set a charging limit in the car to 80%.
Yeah, I think I'll give that a go. It's frustrating as I had 3 different charging schedules set up in the app depending on what trips I had coming up but I have started stressing that I'll get in the car one morning and find it hasn't charged at all.
I had 3 different charging schedules set up in the app depending on what trips I had coming up
I've got the same
I have one schedule set with a target of adding 10o% by 8am, another to add 40% by 12pm, and another to add 40% by 4pm
So depending on what time of day it is when I plug the car in it gets a different scheduke, most of the time the car gets plugged in after 4pm,so it's on the add 100% by 8am schedule, but occasionally I plug it in in the morning for a quick boost.
Also..I THINK the tariff times may be different in different areas?
Both octopus and ohme have asked for my postcode for this apparent reason.
I may, however, be talking BS...
DrP
Thanks for the comments on my previous question about buying a new EV. I guess it confirms what I thought; that buying any new car (EV or not) as a cash purchase isn't the option it was when I was last in the market.
I still don't know if I'd go for an EV over an ICE car when I get round to replacing the current car, but no harm in understanding how it all works.
I've noticed whenever people talk about home charging it always seems to be intelligent octopus. I'm up is Scotland (if that makes a difference) and get my electricity from SSE, now owned by OVO. They offer what they call the "charge anytime EV add-on" which they claim is "the UK's cheapest home EV charging". Basically 7p/kWh "any time you like day or night" (but presumably only a set schedule). So how come I never seem to see this mentioned?
They will also install a compatible charger from Ohme (Home, Home Pro or ePod) or Indra (Smart Pro or Smart Charger V3). Are these decent options and do people usually get the charger through their electricity supplier? I guess it's one way of making sure it's compatible with your tariff.
So how come I never seem to see this mentioned?
Because with the ovo charge anytime the cheap rate is limited to only the electric consumed by the car, whereas with io the whole house gets cheap electric along with the car when the car is charging, plus between 11.30pm and 5.30am regardless of whether the car is charging, so overall io works out loads cheaper even though the cheap rate is 0.5p more than ovo
OK, thanks, that makes sense. My charging (if/when it happens) would likely be in the dead of night. So I guess it depends how comfortable I'd be running other appliances overnight and whether I would bother (almost certainly not if I'm honest). But good to know the reason for their claim and why io is still preferred by many.
I certainly couldn’t see it easily available on any of the EVs I’ve been in (Tesla 3 – without a 24 hour diagnostic test at least, Kia eNiro, MG 5, some others i’ve forgotten). In fact I don’t recall ever seeing it readily displayed except on an old Leaf.
The data is mostly available/readable with the manufacturers diagnostics tool *today*, with continuous monitoring/diagnostics on a few cars, others need to do a slow charge and drive/discharge cycle as they don't monitor closely enough during use due to fluctuations in charge and discharge rates from what i understand.
There is legislation in a couple of markets next year and a couple the year after to have customer readable battery health data. There is talk of (almost) real time monitoring by manufacturer coming up, which is tricky...
I’ve noticed whenever people talk about home charging it always seems to be intelligent octopus.
That's because Octopus are a great company in a market populated by crap ones. But yes other tariffs are out there.
The Polestar.. No idea!
You can request a battery health report when it's in for a service - bit crap really, especially if you're wanting to buy one second-hand and the owner hasn't had it serviced
mert
There is legislation in a couple of markets next year and a couple the year after to have customer readable battery health data.
Didn't know that, thanks.
Road trip to the Netherlands has begun!
<b>I</b> really like the Google maps/battery state integration... Very good to know the battery charge on arrival...
Left Hove with 100%... Quick McDonald's stop, and got to le shuttle with 53%.
Smash in a few electrons at the Tesla chargers..and just about to enter France with 83%!..
One stop planned about 2/3 of the way (estimated 25% on arrival there), then will just slow charge to full at the destination!
The car is a dream to drive.. lane assist and ACC make it super chilled...
DrP
Had an email from Tusker last week suggesting that with only six months left on the lease I need to start hunting for a replacement. Decided not to go electric second time around and will just grab another used 5-year-old V60 (diesel or petrol) towards the end of the summer.
I love the experience of driving electric cars, like the get in and go, instant heat, refuelling at home at cheap rates, but there have been some changes in the last three years that I don't like.
The first one, obviously, is the price increase. Even with the salary sacrifice tax dodge the higher BIK and £800/yr road tax knock much of the benefits away. That applies to any new EV, really. Need 300 mile range? Pay £50k+. Teslas are particularly expensive on the Tusker scheme, whether down to insurance or poor residual values, I don't know.
The new Model 3 has the same crippled automation as the current one, and I'm not going to spend another £4,000 for an automatic lane change that doesn't work much of the time and which can be removed whenever Tesla deliberately interpret UNECE rules incorrectly to make a point. Still no parking sensors.
Other main reason is public charging. It was 20p/kWh when I bought the car, but is now 50p/kWh at Tesla stations and between 80p-99p elsewhere. I know there's an upfront cost to building new chargers, but there's a balance to be struck and it feels like the equivalent of having to refuel at motorway service stations everywhere. Even slow chargers are astronomically expensive.
Landowners are taking advantage of the increased demand - not by building more chargers, but by applying onerous access and parking charges. The last two Tesla chargers I used had a minimum £5 fee just to get into the car park. Could you imagine paying a fiver to drive into your local Esso station?
You'd think the Tesla network brings an advantage, but now they're opening more and more sites to all EVs, you hit the problem where the car navigates you there thinking that there's an empty space, but in reality there are just 4 non-Teslas taking up 8 spaces. You've also wasted £4 in electricity pre-heating the battery in a pointless exercise.
And, fundamentally, I don't want to buy another Tesla because of Elon Musk.
So I know this sounds depressing from someone who was an EV evangelist a few years ago, but it's clear that neither the incumbents or Labour have any intention of pushing the green agenda over the next few years so I might as well take advantage of the bribes they're giving to ICE owners.
Edit: just to clarify a couple of EV myths. Over the last 30 months I've never come close to running out of electricity or worried about finding a charger en-route. I've had to wait for a space a couple of times, and occasionally the charge rate has been irritatingly slow at only 50kW.
The battery degradation doesn't seem to be a thing - it was showing a range of 333 miles when I bought it and now has 321. I've been charging it to 95-100% every time against the guidance and it doesn't seem to care.
so I might as well take advantage of the bribes they’re giving to ICE owners
what are these bribes? as far as I can tell an ice car has a lot of the same issues you mention about EV's - (eg high tax, high public fuelling costs etc),but I dont see any bribes, but maybe I'm missing something.
Road tax on a new Model 3 from next year: ~£650/yr.
Road tax on an old V60: £30/yr.
Tax increases on fuel have been held year-on-year for fear of upsetting Tory voters.
Road tax on a new Model 3 from next year: ~£650/yr.
I guess those of us on salary sacrifice leases are going to see a hike in our monthly payments ...
That appears to be incorrect. EVs registered on or after Jan 2025 will be £10 per year for the first year and £180 per year after that. The supplement for cars more than £40,000 has been scrapped.
There is always the issue of previously low charge / free tax cars being unreasonably cheap.
Edit sorry you may be right about the £40,000 thing but apparently it’s still likely there will be pressure to remove this - the exemption is due to end in 2025 as you said.
Unrelated note, saw my first Fisker Ocean driving today. Did not look as huge as I'd feared. More of an Evoque/Macan size than Range Rover/Chav pickup.
Anyone been in one/driven one?