Protectionism needed. I wouldn’t buy one if it were 10e but too many will.

That could have unintended consequences of Chinese OEMs setting up production in the EU or Europe. BYD are looking to invest a billion in a new factory in Turkey and both BYD and Nio are showing interest in the Audi EV factory in Belgium that is under closure threat.

Deals are out there. This came up on Xitter this morning. Good car for very decent money.

Pretty crap Predator though. Took out a coyote using a stealth cloaking device and thought that was worth celebrating.

Dare I say it, but it’s “probably” better than the original!

Oh dear!

But its still the same price as an Aygo.

BTW the Aygo doesn’t even make it into the top 20 cars to be sold in the UK in 2024 so it appears our fellow citizens aren’t as desperate as you might like to think they are to buy cheap cars.

That’s still a lot of actual money though. Not far off twice the price of a Toyota Aygo.

I’d like to present the Dacia Spring. An EV for the same price as a Toyota Aygo.

 There are many startups working on battery tech and most of them are being funded by the manufacturers who are their future customers – makes sense.

Let’s face it new battery tech will most likely come from the likes of CATL, BYD, Samsung and LG not by a startup somewhere funded by a legacy OEM. Witness the debacle that is Northvolt, bankrolled by Volvo and VW where BMW recently pulled out of a 2.2 billion contract becuase Northvolt will fail to deliver.

we need cheap decent EVs

Well they are here already without tax breaks. MG4 £27k, Corsa Electric £27k, BYD Dolfin £26k, Fiat 500e £25k. Might not be your idea of cheap but we live in a world where a new Ford Puma ICE starts at £24k.

Hyundai just opened a new factory in the US for example – that’s where part of the UK government tax-break on new EVs went.

Did you really mean UK government tax breaks? I’m assuming you meant the US EV tax credit. The US have been clever linking the tax credit to the % of the vehicle sourced and assembled in North America, especially the battery. That’s why Hyundai have opened a factory there. I’d be quite happy if we did something similar in the UK but I doubt our market is attractive enough to persuade the likes of Hyundai to build an EV factory in Europe outside of the EU. Tax breaks without conditions like that will just be used to boost profits and shareholder dividends.

The directors won’t just put the money in their bank account, that’s not how it works. 

That’s not what I meant and you know it.

They will keep the prices high (they are already hiked) but they’ll continue to invest it in R&D and production of more and cheaper EVs.

If prices are already hiked why are you suggesting we give them even more money in the hope that they will give us cheaper EVs in the future rather than increased dividends to shareholders?  Seems rather naive.

Extra tax breaks for EVs could be seen as direct investment in industry, but unless they are careful the side benefits will go straight to the better off people buying or leasing the more expensive new cars.

No the tax breaks will be trousered by the OEMs who will hike their prices by the amount of  the tax break/subsidy as we saw with the EV grant.

I hope he didn’t tell Trump the real victory plan as Trump is now Whats Apping it to old Vlad..

Harry potter is turning into one big long RIP now.

I prefer to look at Harry Potter as the retirement plan that provided a comfortable old age for mature British thespian gentlefolk.

Anyway Dame Maggie was always in her prime.

No, it is not a motorbike as far as the components are concerned.  To start with, it doesn’t have a throttle and it only supplies torque that supports the input the rider provides.  Find a motorbike without a throttle and that responds to the riders physical power output.

It really doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have a throttle. It provides more power and torque than even an elite cyclist can generate. The components on the bike see power and torque above what they would see on a non-eMTB and from what I’ve heard and also seen on this thread this leads to more wear and failures of drivetrains before we even get to motors failing.

Well its not really is it. its basically pedaling and you get an assist,

Yes an assist from a motor. Yes legally its an assisted pedal cycle. But really as far as the components are concerned its a motor bike with 100 NM of torque and 0.34 HP of power.

I’m eMTB curious but I’m questioning the reliability of the tech. I have a work colleague with an eMTB and from what he tells me its continually breaking down as are his mates eMTBs. Dunno whether the motor and battery tech is sufficiently mature yet or maybe its using ordinary bike parts on what is basically a motorbike. Anyway any recommendations for bikes/motors to look at for maximum reliability?

My Model Y is still pulling 250mph at 85% charge. The stop charging at 80% rule doesn’t apply to a lot of EVs these days.

After months of agonising, I joined the EV club today ?.

Nice. That’s one more of us and one less of them ;-)

 I have installed ZapMap and I have seen they have ‘ZapPay’. I assume that, should I put my card details on it, I can then pay over the app if the charge station doesn’t accept contactless payments?

I really wouldn’t bother with ZapPay. Just get an Octopus Electroverse card and the Electroverse app. The Electroverse RFID card means you don’t need an app and mobile data to activate a charger. Also you don’t need to be an Octopus customer to use Electroverse. The Electroverse app is very good in showing the locations of all Electroverse compliant chargers.

This is gonna sound pathetic but which Tesla app is it. 

Its the official Tesla app that all Tesla drivers use. If you are a non-Tesla driver you use the “Charge your other EV” part of the app (navigate to it via the pizza box icon on the top rhs). When you open this section the app automatically shows you all the Superchargers available to the public..

If you have to use any other network arm yourself with patience and make sure you’ve got enough kms left to get to another charge point if /when it doesn’t work.

I’m a Tesla driver and yes the Supercharger network is great but only 40 or so of the UK Superchargers are open to the public. There are good non-Tesla networks in the UK like Ionity, Osprey, FastNed, Mer and MFG they’ll just cost a bit more. No need for patience to use them just get an Electroverse card which covers just about all the decent charging networks.

Just finishing off one of these. Very tasty

Here’s my recommended electric soup

Remind me again what the ‘I’ stands for.

So what? Its not a good look to have to go cap in hand to buy a space flight from a country against which you have placed sanctions.

Space X stuff stopped being fun when the rockets stopped blowing up.

Just reinforces what an achievement it has been for Space X to go from a failing maiden rocket flight in 2006 to sending humans into orbit safely within 20 years. If not for Space X the Americans would now be asking Vlad Putin to transport their astonauts back from the ISS because of the the Boing Starliner failure.

I’ll not be bothering with it. Last series was pretty downbeat and sad with overtones of two old and not very well guys circling the drain.

So you need to pay for a subscription to use the chargers, it just might be cheaper to do so if you use them a lot. Sounds fair enough.

No you don’t need a subscription to use the Superchargers. You just need the Tesla app. Set up a payment method on it then hit the pizza box menu and pick “Charge your other EV” and it will show you all the public Superchargers available to non-Teslas. You only need a subscription if you want the same price as Tesla drivers get. Also Superchargers have variable tarrifs based on how busy the Supercharger is and what time of day it is. In the last year my Supercharging sessions have ranged from 33p per kWh to 55p per kWh. Busy Superchargers also charge overstay fees if you stay connected past 100% charge which IMHO every network should implement.

I understand that Tesla have opened up the supercharger network to non-Teslas but am I right in thinking that you can only use it if you pay a monthly subscription and you can’t just turn up in your non-Tesla and get some electrons?

They have only opened up something like 42 Superchargers in the UK for public use. Lots more on the continent have been opened to the public. You just need the Tesla app to use them. If you want you can pay a monthly subscription (you can take it out for just one month to cover a road trip for example) to access the same price as Tesla drivers but even if you don’t take out a subscription it will still be significantly cheaper than the other networks.

The only problem you’ll have is if the vehicle’s charge port is on the RHS of the car like VW. On older Superchargers the cables are only long enough to connect to cars with the chargeport on the rear LHS corner like Teslas so it means you would need to park in a bay and use the stall on the RHS which means you will take two bays out of action. Expect some hard stares from Tesla drivers if you try that at a busy Supercharger.

 If you drive past loads of non Tesla chargers just to avoid having to beep your debit card, you’ll end up either out of your way or queueing.

Why on earth would I do that? I don’t have a problem using contactless (or more likely Octopus Electroverse) if there isn’t a handy Supercharger but due to the extensive Supercharger network that’s rarely the case. Believe me the chances of having to queue at the Supercharger are way less than with any other charging network. Also, for me as a Tesla owner, the superchcarger network is getting on for half the price of the others.

The more I look into the whole EV ownership thing the more I think that, if you want a relatively hassle free experience and travel away from home, just get a bloody Tesla

That’s the answer to most EV related questions.

It should not need a different app for each version of charge point, should not need the thought of “oh I can use this one but not that one”.

It doesn’t. Just get an Octopus Electroverse card which covers all the charging networks that are worth using including lots that operate destination chargers at car parks and hotels.

Another vote here for rhubard and custard Torq

er, not much, lost 30 mins between Verbier and the Channel Tunnel. The English side was just deeply unpleasant and one 10min stop.

Edge case indeed. Well you won’t be doing that in an EV.

I managed to do the c800miles with one stop for fuel.

Probably 4-5 stops. How many times did you stop for food or a natural break?

There’s a guy on speakev.com who occasionally posts usage data like below. He might well do so this weekend.

Here’s the thread https://www.speakev.com/threads/charging-hubs-when-where-are-there-queues.177854/page-9#replies

They were in the process of building 14 tesla superchargers at Gretna outlet village (rather than the motorway services) when I was last there three weeks ago. Maybe they are operational now?

edit: according to Zapmap they are now operational and are open to non-tesla peeps.

Looks like its already popular. OK its bank holiday Friday but the Tesla app now saying 1 out of 14 stalls available.

Just spotted on the Tesla app there is a new Supercharger at Todhills rest area southbound on the M6 just down the road from Gretna. Its also open to the public. Between Tesla and the other networks Gretna-Carlisle area has turned into a charging hotspot.

One challenge will be to get enough training miles in during the winter. I used to live the other side of Marlborough from you (hence the username) and always found the offroad on the downs unrideable in winter due to the clay and chalk combo making the stickiest mud I have ever seen. You’ll probably have to get some road riding done then. Anyway good luck with your plan.

Oh, I didn’t realise there were only 2 auto manufacturers…

Just one example. I gave two others above who’s corporate cultures and ethics you might like to consider before buying from them..

I’d suspect that VW aren’t doing these things any more, but Musk is still a dick

Why don’t we add conspiring with BMW and Daimler to fix the price of steel and restrict the deployment of emissions reduction technology? But never mind all that, one of 180,000 people at Tesla is a dick so we mustn’t buy any of their cars.

Musk is a level above in the dickhead race.

Can’t argue with that but I’d rather buy a car from a dickhead than from a company that has killed thousands of people by selling cars that broke emissions limits, been fined billions and had a senior executive sent to prison.

I never found it that brutal in summer. My point is if you get the  chance to go to Japan any time of year take it.

That’s an interesting question. Which EV has the best audio system?

My Tesla Model Y has the best sound system of any car I’ve owned.

Japan any time of year is great.

EV owners might find they clear out the garage so they can keep the car in it in Winter because starting with a warm car/battery makes a big difference – I have.

Or precondition the car before leaving whilst its on the charger. Teslas heat or cool the battery when you do this- some other makes might.