EV general discussion

Cold Fusion said:
I have a 10 year old VW Polo i had from new, i wanted to go Electric for my next car but where i live there is very little prospect of a charger (flat/non-allocated space) so really need to buy a house with potential charging.

The house is probably still a little ways away and things are starting to get old on the Polo. I keep flip flopping between getting an Electric car and putting up with public charging and all its inconveniences, sticking with the polo into bangernomics territory or getting a new petrol that i dont really want.

Any new car will eat into house funds too which are in border line territory anyway.

Would like to hear EV discussions thoughts and feelings
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Stick with the Polo till you get the house - the biggest plus side of and EV really is the cheap running costs but without a home charger they really don’t exist.

Plough as much as you can into the house funds, and run the Polo into the ground. If it gets to the stage where it HAS to be replaced (I’d expect it to last longer than 10 years but we don’t know the mileage etc) then it would be worth looking at the numbers again, but till then I’d concentrate on getting a better place to live.
 
Cold Fusion said:
I have a 10 year old VW Polo i had from new, i wanted to go Electric for my next car but where i live there is very little prospect of a charger (flat/non-allocated space) so really need to buy a house with potential charging.

The house is probably still a little ways away and things are starting to get old on the Polo. I keep flip flopping between getting an Electric car and putting up with public charging and all its inconveniences, sticking with the polo into bangernomics territory or getting a new petrol that i dont really want.

Any new car will eat into house funds too which are in border line territory anyway.

Would like to hear EV discussions thoughts and feelings
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A Mk5 Polo is a pretty reliable thing so unless yours has been especially abused it won't be on the verge of self destruction. It may well need the odd repair here and there but the car is bought and paid for so will almost certainly be better than getting yourself an EV on the never never.

The only sensible play in your situation is to do nothing IMO.

Interesting chat with one of the neighbours who has just gone EV (EV6 if anyone cares).

He was talking about longer trips as he often does Southampton and back from our little Broadland village.

"Yeah it costs me about 80p/kW to charge it so on public charging it costs about the same as diesel " err... Are you sure about that?!

We need the equivalent of "FUD" for misinformation in the other direction :p
 
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Maybe he's taking into account the fact that half the journey is done on cheap electricity charged at home (assuming leaving with 100%)?

That's a roughly 420 mile round trip, ev database says 230 miles range on the motorway, so let's say 200 miles worth of public charging. At 3.8 mi/kWh that's ~53 kWh @ 80p, or ~£42

Add £5 or so for the home charge, and that's quite close to what it would cost to do those 420 miles in a diesel
 
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Cold Fusion said:
I have a 10 year old VW Polo i had from new, i wanted to go Electric for my next car but where i live there is very little prospect of a charger (flat/non-allocated space) so really need to buy a house with potential charging.

The house is probably still a little ways away and things are starting to get old on the Polo. I keep flip flopping between getting an Electric car and putting up with public charging and all its inconveniences, sticking with the polo into bangernomics territory or getting a new petrol that i dont really want.

Any new car will eat into house funds too which are in border line territory anyway.

Would like to hear EV discussions thoughts and feelings
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I'd keep the Polo and focus on the house fund tbh

Car is a luxury!
 
Popped into the Tesla showroom yesterday to ask about changing my order to a pre-configured one if it means getting it in time for the 0%/£3000 deal. Basically just told me to relax and be patient as they'll 100% get me a car even if it means upgrading the colour/wheels to match one. But said if I wait and let them offer me that, it would be free rather than me paying extra.

Then he basically told me to leave my car there and take a car for 24 hours again. Their aftersales kinda sucks compared to the established players but pre-sales is such a different experience. I've never seen a car company so willingly give you a car for X hours unattended. I told him I didn't need it and he insisted and said I may as well.

Ended up taking the RWD-LR version and was impressed with the performance as I thought it would feel much slower than the AWD model I reserved. The audio wasn't as good though.
 
So I went for a 22 plate ionic 5. 16K miles and in really good condition. RWD and has the tech pack installed. It was from a Hyundai dealer; another one came up more locally that was slightly more miles but slightly cheaper (same age). I was very tempted by that one too but it was an independent (albeit with a FSH) so I was a little more cautious. Picking it up next week.
 
My charger doesn't get installed until the start of September; I assume I will be okay just using the normal wall plugin cable in the short term?
 
FNG said:
My charger doesn't get installed until the start of September; I assume I will be okay just using the normal wall plugin cable in the short term?
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Yes, just try and reduce the current to under 10 amps (in app or in car under AC charging probably) and keep and eye on the plus socket the first time you do it.
 
FNG said:
My charger doesn't get installed until the start of September; I assume I will be okay just using the normal wall plugin cable in the short term?
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Yes, just check regularly the socket isn’t getting hot (warm to about temperature is normal) when you first start using it.

Dodgy sockets tend to melt.
 
msmalls74 said:
I see Hyundai UK are offering a fix for the remote hack to stop people unlocking and driving off with the car. The only thing is the customer has to pay £49 for the privilege of a secure vehicle. They dont give much info about what it does, but would be interesting if they guaranteed it against theft that way and/or reduced insurance premium. They have a reg/vin checker to see if you can have the optional update.
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Be interesting to see how liability would fall if you didn't take the fix in reasonable time, and your car was stolen using this method, given that there is a) a publicised flaw and b) a publicised fix.

I suspect an insurance company could try to wiggle out of a claim, with the reason that you failed to secure the car properly?
 
What are people's views on the ceramic? coating offered by dealers for the paint work? Never had a car worth doing this on before so no idea. Have been quoted £400 to do it.
 
Haggisman said:
Be interesting to see how liability would fall if you didn't take the fix in reasonable time, and your car was stolen using this method, given that there is a) a publicised flaw and b) a publicised fix.

I suspect an insurance company could try to wiggle out of a claim, with the reason that you failed to secure the car properly?
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I doubt that would hold under insurance regulations. The end user is not usually held responsible for flaws in the product they buy in the even if a theft.

More realistically, they would just jack up the insurance for any impacted vehicle regardless of cost of theft became ann issue just as they did with JLR products from a certain era.

I’d be surprised the insurance industry isn’t jumping up and down screaming at Hyundai right now, assuming they have got wind of it.

This is one of those situations where someone with power needs to grow a spine, say no and press the recall button.
 
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tamzzy said:
80p per kWh on a public charge?
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Yup, plenty of those around if you're prioritising convenience over finding the cheapest

b0rn2sk8 said:
I doubt that would hold under insurance regulations. The end user is not usually held responsible for flaws in the product they buy in the even if a theft.
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Even if the end user is aware of the flaw, there is a fix available, and they have decided not to take the fix, knowing that it makes their vehicle less secure?
 
FNG said:
What are people's views on the ceramic? coating offered by dealers for the paint work? Never had a car worth doing this on before so no idea. Have been quoted £400 to do it.
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Take it if it's free don't bother paying for it. Had it on my last car because they threw it in for nothing, can't say I noticed any difference to an untreated car after a couple of months.
 
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