EV general discussion

Greebo · 17 Dec 2021 at 09:20

Jonnycoupe said:
Looks stupid.

kthxbye

interior is a bit of a masterpiece though

so long as you dont tick the box for the blue denim interior. That is just yuk.

Jonnycoupe · 17 Dec 2021 at 09:23

jpaul said:
looks classy - lighter than I imagined, and I see google suggest, for dark knight, but I'm not up on diversity.

---
mini/i3s torque vectoring is rapidly modulating torque to motor

DSC manages the brakes to control
Torque across the axle from the SINGLE motor EDU.

jpaul · 17 Dec 2021 at 13:51

as the articles say, the engine torque is modulated, which mazda had coined as torque vectoring,

in so much that it is deployed on high power petrol and now some ev's, to help for traction control/DSC, such a mechanism is needed to intercede on high torque ev's can deliver,
but, you don't want too much isolation, such that you don't know the actual level of grip the conditions offer, looking down to see the dsc light fluttering could be too late.

greasy conditions today on cambridge country roads with a light icing of tractor mud, are a case in point.

Jonnycoupe · 17 Dec 2021 at 15:52

Predictive traction control. I get it.

It’s not torque vectoring.

mjt · 17 Dec 2021 at 22:03

SDK^ said:
I really like iX, even the exterior.
It’s a new style of design, so of course it’s going to be polarising.

The drive by drone shots in that video make it look very imposing on the road

Had a nosey at the dealer today. It doesn’t look particularly large next to an X5 or X7 obviously. Very nice inside but the boot is tiny for such a large car. Frustrating.

SDK^ · 18 Dec 2021 at 06:54

mjt said:
Had a nosey at the dealer today. It doesn’t look particularly large next to an X5 or X7 obviously. Very nice inside but the boot is tiny for such a large car. Frustrating.

Size comparison - it’s actually slightly longer than an X5 but not quite as wide and tall. Boot capacity is down a bit, but 500 litres is large enough and with the seats folded it’s 1800.

mjt · 18 Dec 2021 at 07:42

SDK^ said:
Size comparison - it’s actually slightly longer than an X5 but not quite as wide and tall. Boot capacity is down a bit, but 500 litres is large enough and with the seats folded it’s 1800.

Fair enough, thanks for that. I’m using my C6 A6 Avant as a benchmark, and that’s got 565 litres with the seats up

SDK^ · 18 Dec 2021 at 08:09

mjt said:
Fair enough, thanks for that. I’m using my C6 A6 Avant as a benchmark, and that’s got 565 litres with the seats up

Same as my old G31 5 Touring.
For me, having about 60 litres less ‘on paper’ space wouldn’t be a deal breaker. The shape, loading and flat floor is good enough.

mjt · 18 Dec 2021 at 08:38

True. Same as the X5. The Q7 is hybrid is 650..
Anyway, this is all completely hypothetical as I’m not spending a €100k and one BEV in the family is enough

jpaul · 18 Dec 2021 at 09:57

mjt said:
Had a nosey at the dealer today

do they have i4's on display .... not sure how distinctive they will be to spot(e:hear?) on the road versus 4 lift g26/f36

mjt · 18 Dec 2021 at 10:01

jpaul said:
do they have i4's on display .... not sure how distinctive they will be to spot(e:hear?) on the road versus 4 lift g26/f36

I was told there are massive supply issues with the i4. Build slots 2023 :eek:

The iX40 is ok but the iX55 has big delays.
I don’t know if this is demand or chip shortage or what, but it’s a bit **** either way if you’re looking to get one!

This is a well established dealer in Brussels and they only had 3 brand new cars in the showroom (the iX, a brown 320d and a 4GC with lovely new dark red leather). The rest were low mileage Approved Used!

john_smith · 18 Dec 2021 at 14:29

Company Car question:
Hi. Is there a rule for staff claiming ££ from the company for home charging?

Is it a policy the company can set internally or do the gov have rules on £ per miles and or KW used?

Thank you.

b0rn2sk8 · 19 Dec 2021 at 21:32

Had by first broken charger experience today, fortunately it was just a free Tesco charger while doing my weekly shop and the unit next to it worked fine. Just a bit of a pain having to move spaces.

john_smith said:
Company Car question:
Hi. Is there a rule for staff claiming ££ from the company for home charging?

Is it a policy the company can set internally or do the gov have rules on £ per miles and or KW used?

Thank you.

There are rules, I'd suggest speaking to a tax adviser if you are the business.

Sin_Chase · 19 Dec 2021 at 22:05

squerble said:
Had a few minutes on the morning of delivery with a bit of sunshine!

Looks funky. Cant help but feel the design of the charge port door on the front was a bit of an after thought. I get why front placement is convenient for charging and reduces cable length issues but it just loks out of place. Think there would have been a better design solution for aesthetics also.

Russinating · 19 Dec 2021 at 22:10

john_smith said:
Company Car question:
Hi. Is there a rule for staff claiming ££ from the company for home charging?

Is it a policy the company can set internally or do the gov have rules on £ per miles and or KW used?

Thank you.

Why would a company pay for home charging? Or do you mean to 'fill up' a pool vehicle?

For claiming mileage the advisory electricity rate for fully electric cars is 5 pence per mile.

john_smith · 19 Dec 2021 at 22:42

Russinating said:
Why would a company pay for home charging? Or do you mean to 'fill up' a pool vehicle?

For claiming mileage the advisory electricity rate for fully electric cars is 5 pence per mile.

Filling up a pool car. Thank you.

Russinating · 20 Dec 2021 at 13:02

john_smith said:
Filling up a pool car. Thank you.

In which case it'll be company policy then, but they should be covering 100% of the cost unless it's unreasonable, like if you're on a very expensive rate. Tricky thing is proving exactly how much the charge cost, especially if the charge period spans different electric rates. (daytime/overnight etc).

It would probably be simpler all round for the policy to pay a flat rate like 18p per kW charged.

Greebo · 20 Dec 2021 at 13:34

Will come down to company policy

HMRC says:

Tax law does not treat electricity as a fuel. As a result, for Pure-electric cars:

The fuel benefit charge in s149 ITEPA 2003 does not apply to any electricity supplied by an employer - no benefit in kind arises if an employer pays to charge a Pure-electric company car (e.g. the car is charged at work), regardless of the level of private mileage.

Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs)2 cannot be used to reimburse employees for the cost of electricity paid for personally but used for business travel.

The lack of AFRs for Pure-electric company cars makes the situation for reimbursing employees for business mileage more complicated. Where an employee charges a Pure-electric company car:

If their employer reimburses them for the cost of the electricity, the tax treatment depends on the use of the car:

Business use only – the s289A ITEPA 2003 exemption for paid or reimbursed expenses will exempt the amount received.

Personal or mixed use - the reimbursement is taxable as earnings, with the employee entitled to a deduction for the cost of business miles travelled.

If their employer does not reimburse them, they are entitled to a deduction under s337/s338 ITEPA 2003 for the actual electricity cost of business miles travelled.

This raises the practical difficulty of identifying the cost of the electricity used during business miles travelled. This may be more straightforward where a commercial charging point is used, but could be difficult to establish where a company car is charged at home.

So basically no guidance from HMRC, it will be between you and employer to come up with an acceptable means of working out the cost of the electric used by the employee to charge the car.
Whilst excluding electricity from the definition of fuel can cause administrative problems regarding the reimbursement of business mileage, there are some benefits. In particular, s149(4) ITEPA 2003 extends the exclusion from the car fuel charge to any ‘facility or means for supplying electrical energy’. This means that an employer can, for example, pay for the following without a taxable benefit arising:

A vehicle charging point to be installed at the employee’s home.
A charge card to allow individuals access to commercial or local authority charging points.

Risk with a flat rate charge like 18p per kW charged like Russinating suggested is that if that is more than the employees cost then the employee may be subject to tax on the extra. Conversely if it isnt enough, although the employee will be able to claim tax relief on the difference they will still be out of pocket.

Vita · 20 Dec 2021 at 14:37

Anyone on here that owns/drives a Prius Plug in?

squerble · 20 Dec 2021 at 15:25

Sin_Chase said:
Looks funky. Cant help but feel the design of the charge port door on the front was a bit of an after thought. I get why front placement is convenient for charging and reduces cable length issues but it just loks out of place. Think there would have been a better design solution for aesthetics also.

I mean it's an ICE platform so it was only ever going to be a "bodge" of sorts. That said, I prefer the front charge point placement as it doesn't make the car "handed", like you say making it very convenient, especially for cable length.