Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, Zero Gravitas said:

Ouch. That means that publicly anything other than charging at 7kW as a full member is now more expensive per mile than fuel for my diesel Skoda…

 

(assuming the EV does 4 miles per kWH, and my Skoda does 60 mpg (which it actually does) at £8 per gallon)

Again……assuming the only reason buy an EV is the cheaper motoring, often it’s not. 😉

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Do the cars not provide information about which charging points are available?

My only experience of an EV is a friend's Tesla & that not only shows where the charging points are, but how many are in service & even if they are being used. The sat nav even includes charging stops when it plots routes.

This should not be unique to Tesla because the technology to provide this has been available for some time now.

Hahaha……there you go rubbing that magic lantern again.

 

Too may manufacturers and too many suppliers of charge points = no such thing 

 

But there are very good independent apps which do as you think they should, usually quite successfully (if you have that lamp to hand 😆).

 

Tesla can do it because they control the vehicles and the charger infrastructure.

[Metr0Land]

55 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Again……assuming the only reason buy an EV is the cheaper motoring, often it’s not. 😉

 

Principles are going to cost 80pct more from October and heaven knows how much more from January....... 🤣

[boxbrownie]

22 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

Principles are going to cost 80pct more from October and heaven knows how much more from January....... 🤣

And if your on a cheaper overnight rate it’ll still cost a quarter of that rate predicted. 

🤣

[BR traction instructor]

On 30/08/2022 at 23:24, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Do the cars not provide information about which charging points are available?

My only experience of an EV is a friend's Tesla & that not only shows where the charging points are, but how many are in service & even if they are being used. The sat nav even includes charging stops when it plots routes.

This should not be unique to Tesla because the technology to provide this has been available for some time now.

 

We seldom use public chargers but if required then aim for a location with several rapid installations e.g. Hexham. This gave us the 28p per kWh option at Lidl and spread the demand for chargers across several installations…no waiting and no one else there.

 

Our normal 14p per kWh at home charge cost (around £4 to increase the range to 200 miles) will have to multiply several times to get near the fluctuating cost of petrol or diesel.

 

BeRTIe

Edited September 1, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[Metr0Land]

2 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

And if your on a cheaper overnight rate it’ll still cost a quarter of that rate predicted. 

🤣

 

??? only if it's fixed.  Overnight rates are unregulated so if you're not on a fixed tariff now then we don't know what the overnight rate is as no supplier (unless you know differently) is currently quoting  post-Oct rates for new customers on those tariffs.

[Ron Ron Ron]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Grovenor]

It seems BYD will be turning up this year as well.

https://www.moveelectric.com/e-cars/chinese-car-giant-byd-launch-uk-year

[Kelly]

2 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

??? only if it's fixed.  Overnight rates are unregulated so if you're not on a fixed tariff now then we don't know what the overnight rate is as no supplier (unless you know differently) is currently quoting  post-Oct rates for new customers on those tariffs.

 

I wonder if those still with Economy 7 meters will get the best of it in terms of rates, though I suspect they're slowly becoming less common. My flat still has one, but it won't be my flat for very much longer I expect.

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

??? only if it's fixed.  Overnight rates are unregulated so if you're not on a fixed tariff now then we don't know what the overnight rate is as no supplier (unless you know differently) is currently quoting  post-Oct rates for new customers on those tariffs.

Octopus Go is fixed for 12 months, and they are still taking customers but you have to ring them, not online.

 

7.5p per/KWh for four hours a night, enough for around 100 miles a night cheap rate.

https://octopus.energy/go/

[Metr0Land]

34 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Octopus Go is fixed for 12 months, and they are still taking customers but you have to ring them, not online.

 

7.5p per/KWh for four hours a night, enough for around 100 miles a night cheap rate.

https://octopus.energy/go/

 

The phone line was saying differently yesterday* but might give them another try.  4 hours might be enough for me.  I have solar panels and would hope to get a good contribution from them on sunny days.  Have been calcs on what if 1/3 or 1/2 is solar (ie free) at Oct rates.  Assuming I get 3.2 miles per kWh that's 134 or 101 pence per litre equivalent.  If I get more than half solar on sunny days and/or more than 3.2 miles per kWh I'm laughing.  Am trying to look at night tariffs for winter when there's no sun.  As the Kuga PHEV gives 35 miles electric and the vast majority of my mileage is say 20 miles or less am only looking to top-up a lot of the time and thus not need long charges.

 

*one poss fly in the ointment is the Octopus website's saying you need good mobile signal for the smart meter.  I have poor moble signal here.  Ovo saying if/when I get smart meter and they can offer overnight tariff they'll take readings from me.

[boxbrownie]

5 minutes ago, Metr0Land said:

 

The phone line was saying differently yesterday* but might give them another try.  4 hours might be enough for me.  I have solar panels and would hope to get a good contribution from them on sunny days.  Have been calcs on what if 1/3 or 1/2 is solar (ie free) at Oct rates.  Assuming I get 3.2 miles per kWh that's 134 or 101 pence per litre equivalent.  If I get more than half solar on sunny days and/or more than 3.2 miles per kWh I'm laughing.  Am trying to look at night tariffs for winter when there's no sun.  As the Kuga PHEV gives 35 miles electric and the vast majority of my mileage is say 20 miles or less am only looking to top-up a lot of the time and thus not need long charges.

 

*one poss fly in the ointment is the Octopus website's saying you need good mobile signal for the smart meter.  I have poor moble signal here.  Ovo saying if/when I get smart meter and they can offer overnight tariff they'll take readings from me.

There are a lot of people on the speakEV forum who are still switching, but they have to ring and chat to Octopus, it doesn’t work online.

 

If you haven’t got a Smart meter they cannot take you on, you can apply for a smart meter though, although I didn’t look at that part in detail.

[Metr0Land]

16 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

There are a lot of people on the speakEV forum who are still switching, but they have to ring and chat to Octopus, it doesn’t work online.

 

If you haven’t got a Smart meter they cannot take you on, you can apply for a smart meter though, although I didn’t look at that part in detail.

 

Thanks.  the wording on the website says something like:  if you don't have a smart meter yet, you can switch on a standard tariff until they can switch over to smart meter and Go tariff.

[boxbrownie]

2 minutes ago, Metr0Land said:

 

Thanks.  the wording on the website says something like:  if you don't have a smart meter yet, you can switch on a standard tariff until they can switch over to smart meter and Go tariff.

That’s correct, they reckon it’ll take just a few weeks being on the standard tariff before they switch you over to the Go tariff, but I think the sticking point presently is Smart meter installation, we’ve been waiting for ours to be fitted for three months!

I wasn’t going to have one but our electric meter has gone faulty now, our gas meter was faulty last year and was replaced with a smart gas meter this year, must be the sea air 😆

[Metr0Land]

Indeed, Ovo couldn't offer me a date for a smart meter.  I have in the past been a refusenik!  As it happens I don't have a delivery date for the car and it could well be a 23 plate, so mostly I'm trying to get organised whilst I'm relatively unpresssured, and delay to smart meter is no problem for now.  Have had external 13amp sockets installed which for now are just a more convenient way of plugging in the lawn mower....

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 I'm relatively unpresssured, and delay to smart meter is no problem for now. 

 

Took about five years for us...

[Hroth]

I'm not sure I've the mindset for an EV yet.

 

My fuel gauge was down to the red sector and the mileage computer was predicting a range of 70 miles, which I understand is a good figure for some small BEVs and would be remarkable for the electric side  of a PHEV. I was feeling a bit twitchy....

I stuck 40 quids worth of fuel in (took a couple of minutes...), up to just over half full and a predicted range of 280 miles, which is about the full charge range of the MG4 (SE/Trophy) LR above. If going far I'd still feel slightly exposed!

 

I'm sure that anyone needing a car will end up with some sort of electric vehicle sooner or later.  We'll just have to bend our minds (and expectations) around the pros and cons and learn to embrace the future the early adopters are forging for the rest of us!

 

Just looked at the reviews of the MG4 Ron Ron Ron posted.  It struck me that the steering wheel is remarkably similar to the "Quartic" wheel of the Austin Allegro...

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Hroth
Extra...

[tomparryharry]

Mrs Smith wants to go down the EV route, but I'm not sure....  I'm starting to think in terms of a tricycle....

[BR traction instructor]

On 01/09/2022 at 21:32, Hroth said:

I'm sure that anyone needing a car will end up with some sort of electric vehicle sooner or later.  We'll just have to bend our minds (and expectations) around the pros and cons and learn to embrace the future the early adopters are forging for the rest of us!

 

…been there, done that. We chose an all electric car (VW ID3) with a bigger range (260 miles) than our longest routine journey (160 miles) with spare capacity for heating/lights in Winter. We also do occasional longer still journeys that mean using the Zap Map app to locate rapid chargers in advance. Any concerns that we had to begin with have evaporated through experience and over time…it is a superb vehicle.

 

BeRTIe

Edited September 3, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[Metr0Land]

Am holding off switching supplier until I know who's publishing what after 01Oct.  Although the present Octopus Go tariff looks good for overnight charging it's not for me as I'd lose overall.

 

For Ovo am currently paying 26.94p/kWh (rising to 52p 01Oct)

Standing charge 45.85p/day

(No overnight rate)

 

AIUI Octpus Go this Sept:

Daytime 04:30-00:30  40.04p/kWh

Overnight 00:30-04:30  7.50p/kWh

Standing charge 47.88p/day

 

As mentioned before I'm hoping to get a good contribution from solar (obv won't be 24/7!) as I'd only be looking to add 20-30 miles charge at a time to the PHEV when I get it.

 

(My present total consumption per year is about 2,500kWh though naturally I'm looking to make some changes this winter esp using cooker at 1pm rather than 5pm for main meal in winter or using microwave more).

Edited September 2, 2022 by Metr0Land

[Fenman]

11 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

Mrs Smith wants to go down the EV route, but I'm not sure....  I'm starting to think in terms of a tricycle....

 

Morgan have just launched their new 3-wheeler, the Super 3. And apparently if you wait a couple of years you'll be able to buy an EV version.

 

Paul

[boxbrownie]

19 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

Indeed, Ovo couldn't offer me a date for a smart meter.  I have in the past been a refusenik!  As it happens I don't have a delivery date for the car and it could well be a 23 plate, so mostly I'm trying to get organised whilst I'm relatively unpresssured, and delay to smart meter is no problem for now.  Have had external 13amp sockets installed which for now are just a more convenient way of plugging in the lawn mower....

Make sure the external socket is on its own feed from the fuse box supply, not fed from a ring main.

 

You'll be chugging a full 10 amps through that for many hours, needs to be a good solid feed.

Edited September 2, 2022 by boxbrownie

[Ouroborus]

On 01/09/2022 at 13:25, Metr0Land said:

 

??? only if it's fixed.  Overnight rates are unregulated so if you're not on a fixed tariff now then we don't know what the overnight rate is as no supplier (unless you know differently) is currently quoting  post-Oct rates for new customers on those tariffs.

 

EDF just quoted me.  Albeit business rates, but 90p pKwH, 60p standing charge, fixed one year.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Ouroborus

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ouroborus said:

 

EDF just quoted me.  Albeit business rates, but 90p pKwH, 60p standing charge, fixed one year.

 

The downside of those new plastic five pound notes is that they're quite stinky when you burn them as fuel.

[Guest]

But what if I want to tow a caravan from Scotland to Germany?