lol-lol

Screen wash is about the only liquid I do buy. No oil for top up or servicing etc. Cabin filter changes at servicing, no air filters or oil filters. Hence why servicing and EV is so cheap as well as its energy top ups etc.

Like all marques the EV market has good and not so good marque. I gather BYD tend to be on the better side. Next door has the little Atto 1, looks decent. Ex boss bought a Jaecoo 7 PHEV, not so sure about that. The Mini we have, Cooper EV is really good quality throughout though BMW would gave overseen everything I expect. It us actually made by Great Wall Motors. Dacia Spring is Chinese biult and mych of the new RenaultcTwingo is Chinese j gather with just a final screw together operation in Europe. The prices are just so low many are taking a punt. Though some of the Minis, Nissans and Renaultvplus others are getting that £3750 UK government grant which on the cheaper models is making them quite low monthly payments abd even some good liw or zero finance deals with them in addition. Just seen my Octopus GO tariff click down to 6.5 p per KWh which is dandy for our running costs and means some savings to pay for those outgoings which have not gone down ie Council tax and water rates.

Think he had got virtual everything wrong and vack to front. Big Western car companies, perhaps with the exception of Renault-Dacia got things so wrong. Late to develop EVs, except Nissan-Renault, completely behind in the development of manufacture at scale of Lithium, LFP etc battery plants to feed the car production. TESLA did well for a decade or so but no cannot compete with the Chinese EV car makers ie BYD etc. US is an outlying case a Trump promised cheap fuel and an end to EV subsidies and now gas is expensive in the US and EV sales do not need subsidising and Harry has misread and misinterpreted the whole matter. I gave found some of his videos quite good but he seems to have stopped relating to the modern world sadly.

Reuters, very respected news agency, reporting a doubling of used EV sales in Europe earlier this month and they should be believed, not seen anything on the UK and we will see the normal publish of new EV March sales by SMMT some way in to April and will be interesting to see the UK seconds hand EV sales data but would expect it to be similar to mainland Europe. In other news relating to the truth of running an EV or 3 I have just had my email from Octopus relating to my GO tariff which they tell me is dropping by a quarter next Wednesday for the all important Night charging rate ie from 8.5p per kwh to 6.5 p per kwh, great news considering my 9% cost rise in the Reform led council tax and water bill cost rise from Severn Trent ! Even the Day time rate is going down considerably ie 2.45 p per KWh so not too bad to even charge during the Day time period when only 27.2 p per KWh ! Think the saving will be about £200 a year overall. Nice!

Quite expectedly EV sales jumping, particularly quick to react second hand EVs react first then new EV sales. Was in Dublin early in the week and the Irish government reduced excise duty of fuel on Monday and I expect UK government will have to do so soon else see inflation spike up when March figures are out. Inflation was staying the same at 3% when just announced, same as previous month but would spike up soon of course. Should be somewhat countered by energy prices falling but I for one am still waiting to hear Octopus GO rates for my EVs and house but hoping for about a 20% fall in te key Night time rate when the EVs are charged but also house hold items charged up too. Soon find out but the waiting is frustrating.

The key thing for us EV drivers is that we are on dual rate tariffs and the Night time rate, currently about 8p per KWh, as a rough average, is due to fall to more like 4 to 6p per KWh looked at what Eon, Octopus customers are being told and this is where EV drivers do the vast majority of their charging not the 30, 33 p per KWh charging. This will be the case for the April to June period. For July to September it is looking like a big jump up in prices, maybe 36, 38 or even 40p per Kwh for Day time and single tariff rates but with the 3.51 p per KWh of all rates, including the Nightime rate it is looking like it will still be in single figures and quite similar to what it is now. Also as I said if gas did jump up to nearer to 10p a KWh then I would use electricity to heat my water which is looking like it may be the cheaper fuel overnight. Octopus very quiet despite my asking for my new rates and it maybe next week until they publish mine but with some customers being told as low as 3.5p per KWh I don't think mine will be too shockingly higher than that, the excitement is palpable.

Expecting something similar, maybe 6.99 p per KWh as a Night rate but if could be less. Some getting deals even on GO as low as 4.5 p per KWh. That is lower than my gas which should drop to 5.2 p per KWh. Popping over to Ireland for a few days, sorry but will be visiting the Whsky with an "e" distillery in Dublin, sacrilege. All brilliant for us charging the fleet of electrical cars but gotcsome long journeys to do to Brighton and Devon so a quick flash of public charging needed but it would be right and proper if they dropped their prices 4p a kwh due to the eco levies going and the government harmonised the public VAT rate to the home charging rate of 5% !

Don't think so. The removal of the ECO levy had reduced the cost of overnight charging of EVs by a quarter, third or half depending on ones tariff. The projected rise in energy cost is less than 20% and is a combination of electricity and gas. Electricity will be so cheap for us these dual rate EV tariffs dor the night time rate i can see us sensibly heating our water electrically rather than by gas as it will be significantly cheaper to do. Still waiting for Octopus to confirm my Q2 energy rates but Night time looks lije it will be very cheap at around 5.5 p per kwh which is cheaper than my gas unit charge and if both want up by 20% as Cornwall Insights first guess is then the Night Electricity will still be much cheaper than it is now due to the removal of the Eco levy and I will use even more electricity than gas particularly in tge midnight to 0530 slot as I will be heating water, heating the house as well as charging the batteries etc. I think wr may have to be ready for LNG and diesel and petrol to be twice or 3 times the price it was but that does not mean by a long shot that translates in to the same proportion of costs to homes and motorists. Homes would be a couple of pence more on the unit energy costs and diesel and petrol up by a third and not 3 times as tax is still the biggest chuck of final prices.

The above us why PCP is so good. If car worth more than balloon payment then pay the balloon and have the extra value. If worth less than then just hand it back. If one is happy with the monthly payment, and I found them quire good as they gave been based on 0% APR of low APR rates. One drawback can be the set annual mileage which could ba a big problem but we tend to have 2 or 3 cars o. PCP in the family car pool so can balance mileage between them. Not gone over the mileage amount but it looked like the hit was only 6 ir 8 p per mile so not too bad. I suspect premium brands the mileage penalty is much higher but a tend to stay away from Audi, BMW and Mercedes and I think of them as poor value in many respects.

Indeed, depreciation is usually the biggest factor in running a car. I have not tried the revised 100 hp Dacia Spring but one of its main competitors is the Vauxhall Frontera. Price being touted is from about £130 a month, so less than £2k a year, base model and only 5k miles but not a huge about more to jack to longer range model and more miles, still only about £2k a year ie less than £200 a month. New, much improved, Dacia Spring much cheaper I gather and now with lowish APR. My Renault 5 is on 0% APR and only £85 a month, the Scenic is the one I need to sort out as it is £5k a year on the PCP payments and I need to sort that out in the new tax year ie next month. So hard to work out a true overall monthly cost, Scenic is quite expensive even if charging is almost free of charge, pun intended, Renault 5 pretty cheap but no room in the back seats. Servicing on the 5 is covered by a £9 a month payment so all up cost well beneath the 45p per mile HM Treasury rates which many benchmark running costs against. I do miss the 63 p per mile I use to get with the rate there was back then for cars over 2 litre engine size, ah, happy but just plain wrong days in retrospect.

Those of us who own and drive EVs wonder what inflection point there is, or more than one key inflection points, to convince ICE drivers to acquire EVs. It is looking like EVs will soon, in a couple of weeks time, the running cost for energy will drop from 2p a mile to 1p a mile whist ICE cars could be going from about 10p per mile energy cost and closing in on 20p per mile as the year progresses. When, if ever, might ICE drivers / owners accept what is increasingly looking like the inevitable future ?

I can only figure it out based on Unit costs. These models that work out a new monthly amount seem to over egg the amount by about a third from what I can see so I would not take thise figures as Gospel. Compare you current unit costs to the ones they are using to calculate. As I said it is looking like a minimum 20% drop in Night time rate lecky which is where I use about 80% of my electricity and the day rate staying about the same after a rise in the base Day rate but minus the 3.51 p per KWh brings it vack to about 30p per KWh but I will be using less and less of that by hook or by crook. Plus gas prices dropping by half pence per KWh !

I think that tge 3.51 p per kwh coming off even the Night time rate is great news for EVs becoming even more popular especially in the light of the 2026 oil crisis. Not surprising the energy suppliers jacked up their prices by couple of pence per kwh so the 3.51 p per KWh eco levy removal only had half the effect but that is understandable in tgd current energy crisis. Thd 3.51 p per KWh should come off every electric energy supply ie public charging as well as home electricity. This is on top off the halfpenny off gas prices of course. So much going on including TESLA entering the home supply market with the European HQ'd companies will have to react to. Wow, so mych going on.

I stick my postcode in to the Octopus website, West Midlands, and this is what I get, try yours ..... If link does not work try google "Octopus GO rates". Seems to show 6.99 p per KWh for GO and 5.99p for IOG. Octopus largest supplier in the UK plus figures should be same for everyone but some are saying EON quoting even cheaper..... (The 3.51 p per KWh reduction is the removal of the Government ECO levy everyone should get) Night rate (00:30 - 05:30) 10.5p / kWh Now just 6.99p/ kWh from April 1 Day rate (05:30 - 00:30)35.52p / kWh Now just 32.01p/ kWh from April 1 Standing charge 54.82p / day Octopus EnergyOctopus Go | Find your Octopus Go rates | Octopus EnergyThe UK's most awarded energy supplier. We're doing energy better - for you and the environment.

Seems to be lots of different numbers being totted about from 3.99 to 6.99 per kwh for Eon and Octopus dual tariffs fixed amounts. Whether some are BS or real i don't know. Should get my email from Octopus soon but the signs are looking good for a drop in the Night tine rate as well as the Day time rate. Its id lijd waiting for Xmas but not knowing when present time Is anywhere between Xmas Eve and 12th day ie when the 3 Kings visit. The excitement is huge but tempered it might be for just the 91 days of Q2 and then the hike back up in Q3 of the year !

As mentioned in my Cost of Living thread the cost to charge EVs is dropping by about 20% (home charging) or so despite the 2026 oil crisis in 2 weeks time ie Q2 2026. Think my running cost for energy will be dropping perceptively to significantly below 2p per mile.

Prices in USD rather than GBP but perhaps also valid.....

Always was the Japanese marques took all the top 5 reliability positions. Now its harder to tell as Japanese companies are pairing with Chinese ones, the new interesting Mazda 6e is basically a Chinese car, not that that is a bad things these days. Being a Renault-Dacia-Alpine-Mitsubishi-Samsung-Infiniti and beyond Group fan following their changes. Sad that Renault has stopped F1 engine manufacturing but so pleased to see the Alpine was the fast car at the Chinese F1 GP, after being the slowest car last year. After numerous Skodas, a couple of Audis, couple of SEATs so sad to see the demise the the VAG Group, another 50k redundancies announced recently. Yes Dacia is clearly thew European value car brand these days but the Chinese are coming !

More likely to plug in a PHEV with fuel costs higher and if rationing comes in, thought i saw a news article saying limits of £40 a fill and others that only doctors, nurses etc could fill up. Would still consider a non hybrid Sandero. Cheap to buy and 60 mpg plus a good option which it gas been either top or 2nd in European sales year after year. My Logan ie estate Sandero was brilliant value. £10k to buy about a decade ago, 60 mpg, about 500 litres of boot and l got a grand back when traded back in after 3 years, super bargain.

New Pruis is pretty good. Taxi drivers would not use by the bucket load if it was not very good. The little 8 kw motor on the rear wheels, brilliant, 4x4 on the cheap. On the other hand their launch of the BZ4 was disastrous. It took Bjorn Nyland to tell them their battery buffering was all wrong !!!!

Our Clio hybrid went nuts when it was RAC rescued after I attended a sponsored Ferrari event at Oulton Park and the car was never the same again. Renault boasted the car had 15 different modes it could choose in balancing the ICE and EV system. After that RAC flat bed recovery, which started with a simple flat tyre, the car was never the same again. Fortunately we were just about to give it back but I have heard it has been back 3 times since then and finally formally rejected with Renault-Dacia garage unable to properly fix. My prediction is that hybrids, self charging and PHEVs, will be as much of a unhappy owners as Diesel dis- satisfaction, Dieselgate etc. Be one or other, pure EV or pure ICE. Maybe ICE with free wheeling and cylinder deactivation though. Looking at EREVs but suspect it bus mire of the same but seems to be the latest thing.

Love them, aways have a look at them when visiting the Renault showroom. Just a warning that the hybrids, all version I reckon, are complex and do go wrong sometimes as we found out in our Clio that went back after 2 years as became a lemon. One daughters simple 1 litre TCE was as economical and simple, cheaper etc, not as nice to drive but hybrid is a con trick in my opinion and millions will find this out over the next few years. Simple petrol or full electric. Revised 100 hp Spring is much better than the Mk1 65 hp one and incredibly cheap to buy and run. Hope there are some more pure electric Dacia and Dacia-Renault understand in today's world anything with an ICE engine is susceptible to foreign wars !

There are some options to use some of this new tech as with Balcony solar and devices such as Ecoflow stream so some tricks to reduce bills by optimising cheaper tariffs.

Yes it could be a major shake for the UK energy supply market expecially for those with TESLA Power wall home batteries and cars with V2G, V2H, V2L capability. In the US these hone systems, supply considerable power vack tobthe grid from the business's or home TESLA systems are of course majority capitalising on the selling of electricity at peak times presumably at 50p or a pound per kwh at the high prices 1600 to 1900 hours window and as with the US businesses and homes setup this way will make bhg money from this so that their energy bills are not bills but credit notes for hundreds ot thousands of pounds per yearpaying back the thousands or tens of thousands of CAPEX of investment people have made. Think Octopus and others will respond but should be really good for those who can adapt. I can see consumers being told that theywill be charged more for using electricity in the daily peaks ie tea time, like Octopus Cosy Heat Pump customers like my brother do already ie 1.5 times more than tge cap rate during that peak time. That can be fine if one can use batteries ir just delay use to 1900 hours bylut that is not convenient if one has younguns who need to be fed etc. Interesting times ahead and technology will offer great rewards to those who can exploit it but leave thise who cannot or don't understand it behind and paying more than they could.

Cheers. Confused of Worcester.