lol-lol

Don't understand the above comment. Am I on your block list or not ? Don't suppose it will get read if I am but others will see. Real problems us EV drivers put up with are, of course, Slower energy filling, which can mean needing a second EV as back up, pricey of course. Less filling sites but this is rapidly being addressed ie 2k new charger stations being added a month Expensive public charging. Lets expect a change to E VAT rate rather than S plus ECo levy removal to fix. The Chinese are technologically advancing at a stunning pace as seen by the introduction of BYD sub brand Denza. Probably going to be from £60K RRP so not cheap but since European CoTY start at nearly £50K ie Merc CLA -e, 250, 350 etc, clearly a market and with over 600 mile WLTP and looking good might get some buyers especially as running costs will be low. Top spec nearly 1000 hp and some models have the crab parking ! https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/38411582/worlds-longest-range-ev-coming-uk/

With a few cheapish lithium Iron phosphate home power stations j have managed to get my overall cost of lecky down to the 11 to 12p per kwh average. My main concern is making sure I treat the EVs batteries in the kindest way so new plan from April onwards will be to use the Wall boxes to charge the cars to 80 or maybe 85% and then only charge the EVs a bit more in the just before I leave stage, do any preconditioning if desire and push the charge level put ton90, 95 or 100% if journey actually going ahead. Couple of time charged to a high level only for the journey to be postponed. I am not confident that Octopus will lower the Nightime rate to below 8p per KWh butvthey will reduce the Daytime rate by loads whichvwill make the small day time top up and preconditioning cheaper. I reckon I spend only about £100 a year on public charging and that or less on charging not at the super cheap Night time rate and with the Freebie and Savings sessions offset much of that.

I prefer working on pence per mile cost rather than percentage. I am still paying 8.5p per KWh so on my quite efficient I am only paying about 2.2p per mile. On my last ICE cars the fuel cost was over 10 p per mile so even with a company fuel card it was bringing it down to 4p per miles so EVs were still the clear winner. The above does not include all those free energy sessions where for an hour or two the charging was free. Luckily, or good planning, I have two wall-box chargers and a 13A Granny charger, fill you boots and it might bring cost down to below 2p per mile. £64M question is what is going to be the rate when the 3.5p per KWH is suppose to come off the costs ???????

I'm Spartacus. The Renault 5 I put 40% down, rest of zero percent finance and I will buy the car when balloon come due.

Due to incentives and manufacturers looking to hit the EV mandate and avoid fines the car makers and sellers sell more EVs in Q4 of the year than Q1 each year. The December EC figures were big both in terms of numbers and percentages ie over 47k BEVs registered. Sales in Feb 2026, overall, were less than half Dec. Lets see if the recent hikes in fuel costs, and the upcoming drops in home charging costs, along with the new registration coming in 1st of March, all these factors have an impact ? December 2025 2024 % change Mkt share ’25 Mkt share ’24 BEV 47,139 43,656 8.0% 32.2% 31.0% HEV 18,430 17,899 3.0% 12.6% 12.7% PHEV 16,898 12,716 32.9% 11.6% 9.0% PETROL 57,607 59,455 -3.1% 39.4% 42.2% DIESEL 6,175 7,060 -12.5% 4.2% 5% 5.0% TOTAL 146,249 140,786 3.9 https://www.smmt.co.uk/uk-new-car-market-breaches-two-million-as-almost-one-in-four-buyers-go-electric/

“Charged my car last night. Cost me about £4. Filled up my wife’s car. Cost £73. We will be changing it to an EV soon.” No not yet, now would br a good tine to do that although half expect to be made an offer to go back in to work. Cheers.

Just had my annual renewal quote for the Scenic and Renault 5, 13% lower than last year. Don't know if it is new gathering data how safe the cars are with their safely systems, not catching fire or just worth a bit less or probably a combination of all this and more. Add to the inflation at 3% then it is more like 16% cheaper, happy with that now a retired person and less income.

As well as Amazon, DPD and the other parcel delivery firms the Royal Mail are progressing at pace.... Royal Mail achieves another electric vehicle milestoneIts 8,000th EV has been deployed eight years after its first zero-emission vans joined delivery offices across the UK..Furthermore, it has just rolled out its first fleet of electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs) in an effort to cut its carbon emissions by replacing diesel-powered 42-tonne trucks with the zero-emission alternatives. The fleet of eight fully electric HGVs will be deployed at its Midlands and north-west parcel hubs, handling ‘middle-mile’ deliveries between parcel hubs and mail centres. Each vehicle will be powered by ABB’s T360 chargers, capable of adding up to 60 miles of range in under 15 minutes. Thanks to its membership of Electric Freightway programme, Royal Mail has installed high-speed chargers at its two parcel hubs in Daventry and Warrington, which has made it possible to introduce eHGVs.

Absolutely. Procurement managers bought EV vans with little understanding of what was needed and what these EV vans would do under working conditions and their management of the running of these EV vans. We all have been learning and are still learning. What is clear is EV vehicles are improving in performance exponentially and the cost is dropping Year on Year whilst ICE vehicle spec has stagnated and operating costs continue to rise in real terms. I suspect DPD got an incredible deal with the Maxus E vans and Amazon are smart people and they will get it right for their fleet of 10k vans which they are moving to. Yes we have challenges ie winter range performance particularly but those who understand how EVs are moving ahead know that the solution is being rolled out with Sodium batteries being used in packs along with LFP versions which solves that issue. I think Donald Trump deserves a mention for helping to accelerate the demise of ICE over EVs !!

Stellantis, (Vauxhall), sadly have not been making good cars or vans for years. I gather the Ellesmere Port Stellantis site is to be grown and lets hope for UK workers that the concentration on a single UK plant, one with much better logistical links, works well for them but ond needs to make market leading in performance and value to keep on going. Renault, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and the Chinese seem to be making the "last mile" companies, including the PO, seem to be buying in the tens of thousands to drive their cost down.

As long as they produce less than 50 mg/km of CO2, and not with electric help, with the ICE engine on it own working. Very tough target and maybe only possible with a little range extender engine, 1 cylinder, 2 cylinder, a few hundred cc capacity. If only needs to be about 20 KWs or less for cruising at motorway speed, the electric power will get the car up to that speed then the little ICE will hold it there. Sounds like the new F1 cars.

Not 20 times less likely to catch fire but 80 times according to BBC. Fire Service need to be geared up to do with chemical fires ie EVs, with large fire blankets, rather than inflammable liquid fires ie diesel and petrol vehicles as EVs become the predominate vehicle type. MYTH: "EVs always catch fire"Last summer a car park at Luton airport went up in an inferno. Social media speculation, authoritative as ever, pinned it to an EV fire. Thanks social media for your contribution. The fire brigade later said it was a diesel car. Now, an EV battery fire is bad news. It burns hot and is hard to extinguish. Indeed it can ignite again after several days. But burning isn’t a battery’s sole purpose in life. Whereas a combustion car carries a tankful of stuff whose one job is catching rapidly on fire. And it can do so when you don’t want it to. Electric car fires are very rare. They might stem from a fault or crash, but no official crash test ever caused one. EVs are extensively developed and subject to the discipline of recalls. Electric scooter fires are far more common since they’re mostly uncertified – because they’re illegal. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) reported 23 fires in 611,000 EVs during 2022, or 0.004 per cent in a year, which makes it 20 times less likely to happen than ICE car fires, which burned 3,400 times in 4.4 million cars, or 0.08 per cent. MSB has also recently proven a new way to extinguish battery fires fast. EV FireSafe, funded by Australia’s Department of Defence, has managed to verify fewer than 500 electric car battery fires. Ever. Out of 20m EVs worldwide. That’s 80-odd times rarer than an ICE car fire. If it were a frequent risk, it’d be reflected in insurance premiums. It isn’t. Top GearMythbusting the world of EVs: are electric cars susceptib...One of the biggest myths around electric car ownership, debunked

Mine went back to Renault a few months ago and now have a R5 to replace it. My own worries are inline with vehicle statistics that ICE cars are ten to twenty times more likely to go up in flames. What is this Yank doing commenting on Zoes when they were never imported to the US as far as I know. LEAFs yes and there has been a recall. 700k LEAFs sold worldwide. New LEAF, MK3, in for World Car of the Year and down to the final 3 I gather. BMW iX3 (EV like LEAF) and Hyundai Palisade (petrol hybrid) and the other contenders. World Car of the Year down to the last 3 contenders. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dCrPeMBGeTQ

The R5 has the cabin lights to close to the SOS calling button. Not so clever.

Its the way I roll in the Scenic, 65 KWh battery, maybe not in the 2025 Mini Cooper E or Evolution R5..

Sort of difference is i think that EV drivers which tend to only charge 60% of their battery size so cost might £20 to £40. In diesel and petrol cars i, and most drivers, fill the tank for eighth or quarter full at a cost of around £60 or more. When fuel got expensive in the past I would just add say £50 of fuel and I would be pleasantly surprised that it seemed to last nearly as long as putting in a full tank. Those with big fuel tanks may go above the contactless limit if fuel costs real take off ? Liquid fuels and liquefied natural gas are both being strangled by Iran and damage to oil and gas facilities could take many months to fix.

VAT policy is UK wide i was thinking that is good for the goose is good fir the gander. Like Trump's tariff maybe there will be refunds?

Gridserve don't even do a bit of a cheap offer to get people to use the Magor site, straight in at asking 89p per KWh ! On Friday HMRC lost case to maintain 20% VAT on Public chargers whilst home charging is at 5%..... Maybe Chancellor will announce this adjustment in the Spring Statement tomorrow ie 3rd of March 2026 ? Tax tribunal rules EV public charging VAT rate should be 5%UK court rules ‘domestic’ VAT rate should apply for charging an electric vehicle on the public network, instead of the 20% currently paid by drivers.

Good to see substantial roll out of public charging, for example in your place of Chelmsford. Charging was free for a week earlier this month. More expensive fuel in the UK (due to current Middle East war and strangulation of world's oil supply), or shortage, or no fuel at the local fuel station more like the reasons to go electric ? Our Town South Woodham FerrersRHS Garden Hyde Hall boosts sustainable credentials with...Located in the Essex countryside near Chelmsford, RHS Hyde Hall has introduced 16 EV charging bays, including both fast (up to 22kW) and rapid (up to 50kW) chargers. The new facilities went live on Fr

Have to eat my words..... 12 new Gridserve chargers at Magor !!!! About time and if course expensive Gridserve provider. Will still use the Ionity ones over the road if just charging and Subway open. Ionity have six more bases ready to put on charger towers on. Nice chat with etron guy a few weeks ago. Wow was he getting a mega Salary Sacrific deal ue about £500 less monthly payments than otherwise !!

The R5 is quite flawed, tiny back seats, smallish boot but on the plus side it handles really well, most likely the styling, quite a good price especially with the full £3750 subsidy. Range is OK and has a good buffer if you run low. I had a 3008e on holiday in Portugal, quite liked it but I do worry Stellantis as a group keep getting it not quite and they are losing ground to Renault abd other car makers and cannot keep losing ground. Chief designer of Stellantis was headhunted by Renault which I think why some styling cues look similar Stellantis to Renault.

R5 gets UK CoTY 2026 to add to roll call.... (but I think the Polo-e will challenge when out in the UK) https://www.smithsmotorgroup.co.uk/news/renault-5-e-tech-electric-wins-uk-car-of-the-year-2026/ The Renault 5 E-Tech has been named the overall winner at the UK Car of the Year Awards, one of the most respected honours in the British automotive industry. The title follows its earlier success in the Small Car category and confirms its status as one of the most exciting new electric cars available in the UK. Judged by a panel of more than 30 leading motoring journalists, the awards recognise the best new vehicles currently on sale. After topping its class, the Renault 5 E-Tech electric went head-to-head with other category champions and was selected as the overall winner following final voting.

Indeed border sign just on the slope down in to Monmouth by the beautiful river Wye though by flooding and pollution by farmers have blighted it recently. Good hill to get so EV regen down. Going the other way the vigilant Glos police oft in the bridge trying to nick people and the M50, was a nice quite to push for the Duck's guts (200) now regularly patrolled not just the M5. Granddaughter going to have to learn Welsh at skool in a couple of years. Lechyd da.

Still confused about what is Monmouthshire and what is Gwent, all Cymru though.

Monmouth is not in Wales ? Has anybody told them and the sign needs moving then ! I am generally heading to more so the Newport area. Caldicot to be more exact. Magor services is poor, not as bad as Monmouth but poor with a couple of crappy low powered Gridserve chargers but Ionity has put 6 powerful chargers on a commercial site other side of the motorway junction but the Subway there does not seem to be open much. As I said, pretty poor in that area of SE Wales IMO.