lol-lol

It is a new Costa and I would not normally pay £6 for a hot drink it was as much showing support for a new business that had opened. Was only there 11 minutes and Costa were quite slow getting the drinks. Would normally get the small option rather than the medium which is cheaper and not the mallows on top too either. Will check out the Sainsbury local next time. This new place is only 9 minutes from home and we went their to show my lad the ropes of public charging. Could have taken a hot chocolate with me in a travel cup but one needs to support a newly opened place else it will reduce its hours and staff and even disappear if not supported. Must get a Costa card to I get every tenth one free and other offers.

What is the road tax band/ cost per year for your 4x4 Kodiaq ?

Sensible - Dual motor Teslas ? Generally I am very critical of Toyota but with the latest Prius they have a little electric motor at the back, think about 10hp, to help get it moving in icy conditions. Good "sensible" thinking. I always go for the smaller battery if I can as I can general exceed the WLTP range ie I can get close to 300 miles out of my 63 Kwh Scenic, it can get most of a charge it 36 kws, is a overnight charge and we are suppose to only charge it to 80% normally of course for NMC chemistry. Mini's usable battery is 36 kwh so again can get charged from zero to full in an overnight session on that cheap lecky due to few others wanting to use the power at that time. To create cheap public it would have to be at those 11 pm to 6am currently. It will change as battery storage units are co-placed with the Public charges but there economically has to be a premium to cover the capital cost of the battery storage units. As I mentioned recently I see much more variation of charging through the day ie higher prices like my brother sees for his Heat pump system on the Octopus pricing. Have to be some warnings that prices may change during charging ie start charging at 1555 and then the price jumps up at 1600 as below. When I visit i plug in via a 3 pin plug, start charging around 1900 and unplug 7 am. Pay him a bit over the odds for what I have used, everyone's a winner. https://octopus.energy/smart/cosy-octopus/ If I did not have a drive to charge 2 or 3 cars the simple solution is to get a Public Charging subscription. Tesla, sadly its Elon of course, do some very good charge rates considering the 20% VAT rate but there are others ie Ionity, even Gridserve do something I gather. Those of us with wall home chargers have paid out for these wallboxes, one way or another, they are not freebies in a box of cereal. Those who use public charging, at that is pretty much all of us even if we use home charging 96% of the time must realize the capital cost of these units. When my company owned Source London I saw the import costs of these units, staggering. I wish AC had taken off more. Going from 3 phase AC to DC is not as efficient within these chargers and hence there is a charge for the losses of course which can be several percent. Multiple complex issues I hope you appreciate and UK government has big decisions which due to those complexities are difficult to get across in a 30 seconds news headline.

The two, or more, tier society and even where the will is there to try and redress this, rather than the Con party who wish to conserve the status quo it is difficult but things can be done and I wish the UK government would do some of them. Since the UK has left the EU over 3 years ago it then had the power to do more with VAT. So I would suggest they drop the Public charging VAT rate down to what was previous VAT rates ie 17.5%, then 15%, then 12.5% then 10% and then 8% and eventually 5% same as the home rate VAT. The problem is that charging at home, for those of us that can, uses that base level supply of GRID electricity which can be offered very cheap from about 11 PM to 6 AM in the morning. If Public charging was made much cheaper then drivers might want to charge say on the way home from work or in the evening if they go out. Home charging at levels such as 7 kws suits the Grid. Cheaper fast public charging could cause big spikes in the requested supply. A lot of Infrastructure needs to be built to handle that and we can see how little the successive Con government have lacked investment in that area as well as so many other areas. It makes one wonder how the UK got £3T in debt, Covid's £400M apart, where did all the money go.

Would not be a problem for the Mini Cooper E. 150 Kw chargers and even if the power was shared 75 kw for left bay and 75 kw for right bay the Mini Cooper E is 75 kws so no foul there. The chargers we went to part of the rapidly growing Sainsbury Smartcharge https://smartcharge.co.uk/ network being rolled out. Might be a different story for my Scenic which can charge up to 130 kwh but these Kempower charger do Dynamic power allocation so important to pick a slower charging partner if only has to share a stall with another EV. Don't think it would be much of with any of my EVs and if/when the Zoe gets (45 kw charging) gets replaced with the Renault 4, which has up to 80 kw charging speed again no problem there with sharing the 150 kw charger output. This email has been written with electricity at 8.5 p per kwh.

Well it cost me just over a £5 for the very nice Costa Hot chocolate with extra chocolate and marsh mallows. Son sent me £11 for the charge on my Electroverse account and his hot chocolate, I did not charge him for the Public Charging training session. So £5.50 transferred in my account for the electricity put in to his Mini. My Octopus account is well in credit so the £5.86 for £10.29 kwh of electricity will not alter my £133 monthly DD as I am about £300 in credit after months of low electricity due to using solar during the day and lecky at 8.5 per kwh at night. Plus I have had over £10 credited by Octopus in the last few weeks due to free sessions and saving sessions. Paid for the Costa hot chocolates on my Am Ex and this monthly I get £50 cash back. The £11 for the two hot chocolates will not hit my Am Ex for another 50 days so my £11 ca sit in an account getting 6.25% from Lloyds until then. Prices are nominal when considering all the incentives and recrediting systems at play. For a socialist I sometimes can be quite a good capitalist player of the system !!

If replaced by another full ICE or hybrid. If replaced by a BEV, even with end to end CO2 analysis the BEV will result in the owner having a lower CO2 in a year or two at average mileage, depending on the EV and it's manufacturer. I hear rumblings in the UK motor trade the only UK Nissan BEVs are getting the £3750 EV grant and there will be shouts of foul when French EV production is so clean. Nice to see Jaaaguar putting 18000 solar panels on its Wolverhampton plant, unfortunately that plant produces ICE but presumably it will be converted to BEV part manufacture at some point in the future. Course it's not just CO2 but NOX is a big issue too.

Suppose to use the shape of the original type us and earlier Jaaaags from the 50s/60s. Quite handsome i thought but not that close to the 75. I had couple of Rover SD1s, one with the 3 5l v8 and another with the 2.y straight 6. Use to get about 19 mpg in the 3 5l and 26 mpg in the 2.5l but then HM customs officer were getting 63p a mile allowance, those were the days plus Crown Transer on Housing. Not a looked like the Jaaag. Opel Manta GTE toped them both. All dirty cars in retrospect.

Popped over to the new charging hub on the south side of the ring road of Droitwich which is only just over 4 miles away from home in north Worcester. What I wonderful expetlrience. Was teaching my son the process of Public Charging for his Mini Cooper E. Site has 8 (no) 150 kw Kempower chargers, a Cosco Coffee restaurant and a Sainsbury's local. Just a training exercise for my laddo so get him to put the Mini on charge, get a couple of hot chocolates and head by home. Charger hit around 65 kws, small battery and no battery precondition done but warming ambient of low 20's C. 10.25 kws, price of power is 60p per kwh nominally but Electroverse gives 5% discount as well as delayed payment, month or months. Hot chocolates cost about the same as power up ie about £5.50, mad world.

Sorry if I sound like broken record as have posted before but I miss my Type S even though it is third Ford, third Lincoln and only a third Jaaag and to make it worse I had the smallest engine the 2 5 V6 from the Ford stable and it had cheapo Ford switch gear but I love the looks and the ZF 6 speed gearbox was sweet to......

Not a view point but an current appreciation and future that is clearly there with plummeting EV traction battery prices whether NMC, LFP or Na. Real facts are to see the obvious trend that EVs are becoming significantly cheaper and better performing year on year whilst ICE has stagnated and is only limping along due to ev hybrid tech bailing them out by lifting their awful inefficient and costly day to day operation out of the mire of horrendous running cost compared to EVs. Governments happy for buyers to continue to buty hybrids as they are expensive so they get a good VAT take and they will heep buying heavily taxed hydrocarbon fuel. Good to see rare earth and especially elements which are mined with little to no social responsibility are being phasex out. Just those who use their phones, tablets and other devices that use the NMC batteries realised at what social cost their devices are involved in. Electric Viking does not always get it right and he is recommending cautious optimism that soon to arrive next generation batteries are not going to be 5 or 10 USD per kwh but 20 USD per kwh is looking like what will come shortly. As we are at around $50 per kwh currently it still means the next generation of electrical traction batteries will wipe the floor on cost, performance, range etc and ICE cars will just be vehicles going to historic motor vehicle meets or driven by the odd enthusiast who does not valve to worry about running cost but has nostalgia for these relics.

Absolutely. The Mini Cooper E we bought a few weeks ago is sadly NMC. Hoped it would be LFP like the 40 kwh setup in the R5 but disappointingly not. LFP would mean it would be fine to charge to 100% rather than being advised to only charge to 80% which means the range after charge is only 150 miles rather than 190 miles ish. Mini, and Great Wall Motors presumably wanted that bit more energy density that NMC provides rather than LFP. Sadly with the R4 I am planning to replace the Zoe with the UK is looking like only getting the 52 kwh NMC rather than the 40 kwh LFP option. NMC will die out quite soon, it is more expensive than LFP and Sodium and it's superiority in energy density is being equaled by LFP & Na with the latest batteries from BYD, CATL & LG.

To watch the video would mean they get revenue from me watching it. It is clear from the frontal image that it is out of date and at best badly informed on current tech or more probably trying to suck in saps as clickbait.

My experience in owning 50 or so ICE cars is that EVs are a revelation. I have filled them with fuel probably more than a thousand times, paid tens of thousands in Excise Duty and VAT. Watch my kids fill their cars with fuel which pretty much cost them a day's wages each time. Getting my first EV 4 years ago ie the 250 mile ranged Zoe, AC and DC charging capable, I soon realised the massive savings in running costs and this led to getting another bigger and better EV, the 2024 European Car of the Year Scenic. On top of all that when I see my children and grandchild I want them not to pay for the mistakes of not transferring over to renewable energy and end up living in a world with ever higher temperatures, more extreme weather and food shortages.

Would not waste my time when the front picture talks about Cobalt which is no longer used in most EVs. It is used in the mobile phone you use but not most new EVs which now use LFP chemistry not NMC (C is for Cobalt). Cobalt is down in price by two thirds in the last 3 years as it is just not needed so much. Your mobile phone, doping in some steels etc but not for EV traction batteries. EV battery tech is moving so quick that the current LFP chemistry used for most EVs and increasingly for 40 ft container sized unit in battery storage for the Grid, some massive plants coming on line in Essex, will be superceded by Sodium battery chemistry which is costing about $20 per kwh compared to $50 which LFP has been costing. More worrying thatvl the Cobalt miners are going to get even less for the Cobalt although mobile phones and other small device batteries should also be going LFP and Na as Lithium NMC is really old tech now and like EV manufacturers the device manufacturers really should move on with their battery chemistry tech as well.

SMMT figure for July 2025

This crap is completely at odds with uk, and most the rest of the world's experience. Now have 3 EVs and no ICE cars and they are easy to live, no trips to gas stations, very cheap to run with energy, insurance and servicing. Not for everyone. Can understand why my boss is ditching her EQC for a new Tayran, similar to the Superb IV I think. But here in the Midland where journeys are 300 miles or less and expensive public charging is used only 1% of the time today's EV's are great and the handful of times I will need to public charge ie down to South Devon for example will be no hardship ie a 20 minute stop when I will also take a comfort break and get some nosh. The figures don't lie in that EV take up is growing exponentially and it is gas stations that will become harder to find and more expensive to use.

You know that, I know that but how many are fooled in to thinking this is possible ? Skoda are claiming 800 to 900 mpg for the IV Superb with the same 20/25 kwh battery and CO2 of just 7 gm per km. EU has clamped down on such claims but UK seems to be lagging on giving more realistic figures which is about trembling the CO2 and cutting the MPG by a factor of 4 or so, still wild. I think a 1000 km like Bjorn Nyland does will be a fairer gauge perhaps ?

My boss cancelled her order for the Explorer which had appeared on our VW company car list. After having a ECQ for several years she has ordered one of the new VW Tayrons. 1.5 TSI engine plus lecky motor giving just over 200 ponies. MPG listed as 700 mpg, yes right, and CO2 at 10 gm per km. Can do 70 odd miles on the 20 kwh battery usable. Ford Explorer just did not stack up for them so another one going from pure electric to hybrid!

Greg Jackson says that not allowing Regional variation is keeping prices high, for some maybe, or lower for others. Tesla have just got a UK supply licence so perhaps Tesla will bring to houses what they have done for Public Charging ie significantly cheaper than other suppliers. I think the future is making your own and European house have adopted this by the millions but a shrinking market of national supply, as with petrol stations, will mean less using it and higher prices for those that do.

When gas can be had for less than 6p per kwh it is hard for lecky to compete. Many of us are in to generating our own lecky, storing it too and only using the grid for top off and during low sun days. I can see tea time peak being charged at a super rate in the not too distant future like in the US. Peaker plants charge an absolute fortune to bring on line. 80A ie 18 kw is fine for most normal sized uk homes especially if they have some even smallish home batteries and these quite quickly pay for themselves by paying 20p a kwh less for lecky.

Reading the National Grid document it reads like they are quite happy to allow hones with low carbon tech like heat pumps have 100A fuses but standard is now 80A. Will probably get a quote for 3 phases when I retire on a few weeks as 80A per phase would not be a problem but in fact be very nice for the Renault EVs which can charge up to 22 kws on 3 phase. Quotes seem to vary so much, bit of a lottery.

Had the guys from The Grid come around a few months ago when I had my second EV charger fitted. Why it takes two of them to come around but then their office is only a mile away. They downgraded my main fuses from 100A to 80A. Someone on here said it is now Grid policy to do this as UK houses, maybe especially here in the Midlands due to the temperatures we are getting ie 35C, that the house ring main etc are getting too hot due to the higher ambient temperatures and homes are running more power in the summer than they use to when it was mainly winter that the electrical load was usually higher. In practical terms it is no issue. Even with an 80A fuse the load would have to be north of 100A for more than 4 hours, see National Grid document attached. Most I tend to see is around 15 kWs, voltage can between 220v and 240v of course. One of my EV chargers is only 3.6 KW, the other is 7.2 KWs and I can be charging home batteries with 2KWs an immersion heated with about 4 KWs and sometimes tumble drying but rarely at the same time and I have my Octopus Mini to tell me live power consumption and give me an idea of how much I am saving when I am running multiple heavy loads in my 5 hours of 8.5p per KW/hour. Be a same to miss out of super cheap home charging and car running costs. Our lecky bill is currently under £75 a month, gas less than £25 so paying £133 a month, 4 bedroom house, 3 EVs we are building up credit for the winter and with gas at 5.71p per KWH and the cheap 5 hours of lecky, I have a couple of solar arrays that track the sun, when there is some, and with the home batteries, lecky in the day is almost nothing. 80A or 100A is nominal, these "fuses" will run much more that without blowing for long periods as the graph on the attached shows. Standardisation to 80A.pdf

We were glad to get rid of the Clio hybrid. Over complicated, fuel consumption not great. Relatively heavy, smaller boot due to the intrusion of the hybrid system. It was pleasant to drive. The oomph often EV sub system made for nice low down power/ torque getting off the line. Proved to us that hybrid was an unnecessary distraction. Mini Cooper E is so much more fun, bit pricier but much lower running costs, insurance, servicing. Dodos.

Xpeng EV extends 24 hour distance record to almost 4000km / 2500 miles. Helped by Charging at 500 to 400 kWs and cruising at something like 120 mph when running. Be interesting to see a split between running time and charging time. Trying to find an ICE 24 hour distance record but no luck so far.