lol-lol

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.

The $60 or $70 a barrel is partly made up of taxation on the landing of oil and the decision needs to be made how much the UK needs of a strategic local supply. As we know it us not just a tap that can be turned over as extraction requires many millions of pounds of equipment to land the oil. We will need oil for plastics and other such use if not for burning in vehicles so definitely need a supply line of crude that is reliable ie not Middle East crude or other despotic states.

I have heard that North Sea oil needs a market of $60 a barrel to be economic and $70 a barrel for the new fields as it is getting increasingly costly to get the oil in ever deeper water. Compared this to Saudi who can make a profit at $20 a barrel !

Carrot and stick. Carrots, like more EV grants or subsidized public charging, or even reducing the VAT percentage and lowering badly needed tax collection to pay down the massive UK public debt are issues. There is also the stick of higher diesel and petrol prices. Some the UK government can control is the hydrocarbon excise duty but also supply issue affected by geo-political events like the Middle Eastern war that started last night. 20 % of oil comes thru the Straights of Hormuz and that might not be happening so much for the next weeks. Oil has already jumped a couple of dollars a barrel on Friday and has done another jump this morning. If I had an ICE car I might think about keeping my fuel tank half full or more. Issues like this might well help EV, and PHEV, sales.

UK government must cut the public charging VAT and put online with VAT at home. From what I have seen when my company owned Source London and its couple of thousand chargers tge capital cost of the equipment ud not insignificant. So part of the public charging is recovery of that capital cost plus the very expensive Grid connection charge and the electricity as rent, maybe ground rent at tge site too. Similar for those home charging. Capital cost of the wallboxes, about £1k a time abd they probably need replacing every few years. Total costvus more thanjust the electricity rate paid to the supplier.

85, 90, 96 % of all car charging done at home i have seen these figures over the years. With EV cars getting longer average range then public charging for people with the ability to charge at home. I think the UK government want to improve air quality and continue to collect taxes in the ways there are plus some new ways like pay per mile from April 2028. As to getting people out od ICE cars that is going to happen via a combination of rising fuel tax and VED. If drivers continue to drive ICE the revenue collected from ICE xar drivers will stay quire high due to the escalation of these Excise and VED taxes. Not sure they any specific plan to encourage drivers out of ICE except by the carrot and stick, carrot of up to £3750 price reduction subsidy on EVs and stick by higher taxes on ICE. Ulrra cheap Night time electricity, whether for EVs or home batteries, will not stay cheap in the long term as more home batteries, more electricity cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles cgarge up overnight. So necessity being the mother of invention there will be more use of devices like Ecoflow Stream, home and work battery systems and well as solar panels which are so cheap and pay for themselves in less 3 years, soon be 2 and then 1. Balcony solar, and Stream type devices, and its forms for just about everybody.

The route from the M5 from around Tewksebury all the way thru to the M4, ie via M50, A40, A449 is poorly off for chargers i think. No chargers at Monmouth Services and only the occasional odd town car park low output charger that i can see. I usually use the M5 to South Wales so there is the excellent Gloucester sevices setup now with even more Chargers but would be nice to have more choice. Also the north bank of the Severn ie Gloucester to Chepstow not great though most of that is England of course. If you can call the Foresters (of Dean) anything at all. May be an issue getting Grid power to places like Monmouth Services but if they offer charging then drivers will probably spend money in the services.

It is odd that TESLA prices, for non TESLA drivers, vary so much. Local Tesla chargers near here ie Frankley South services, are incredibly cheap, similar price for charging at home to those with single rate electricity pricing but you get up to 250 KWs instead of 7 kw, or 3 KW, at home. Whole UK public charging system is so complex one need numerous Apps etc but one can find some amazingly cheap charging if one looks hard enough and are lucky that those places are not too far... As well as supercheapness at Frankley South we have Gloucester North services at 33p per KWh half of the time and 55p the rest of the time which reflects the true price of lecky between off-peak and peak of course. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/findus/location/supercharger/28318

Figures of the percentage of home, and destination, charger, vary on various sites, I have seen 85 % quoted by Nissan and also seen figures of over 90% for home and then there can also be some destination charging. Most of our offices / warehouses have destination chargers which are charged out at about 30p per KWh so not 8p per KWh like at home but not the 69, 79, 89 per KWh which is the full displayed price of Public charging in the UK. If I was public charging regularly in the UK I would look at one of the subscription services, Gridserve, Ionity etc. If my conscious allows me I could pay 30p per KWh at Frankley South services Tesla chargers, or 55p per KWh at busier times. Imagine a motorway diesel or petrol supplier selling fuel at less than £1` a litre ? https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/findus/location/supercharger/332657 Recent was EV driving in Portugal and Public charging prices seem to be about 50p per KWh and looking at ZAP map for Europe, and of course I can use my Octopus Electroverse card on about 1M chargers throughout Europe the price of about 60 Eurocents seems to be a typical cost ie cheaper across mainland Europe than in the UK. One can take out these monthly charger network subscriptions for just one month and then cancel and even with two charger in that month one has probably saved a few quid. Consolidation is happen in the EV public charging area and we have just seen Mer sell all it charger to Be.EV making them tope ten now..... As of February 12, 2026, Be.EV has acquired Mer’s UK public electric vehicle charging network, adding over 1,600 charging bays across 450+ sites, primarily in the South of England. This acquisition strengthens Be.EV’s position as a top 10 UK network, with plans to rebrand the chargers and upgrade them. Key Details of the Acquisition: Acquisition Scope: Be.EV acquired Mer's public charging assets, excluding Mer's fleet and workplace operations. Network Expansion: The deal expands Be.EV's network to over 2,500 bays and 680+ sites nationwide. Integration Plan: Over the coming months, blue Mer chargers will be rebranded to green Be.EV chargers. Driver Impact: Existing Mer chargers will operate as normal during the transition. Over time, drivers will gain access to Be.EV’s pricing, including a 39p/kWh subscription rate.

Naaa. The Battery Management System is the last word in what to do and what not to do and the State of Charge indicating the percentage just a guide. The BMS is there to protect the manufacturer's vehicle and especially as most cars are lease or PCP it will do that with that in mind ie they are going to get the car back at some time in the future, probably only 10, 15, 20% thru the cars lifetime. So when, for example, my Scenic, will still allow full 125 KW power usage 11 miles past zero SoC shown that is what the BMS, applying its rules, is OK with. As the miles pile on past 0% shown, 15 miles, 20 miles etc, it will reduce the amount of power that can be used, ie back to 100 KWs, then a few miles later reduced to 75 KW, then few miles later down to 50 KW until it gets down to say 10 KWs when you really know it the BMS is telling you to get some charge. In a Renault you would have done more than 20 miles past 0% and in the case of the 55 KWh R5 you have done nearly 30 miles pas 0% SoC shown. Trust the BMS in all cars. Clearly be aware, as from Bjorn Nyland's tests, that Audis, Mercedes (including this year's European Car of the Year) have much smaller, or non existent buffers compared to Renaults and TESLAs !!