Luckypants

Tesla have opened 3 more sites in Scotland to non-Teslas. These are at- Eurocentral - Motherwell 53/61p Fort William 50/61p Inverness 50/61p the prices are peak/off peak charges to rock up and charge. Membership takes around 20p off those prices. I think the Fort William ones will be busy, as other provision seems to be struggling there.

I'll definitely have one of these if it comes to fruition. It must be Octavia sized though, not an Octavia on steroids! The ID.4 is too big for my needs really and an OCty / Golf estate would be ideal. Riding on the MEB platform is a great plus as the ID.4 is a lovely car to travel in. The updates announced for ID.7 and also coming to updated Enyaq/ID.4/Q4 MY2024 make MEB better and more efficient. I hope they work to keep the weight and drag down to improve efficiency. 4.5 mile/kWh and the 58kWh battery would make the range acceptable. A 77kWh battery in this size of car would be overkill.

UK now has over 50000 public charge points. That is more than there are petrol pumps. The roll-out is increasing in speed. https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/uk-installs-50-000th-charger-network-to-reach-100-000-by-august-2025 On a practical level, I no longer think about charging in the UK unless I am going to the boonies (think Llyn Peninsular or similar) and I'd think about where to get petrol if going such places. As long as i'm prepared to pay the price, I can charge wherever I need to. My reason for planning charge stops now is price, where Tesla remains my preferred choice. Once Gridserve et al get a charge hub into every MSA, focus should shift to cheap AC charging facilities for those without private parking IMHO.

I think take a look at Battery Life's videos about his ID.3 battery state of health. As you may know the ID.3 has the same chassis and powertrain as the Enyaq. https://www.youtube.com/@BatteryLife He freely admits that he has abused the battery in the first year and has done high miles, but still has over 90% of original capacity after 3 years. Personally my ID.4 is up to 35k miles with no noticeable drop in range, the weather has the biggest impact. I regularly see in excess of 280 mile range with 77kWh battery. As others have said charging to 100% is not a problem, it is leaving the car at this high state of charge that is a problem. Similarly, driving down to a low state of charge of 5% or less is not a problem as long as the car is not left in this state. i.e. plug in after driving and charge to at least 20% (recommended by VAG). If the car has not been abused in this way, the battery will be good. I would ask any seller for a battery state of health report, which would be simple for a Skoda dealer. I'd also recommend making sure the car's software is up to date and all recall work carried out.

Did I not say 'the services before' i.e. both are north bound on the M6. You are being deliberately obtuse when confronted with a fact.

I've decided most people are stupid. It is known that currently chargers can get busy on holidays and the like, but people just pile into the same honey-pot charging locations thinking it will be fine, instead of engaging brain and looking for an alternative BEFORE setting off. For instance, Tebay services currently have 2 50kW chargers north bound and there will be queuing on busy days, yet the services before at Burton-in-Kendal have 8x350kW chargers. Guess which one everyone piles into because its 'nice'? One day there will be plenty of chargers everywhere, but until then a little planning would solve a lot of issues.

The Hankooks are a good price on there. Depends on cost of fitting locally of course. Mine were £85 each fitted IIRC.

That is the size fitted to our CITIGO Monte Carlo. (see the original post on this thread) I fitted Hankooks and they feel very solid in the wet. They were fitted end of June, so no cold weather experience yet. Yes, its an expensive size.

We should be taking a leaf out of the French book and make covering car parks with solar canopies mandatory. The shade afforded by the canopies is pleasant in summer and the cover is welcome in winter. The power generated can supply the business owner or be fed into the grid. EDIT: Photo shows Tesla SC station at Chalon-sur-Soane with my car interior not getting hot while charging. I believe the power goes to the Super-U hypermarket in the background.

Smart meters CAN help reduce your bills. These devices are what give access to the Time of Use tariffs offered by the suppliers nationally. I'm very keen to get a working smart meter as my average price per kWh would drop from around 20p on Octopus Tracker to 14 or 15p on Octopus Go (cheap rate midnight to 4am). The key is I have to be responsible for making use of the opportunities to save money afforded by a smart meter. In the same way it is up to me to reduce my consumption to save money and be more green. Last winter I turned down the flow temp in my boiler to increase efficiency through greater use of condensing mode, my tank of oil lasted an extra two months. Savings through my actions. This year I'm installing more loft insulation and even though my house is well insulated, I'll still see improvement.

Totally agree, but until we get to that point I'll play the game. To be fair, Gridserve have no app or subscription and you turn up and pay (66p at present). They are mainly on the motorway, so helps make long distance travel in the UK easier.

I've had one for a while as it costs me nothing and allows access to supercharging sites open to all should I need them. I took out the subscription for my recent French trip and found the chargers to be fast and numerous, both in locations and number of stalls. Tesla in the UK is lagging behind Europe opening sites up, but if it becomes as ubiquitous as it is in France, the other players will need to really compete on price. Already Gridserve has direct price competition at Reading services, can only be good for us.

We are doing the same, fitted Hankook 4S2 to our Citigo over the summer, so in the snow that will get used. The Citigo is great in the snow anyway, should be even better with these boots on. I was expecting to be on the hook for new rear tyres on the ID4 this month after 3 weeks driving around France, but still have 3mm showing so will postpone a month.

OK let me use my drive from Bezannes near Reims to Beaulieu-sur-Mer as an example as I have the costs for that. I left Bezannes with 100% battery at 6:05 am (easy for you if you can charge at home) as my hotel had a charger and drove to the Tesla Superchargers at Chalon-sur-Soane, we charged for about 30 minutes while we went to the toilet and ate breakfast (Pain au chocolat from the nearby Super-U). This was 62kWh and cost €17.98. We then drove to Le Pontet superchargers near Avignon and charged again, this time 51kWh that cost €15.30. We went to the toilet and got a coffee at the nearby mall but had to hurry a bit as the car was done charging. We then drove to Beaulieu-sur-Mer arriving at 18:30 due to bad traffic in Nice costing an hour. We drove at 105kph as the range predictor app I used (A Better Route Planner) suggested an extra 40 minute charge stop would be needed to sustain the higher consumption at 130kph and wiped out any time saving. So that is a 965km journey we made on 5th September. Two stops for breaks / toilet and charging. We topped up the charge in the car again at our hotel which cost a flat €7 on top of the car parking. Total cost for the trip €40.28 (+ a portion of the €12 Tesla membership subscription) On another leg of our tour we charged at Ionity on the Autoroute which was €0.52/kWh. I hope that is helpful.

There are now 26 Tesla charging sites open in the UK to non-Tesla cars and the cost is 45-53p or 30-35p with a subscription. I know geographically they are sparse north of the M25, but its a start and new V4 supercharger sites will be open to all (one in Stoke opened at the weekend. Tottenham and Reading Services already opened) In France, many more SC sites are open to all and its having an effect from what I observed, supercharger sites have 50/50 spilt between Teslas and other makes, This puts pressure on other suppliers price wise, so even on the Autoroute chargers were around 50p for 300kW chargers. I hope Tesla open more sites in the UK, especially those at MSAs, to break the price fixing cartel operated by the companies belonging to Charge UK trade association.

The free charging is gone. I stated I got a lot of free charging IN MY FIRST YEAR. My average cost last year was 6.03p / mile over 13259 miles, no free charging. That year I had a fixed rate of 21p/kWh for home charging.

Not that far beyond. The price cap is (state regulated via OFGEM) is 30p / kWh. Many suppliers now have deals below that. I am on Octopus's Tracker tariff which tracks the wholesale price on a daily basis, this tariff is open to all. during times of lots of wind energy I've seen my price as low as 12p/kWh and highest I've seen (since July) is 21p / kWh. The 19p I quoted was for September. I normally give a weekly reading and Octopus average the cost over the week, so I pay a variable price, but in the context of my post I felt it was fair to give the September price I paid of 19p.

To really **** you off, my average cost over 33k miles now 5.9p / mile. I'll admit this figure has been helped by a lot of free Tesco / Aldi charging in the first year and some other free charges, which is something petrol or diesel never get. I had solar fitted at the beginning of July and now any excess can be dumped into the car for 'free', so July & August has seen my costs at less than 3p / mile. This is without an EV tariff for leccy as smart meter does not work, so I'm paying about 19p. Things will get more expensive over winter due to poorer efficiency and less solar, unless something changes on the smart meter front. Financially it stacks up for me, the fuel cost saving pays the increased monthly PCP cost over a similar diesel.

A truth about an electric car.... 3000 miles around France. No issues with finding a charger, no issues with queuing, average charge cost 29p / kWh, average consumption 4.0 mi/kWh, average cost 7.51p 7.87/mile (includes charging at home before leaving and on return plus one free charge of about 25kW). We charged whenever the humans needed a stop. Generally this coincided with meal times and generally we charged more than needed so we could finish our meal. Truth is, EVs are no more difficult to tour with than ICE vehicles. Our ID.4 was quiet, comfy and very easy to drive over long distances on the Autoroute with ACC and Lane Assist helping keep things in check. Highly recommended! EDIT: I forgot to account for the one month subscription to Tesla membership charging of £11 in my cost per mile. New average above.

Unless this is a change in terms and conditions, what you propose is specifically excluded on the 15p export tariff for this reason. If you are on IO or Go, you will be on the Agile export tariff. This os how I understood the T&Cs when I signed up.

I'm unfollowing this thread as the bickering and off topic posts are polluting my inbox. I'm on holiday now so not going to be replying anyway 😁 One final point that is the truth about electric cars. Mine has been faultless on the drive to the south of France from North Wales. 4.0 miles per kWh average and its a piece of cake.

Which is still 20-30p less than the competition 🤔

The rate for Tesla membership is in 30s and is the same as for Tesla I think. Membership costs £10.99 a month and is worth it if charging regularly. The contract length is one month so can be cancelled anytime. The VAT and BIK questions are not unique to Tesla, so the answer is it depends on your own tax position. I've taken membership for this month as holiday trip is on. I'll save the membership cost in my first charge, after that I'm saving money every charge. The reason I'm bigging up Tesla charging is the price difference is massive. Banbury charge will cost me 35p/kWh versus 79p at the Osprey chargers next door or 75p at the nearby Instavolt hub. When I'm in France the difference is not so stark, as non-Tesla charger prices seem closer to 50p/kWh but still a useful saving.

I'd like to point out Tesla as an exception to this. Their rates are currently pretty reasonable even for non-Tesla owners. I've suspected from the start that Charge UK "trade association" is a cartel for fixing charging prices, but I'm beginning to believe it now. I'm voting with my feet on this one and using Tesla chargers whenever possible. Tomorrow I'm charging at Banbury using Tesla, ignoring the Osprey chargers next door and the Instavolt hub I'll pass to get to the Superchargers.

Agree the Tesla price is great. I've just paid the subscription for membership prices for our upcoming road trip to France. Looking at 28-39p for charging on the next 2-3k miles.