Luckypants

I've had Phillips upgrade bulbs in my motorcycle and they are good, definitely better than standard. The reason I prefer Osram is they give a better dip beam pattern using H4 bulbs (which Citigo uses) and are more reliable in my experience.

They are already halogen bulbs. You need an upgrade bulb, higher output than standard. My favourite are Osram Night Breaker which give a big improvement in light output. I have them in my Citigo.

Seems counter intuitive when Tesla are applying pressure on price.

@Rooted Explained how Motability works. From my experience, if leased through a company scheme either as a benefit or salary sacrifice, the insurance is covered by company insurance as they are the lessee. I had two prangs in a year one time in a company car and I got a very stiff letter from HR telling me one more and I would be taken off the company car scheme. Those did not affect my own NCB. I have also leased a car for myself and I was responsible for insuring it - this is true even with a full package. The bin men reversed into that and my insurance was informed, but as fault was admitted it did not affect NCB.

Most have a motor mounted on a single speed reduction gearbox driving a transaxle with a differential.

For those new to EVs, that is a useful article. I thought it was not clear or even misleading in the way referred to Tesla having their own chargers and should have made it clear that Tesla cars can charge on other networks. Apart from that, helpful.

Thanks for the clarification. I tend to forget that the power electronics for Tesla chargers are remote from the plug. I'd have thought new V4 installations would have power electronics capable of being upgraded to supply 600A/1000V at least but who knows without Tesla publishing specs. the second article mentions a planning application for 16 V4 SC with output of 350kW. The maximum possible under the CCS2 standard for 400V cars is about 250kW (400Vx600A), so to go higher will need higher voltage. Both articles mention the plated max. current to be 600A, so I would expect at least 600V capability. I suspect any 350kW V4 will support 800V. Pretty exciting stuff.

I'm sure that is not true, the V4 cabinet is completely different to V3, including a longer cable to allow non-Tesla cars with right side charge ports to charge without blocking an extra charger. Take a look at this video of Trentham Gardens SC site, where a bunch of V4s have been installed next to V3 chargers and the difference is stark.

But all you need is for price competition to force down prices at 800V chargers to benefit. The V4 SC is rated to 1000V, but I do not know if they are throttled to approx. 400V for the moment.

Shell can do one as far as I'm concerned. Tesla will disrupt the charging market like it has the car market. All their new sites will be V4 Superchargers and will be open to all (with contactless payment) - currently they are 15-20p cheaper than nearest rivals and 30p cheaper than Shell! The other CPOs will have to get prices down or suffer the consequences. Tesla are now selling V4 superchargers to other charger networks and apparently these cost a lot less that a similar spec charger from other manufacturers, so expect to see more entrants to the charger market and with that comes competition.

I think this shows how the Chargeplace Scotland scheme has backfired a bit. Any CPO's map of chargers generally stops at Gretna, as there was no point trying to compete with free chargers in Scotland. Since most of these now charge, there is a business case to be made (see MFG's expansion) for privately provided charging in Scotland - but this has effectively put the commercial roll-out in Scotland a couple of years behind. Add in that many chargers Rooted uses are unreliable* and it makes an electric car less attractive in Scotland. * I have to say my experience of CPS chargers has always been good, but I use them quite rarely and in different areas to @Rooted

@Rooted With your high miles, would a Tesla subscription be worth it to you? £12 a month but around 20p/kWh reduction in price. Interesting conundrum that affects those dependant on public charging, so wondered what your position would be.

It is rather a click bait. All advanced countries have plans for what to do in power shortages. It seems Switzerland has identified EVs as a potential load that can be reduced or removed at the third tier of escalation of emergency powers to reduce demand. I suspect they are the first to do this as the plan needs to be ratified by the federal court, it is not yet law. No doubt other countries will follow. The UK will no doubt be a bit behind on this as our plan (Electricity Supply Emergency Code) was last revised in 2019. The ESEC requires increasingly frequent and longer rolling blackouts as it gets escalated. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-supply-emergency-code

My Clubman Estate did too,

I'd have an F-Type over an M3 everytime. It looks so much nicer, a real sports coupe where (to me) an M3 looks like a boy racer's souped up saloon. I'm not a sports car enthusiast so looks would matter to me and that F-Type is a great choice. Enjoy!

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.