Luckypants

They will have done the quick check. On VWs the form states it can be up to 10% out! If you are really concerned get them to do the "long test" which involves running the battery down the measuring the charge to 100% I believe.

IOG has worked seamlessly for me. I have my charger (Wallbox Pulsar Pro) integrated with IOG and that works dandy.

Looks like the ID.2 will be called a Polo

Those Pirellis come out top or very near the top in recent comparative tests. Good choice. I'd be tempted by the new(ish) Hankook Ion FlexClimate tyres as they are EV specific but so far have not seen any tests of them (except R Symons who I'm pretty sure are sponsored). Punctures have meant matching like for like on my ID.4, so still on OEM Hankook S1Evo3s. Aside - I have Hankook 4S2 on the Citigo and they are great.

@PetrolDave I take your point entirely. In my experience of getting my system and my soon to be daughter-in-law getting hers, all those who quoted asked the question if we wanted power cut back up. Most of those also asked if we wanted whole house back up or a specific set of sockets. So there is a very good chance IME that the layman will have the opportunity to choose, even if they don't know there is a choice. Of course there are some less reputable outfits banging in standard systems that won't meet some customer's needs especially those installing under the ECO-4 grant (or whatever its called these days). However , as with any major consumer purchase the buyer needs to be doing some due diligence checks on the suppliers they ask to quote.

This! With a gateway device to automatically put your home into 'island mode' (i.e. not connected to the outside grid) an AC coupled battery system can provide its own mini-grid at 230V/50Hz. My Givenergy system does this without interruption when a power cut occurs and will allow my solar inverter to power the house and charge the battery. If there is insufficient solar, the battery does the rest.

Turning off the internal monitoring also turns off the two away protection. It is the tow away protection that sets off the alarm on ferries. You should be able to go into the manual and search "ferry" or "ferries".

Hear! Hear!

Looks smart for its age.

Your lease seems to have gone by quickly! I just signed up for an ID.3 Match 79kWh model on lease to replace the ID.4. Happy new car to you!

@Ootohere Where is that please? We're heading north in a few weeks and National Trust properties will feature heavily.

Yes all ID.4 (and all MEB cars) are 11kW on three phase. 16 amps per phase or 3 x 3.6kW (nominal at 230V). Most cars charge at 11kW on 3-phase, mainly due to cost of the larger 22kW charger from what I understand. Most European homes have 3-phase supply but are limited on amps, so there is less demand for 22kW OBC there as most cannot take advantage.

I've held the view since about 6 months into my ID.4 ownership that 22kW 3-phase AC charging should be a standard feature on all cars. It makes destination charging pretty much all day trippers need. Of course a lot of AC chargers are only single phase, but 3-phase is common enough for 22kW charging to be a useful addition to a car.

The rear brakes get so little use on an EV, the 'sealed for life' rear drums on MEB cars are a very good idea. Just Google Tesla Rear Brake Corrosion to see why drum brakes make sense on EVs. FWIW, after you get used to the slightly spongy feel to the brakes in MEB cars, the brakes are fine and do not lack power - just press a bit harder. While on the subject of brakes, my VW ID.4 (MEB platform the same as Elroq) has only 10% pad wear on the front brakes after 4.5 years and 56k miles. So you guys can expect the brakes to last and last.

Just coming on here for a bit of a boast really. 😀 Just completed my July stats for the ID.4 and my average is 4.02 miles/kWh this month, measured as what went in, not what the car says it achieved. That bloody good for a big bus. So 4.02 miles/kWh over 987 miles with average cost of 2.17p/mile, total cost of £21.40. That cost includes one Tesla super-charge as we were not able to charge overnight on one trip away. (more on this later). Yesterday, due to an impromptu trip to the seaside, I ran the car down to 1% SoC and 2 miles of range. I left it for a couple of hours before charging to allow the car to sleep and allow the BMS to balance up the cells - SoC recovered to 3% and 9 miles of range. I then charged to 80%. By extrapolating the charge into the car I see my battery still has around 74kWh net capacity from the original 77kWh after 4.5 years and 56K miles. Not too shabby. Its not all been good news on the EV front this month. I needed a new N/S/F tyre after spotting the cords were showing on the inside edge. Turns out the cords were exposed by a deformation of the tyre, most likely from pot-hole damage. My tyre guy said those deformations can lead to rapid wear which is what had happened here. I'm glad I spotted it as we were about to get on the motorway with both my grandchildren aboard and the thought of a blowout chills me. The other potentially expensive item this month is that the car succumbed to the well known VAG fuel flap stuck issue. The fuel flap locking mechanism seizes up due to water ingress to the solenoid. This is worse on EVs than fossil cars due to the flap being open for charging much longer, so more water gets onto the locking pin. As soon as it happened, I knew the cause and was lucky in that I'd recently seen a how-to video on fixing it. As we were 130 miles from home I called the RAC as I needed a charge to get home. The RAC managed to open the flap without too much damage to the flap and body coloured cover with some handy tips from me. This is what led to the 'expensive' Tesla Charge this month. The complete charge flap has now been replaced by VW under Extended Warranty, so hopefully this problem will not appear again in my ownership. If it does, I know exactly how to fix it.

@thamestrader I see your current car is a Karoq. My car prior to my ID.4 was a Karoq 2.0 TDI DSG 4x4. Both vehicles have been doing the same mileage and types of journeys, so a comparison is quite valid. The Karoq did 10 miles a litre solidly through the 3 years we ran it and would cost me 14p/mile now at our local diesel prices. Compare that to my lifetime cost of 5.16p/mile (including all rapid charging I've needed) for the ID.4 and current costs of 2.5p/mile by charging mainly at home.

The key to cheaper running costs is charging at home on domestic electricity rates. If you get on a cheap overnight tariff and charge using the cheap rate of say 7p / kWh (Octopus overnight EV rate) then you will be paying 2-3p/mile. If you are stuck on the standard electricity rate of say 26p/kWh it will cost approximately 6.5-8.5p/mile. ( @SurreyJohn beat me to the punch) Just to say if you are home every night, you will rarely use public chargers, so it makes little impact on your overall average cost per mile. I've done 56K miles at 5.16p/mile for fuel in my VW ID.4 - the first 3.5 years on the standard rate for electricity. (I've averaged 2.5p/mile since getting on an overnight EV tariff)

My mechanic lubricated the spring mounting and that sorted it. Just some silicon spray IIRC. We needed new front ball joints at the same time, roads here are bad. Get the electric version 🙂 I cannot justify the extra purchase cost to myself for such a low use car as ours, but the E-UP (same car) I tested climbed our Welsh hills waaaaay better.

Plus one on the 'they all do that sir'. We have the exact same model and year Citigo with almost identical mileage and it has had the rattle for as long as I remember. Oyrs has been serviced by my trusted mechanic ever since the warranty expired and he has never mentioned it as a potential issue.

Very detailed look from autogufuhl... I like the shooting brake, but I have VW means but Mercedes taste!

Not much to note, three new Tesla Open to All sites takes the total of Tesla sites for all to 121 in the UK. with prices at around 53-55p peak to charge and go, they are a very good option. Cheaper prices off peak and even cheaper with subscription. FYI a total of 199 open SC sites in UK, if you include the ones that are Tesla only.

Fair enough. For further clarity, his van is a 23-plate and he's been running it for a couple of years. The savings are based on what he is paying now compared to his previous Transit van. I think he is on a cheap tariff as he mentioned his smart meter. He has also installed solar and battery (for the same reason as me, frequent power cuts) but I don't know if he counts solar charging as 'free'. He took an EV van as a commercial decision, not through any desire to save the planet. His car is an 'environmentally friendly' VW Touareg.

It probably is. So what? You buy / lease what works best for you.

A plasterer that lives near me is fully made up with his Citroen e-Dispatch van. He reckons it will cost him £20k less over 4 years than his previous Transit.

You really should try a VAG group MEB based EV, I think you would love it in standard 'D' mode. Sounds like we have a similar driving style and D mode is great. (I know you need an enormous car due to being the BFG, just saying it would probably suit you 😊)