classic

From experience, I don’t want to rely on any breakdown service if I have a puncture. There’s numerous scenarios for me and/or reasonably remote places where changing the wheel myself would get me to where I’m going with minimal delay. I’ve got a 2 ton scissor jack, suitable bar and wheel chocks and will only lift the relevant corner not the entire car with it. Ideally if I did have a puncture I’d get Škoda assistance, or whoever I use once that expires, to come out and fit my space saver. This is preferable to me than their options which are generally : 1.taking you and the flat wheel to a nearby tyre place, getting new possibly very expensive tyre and returning to fit it. Full recovery to tyre place (EV can’t be towed). Full recovery somewhere else, and then sort tyre. Sending mobile tyre fitter to fit their expensive tyre ( This might be first option for some recovery services). Fit their temporary wheel for you to drive to tyre place. Not to mention, response times for recovery can be ridiculously long and EV tyres are often stupid, rare sizes that might not be on the shelf and need ordering.

Nothing on mine to suggest they are self sealing. Continental Eco Contact 7, can’t see any Contiseal markings. However the Continental website does say Eco Contact 7 are self sealing. Either way, I don’t like not having a spare in the boot !

I bought a “space saver” for my Elroq. It hasn’t caused me any issues carrying it around as in the photo.If I ever need to really load up it would just have to be left behind but that scenario hasn’t happened yet.

That’s that then. It was all just a scam and some of us actually fell for it. Embarrassing. Thanks Graham, I don’t think anymore needs to be said I’ll be the first to acknowledge being taken in.

I’ve had a look at a couple of electric hgv tractor units and they seem to have at least a 3 speed auto gearbox . I presume that is to help get them moving more efficiently. I wonder if a similar system on some larger EV cars would make them slightly more useful for towing ?

I would say the pi55 poor adoption is as much to do with the constant misinformation poured into people’s social media and propagated by people such as your good self. The tide is slowly turning as people talk to their relatives, friends and neighbours that already have EVs in real life and see what the reality is. As for the politicians, I don’t think they’re that thick but they are just playing for votes. If people protest and write to their MPs then they might act. If not, they won’t. In terms of public rapid charging prices, I think the price is now set and includes 20% vat. The government will just ramp up petrol and diesel tax, the oil companies will charge more as they sell less and the price will go up until today’s apparently high EV public charging prices actually look reasonable. It’s a giant sh£t sandwich Graham and we’re all going to have to take a bite.

Said people, that would like to move to EV but can’t, should be telling the politicians that instead of saying “I’ll stick to ICE this doesn’t work for me.” My back of an envelope calculations are that using expensive rapid chargers equates to around 20p per mile (Superb 1.5 petrol cost 15p per mile) , someone better at maths can do it accurately, but I reckon that is around 30mpg ish equivalent for my car averaging 3.5 miles per kWh. That being the case it wouldn’t take much to bring public rapid pricing down on parity with petrol and diesel.

Meanwhile, back in reality - The truth over 2000 miles give or take a hundred or so: October 2024, Škoda Superb 1.5 tsi fuel costs £272.11 October 2025, Škoda Elroq 60 charging costs £41.77

You won’t miss filling the Golf with petrol.

Enjoy guys, only got a 60 but I love driving it so I’m sure you’ll like the 85x. Running costs are amazing, 👍

Yes, I’ve been watching them since the days of Fiestas and fiat 500s when Chris wouldn’t appear on camera ! When I scraped my Octavia a few years ago I went to a local bodyshop paid £750 +vat directly to them, he said if I wanted a quote for insurance it would be over £2,000

Yes, it is a Škoda Elroq, will be interesting to see what the budget brings…..😬. I think mine is software 5.4, it has linked perfectly with OVO and also the my Škoda app works properly as well.

The problem with car insurance repairs and write offs is that thousands of skilled mechanics and painters & body repair professionals have left the trade and not enough new ones are coming in. At the same time the cars, whatever their power source, have become even more complicated. Hence relativity minor damage becomes “unrepairable” especially within a timeframe involving hire cars being provided etc.

Sorry to report no issues with apps and I have been using the EV a lot, just under 3k miles in 6 weeks. Using OVO charge* app, synced perfectly with the Elroq. It’s set to 80% and the time the car is required for and I just plug in at the end of the day. POD point charger, set to dumb mode and the car/OVO communicate and it charges. Only thing I’ve had to alter is a couple of times telling it to go to 100%. But in reality 80% is giving 180 to 200 miles range. edit : the app is “OVO Charge”

Unfortunately after decades of systems involving cash and a reliance on people to declare honestly their earnings, we are in a place where public services can’t cope. Annoyingly if you make more than £1000 from a side hustle you should pay tax on that. If they decide to tax “classic” cars and tax large cars by weight then so be it. Vote for the party that will change things back at the next general election, but the money will have to come from somewhere or the public services reduced.

It is something they could improve. Feed it back to Škoda, there is Škoda EV lounge on Facebook (which I’m not on….) I got an email invite to join Škoda All Ears which is some kind of customer feedback panel. Improvements like this will presumably be exactly what they’re looking for.

He is now officially an EVangalist ! Stopping at Newport Pagnell because he needed a break and didn’t even charge the car. Charged at Sheffield Porsche, then stopped twice more for his own personal needs with no car charge. Could have done it without stopping for charge if he’d had 100% at the start in London but he started with 59%.

Only way I can see is to press the steering wheel voice control button (top left hand side) and say your command .

Good stuff 👍

Do not buy an electric car, don’t do it, do not buy an electric car.

Interesting video, in the future this will probably just be normality using the car to store electricity for your house. Unfortunately for many Škoda owners it seems this currently will only work on the bigger battery 85’s, which must also have software version 5.4 or later.

Exactly, they want to charge people driving Chelsea Tractor type things known as SUV but they are going to get trades people, people with company vans, people with wheelchair accessible vehicles, those that need a slightly higher vehicle or 7 seaters. It is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If it is just on residential permits then a visitor can still sail into Cardiff with a V 8 petrol Range Rover at no extra cost.

I might have interpreted this wrongly but isn’t it about permits so will affect Cardiff residents but not visitors ? To be honest doing it on weight is lazy. People with vans for work are penalised unfairly. It will include a lot of EVs so maybe it is a way to tax them, my Elroq is 2457kg gvw so would fall foul of it. Like Graham, my previous Škoda Superb estate would be ok but takes up more space….

Close shave for The MacMaster !

The government should also be incentivising EV apprenticeships and training existing mechanics. It’s all just left to the dealers who are hedging their bets on whether the whole thing really takes off.