classic

I guess we are reading his sentence from our differing perspectives but the way he continues is what makes me interpret it the way I did. “From a cost perspective I would replace a diesel van for an electric van and I wouldn’t even hesitate,” he added. “On a HGV I wouldn’t even look at an electric one unless we got a load of grant funding from the Government. We should be looking at diesel with HVO because that is the best value choice.” I don’t know how they expected the electric ones to work out when their diesel lorries can carry 40% more weight. It seems to me the council ordered inadequate vehicles and clearly their charging infrastructure isn’t good enough. There are private bus companies like Arriva and Stagecoach running huge fleets of Electric buses and installing reliable charging systems, so clearly the sums must add up or they wouldn’t do it. Also they don’t replace a diesel bus with an electric one that holds 40% less people.

Would be relevant if this was the truth about electric bin lorries. To quote the council head of fleet in the article - “From a cost perspective I would replace a diesel van for an electric van and I wouldn’t even hesitate,” he added.

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Many thanks to all contributors that have caused me to really look in depth at EV use, production, servicing, charging etc etc. Elroq ordered.

https://youtu.be/e_jja8pHQ0M?si=W4I68uHoTEscNhMn Our friend The Macmaster actually seems to have started to like them 😀.

You can quite happily keep running that Diesel Kodiaq for as long as you like and its brand new equivalent will continue to be sold until 2030. In 2035 you could buy a used 2029 Kodiaq if you wished to do so. Basically you aren’t going to be forced to do anything you don’t like for at least 20 years when the future supply of Diesel Kodiaq may start to run out.

It depends on your beliefs about climate change. You can’t really compare the horse - steam - diesel/petrol evolution to electric road vehicles as each was a huge increase in performance that sold itself. Without legislation to push it, what is the alternative - wait for sea levels to rise ?

My understanding is that EV manufacturers now go to some lengths to ensure their batteries have cobalt which is ethically sourced so I would say their (reducing) use of the stuff has improved matters.

Well if you’re ok with any mining issues as long as it isn’t for EV use I can’t really answer that, in fact I give up. There are a whole host of unethical, morally wrong things going on in the world and past conflicts, human rights issues etc that have provided oil and materials for our consumption which have all been generally ignored by anti EV people until it fitted their narrative. If anything now EV use of cobalt is declining as more lfp batteries are used. It isn’t a rational argument against use of EVs.

The fact is, that unless you cycle everywhere on a wooden bicycle and source everything you need within 10 miles of your house using a horse and cart, then you cannot use the cobalt and mining use of Earths minerals argument against EVs. Cobalt is used in oil refining and the production of oil rig drill bits, not to mention its use in jet engine turbine parts. All these videos and arguments to try and prove EV production as some kind of evil are a joke.

DPF delete - Illegal, morally wrong. Buy a petrol or buy an ev or buy a diesel with dpf and adblue.

Interesting, thanks Carlston. I withdraw my recommendation ! Luckily it will wear them out fast enough to soon need some more…. Edit: I did get a “kit” which was supply of the discs and pads, considering I was buying new discs you would think they could have put the correct sized pads in with them. Pretty sure it was this one https://ebcbrakesdirect.com/ebc-brake-pad-disc-kit-pdkr1036

I highly recommend EBC brakes. Recently got rear ones and pads for my Superb. https://www.ebcbrakes.com/part-finder/

@Graham Butcher I agree about all the tech on modern cars being a nightmare -modules, radars, sensors and cameras etc whether EV or ICE. Unfortunately I believe one of the main uses for cobalt other than in batteries is in refining oil and producing hardened drills for oil rigs…. I think as the government are pushing manufacturers to build ev vehicles they should be supporting the car repair industry with incentives to train technicians and get equipment to make it less risky for people to own used EVs as they become more available. Edit : Just to add Ive spent just over £1000 on maintenance for my Superb over the last 40k miles - 4 x oil & filters, spark plugs, rear discs and pads account for 60% of that which an equivalent EV wouldn’t have needed (and I saved £250 over dealer price by doing the discs and pads myself).

Having owned an EV and then moved back to an ICE I’ve ended up with an interesting perspective on this whole debate. I had issues with a couple of scenarios where I couldn’t find a working fast charger or had to wait ages, when I didn’t have the time, to get on one. The repair infrastructure - at least for Skoda - clearly wasn’t there, my car needed battery cell replacement under recall but the dealer couldn’t do it and would need to send it to some VW ev centre. Then the electricity prices went up but bizarrely at the time the value of my car had gone up so I sold it for more than I’d paid for it. Easily the best car I’ve ever had as it did nearly 30k miles and cost absolutely zero in maintenance costs. There’s no doubt that since then the charging infrastructure has improved - I see them all over the country. People I know keep telling me how crap EVs are and quote all the stuff about battery fires, degradation, children being forced down mines to get cobalt etc etc. I now find myself constantly disagreeing with these people, some of whom are good friends but have swallowed the whole anti ev dialogue. I’m at the point now where I actually want to get another ev just to annoy the anti ev people.

Specialist service is minor every 10k miles (oil & filter and inspection ). Major service every 40k miles ( minor plus spark plugs, air filter and pollen filter). All other add ons such as dsg ( not required on my dq200 - but that’s another story….), air con and brake fluid are obviously extra but still cheaper than dealer.

The plan includes spark plugs and air filter, but in actual fact it would only include them if they happened to be required during the plan, if that makes sense. You pay the price for the plan regardless, it states plugs and air filter included but some owners wouldn’t get them from what I can see.

As my car approaches the 3 year old mark, my dealer has unsurprisingly mentioned the Skoda All In Service Plan. There are various threads on this which I’ve read. I’m naturally sceptical of service plans and extended warranties but for £38 a month this seems reasonable. I’ve compared the cost of 2x services*, 2 x MOT and 2 years breakdown cover if I used my local VW specialist and any of the major breakdown cover suppliers and the cost is £29 per month. In effect then I’m getting 2 years extended warranty for £9/month which seems ok until I read the warranty terms and conditions, which basically exclude most things that actually go wrong and in particular this clause - “The gradual reduction in operating performance (wear and tear) due to the age and mileage of your vehicle.” My principal reason for getting this plan would be for some major failure such as the dsg, or turbo. It seems to me that clause is a get out for just about any failure. Is it just a way to keep you with them, there isn’t really any saving other than their inflated prices. Am I missing the point ? The service plan basically offers a slight discount on Skoda dealer service and MOT costs, AA recovery and the warranty. *The specialist service is better and more clearly defined than Skodas and they are a VW service centre and update the digital record etc

I’m pretty sure that if your air bag fitted car, be it petrol, diesel, ev or hydrogen was involved in an accident which deployed the airbags then the airbag control module would have recorded the speed, pedal and steering wheel inputs plus various other parameters depending on how advanced it is. The Macmaster guy is sad spinning everything against EVs all cars are going or have already gone that way.

I know it’s not much help, but I looked at complete walnut blasting kits on eBay a a couple of years ago and they were about £300.

I seem to remember the E for Electric channel revealing that he had been cancelled by VW if not some others, I can’t recall, when he wasn’t 100% favourable to their products. He subsequently seemed to become extremely disillusioned with the whole of the USA and left the country. The whole “influencer “ scene is clearly open to abuse but I guess the car magazines and newspaper articles of the pre internet age were probably appropriately biased according to how they’d been treated…

Sounds good, it will certainly stand out in that colour !

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Rr296, if you’re really unlucky a stone or similar has damaged the condenser when you were driving it on day one or two. Otherwise a fault or manufacturing defect will be covered by warranty - annoying but it happens and the fact it will then be repaired for free is one of the main reasons for buying a new car.

They have to eat their own **** and it doesn’t them any good. EGR, DPFs, regens which in my opinion are insane - how is burning extra fuel to turn soot into ash a good thing regarding reducing emissions ? If it isn’t successful it will keep trying on other journeys, washing oil off the bores and even diluting the oil with fuel. And just in case there isn’t enough to go wrong there’s the ad blue system….