Graham Butcher

That salary sacrifice scheme is one of the reasons why I retired when I did, as my employer was removing themselves from the burden of having to supply a company car for those who needed one in order to carry out their job requirements and shifting that burden onto the employee using that scheme. In other words, once I had entered into that arrangement, I became liable for the payments and maintenance, insurance, VED costs for the car, as well as the costs of providing a replacement hire vehicle should it become necessary when the car went in for servicing and repairs etc. It made far more sense to me not to get a millstone around my neck at a time when I was already past normal retirement age, instead, I retired and purchased my existing company car from the leasing company when the lease expired, a couple of months after I retired. It was agreed that I could continue to use the company car til then, provided I took out an insurance policy on the car. So as far as I was concerned, it was set up to benefit the employers rather than the employees, and it would have been a hefty penalty to get out of the contract should I be unable to continue meeting the payments due to poor health or losing my employment for whatever reason, which was totally unacceptable as far as I was concerned.

Like most things in life, there is always a body of people who will game things if they can get away with it.

Oh yes, you have not been following the news, have you? Having said that, I don't recall seeing or hearing it on the mainstream media either, but some of the so-called biased and spreaders of misinformation bloggers on YT have got hold of it and maybe because they don't have to follow the narrative, have reported about it. What's the worst that can happen to them? Have a video demonetised; many don't care about that, only interested in the real truth. Anyway, a quick couple of seconds on Google reveals that it is, after all of that, 100% true. The growth of Intelligent Octopus EV charging tariff | Octopus Energy UK's cheapest home EV charging now available from 5p/kWh

I used to know one of the architects on that Dinorwig plant and have been down there to see it; it is well hidden.

@Evolution13 so that, if replicated everywhere else will basically mean that unless you can survive purely on the reduced time of home charging, when the reduction happens next month, the only thing going for them is the belief that you are allegedly helping the planet in return for the inconvenience. of all the waiting around for the battery to recharge. I say allegedly because I know that certain people will trot out all the usual guff about this and that, but as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on the overall benefits to the planet with the complete cycle of the impact of the entire damage of the cars' contribution globally to everything.

The reduction of cheap home charging hours does nothing to assist either, it just adds further pain to those who went electric on the promise of reduced running costs.

Is this the way forward to bring electric to those unable to always be able to get a home charge because even with the adoption of a home gully cut into the footpath to bring their charging cable through to the car without a tripping hazard, you often cannot park outside your own house. If the same engine is used for multiple car brands, it should bring down the cost of both spares and servicing? This tiny petrol engine is designed to fit in electric cars | Autocar

Unless you have a habit of moving between different cars and taking the dashcam with you, I'd seriously suggest getting a hard-wire kit for it so it switches on automatically on starting the car so you never risk driving without it being activated (sods law says that will be the time when you needed it the most) and then it frees up the power socket for other things, such as the LED voltmeter.

Of course, I will, still awaiting shipping from China at the moment.

Even Rachel, when interviewed on TV after the budget did not have the faintest idea as to how the mileage was going to be recorded in the first 3 years of a cars' life, in fact it looked that she was not even aware that MOTs were not required until the car became 3 years old. In the end she came up with that being the reason as to why it would take them 3 years to implement the tax. We so desperately need to stop accepting these politicians who are in politics as a full-time career choice and start electing them with some real world experience and knowledge of how the world actually works, and they see their job as being to improve things both the population and the country during their period in office.

Sounds great in theory, but perhaps, that could equally be achieved if we switched off all fridges, freezers and AC units and go back to the dark ages 👀

@lol-lol so where does the heat pump derive its energy source from if not the batteries, then. Strikes me as both heat pump and PTC will be consuming power from the batteries?

@lol-lol in that scenario the real advantage that PHEV offers over a BEV is one of range and the disappearance of the much touted range anxiety as they can go from almost empty to full in about 5 minutes. As you pointed out, the inequality between the BIK of a BEV and a PHEV, plus in addition the 1.5p per miles and the increased VAT that PHEVs will be paying just (in my view) highlights just how little governments actually understand the fundamental differences between the types of vehicles and the resultant impact on the Net-Zero policies. Clearly they have been paying too much attention to so-called "Think Tanks" who I have always said have vested interests in getting a particular strategy adopted.

I see, well others have fitted it with no trouble.

Not sure what you mean, if you mean it could be coded as a spy, then I'm not sure what they can access on my car that would be of any interest, it is not a camera laden car. The only existing camera I have is an aftermarket dashcam. I look at it as being £40 versus £600 plus judging by the adverts I have seen and reviews on that camera all seem to be pretty good.

Apart from, it is highly likely that loads of them will be company cars or salary sacrifice cars chosen for the BIK and most likely unable to charge at home.

Well its now 100%% official, PPM is coming in 2028 but currently only for BEV and PHEV, even though most PHEV's will never be plugged in, so for those poor souls it will be a double whammy, fuel duty and PPM, so it was less of conspiracy theory after all and was the result of leaks, although to be perfectly fair, its so bleeding obvious that as fuel duty was reducing, they had to come up with some other way of replacing that money and certain YouTubers were predicting this a couple of years ago. MSM has to follow the narrative whereas YouTubers don't, and some have even been demonetised for some of their content in an attempt to shut them up. So they seem a pretty creditable source of information, a bit like Mercedes-Benz cars are often ahead of the curve as far as in car tech is concerned.

Cost? According to my research the cost of that is going to be in the realm of £500 plus and needs to be coded to the vehicle, whereas the one from AliExpress is currently on offer at £37.49 on a Black Friday deal and is totally plug and play with no coding required.

Well I've pulled the trigger on this camera now while stocks were available, the price is excellent, and it should be a really worthwhile addition to the Kodiaq to spot posts etc that are below the window line.

My first was a MK1 (2nd hand) that looked like a new car in every aspect, but it just would not go above 45mph unless going downhill. Later I MK4s and MK5 s as company cars and the MK5 was a lovely car, comfortable, fast enough etc and very reliable.

@Lee01 the Ford Cortina Ghia period was probably the best period when cars were at their peak for drivability, reliability and self serviceability as they never really had any of the technocrap that cars of all types today have and it nearly always seems to be that stuff that cause the most problems.

I thought the one with the round knobs/buttons was the Amundsen but the review on Aliexpress for the camera shows that model but the description says MIB2 Canbus Dynamic Trajectory Reverse Camera For Skoda Kodiaq 2016~2023 MIB2 STD HD Parking Backup Camera Work With MIB2 NAV Unit - AliExpress 34

I'm thinking of adding a aftermarket reversing camera kit to my car but the only ones that I have come across are for the MIB2 head unit, but which one is that. There are 2 types of Columbus units fitted to Kodiaqs, one with only touch controls (no rotary knobs) all the left side of the unit and the other with buttons on both sides of the screen with a rotary control on each side. My car has the former, all touch controls on the left, so is that MIB1 or MIB2, thanks in advance.

The same source as those YT pundits got their info from, no doubt.

It certainly is beginning to look like a software issue to me.