Graham Butcher

How true, I bet that if the designers of the engines, and cars in general were made to do these tasks that have to be done from time to time, that they would quickly make design tweaks to make their job easier and quicker. That would in turn trickle down to lower insurance costs as well I think.

Totally agree, but is that also a sign that there are not enough chargers to go round? I think that if there were more of them, it would encourage greater take up of EVs? Most petrol stations have around 8 pumps and if you are lucky there might be 2 chargers. How many ICE cars could be served in 60 minutes compared to EV's, that is a major block to people converting over. Also, I thought that charging to 100% reduces the battery life, aren't you only supposed to charge to something like 80%?

Yes, well to be honest that is my problem, it is not a pretty sight or very dignified so I'd much rather not have to do it if I can avoid it. 😉 If I had access to a hoist or a pit, I'd be under the car a lot, that's for sure. Come to think about it, the Superb also has its poor design points, like have to remove the entire front bumper and grill to replace a headlamp assembly. On old cars with round lamps, undo 1 screw, remove the chrome trim, push and rotate the lamp assembly slightly and the whole load came out in your hand, a 5 minute job in total, including replacing the bulb or unit again.

I have the same long under tray here waiting to be fitted by my local garage, I can't get down and under the car at my age like I used to, so I'm just waiting for a phone call when they can fit me in. It should have been already been fitted as standard on my diesel but when the dealer took delivery from Skoda fleet operations at the end of its lease, the tray was missing so the dealer has sent me a replacement to be fitted locally. If I want to drive 300 miles round trip they would fit it for me, but screw that, it would cost me more in fuel than the garage will charge me in labour.

I have far better things to spend my time on, then trying to prove my point. Lets agree to disagree and wait and see what the future holds, which you have far greater chance of seeing how it pans out seeing as I'm currently 75 anyway, I'm safe in the knowledge that I can, god willing, still use a ICE car if I want to all the way up to 2050 and if I'm still here then, I doubt that I'll be driving at 102 do you? One thing I don't want to do waste my time debating something that is hardly going to impact me 😉

@toot Not that I'm aware off 🙄 but are you really likely to get a car park full of Rolls Royces 🤣 On a more serious note, however, there are some car parks that have been strengthened, and I dare say there will be others Chelmsford High Chelmer car park repair work begins - BBC News wyx087 has already provided some evidence that it is a fact that EVs are not always heavier than their ICE counterparts, although I will try and confirm that because from my personal experience, the source he quoted (Parkers) is not infallible. I'd be more inclined to believe the manufacturer's own figures than a third parties. Also what would be a better example would be to quote cars where there is an EV version and also an ICE version of the same model rather than comparing a Telsa with an Audi and a Polestar with a VW.

@wyx087 Wow, did you read my earlier post where I stated that I'm not anti-EV at all, my only complaint with EV's is that soon everyone will be forced into either running an EV, or giving up driving all together and using whatever form of public transport is around when the total ban on ICE cars and hybrids comes into play. It should be in my opinion left to the individual to decide between ICE or EV, or indeed a mix of the 2 technologies. I'm not an ICE evangelist either, but currently you're coming over like an EV evangelist who simply cannot hear anything said against EV's no matter how light-hearted it is or however much evidence against them is presented, lighten up a little and then we both might learn something. Surely you cannot deny the fact that EVs are a major problem in the event of a fire, there is no real way of putting them out once the batteries get into a thermal runaway situation. In 2022 there was a Ro-Ro car transporter called Felicity Ace carrying a load of ICE and EV cars that caught fire and sunk, this year there was the Fremantle Highway also caught fire, and it is claimed that on the Fremantle Highway, the fire was started by an EV, although that fact has yet to be determined, and it was a suspect in the Felicity Ace fire, but it is doubtful that will ever be proven either way. However, the mere fact that EV cars were caught in the fires has turned what could well have been extinguished by the flooding of the car decks with CO2 which is the primary means of fire suppression used on such vessels, caused the fires to burn out of control. EV batteries once they enter into thermal runaway generate their own copious amounts of oxygen, thus fuelling the fire even more. Have you seen a EV when the batteries go into thermal runaway and erupt fire in all directions like flamethrower on steroids, that is why damaged ones must be stored at least 15 metres away from any other object, this link refers to this EV batteries remain major challenge for insurers, Thatcham Research says | Reuters So I'll say it once more for the pure avoidance of doubt, I'm not anti EV, it is a new technology and appears to have some major drawbacks currently. Likewise I'm not a diehard ICE nerd either, I'm well aware of the dangers that both present. I'd sure hate to be in a car park where the majority of cars were EVs, in the event of fire occurring with one of them, I seriously doubt even the legendry Linford Christy could escape the resultant inferno, especially if it was an underground carpark.

The first point I currently cannot provide a link to but have it on pretty good authority from colleagues who have had to back out of some purchases of various flats in London because that was a clause in the agreement forms and I suspect in some way linked to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 was the ignition was blamed onto a faulty domestic fridge. There is also a requirement now for repairs involved in the repair of EV cars, especially those that have been involved in a road accident and awaiting repairs, that they are stored out in the open and at least 15 metres away from anything including any form of a structure. As to visitors, with parking at a premium in London, I fully expect that they like anyone else not already allocated their own bay, have to pot luck on the road way and not allowed access to the buildings underground parking bays. Multi-storey car park collapse, unlikely but I wouldn't dismiss it completely out of hand as I'm not an expert, but it could be possible. There is a multi-storey car park near me that was built some 50 odd years ago that has problems with reinforcing bars and is closed for mayor repairs Chelmsford High Chelmer car park repair work begins - BBC News It is certainly true that cars have become bigger and heavier since then and EVs are even heavier. Even blocks of flats have been known to collapse like this one killing 98 people Surfside condominium collapse - Wikipedia As to second hand EV cars being cheaper than ICE, there is a reason for that, the battery has already received a blow to its longevity and range capacity has been diminished just as the battery in your smartphone, laptop etc. Unlike a ICE car that has been properly looked after, their Achilles heel is in the form of rust and EVs will still have this problem in addition to the battery. With regard to being forced into an EV, yes we are, in 7 years time unless there is a major U turn by the UK government nobody will be able to buy a brand-new ICE car, only 2nd hand ones. So making 2nd class citizens of anyone without the funds to buy a brand-new EV (already far more expensive than their ICE versions) and then when will the forced scrappage of said ICE cars be made law?

Unlike some folk, as an electrical engineer I do understand the technicalities of EV and as an engineer I never have a closed mind, its always open and absorbing new knowledge all the time`and I often research websites in search of answers and indeed Google can be your friend and also your enemy at times. When you come across information that has been researched by various professors from well known and respected universities, it would be a daft person to ignore their findings because it disagreed with their own opinions. I was taught by some very clever people and one thing I was told stuck in my mind, that is "Its not until you learn something, that you begin to realise just how little you actually know" The other thing I was told is that when someone tells you something, a true engineer always probes that information and that is how new discoveries are made. So never rubbish what some others say based just upon whether they have ever owned a Skoda, or had their car serviced at a main dealer or not, because what they say might just be right, it's impossible to tell without further investigation. ☺️

Down this part of the country there some large blocks of flats and apartments where EVs are banned from as the insurers will not provide cover for the buildings unless there are no EVs. Also many blocks etc even houses which cannot install their own chargers so people have no options other than public ones. True I have never driven a pure EV, but there are EVs in the family so I'm not just relying on YT videos. That said though when some of them make no secret of the true public cost by showing you the cost of their charging on screen of the chargers, it is plain to see the coat per KW and convert that into miles per KW. Don't for a single minute run away with the notion that I'm anti EV because that is not correct. I can see that for some people they are the perfect solution for all kinds of reasons, just not for me given the purchase cost's etc. As an OAP I just don't have the necessary funds to purchase one and with type of journeys I make means that when I reach my destination, there is zero chance of there being a charging point on a remote airfield and if there was it useless with hundreds or maybe thousands of others at an airshow also wanting to charge. That would then mean I'd have book into a hotel overnight whole the car charged, again a big drain on a pension. It seems that an EV suits you and that is fine, it was your choice to have one and that is how it should be. But I disagree that people should be forced to switch from ICE to EV, it would be the same if people were forced to switch from diesel to petrol or vice versa.

True, and those who are saving money, they are the ones who are able to do most of their charging at home, but the reality is that is not possible for most of the population so they are forced to use public chargers whose rates per KW are expensive as they will be required to pay for themselves and also make profits for the operators.

I've seen reports that also say that the actual rate of recharging would also depend upon the current level of charge the battery has. They suggest that a low battery will start off at a far higher rate than a battery which is approaching full charge. This is just basic electrical physics, i.e, good old-fashioned ohm's law in operation. As the battery charges up, it voltage rises and that voltage is effectively pushing back at the voltage of the charger and as the battery voltage increases, the difference between battery voltage and charger voltage gets smaller and therefore less "pressure" to push the KW's into the battery. So the same thing happens with cars equipped with the CCS (DC superfast), they all have to obey physics.

To answer your previous question about a 5 hour driver, yes I used to be that and longer and even now I'm retired, I still do journeys like that and the example above is not that uncommon even with ICE cars. For example, I brought my current car from a dealer all the way up in Mansfield and when I collected the car from them, it showed a range of 53 miles in the trip computer. This was enough I thought to enable me to reach one of the many petrol stations on the A1 where I noticed that the fuel was less expensive. Not surprisingly, once I had the car rolling along at a nice steady 50mph ish that range began to increase slightly before it started to come down again and I got to Bar Hill on the A14 and it was predicting approx nearly 60 miles of range and I had 49 to go still. With it being a new car to me I decided that I had better at that point play safe and pulled into the Tesco filling station and filled up, that was some 96 miles away from Mansfield, a far cry from the predicted range in Mansfield of just 53 miles. All your example and mine are showing is the predicted range at the start of a trip is based upon previous journeys and those may have been uphill for example. My trip home was for the most part very slightly down hill so with the car in ECO mode, I was able to coast for long spells, and you in your EV might have been doing some regen and so topping up your battery, so neither are real examples of actually beating or getting close to the WLTP figures because for that to be correct, we'd both need to the same drive in the opposite direction to average the results out.

I think you would certainly have to driving a lot slower than 40mph and coasting a lot and hardly ever needing to touch the brakes. While that style of driving might well be possible in some very remote parts of the country and also of course the driver needs to have all the time in the world to make the journey. When in reality life is very seldom like that, we have time to keep, other drivers etc that cause you to brake, people tailgating you, because you're driving too slow, even if they can see your approaching a hazard. Oh, sorry, my bad.🙄

Over here in UK, new cars tend to only come with a pump and a can of gunk unless you specify that you want a spare at the ordering stage. When I ordered my new car back in 2013, it was a company back then and my colleagues all just assumed that the cars would have all come with a spare. Most thought that I was just stating the obvious and laughed at me, it turned out I had the last laugh as some had irreparable failures due to punctures that the sealant gunk was incapable of sealing due to the sheer size of the hole and they got stranded at the roadside waiting for roadside assistance. 🤣

Hmm, odd that because I'd have thought it was essential to get some idea of just how close you can get to the WLTP claimed figures and he has also done the same kind of tests with ICE cars in the past, only difference being that they can all be done in much less time by draining the tanks and putting just 1 gallon back in as ICE cars are quoted in terms of MPG.

Thanks, my 2013 Superb I ordered a full sized spare so it had a deep wheel well to accommodate it, my current 2016/7 Superb came with a skinny space saver wheel, so the wheel I kept from my old write off, won’t fit in the boot so I'm stuck with skinny wheel as a spare.😒

I think you can still order a spare if you want to when placing your new car order. I don't think its an option that you can buy a spare at a later date as I think they fit a different boot floor to car with a spare, but I could be wrong on that point as the last new car I ordered was in 2013 and things may have changed since then.

I think Matt Watson was testing the cars to see how close you can get in normal driving to the makers claimed range, which is nearly impossible to match in most cases. Here is the requested link. (360) I drove these NEW electric cars until they DIED! - YouTube

What about the times when you know that you're only be there for a short time before returning again? Or are you really saying that you only do short journeys in and around N London, in which case I agree.

Eh? what? the car in the story was a Renault not a VW.

6. They said it was a brand new EV car costing £22,000. 7. A new car with a 2014 number plate 🤥 8. There is so much to this story.

Correct, why does that make a difference? If I recall without that feature it only made about £100, I was looking for the same cover as I currently have.

I just had an email from Aviva inviting to get a quote for my car insurance, now I need someone to restart my heart again after that shocker, they quoted me £992 with 10 years NCD, WTF.

That reminds of this