Our Octavia was collected last Tuesday two weeks after placing the order. So far all is well. The tyres are relatively low-profile (225 45 R18) but the suspension design gives a limousine ride. Very quiet in both hybrid and e-drive, but the pedestrian warning 'squeak' is not very obvious. Fuel consumption is excellent: on a 29-mile drive it returned 104 mpg, on a 76-mile drive when the battery was down to 2% at the end it returned 91mpg. A 16-mile drive using battery alone used 60% of the battery power at a cost of £1.30. I'm changing to Octopus Go energy, once we have a SMETS2 smart meter, so I can charge between 00:30 and 4:30 at an off-peak rate of 5p per kWhr, so a 2/3 full battery would give around 20 miles for 65p. It charges using a 13-amp socket, but before ordering it and realising it could be charged without a wall box, I made enquiries and was annoyed on behalf of owners with bigger charge requirements that the grant is now only available if the vehicle can travel for at least 70 miles without any emissions. The many menus are logical and though during handover it made my head spin, a couple of hours ploughing through the options made it all clear. MySkoda works well, but it was a pain to set up. Only when I uninstalled and reinstalled the App did it work properly. It's much more useful than Skoda Connect in our Karoq, which I used once, because I can control charging and pre-heating the car from inside the house. Regenerative braking is also useful as I have it set to maximum, which as well as charging the battery, hold the car back on hills so a little interplay between accelerator and brake holds the corrrect speed, whilst approaching junctions the brakes are hardly required. Very pleased so far, particularly as we live in a very hilly part of the UK. Based on brimming the tank and keeping a spread sheet, our Karoq averaged only 31 mpg during the time we kept it, so all local motoring will now be pure electric.

59 minutes ago, Jim2015 said:

It charges using a 13-amp socket, but before ordering it and realising it could be charged without a wall box, I made enquiries and was annoyed on behalf of owners with bigger charge requirements that the grant is now only available if the vehicle can travel for at least 70 miles without any emissions.

 

Which grant are you referring to? My understanding (doing research on potential next car purchase) is there are 2 grants in the UK:

1. there is a grant of £2,500 for a new car purchase, where I believe the criteria may have tightened over time, so the grant essentially only applies to pure EVs like an Enyaq. This is the one where the car has to be able to travel 70 miles with no emissions.
   The only exceptions where there can be petrol power would in theory be a "Range extender" like the BMW i3 range extender which also has a big battery, except they stopped making those. Also the criteria changed recently so the retail price must be less than £35,000 including VAT, although my understanding is that doesn't include optional extras.
2. there is a grant of up to £350/ up to75% of the cost, for installing a car charger at home so you don't need to use a 3 pin plug and can charge a bit faster. I guess it would also mean some people wouldn't need to dangle cables out of a window, and perhaps safer in the rain too.
   
   The criteria for this second grant seem to be wider and the list of eligible vehicles includes the Octavia iV (as well as for example the Superb iV).
   However ... the Octavia iV only got added on 6 May 2021, so if a chargepoint installer checked the list before then, they wouldn't have seen it on there.

Not sure why it took so long - apparently it's Skoda's responsibility to get cars added to the list.

 

Edited 16 May, 20215 yr by DavidY
typo

Mnay thanks DavidY. I was informed by the wallbox installer that the Octavia iV was not eligible for the grant and when I investigated I mistook the purchase grant for the wallbox grant. So thanks for the extra information. Fortunately our Octavia is garaged and so no problem with weather conditions, also it charges in 6 hours from a 13-amp socket, so that's done overnight and n

o need for a wallbox.

About the home charge: While the changes do say it was added, it’s not on the list itself, so my installer (PodPoint) rejected to apply.

51 minutes ago, profiaudi said:

About the home charge: While the changes do say it was added, it’s not on the list itself, so my installer (PodPoint) rejected to apply.

 

I don't know what's going on there - I downloaded the CSV when it changed on 6 May - it was definitely on the list then. :(

Edited 25 May, 20215 yr by DavidY

Another thing I noticed on the home charge list is that the Seat Leon hybrid isn't on the list either. (I can't remember the model name but presumably it's very similar to the Octavia IV under the skin.)

 

And if you search the UK Government Vehicle Certification Website to find the official emissions figures of a Skoda (or Seat/Audi/etc.) it says:
"SKODA have yet to submit data to VCA. For information on fuel consumption and emissions on cars available in the UK, please visit the SKODA website."

So I wonder if that's the problem?  My theory is that VAG have stopped sending information to the government certification agency on new models (older ones seem to be there), which means the home charge scheme folk haven't got official data to check that the Octavia IV is indeed a PHEV?

 

Although I'm not sure that explains how Enyaq is on the home charger list, but maybe pure EVs qualify in a different way?

The Golf GTE is on the list too, but as the list covers older models (I think you can get the grant for second-hand cars) the older model is probably the one which qualified... but as the model name is the same I guess a new Golf GTE would be eligible too.

It's curious (and unhelpful) though.

On 25/05/2021 at 22:30, DavidY said:

 

I don't know what's going on there - I downloaded the CSV when it changed on 6 May - it was definitely on the list then. :(

 

....and it's back on the list again.  But for how long will it stay on the list this time...?

 

 

 

 

The Octavia iV has an onboard 3.5 kW charger, so there is no point buying an expensive wall box. A waterproofed 13-amp socket would be cheaper.

12 hours ago, Jim2015 said:

The Octavia iV has an onboard 3.5 kW charger, so there is no point buying an expensive wall box. A waterproofed 13-amp socket would be cheaper.

I consider it future proofing as opposed to any charging benefit as like you said only charges at 3.5kwh max.

Owning a PHEV for first time I am confident that my next car will be a full electric, so it makes sense to me to get my electrician friend to come and fit a wall charger whilst we can still claim the grant; something that is sure to go in a few years time when more people adopt it.

Yes but by the time you change your car the technology will have moved on a lot and you may want to change your charger to suit. I’d leave it for the moment. I’m just using a handy outside socket.