I currently have a BMW petrol plug in hybrid, for the last couple of years I've mainly used the charge point at the office as that gave me the ability to get home and back again under the one charge. With the more recent changes to our lives some of us are only heading in a couple of times a week to keep staff spread out so need a charger installed at home. Just wondered what experience some of you might have had if any from particular brands or installers (national ideally as I'm Nottingham / Derby) I was looking at the Pod Point 7kw Tethered but I've not had a reply to an email I sent a while ago and the trust pilot reviews suggest that's quite common and they're not too good on customer service or ability to keep to time frames. With the GOV grant deducted that 7kw Tethered charger would come out costing me about £550, so something in or around that sort of cost would be great obviously but happy for any guidance
There was an in-depth feature in the Sunday Times a month or so ago about electric cars, chargers and government discounts on home chargers but I’m afraid I don’t have it still. It might be worth signing up for a free trial to find the article? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/subscribe/digital-pm-trial/
It does, but being is a plug-in hybrid, can be charged from mains and have a 15-30miles pure EV range.
Had a Podpoint installed in December. Pretty painless process. Ordered online and then updated via email. They need various photos of your electric meter, consumer unit and install location. Mine is actually powered from the consumer unit on my detached garage. Took about 3 hours to install. Had to upgrade the garage MCB to 32 amps on the house consumer unit. Cost about £470 inc OLEV grant. Had a Rolec charger at the previous house but they do not have a good reputation.
It does make me wonder. I remember a few years back (and not that many btw)the government telling us diesel was the way forward... even tax relief at the pump for cheap motoring per mile. But now we’re being told diesel fuel Nox is the anti Christ from Hell. So maybe 20 years from now they’ll be telling us lithium waste is going to wipe us all out.... Gimmie the keys to that V8
Once they get more people wanting high power home charging stations they will come with a dedicated smart meter so the appropriate tax can be charged. At present there is an advert for a major manufacturer who will give you 3 years free charges through a charging point installed by British Gas so that might be something to look into.
Absolutely. At the moment we’re in the lure stage. Once the infrastructure to support EV’s is up and trucking, charge points will be taxed to death!!
@damodici If I may ask, any real world user feedback on reliability and approximate EV range? Was looking at a 330E myself lately but hesitant to commit because of relatively new technology.
i've a 330e 69 plate. great car in all fairness, loads of gadets. dont get a lot of miles with a full charge but then whenever i do have a full charge i tend to put it into xtra boost mode thingy and it goes like fook. what is good with the charge is that you can pre-heat the car. i think if i remember i was told i would get about 35 or so miles on just elec alone, i probably got more like 30, but where it does work well is as the hybrid on motorway driving, it's very effecient when you're cruising and arent slamming the pedal down on the motorway. on the other hand, when you're not on the motorway and dont have any charge it's a bit of a fuel burner Elec aside, works great for me in terms of my car tax (i have it on company car lease), it's a LOT of car to have.
My mates got a ModelX Tesla. He loves it but he’s not impressed with its charge range. I’m sure he said ~120 miles, which is rubbish. His biggest gripe is tyre wear. With all that torque they go through tyres like a errrm, go through tyres thing. His main problem is that his wife really, really loves it because she hates fekin about at petrol stations. He charges it each night and all good for the next day. Until the next day entails going somewhere 200+ miles away.
i agree, the only benefit i get is that i pay less tax for a lease car. they base it on the net emmisions but that assumes that it's always charged, i havent charged mine once this year with respect to company cars mate, it's just a tax dodge
Yeah. I’ve yet to meet anyone in the automotive industry that thinks electric is the future. I’m not talking about salesmen here I’m talking about test drivers, development teams and big wigs from the manufactures I’ve worked with over the last say 5 years. wont stop this government leading us down the garden path though I’m sure
Tesla’s might be fine and Dandy down in Southern California. But I bet they don’t fare all that in a European winter. Like now. I wonder how it impacts battery performance?? I bet sitting all night in -6 deg C doesn’t do them any favours.
i wonder about second hand car market as well, whats the resale value say on a 4 year old electric car??
Ducati going V8 now? FFS don’t tell that lot in the Multitarda section they’ve only just been settled and have been sleeping soundly.
Also we can't interrogate the tesla or Hybrid cars regarding battery status /modulator frequency problems as they won't release the software yet, so servicing electric vehicles is a nightmare for small sole traders.
4 boxes of wotsits. Everyone knows the infrastructure required would cause too much damage to go fully elec. Just a tax dodge at the moment. If I was still in the UK I would be running another second hand 3litre diesel BMW. 20k gets a corker. No brainer even with high road tax.
