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Other What currently makes your life awesome?

Discussion in 'General' started by Brooxy, 28 Oct 2009.

  1. Weekly_Estimate

    Weekly_Estimate Random bird noises.

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    My conker has been butchered, now I’m dealing with needing to sneeze without being able to sneeze, recovery time is weeks to months but I’m expecting great things.
     
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  2. DeanSUNIAIU

    DeanSUNIAIU Modder

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    I really should get my nose fixed. Had it broken in a fight as an early teenager. Haven’t been able to breathe out of it properly since.
     
  3. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    Finally got round to updating my car charge costs schedule (yes I am dull like that... :hehe:)

    Allowing for some rounding we have spent around £20* to drive ~1900 miles. Or putting it another way just a little over 1p per mile.

    (For context - 64kWh Kona achieving a long term average of 5 miles per kWh - real world based on my commute every day).

    Quite happy with that. :happy::happy:

    *Octopus Go tariff @ 5p/kWh 4 hour overnight rate.

    Estimated that the cost of doing the same miles will rise to £30 under the revised 7.5p tariff it will switch to when our current fixed rate ends in Oct.
     
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  4. IanW

    IanW Grumpy Old Git

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    Once you get around to the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), EVs are a total no-brainer aren't they?

    Context - The PCP payments on my 2020 Renault Zoe 50kWh are less than I was paying in 2019 for a 2016 VW Up plus a month's worth of petrol.

    Currently in Farnborough for "Fully Charged Live", looking at what I might get next, plus solar/batteries/heat pump/etc for the house.
     
  5. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Having a (hyperactive) kitten in the house, for the first time in eighteen years.
     
  6. ElThomsono

    ElThomsono Multimodder

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    The X-Trail cost us £1250 :hehe:

    But I take your point, how much are you paying for the Zoe?

    I've a plug-in hybrid for the reduced BIK and it's still not cheap motoring :worried:
     
  7. VictorianBloke

    VictorianBloke Man in a box

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    As in still drinks fuel?
    I'm currently trying to decide between a Toyota hybrid, or an actual PHEV for the reduced BIK. I can't plug in the phev though (terraced house) so thinking the Toyota will make more sense.
     
  8. ElThomsono

    ElThomsono Multimodder

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    I pay a chunk of trade-up as the car is in a higher band than the company will provide to me, plus it's over £40k so I have to pay road tax on it as well. I genuinely don't know how much it costs all in, it's a somewhat confusing system :hehe:

    On the bright side, I think I've only put fuel in it five times and I've done over 4000 miles on that, as the 32 mile electric range covers the majority of my motoring.

    If you can't charge it frequently, then it's a tricky calculation to see what works financially. I expect a PHEV has a fair bit mor cost on the vehicle, but likely the reduced BIK would cover that? Expect fuel costs to actually go up though as you'll be lugging about a load of dead weight.
     
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  9. VictorianBloke

    VictorianBloke Man in a box

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    Yeah, the BIK on a PHEV still comes out almost half of a similar spec Toyota hybrid. Haven't compared it to ICE as the company has decided to remove all ICE vehicles to cut fleet emissions, but expect it still massively undercuts.

    I've struggled to find any indication of how much fuel usage is actually hampered if you can't plug a PHEV in regularly. Even tried to order a demo, and I'm being sent an ICE to test instead.
     
  10. jinq-sea

    jinq-sea 'write that down in your copy book' Super Moderator

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    I am seeing the other end of EV ownership at the moment. We have owned a Gen1 LEAF from launch. The battery is nigh on hopeless now, almost eleven years later. Nissan want an outrageous (circa £14k) amount of money for a replacement 24kWh like-for-like battery; the company I had lined up to do an aftermarket swap have stopped doing them because of technical difficulty. So, it'll be fairly soon that we have a white (blue) elephant on our drive. I really love EVs, but this end of the life of the car is making us think twice about buying another.
     
  11. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    One thing to consider, apart from the obvious that batteries are much improved, is that the much greater range of a new EV is going to mean much reduced charge cycling.
     
  12. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Have you worked out a rough TCO comparison with a comparable combustion engined car?

    Given the miles and comparing estimated fuel/power costs, residuals on a comparable ICE car with similar age/miles.

    Like does the fact that it sounds like it could well be a paperweight get offset by the savings over the life of the car?
     
  13. jinq-sea

    jinq-sea 'write that down in your copy book' Super Moderator

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    This is true. However, we have been fastidious with charging times/methods/that sort of thing (what else would you expect from a pair of pedantic engineers?), and whatever happens, it's still seemingly headed to be useful only for a trip to the local shop. I think the main point is that unless one is certain a replacement battery will be available both sensibly and affordably, I feel that it's a risk buying another EV after this experience, and I bloody love EVs!

    We have not. It's probably a good idea. My wife bought the car before I met her - it certainly made sense from a tax perspective given the favourable tax regimes on EVs at the time.
     
  14. ElThomsono

    ElThomsono Multimodder

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    Push for a test drive, when mine is out of battery power it will run the engine harder when you're moving to replenish some charge, and TBH it's a bit rough, I wouldn't like to drive it like that all the time. Fine on the motorways as you're used to the revs being up, in those situations it does about 60mpg so it's still pretty impressive.
     
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  15. IanW

    IanW Grumpy Old Git

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    I was paying £250/mo for the VW & £80-100 for petrol in 2019. The Zoe costs me £320/mo and £0-10/mo to charge (£0 because I can charge for free at work)
     
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  16. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    That's quite good economy I guess you don't do much high speed stuff?

    If you can't plug in a PHEV can still work like a Hybrid vehicle but it is useful ness will depend on how and where you drive and whether you can take advantage of the regen etc to fill a bigger battery better than a normal hybrid. If you can't then of course you are then in a heavier car which will impact economy.

    There are some PHEVs that come with a fast DC charger and fairly decent range like the C300e meaning you could do a solid charge in 15mins at a petrol station etc and get 60miles out of it.

    This youtuber has done some tests on PHEVs with full and empty batteries it is interesting the economy he still manages, he might even have Toyotas tested on his site but an example here of an XC90 T8 with an empty battery does really well for a massive car.



    I've sat and done the spreadsheet for our car swap for cars we like, a simple ICE works out cheaper than an EV at the moment, not to run daily of course but in TCO over the life, but that's from someone who buys his own cars no company BIK benefits, really as a private buyer EVs make little sense it seems as the pricing is too OTT for EV vs ICE :(

    That said, we have chosen electrified purely for inner city clean air reasons locally, car spends a lot out time loitering in car parks engine running for heat/ac around kids related events, sports, school runs and shopping etc, our old diesel did not enjoy this on its DPF, so for us EV seemed ideal, our car had to be PHEV though, gives us a EV style life on the local mileage but as we tow around the country and Europe full EV is no good, until EVs can charge in 5 mins in a drive through with small house or race car attached they fail, unhitching/re-hitching to charge every 100 miles is not fun, so have the ICE of PHEV for that.
     
    Last edited: 29 Apr 2022
  17. ElThomsono

    ElThomsono Multimodder

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    Interesting, I didn't know that was in the pipeline. I have the current generation C300e and had the C350e beforehand, when it stepped up from a 60kW motor to 90kW it made a huge difference, you could do the majority of your driving without using the engine. With 60 miles of range and a DC charge it would really expand its reach.
     
  18. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    There are a few that have big battery (for PHEV) and DC charging now or fast AC, makes my Volvo with its 18.8 battery and 3.6kw AC charger look pants as it is only good for home or destination charging whereas the Merc could usefully be topped up on a journey, if/when they release this powertrain in the GLC, I might switch, assuming it can tow 2 tonnes.

    Of course when I say fast charger it is only 50Kw but of course that is plenty for a small PHEV battery.
     
    Last edited: 29 Apr 2022
  19. VictorianBloke

    VictorianBloke Man in a box

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    Cheers, I'll have a look at those later.
     
  20. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Seems to me, the best thing to do is buy a PHEV or self-charging hybrid, (certainly our intention) depending on whether you can charge at home and, wait for dry cell batteries currently being developed, to come to mainstream EVs. A Yaris would do us nicely and easily do more than 60mpg.
     

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