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How are you getting on with your new car, an Audi wasn’t it?
Thought you might like an update to my previous post. XC40 Recharge ordered on 17th June. Had a call from the Dealership, it’s on its way from wherever they are parked in this country and it should be ready for collection in the next 10 days. I have asked for a couple of extras so that may slow things down a little bit, but I seem to have been very lucky.
Anyone who is reading this who would like an XC40, it appears that for the Recharge model at least, Motability clients can order from stock. Probably MY24 but then you don’t have to wait 6 months for a build. Fingers 🤞 there are no hitches and Volvo don’t change their mind about stock vehicles for Motability.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Hi all thank you for the replies and advice.I received an email advising to sign up for go electric (EDF)and ill add gas to that as I’ve got a lot going on with my health currently (kidney/pancreas transplant hopefully 🤞)including dialysis,type 1 diabetes and double leg amputee and still working so I’m trying to simplify things and make it less stressful as I’m sure you all understand when you face something different or change but I’m looking forward to having an EV.I’m currently with EDF and have a smart meter so hopefully things will be okay. Thank you
We’ve had an EV for nearly 4 years. We’re on the Octopus Go tariff which has 4 hours of cheap electric at night. Saved us a lot of money over our previous diesel car, although the occasional public charging is rather expensive unfortunately.
One thing I would say is that the charging cables are quite heavy. I don’t have much arm strength and struggle with them. May or may not be an issue for you. If you are in a wheelchair you might find public charging challenging as the charging stations aren’t set up with disability in mind.
Hope you don’t have any practical problems and enjoy your new car. Best wishes with your transplant 🤞
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Hi everyone I have been following for few months now with great interest. I ordered my Volvo xc 40 2/01/2024 I have had no contact from dealer since order patiently waiting. Decided to ring today, salesman said I will check for update came back and said it arrived last week when do you want to pick up. Shocked to say the least. It’s a my25 with factory tints that’s what he told me. I will update on Thursday if all is true.
Lovely surprise after such a long wait. What model have you ordered?
Kia Soul 2020 EV
@UncJ Just a quick update. Volvo rang me today to say that they had a stock XC40 Recharge which should be available to collect by 13th July. It’s in the green which is what I wanted, so I’m very pleased. It’s MY24, but I’d much rather have a car in the next month than the uncertainty of waiting for a factory build. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong as the wait for a factory build is 4 – 6 months, I was told. So far the staff at the dealership have been very helpful. I’ll keep you posted!
Sounds good but … Unless things have changed very recently Volvo UK would not allow any stock cars to be used for Motability orders. ALL Motability orders had to be new build cars. I would question the Motability sales staff at your dealership on this and get them to double check that this would be available for you with absolute certainty before ordering.
Ahh, I suspected that might be the case. It sounded as if it had been transferred from stock.
I’ll check tomorrow with the dealership that I can have the vehicle through Motability. Thanks for the advice.🙂
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Just a quick update. Volvo rang me today to say that they had a stock XC40 Recharge which should be available to collect by 13th July. It’s in the green which is what I wanted, so I’m very pleased.
It’s MY24, but I’d much rather have a car in the next month than the uncertainty of waiting for a factory build. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong as the wait for a factory build is 4 – 6 months, I was told. So far the staff at the dealership have been very helpful.
I’ll keep you posted!
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Hi UncJ
Many thanks for replying and your thoughts about the spec.
Very sorry to hear your experience, I’ll go back and read what happened. Ordering a car seems to be a bit of a lottery, massively disappointing for you to have no car after waiting 6 months. I know I would not be at all impressed!
I do hope you are pleased with the Merc and it suits your needs 🙂
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Did a test drive of the XC40 Recharge on Friday. We both really liked it, lot more comfortable than the Ioniq, Enyaq and Niro. Plus easier to get in and out of.
Was told 4 – 6 months to order unless one in the network. Must admit I’m confused about whether powered passenger seats are included – they were on the test drive version, but are not in the MY24 spec list. Does anyone know if the MY25 have them? Heat pump is another area of confusion.
I suspect unless we are very lucky we will have to go for a build. Shame the top spec isn’t on the scheme, that sunroof looks great!
Be glad to hear about ordering experiences with Volvo. 🙂
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Good to hear you are enjoying your Soul Stuart. We have had ours since last September and have been very pleased with it.
The range did drop a bit when it was very cold but improved again now. We use the preheating function quite a bit, it is nice to get into a warm car this time of year.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Article in The Guardian about report recommended charging points in petrol stations.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Great Stuart, not long to go now. I’ve got the blue Soul too.
We managed perfectly well using the granny charger for over 2 months until BP Chargemaster got their act together. So convenient just be able to plug in to refuel a vehicle.
Before you collect check that they have done the latest software update for the maps. Also there has been a safety recall, something to do with the software for the brakes so best to check they have updated that too.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
A charger fitted at home is likely to be 7 kWh. A granny cable will deliver 3 kWh. The fuse will likely need to be upgraded before you have the charge point fitted but that is done for free.
It takes about 6 hours to charge our Soul up from 20% to 80%. Not a problem when you think of the amount of time your car sit on the drive.
@Brydo I was seriously tempted by the xc40, and hope there will be a full EV version, or something similar in the next few years.Kia Soul 2020 EV
My brother who has a 24kw Zoe got me interested in EV’s. Talking to him about it I could see the advantages, and the disadvantages. Very economical, the short range is fine for their city driving and they can lamppost charge. But the bunny hopping on longer journeys is no fun. And the vehicle has a battery lease which adds to the costs.
But reading on the forums, listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos I could see the advantages for our circumstances, plus the considerable environmental benefits.
We were looking at replacing our 10-year old car anyway and we were lucky that the Soul came up on Motability. I did look at getting a second-hand vehicle, but second-hand EVs are relatively expensive and the technology is improving quickly so it is not like buying a second-hand ICE car.
An EV isn’t right for everybody at the moment but I do think we are on the cusp of a sea change. Price parity when it comes will be a big driver, and I don’t think you can grumble at the performance of EV’s they are very nippy.
I’m looking forward to choosing the next one in 3 years time, and all the information online makes it easier to keep up to date with what is being released.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Interesting article thank you.
I think that the government’s attention is more on coronavirus and the impact of brexit at the moment. But I don’t think the 2030 target is something that can be left to the market to sort out. There does need to be an overarching strategy to pull all the threads together if the target is going to be met.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Kevin, yes I think something was said about using a spare slot for connecting the EV in the fuse box in the house.</p>
The installer was also going to put an additional box from the fuse box in the house but in the end it was run into the meter box which is much better.Kia Soul 2020 EV
Image of our electric meter box @StuartAnd if there is any mystery about the wiring we can always ask Sherlock Gnomes.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
On the whole the charge points currently available seem pretty inoffensive to me, but this option looks quite smart, especially if you have a tethered cable. Not as cool as a gnome though.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Oh my word @Tharg gnome charging points! I love it. Lift the hat off and charge!
It’s a good general point though, the charge points could have a variety of different shaped / coloured covers to choose from. No doubt it will come eventually.
Happy to help @Daf
@mitch yes I agree, it’s not nearly so easy if you don’t have off street parking. Increased provision of workplace parking would help, plus more charge points in car parks / on street parking. In some cities they are putting charge points in lamp posts.EV’s aren’t practical for everyone yet, but as the battery technology and the charging network improves it will become easier. The next 3 – 5 years will become transformative I think.
Off now to think about “gnome charger” designs. ?
Kia Soul 2020 EV
My current energy supplier Igloo energy has a limited EV charging tariff compatible with Tesla and Rolec chargers. On a wider point, Paul Lewis was tweeting today advising people to take a photo of their electricity meter as some energy companies have gone bust recently.
Sorry, looking at this a bit more closely it is actually smart charging for when there is a light load on the grid. They do give you 100 miles a month though.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
My current energy supplier Igloo energy has a limited EV charging tariff compatible with Tesla and Rolec chargers.
On a wider point, Paul Lewis was tweeting today advising people to take a photo of their electricity meter as some energy companies have gone bust recently.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Stuart, Mike and John, glad you have found the information and photos useful. It’s helpful I think to know what an actual install looks like.
UK power network put in a bigger fuse in the meter box (no cost), and the BP Chargemaster installer also put an extra box of some sort in the meter box. I’ll post a photo if anyone is interested.
@JohntheLeg – sorry to have made extra work for you ? I was pleased how those planters turned out ?Kia Soul 2020 EV
Charging yesterday. The Kia has a band of blue lights on the dash so you can see from the outside which of the three stages of charge the vehicle is at. You can set it to stop the charge at a predefined percentage.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Hi, I’m trying to insert an image into a post but I keep getting a critical error message in the box where I am trying to link to the file. Does anyone know what the problem is please?
Kia Soul 2020 EV
Sorry that you have also had problems with BP Chargemaster Stuart, although I’m not surprised. did you need any electrical work doing such as an upgrade of the fuse before the chargepoint install could go ahead?
The actual installer was very good though, professional and tidy. I suspect the work had been subcontracted out.
Yes we got an untethered charger. They are a bit tidier and we had the cable which came with the Kia anyway.
Good to hear your experience with the dealer has been positive.
I have been trying to post a photo of the Chargemaster chargepoint, but keep getting a critical error. Not sure what I’m doing wrong, is there a maximum size of the photo do you know?
Kia Soul 2020 EV
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Kia Soul – Charge point update</p>
As you probably know Motability cover the cost of installation of a home charge point if you get a fully electric vehicle.BP Chargemaster undertake the installation. They have managed to get both my address totally wrong, and then my address right but my postcode wrong.
BP Chargemaster assessed that we would need a fuse upgrade. This is being done by UK Power Network for free.
They are upgrading to an 80 amp fuse. An engineer is coming out in a couple of weeks to do a site visit. Then once the work is done it will be back to BP Chargemaster to install the charge point.
UK Power Network seem to be well organised, and their call centre staff pleasant and well trained.
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to go out in the car since weekend as my husband got a ping from the NHS app telling him to stay at home and isolate. No symptoms so far thankfully, so hopefully all is well.
I will update again when the charge point is fitted.
Kia Soul 2020 EV
