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Hmm, I’m aware of the Scottish free chargers paid for by English taxpayers…
Getting a bit off topic here but I’m not having that… especially when it has been us Scots funding the english for years through our oil… ?
If it is such a hardship get onto your local MP and demand the break up of the union so that england will be better off financially not having to pay for us… have you ever heard an english MP support our independence attempts… NO, and that’s because they know they couldn’t afford to let us go!
They wanted out of Europe because didn’t like being dictated to by a foreign government but quite happy to do it to us ???
Rant over
As a wheelchair user I’ve had people looking when I’m parking (as we all have?) but most people have actually waited to see who gets out the car before saying anything and then they normally offer to help.
Funniest looks are when I’m riding my motorbike & sidecar though… ?? most people can’t understand until I start lifting my chair out the sidecar. For those that are interested it’s a Yamaha FJR1300 with a Merlin Super Sports Sidecar, Kilktronic gear changer & Kliktronic combined brake lever. We’ve been all over the country on my bikes over the years with my wife going pillion, camped at plenty of rallies and toured extensively… due to getting older 2020 was going to be my last year but maybe I’ll try and manage some trips in 2021 ?
Hi Chub ?
I picked up my 3rd electric car yesterday, for most of the time I’ve had the wall box and BP just changed mines last December 2nd from a type 1 to a type 2 in preparation for my new car.
Firstly I’d like to say they were excellent and absolutely no complaints about them or their service ????
I would say you don’t need the wall box, a properly fitted external 3 pin socket will charge your car fine ? ignore the doomsday merchants who’ll tell you it’ll take days and days to charge…. it won’t because you’ll almost never be topping up from zero, even if it was to take 12 hours, most people are home at night and sleeping during this time so unless you’re an extremely busy hyperactive person it’ll be fine (if you are an extremely busy hyperactive person I’d say get a wall box or an ICE ?♂️) I certainly wouldn’t pay a lot of money for something I’m unlikely to get much benefit from.
However a granny charger (a 3 pin plug one) is imperative, not only for you at home but if your ever away visiting people it is very handy so I’d insist on one or order a different car that’ll supply one ?
I’ve ordered one after 2 Leafs, hopefully get it next week ?
Test drove it and was much better than it looks… fast enough when you want it to be, comfy, carries 5, economical, great range etc has the normal standard tech you’ll get on most cars these days… cruise, android auto, heated seats, satnav, keyless entry etc although doesn’t have ACC or lane assist or emergency braking but a lot of drivers I hear complaining about these things ?♂️
The boot isn’t completely flat if carrying long items (eg wardrobes, doors) but still a good size…. suppose it depends on what you want it for?
My wife has the C250 coupe but I prefer my EV, mostly because the coupe is so low it’s a pain getting in and out ?
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Also wasn’t there a post about no longer being able to buy your car at the end of the lease so worth remembering before shelling out too much cash…. at the moment it should be okay to extend to 5 years but no guarantees that’ll still be the rules ?♂️ plus there may be some other supermodel out by then that takes your fancy ?</p>
Get a car you’ll enjoy for 364 days of the year and let someone else drive on the road trip ?
Once able to, go see them all in person and go for the one you like best, if possible take some of those road trip buddies with you to test out the back seats.
Most cars will take 3 in the back but for how far and how long would it be?
Just came across this conversation and some good points but also some poor ones (I’m trying to be polite ?)
You can get an EV for closer to £20k than £30k, the same people who can afford a new EV will not be able to afford a new ICE
Petrol and diesel cars aren’t being completely outlawed, they’ll still be available but in a hybrid version
Very few people (especially disabled drivers) will do more than 100 miles a day, most will charge at home so an EV makes sense
The charging network isn’t very wheelchair friendly I agree, but what do you do when your ICE needs fuel? Isn’t the same person filling your tank able to plug in? As a wheelchair user doing 20k a year I get so frustrated at lazy ignorant planners who only want to stick in a charger to tick a box on their councils mission statement ?
Wireless charging is a non starter…. the Gov (any of them) can’t keep up with road repairs or getting proper broadband in so no chance they’ll invest in this
Anybody who has kids, grandkids or wants to have them should be doing everything in their power to stop using fossil fuel and killing this planet, we may all be dead in 100 years but those living are going to look back in anger at our failure to protect this world ?
Yeah about 10 days for that to come through showing you are retaining the reg on paper and not transferring it straight onto another car, but the paperwork to swap the plates over is instantaneous.
Maybe the dealer wasn’t making enough money on the deal to be bothered with the extra work ??
No you should not, common knowledge that engines need to be given a longer run now and again to clear them out… take it for a longer run and consider a BEV for next time ?
99.9% of the time it’ll be the original registration but it’s not guaranteed, I always stick the original plates in the boot and only once in 30 years they weren’t the ones to go back on.
I phoned motability in December to swap my plate back and they done it there and then over the phone, I got an instant email with all the updated paperwork so took no longer than 30 minutes. I had expected it to take longer so phoned 6 weeks before changeover in case of any Xmas delays.
The garage can arrange it all for you and I’ve done this in the past with private sales but never with motability…. don’t trust them 100% yet ?♂️
Stuart if you think the Mercedes deal is good then go for it, you aren’t tied into taking anything from Motability… the Government give you a cash allowance to spend how you like.
I had cars on the scheme back in the early 90’s and left cause I didn’t like what was being offered, now I’m back on it (since 2014) cause it suits me, but if it didn’t I’d be off ?
In this situation you’re the boss, you can visit (or phone, email) every garage in the country looking for a deal, you can use your allowance in lots of different ways to get a vehicle and a deal that suits, you can keep the cash and never go out… get prescriptions, groceries etc all delivered to your door
You don’t have to pay any deposit… go take that Mercedes deal, or any other deal, or buy an old banger for £500 and run that, or keep the cash and use taxis… but you’ll soon realise our deal isn’t too bad, obviously not perfect for everyone’s requirements so instead of criticising it find something that you’ll be happy with
You only get the granny charger but you could always get the home charger as untethered and use that cable when out and about if didn’t want to buy one, it’ll depend on your usage whether it’s worth it or not.
It doesn’t have major software problems, it has updates to stop the warning bongs which you pay for.
Congratulations Johnnyallan, I’ve ordered the MG5 so hopefully it’ll be here by end of January.
BigDave, all those taxis are hybrids with a petrol engine to charge the battery, like the i3.
The line about only having 15 miles range left is crap, they were designed and built with just that sort of scenario in mind…. more than likely they didn’t want to take you and that was the excuse
alan1302 I agree about residual values and that is why some taxi drivers use a Mercedes E class but the majority use the Skoda because it is cheaper to start with, plus the running costs of any EV will give it the advantage over a hybrid Toyota and outweigh the difference in used values.
The new MG5 will feature highly on that list I reckon…. an estate with a 200 mile range for a bargain basement price seems perfect for taxi drivers ?
The dealer usually contacts you cause they want the business but it’s your responsibility to ensure it is done on time, just call them up to get it booked in. You can go to any garage that services your make of car, you are not tied to the one it came from.
You only get a curtesy car if you request one, if they have one available and you may have to pay for the insurance… book early to give yourself the best chance of getting one. Otherwise many garages will collect and return the car from your house/work etc.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>#Harry the dealers don’t lose anything as they get a set fee per car no matter how much the deposit is and they’ll make it easy to reorder so the customer doesn’t cancel and go elsewhere</p>
I think you should have invested more time into researching cars before choosing one but now you got it then you should find out how things work before driving on the roads
They are free but will cut out after 15 minutes if you don’t check in via the Pod Point app.
We no longer do a big shopping and are in & out fairly quickly so I don’t find it worth my while getting the cable out to plug in.
They aren’t really disabled friendly parking bays but because they have chevrons in front of the charger you can get lucky and get parked in a way that’ll allow you access to your door ?
The MG ZS EV deal seems to be over all the dealers cause my nearest has it too… probably too much to hope they’d do the same for the MG5 when it’s only just been released ???
Hopefully this shows my name in blue ? cause it’s really me ?
Secondly, yeah it’s a big drop in range at first but it’ll level out if you are doing a long journey but lots of little short journeys are a killer…. the car is working hard to heat the cabin up but then cools down at every stop so it’s got yo heat it up all over again. On a long journey once the cabin is warmed up it’ll keep the heat ?
Regarding BrightonSteve comment about the wipers still sticking to the screen… very true and something to watch for but most cars now have a “winter position” also used for changing the wiper blades as they sit below the bonnet level.
When you turn the car off there’s a way (different for each car so check your own) to make the wipers raise to point at the top of the screen and they’ll stop there. From there you can either lift them off the glass or leave them there until the screen has been defrosted…. they wont go back down until you make them (usually by flicking it to a wipe setting)
I do this with mines cause I learned the hard way about them sticking to the screen
