Unhappy with owning an EV in Ireland

I had an EV and got rid, replaced with a phev.

Buying a PHEV and not plugging in just means they paid extra to have a heavier car. Completely defeats the purpose.

Some people just cant grasp figures. Nothing anyone can do about that.

Maybe someday, you'll take some personal responsibility for the destruction of tracts of the countryside with the construction of industrial wind machines, for the lithium mining and other substances required for your huge batteries and for these lying around in dumps for decades to come, slowly degrading and poisoning the land. Green transport, my arse.

youd rather we continue to burn coal than build wind farms?

Let us see banks of industrial wind turbines in Dublin Bay - off the coasts of Dalkey, Malahide & Howth. Then we'll get a better idea if the public really buy into industrial wind farms. The reality is more likely a massive battle in the courts to prevent such development. And if it's not good enough there, close to where the energy is needed, why should it be foisted on others elsewhere?

what is your alternative to increasing the amount of wind installations?

And talking about banks of them on the most expensive coastline in the country wont give a better idea if the public really buy into them, itll show how much the residents of those locations buy into them.

I'm not surprised that some people have moved back. I bought my mum a smartphone and a few months later I found out she swapped it for old button one. She found the notifications to update apps was driving her bonkers. :)

An EV isn't for everyone. Some like that you never have to worry about going to petrol stations and it is topped up every night for you as if you had a magic butler. But others don't mind the offset of driving to fill up on petrol in 5 mins and getting hundreds of miles of range.

For me, I looked at my driving and I go to Dublin or Kerry about once every 2-3 years. That would involve maybe stopping for a 20 min top up on the way home. So I have no need to top up for 999 days out of 1000 so an EV makes sense.

Did you have a go of doing a proper total cost of ownership calculation on that? Your A7 diesel costing €20k to buy vs say a Tesla Model S costing €32k to buy (not many other big EVs around to compare to a big Audi A7)? I bet if you did, you'd be surprised of the outcome, even if you did below average annual mileage.

Great sentiment. But myself and lots of other people would have to close down little successful businesses if that were the case.

There are always solutions to bad weather like appropriate clothing. No reason that with denser network of public transport options that people in urban or suburban areas should need EVs or petrol/ diesel vehicles for personal daily transport. People can / will adapt and manage just as they have for centuries.

No, but it means travelling to different areas around Dublin from Howth to Stillorgan with two large boxes of equipment.

I don't want to divulge too much info, but I can PM you if you want?

To be fair Amsterdam has nearly same weather and temperature as Ireland. They have a cycle culture, cycle lanes everywhere and trans everywhere in high rise city centre.

I agree daycare with 2+ children typically needs a car, and modern child seats need a big car, and because everyone has specialist jobs most people don't work walking or easy bus commuting from their job. Often people switch jobs but cannot move house closer due to kids in school etc. It is a bad planning problem and lack of investment. The "15 minute city" idea where people can walk, cycle, bus, tram to everything they want is pie in the sky. I often travel 140km by car in an evening in addition to creche and work trips.

One thing I did do was move home closer to work, but that's unviable or impractical for many. I hope to reap the benefit of a zero commute, while my wife works from home. Having said that an EV works for me, but we have a diesel for regular cross country visits to relatives. The diesel often does not move weekdays.

A diesel with the same off the line performance as a Nissan Leaf is not bad for a diesel 😂

I get the kids to and from school and creche by foot/bike/skate and use public transport when I can. I'd never drive in to the city centre unless I really really had to due to equipment. I don't mind public transport and when I started out on this business I tried to do the smaller jobs using public transport. It just didn't work. It couldn't physically work. I tried it.