Random EV thoughts.....

Looks like Toyota are pushing the Lemon….. 1st add I’ve seen for it on Facebook…..

and only €2k more expensive than a Model Y (though I suspect delivery & related charges would push the bz4x above the €50k mark… (actually the updated reduced grant will put it over €50k)

If only I wasn’t barred from commenting on Toyota Ireland posts…..

I would of thought an scrappage scheme would be useful also to incentivise folk to make the change. There is no way the Govt is going to get close to the 2030 targets witht these measures.

Was talking to my wife today about replacing our ID3 family car at the end of the PCP contract later this year (love how it drives but I've grown to absolutely despise the infotainment and controls)

She doesn't read about cars or EVs vs ICE or follow the industry in any way at all, nor does she particularly care, but her main requirement was to get an EV again because she'd hate to go back to having to worry about range in a petrol car and having to queue up at petrol stations. I found it amusing how that was the polar opposite to what the perceived wisdom is for a lot of people. We charge at home overnight so to her our car effectively has infinite range for all the driving she ever does.

My other half always thought our ICE cars had infinite range as she never once had to fuel it

In terms of 1million Irish EVs the target is impossible even if 100% of new cars sold were EVs.

We really need to get new sales shifted towards EVs. Making public charging 100% reliable would help but there are no real signs of things getting any better.

They need a clear plan and to discourage sales of diesel and petrol cars. Nothing I see makes me believe there is any real strategy.

I put 11kWh into the car today for the cost of exactly nothing (from solar PV) 😁

While the cost difference had narrowed a bit, particularly between the base cost of public charging and petrol, the savings are still there

Oh yeah we got that same shower around 4pm, might as well have been night time

Still no house battery here so all the excess goes to the Zappi

I've been doing well this week, haven't charged off night rate since last weekend. Currently I've got the Zappi set to boost at night on Saturday and Sunday only

Haven't really been doing more than local driving but I've not gone below 65% and topped up to 80% where I've set the charge limit on two days so far

Do you ever stop whinging? It's not their fault me and you don't have solar.

Ah you know the best way to deal with your problems is to find someone else to blame 😏

Because they're on here saying how cheap EV driving is when it clearly isn't anymore, especially for people who don't have solar. All the cheap electricity deals are gone, providers are flat refusing to get people D/N meters, probably no point now anyway as those deals have evaporated too. A bit more realism is all I'm asking for so people can actually make a properly informed decision before committing to an EV.

Isn't it? I'd like to know how you arrived at that conclusion

Some quick math shows the cheapest night rate from Flogas is less than half the running costs of the equivalent ICE

As for providers refusing to switch people over to D/N meters, I'd suggest notifying the CRU of these cases so they can be dealt with

I'll be frank, that sounds like your bad experience, not exactly something systematically wrong with EVs

There's very few fixed rates available these days, that's just the way the market it. IIRC there's no such thing as fixed price petrol

My experience with BG is they're a bunch of idiots and are incapable of answering the most basic of questions

In general Energia will relent on giving new customer deals if you push them

It's annoying I'll agree, but try negotiating for a discount at the petrol station and see how that goes 😉

The request to move to a D/N meter goes to ESBN, you can always contact them directly to see if they'll change you over

I do sympathise with your plight, I went through the same nonsense 5 years ago, it's nothing new

But I disagree with the assertion that the money savings with EVs are marginal or nonexistent

I thought the maximum annual toll saving is capped at €500?

I never said the savings were marginal or non existent. My point is that people need to know that the savings aren't a big as they used to be with electricity companies blatantly shafting the consumer with thinly disguised cartel shaping and fuel prices falling at the pumps. Second call I made was to esbn who in fairness were very nice to deal with, unfortunately they don't do meter changes themselves directly it needs to be requested through your provider to keep billing accurate etc, and yes she confirmed that I qualified for a free meter swop.

Interesting that because when I was speaking to ESBN they said it would definitely be charged to swap the meter, but either the electricity supplier can choose to pass on the cost or take it themselves

In the end "swapping the meter" involved the engineer writing some instructions on it with a Sharpie on how to take night readings, everything else was a paper exercise

I'm always astounded that the electricity grid here works as well as it does considering the total lack of communication between the various parties