Random EV thoughts.....

Google also happy to take anyone's dollar to promote messaging on any (legal) topic anywhere in the world through its media syndication arm. With little to no moderation if staying on the right side of the law. Promoting truth or fallacy? Not sure there's any great care given once the $$$ is being spent.

All the social networks pretty much the same.

Plug and charge is so much better than faffing around with cards ☹️

Anything they have designs of selling in volume is going to have to be 40k or less in the future. Early adopters have bought. Covid savings are gone. First time EV owners getting burnt on trade in values. The Chinese are competing hard.

All of this yep.

mass market Joe blogs just didnt follow early adopters on EVs, now that they’ve all taken delivery.

we shouldn’t underestimate the rarity of large price cuts on new cars too.

I've just read an excellent article on EV efficiency by InsideEvs/Jason Lambrecht. I think it's very educational and wide ranging hitting all the important factors for efficiency and resultant range. Very interesting note also that a higher powered motor- 286 hp leads to greater efficiency and hence range improvement in the new ID4. Well worth a good read. By the way Engineering Explained /Jason Fenske who features in the article has some excellent YouTube videos - e.g. range effects of using bigger wheel diameters.

Peugeot have extended their now standard 8 year battery warranty to cover the other EV components :

Toyota have up to 10 years battery warranty on their BZ4x if you continue to service that car at a main dealer.

So, these new warranty variations are challenging the standard EV 8 year warranty covering only the battery.

For a seven seater, you are looking at mad money alright.

So, my thought reading this was to suggest leaving your 7 seater as is and replace the 5 seater car to ev for some trips. I think there will be alot of options for 7 seater in 1 to 2 years new but not in the second hand market for another 5 ish years.

Maybe not what you wanted to hear and others might have better feedback for you.

I have four children (11, 8, 3 and 2) and a 2018 MX 75D as our only car. It's a great car but very pricey. The 6 seat model is great because kids in the third row can get in/out through the middle without moving the seats (or passengers) in the 2nd row. There's isofix in all three rows (in the older models) and plenty of space for people in front of any rear-facing child seats. The boot is big enough to take 1 pram and lots of other stuff comfortably. 2 prams is a problem for us but might not be a concern for you. There's loads of room under the 1st and 2nd row seats so they can take all their junk with them on trips and not use the boot at all. Two of mine do sports activities five days a week so their sports equipment lives in the car, mostly in the frunk, leaving the boot free for shopping, etc.

I've never measured it properly but I think we get about 200-250km in Winter and 250-300km in Summer fully loaded. My in-laws are in the very west of west Mayo which is around 330km from Dublin so definitely not manageable in a single trip but we always stop for food and toilet trips anyway so it doesn't add much/anything to the journey time. The trip used to require some planning but there have been a number of additional high-speed chargers added recently and a 50kW in the nearest town to them so we charge up while we're there for the trip back. Some (all?) of the older models have a 16.5kW AC charger which can be very handy because you can combine charge and eat without being stuck with the fast-food options at motorway service stations.

On the other hand, the older Model X cars are a lucky dip. I had quite a few things fixed under warranty and I've had a few things need to be fixed out of warranty: drivers door handle (not as simple/cheap as you'd think because of the powered doors), front passenger seatbelt sensor (the whole seat might need to be replaced) and both the 3 way and 4 way coolant junctions. Definitely budget for repairs! They also eat tyres and the tyres are huge so those will be a black hole for money but I suspect most full 6/7 seat cars will be almost as bad.

Lastly, the double edged sword. It's a big car. It's relatively long, quite wide, has the turning circle of a small boat and takes up entire parking spaces. Multi-story car parks are a challenge. But, unlike a lot of 7 seaters, the rear seats are full sized seats with a full protective shell around them, they're not in the rear crumple zone so kids sitting there should be very safe.

Edit: Mine came with an optional tow-hitch. I've never used it but the MX is definitely rated to tow stuff.

Would a Mercedes EQB be another 7 seater option you would consider?

There are a good number for sale.

The EQB is a size down from the X though. It's a 5 seater with 2 seats in the boot and the third row has zero legroom. If you regularly need to use more than 5 seats it's not a real option. Fine for occasional use.