Increase in Anti-EV Media Articles

That's quite the showstopper to leave out.

It's leaving anything that's time critical to very last minute leaving no margin for errors. No one needs to make up any more analogies.

Why do people buy an EV?

I can only give my honest assessment and I wasn't an EV enthusiast before I bought one.

Mainly the savings on fuel - I was paying around €280 per month for diesel. I'm paying around €30 for the same mileage. I use the car 3 days (I work from home the other days), and my wife uses it 3 days. She is using less than half the diesel she was using. Between the two of us, we're saving over €350 per month.

My tax was over €600. Now it's €120. My insurance was €640, now it's €305. I'm saving around €5k a year in total.

Could a PHEV have sufficed... probably, but my work commute is 130km, so perhaps not. Also, I don't see the benefit of carrying a big engine and not using it. Why have all the components of an ICE, and the associated servicing costs, when I don't need them. A range of 450km is more than enough. I go to bed and wake up to a charged car ready for another 400-plus km.

In one year, I've only publicly charged 3 times. I've been all over the country and never had an issue with range. It's literally a non-issue.

(edited due to woeful spelling and grammar as I was on the train after the match!)

Does that gem actually add anything to the discussion

in fairness that’s a sensible rational reason to choose an ev over anything else!

Exaggerated example but you are correct, I have heard people invent scenarios in their head that they'll probably never do

What about if I've to drive to west cork from Dublin?

When's the last time you had to do this? Well, never, but it might happen...

MG4 Long Range. It cost less than an entry-level Golf and I was happy to pay that price. I probably would have gone for a Tesla M3 or BYD Seal at the current prices, but I chose what I felt offered good value for money at the time.

To be honest, I am a bit of a petrolhead (I come from a family of mechanics) so an EV was a big change. I was concerned about range as sometimes I have to visit multiple offices in one day, so I charted my driving for 6 months and noted the mileage and costs. I was looking at another 4-5 year old Diesel but when I factored in the fuel costs an EV made sense. I never bought a new car before because I don't look at them as an investment, and I generally go for a 4-5 year-old as they offer the best value but when I put it all down on a spreadsheet, it was hard to ignore the numbers.

Wifey wasn't sold on the idea as she had heard all the FUD but I managed to convince her. It's funny, she still gets people trying to pedal the FUD, but she knows better now and loves the car. If I'm not using it, she takes it and it's saved her a lot on diesel too.

that and doing his long trip in a diesel

It's called hyperbole.

There are extreme fringe cases, creating ridiculous scenarios and fud. They are fair game for ridicule.

Then there are valid criticisms like charging blackspots and such.

Quite easy to tell the difference. Also theres a few posters who throw in a valid criticism now and then as bait and to make their spamming of fud less obvious. But it is actually obvious what they are at. But you can avoid it by using the ignore functionality. I'm sure plenty have me on ignore and we are both the happier for it.

If it takes you an hour at 55kwh does that mean (guessing about battery size) you were at 20% getting to 80% which is the optimal way to rapid charge anyway.

I assume you can't sustain 95kwh from 0-100% anyway.

Need to up the cost and fines for blocking chargers. But sounds like you didn't have to queue anyway. Certainly queuing for chargers is a valid criticism of the charging network. If I was doing regular long distance driving, where there is limited charging, an EV wouldn't be my first choice for sure..

I just updated the stats on Mrs Tracos MY RWD which has now covered over 10k kms in 8 months and here's a positive spin on the ownership side. BTW this case is on the fringes given the ICE it replaced

Total electric spend €427 between high speed and home. It does get charged at work once a week. A quick run of the numbers factoring in what her ML would have cost and fire selling the Y today at 35k it would be 80c per km for the 10k kms. However as there is no intention to sell therefore any depreciation is irrelevent at this point. If we keep it until it dies the depreciation slowly disolves into the cost per km over the life of the car.

The basic headline savings over the ML are as follows:
ML Tax Oct 1500, less the 100 for the Y. Saving €1,400
Fuel for 10k kms; ML = 1,600 - Y = 400 . Saving €1,200
ML Repairs - who knows as it was replaced due to a rear SAM fault and as tax was due we decided time to change. Board would have been 1k and who knows what else I would have found when I fitted it and coded it so its not put in for these calcs. Assume this is an old high tax ICE being replaced with a modern BEV.

So fuel and tax saving over 8 months is €2,600 for her or €325 per month. Maintenance not as big a factor for us as I would do most of the servicing on the ML so it would be parts only and my time. That is looking like an almost 4k saving for the first 12 months for her.

Based on the above and stating this as a petrol head if you have an older higher tax ICE and aren't interested in flipping the daily hack every two or three years for a new plate a current mid range BEV should be very high on your list. Charging does take a little bit of planning but is very managable and I think the net cash savings definitley outweigh the five mins it takes on ABRP and pliugshare to come up with a plan.

Sorry it doesn't fit the negative media mantra but it is what it is.

I was at 20% and needed to get to 90% at a minimum to get home. On way down I charged from 20% to 80% in what I thought was under 25 min but the charging speed started at around 150kwh so I was surprised it didn't exceed 95kwh on home leg.

Anyway It worth bearing in mind that if you are confident about charger availability, it's sometimes worth unplugging before 80% if charge rate is slow and get a quick splash and dash closer to destination. Again all down to having decent charger availability. Tbh 4 chargers at Mahon Point is not enough while 8 chargers at Ballacolla is probably fine.

The problem with Ballacolla is that you cant take on enough juice to give adequate buffer to drive around at destination and make it back to Mahon Point on return trip. Dont have destination charging but maybe worth a top up at the one ecars 50kwh charger within a reasonable distance from my destination.

Anyway the 7 seater will be making the journey the next couple of trips as the full clan of 6 will be travelling so a few non stop trips coming up