BYD Atto 3 vs Tesla model Y standard

DrPsychia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898257#Comment_120898257

Congratulations Fian, I'm certain you'll love it. I know you were considering a Dolphin but you made the right choice going for the Atto. Make sure to order some charging cards so you don't get stuck if going on a long journey. The option of being able to use either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is brilliant.

If I were you I would get a heat gun, some floss and take off that Build your dreams slogan off the rear, it sounds too American for my liking and looks awful. I wish they didn't build the slogan into the Dolphins light bar, can't remove it unfortunately.

Fian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898875#Comment_120898875

€40,949. From BYD South Dublin in Dean's grange. This will be €1,500 more expensive next month I understand - BYD are making up the cut in the govt grant until the end of July but not after that.

They were not doing that for the Dolphin (which is not yet in) so the difference between them was €8k. My wife much prefers the higher ride height of the Atto over the dolphin - our current cars are a Ford Galaxy and a Ford Ecosport which has now been replaced by this car, so we are used to a higher driving position. We may yet buy a dolphin when we replace the Galaxy but that car is still going strong and it is handy for us to have a 7-seater since we are a family of 6, albeit with my three sons all being over 6 foot it is rare we all squeeze into it anymore. Still nice to have the option if we need it.

Thanks to all who posted helpfully in this thread, was useful. Now i just have to figure out what to do about getting a home charger for it.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902577#Comment_120902577

Walllbox is €599 after grant from Ecoplex.

Zappi is €799 after grant from easygo.

the 2 above appear to be the best deals available at the moment.

Fian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902678#Comment_120902678

Sorry to keep pestering for advice - can i just ask is it advisable to get two chargers for when I will presumably eventually have two electric cars? Presumably the labour/call out is a significant part of the price, but maybe tech is improving so it would make more sense to just get one for now and get a second in a few years when required?

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902874#Comment_120902874

Your incoming supply will be the limit. One charger at 32a is the max on single stage.

What most people will do it rotate charging. You can be charging one car at 32a on the charger or lower if you want and then use the 3 pin plug to do the other. Just pick which one needs it.

If you get 2 chargers they will have to share the same 32a supply so both supplying 3.6kW only.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902874#Comment_120902874

It is very unlikely your house electrical supply is strong enough to power 2 car charge points at 7.4kW each at the same time. But by all means get the wiring done. I have 2 EVs and I can charge them at the same time, one from a proper EV charge point, the other on the granny cable on an outside waterproof socket that has its own dedicated 16A RCBO in my consumer unit (it's own "group" in layman speak)

Grumpypants

I got two in for the same reason. First one put in on the back left corner of the house when I was getting the grant. Ended up being a little annoying to always park at the park then walk to the front. Had a phev at time time so I'd to plug in 3-4 times a day.

When I bought the MG they threw in a free charger so I got the second one put on the front left corner of the house. Which is where I park and far more useful. Even though it is used maybe once every week or two 😀

It's unlikely you will need to charge two cars at once, but you never know. The chargers will share to power so each gets 3.5 rather than both getting 7.

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902874#Comment_120902874

We have two EVs. Each does approx 17k/year. Never had the need for two chargers, but it would depend very much upon personal usage.

The missus leaves very early and occasionally plugs me in for the last few hours at cheap rate. But we also have solar so if a car at home by day we use that also. But unless you are doing crazy mileage each car with us anyway only needs to charge once or twice a week.

Fian

thanks all, i guess we will go for one then. I wonder will the electricity grid infrastructure have to be upgraded when most homes in the country eventually move to EVs.

MartyMcFly1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898257#Comment_120898257

Good choice, a better built car and also better looks. Good luck with it.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906411#Comment_120906411

Shouldn’t. They use less power when charging than your power electric shower. Nobody seems to care that every house is fitting one of them.

unkel

EVs are almost exclusively charged at night when most of the time we have far too much electricity already. This will of course change if / when more and more people without home charging will buy EVs and charge during the day. And the grid has to be upgraded significantly anyway over the next few decades as we move away from burning fossil fuels and use electricity instead. Like for home and office heating, hot water heating, etc.

mfceiling

Will the pressure be somewhat relieved on the grid if more people start installing solar? Or will our energy needs keep increasing regardless?

Sorry it's a bit of a random question that may have no answer!!

DrPsychia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908965#Comment_120908965

Yes it certainly reduces pressure during peak hours, during May about 10% of the country's electricity was generated by Solar. About 75% of solar energy is produced between May-Sept so more investment is needed in wind to makeup for this reduction during winter months but there's too many NIMBYS against wind turbines. The investment cost is too high at present for solar even accounting for grants, especially for the squeezed middle who don't have a whole pile of disposable income leftover after all bills are paid.

Grants need to be increased to encourage uptake, or cheap loans provided. The government missed a big opportunity when ECB rates were near 0%, they could have provided incredibly cheap loans to encourage investment but they didn't.

Fian

Pretty significant setback today. Apparently the Atto 3 is in insurance class 38, my insurer (AXA) will not insure named drivers under 24 on the car because the class is higher than 36. My previous car was class 5 so this is a pretty big jump. I have 4 kids all named on my previous car.

The Tesla is class 46 so would be even worse.

Does anyone have insurance covering kids under 24 as named drivers on either of these cars? If so would you mind letting me know which insurer?

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120919593#Comment_120919593

Maybe an idea for a new thread you could start as it's you that has encountered this setback. Ask what insurance is like on electric cars maybe.

MojoMaker

My insurance dropped when switching over to an EV from a diesel SUV, even considering the replacement value was 10X

Cold be your broker/underwriter combo - definitely make an inquiry over at Royal & Sun Alliance via 123.ie who seem to "get" the EV market.

Inexperienced drivers and EVs not necessarily a good mix perhaps? Imagine that will settle down somewhat.

UK insurance groupings not necessarily a good indicator in the Irish market btw.

DrPsychia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120919593#Comment_120919593

Did you try many other insurers for a quote? There is surely a company that will insure them. I encountered a similar issue with insurance classes before with some insurers but eventually went with FBD who was happy to quote, some are more risk averse than others. It is a pain calling around for quotes but it will be worth your time.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120919888#Comment_120919888

It’s been asked 100’s of time.

Insurance is very personal. One company might be 1000e and the next 234e.

One company might not insure me and will insure you and your 5 kids.

The only factual outcome from all the insurance threads is that you have to bite the bullet and ring around them all to get quotes and go with the best policy/cost that suits you.

Another insurance thread will be just full of posts naming every insurer in the country as that what was good for that poster.

For example, on previous threads, Allianz wouldn’t insure a tesla for someone, yet I was paying 236e for a 762bhp Model S with Allianz. QED.

liamog

Insurance threads get moved to insurance sub-forum https://www.boards.ie/categories/insurance-aircraft-maritime-motor

Fian

Took advice and i (or rather my wife) managed to get a quote in the end, albeit after a nervous day:

We were able to get a quote from Aviva and via 123.ie in the end. We went with the 123.ie one, I guess I will find out which insurer they have sourced for us when the policy arrives.

They are expensive enough, but manageable. about E500 more than previous policy, with an extra year NCB. I had no insurance in my name for a number of years while we operated on one car so i am only back on insurance for five years now - I cycle to work. With kids getting older we needed a second.

There are not many economy of scale involved in having four kids but one of them is for having them all as named drivers. I guess only one person can drive the car at a time so the addition of extra ones doesn't add too much, I suspect you are mainly charged for the youngest and the others just dilute how often the youngest will actually get access to the car.

I have been insured with Axa for a number of years, with all of the kids as named drivers, on my (recently sold) ford ecosport, but they would not even quote for the younger kids in the new one.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924174#Comment_120924174

Quick tip to keep your insurance active. Once you are married you both have an insurable interest in the car. If you are only running one car rotate the main driver every year so that you never loose your NCB.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908965#Comment_120908965

home solar is pretty useless for the shorter Winter months, reliance will go back to the grid

Fian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924542#Comment_120924542

Thanks. Excellent advice, unfortunately I didn't think of it at the relevant time and it was cheaper to get insurance in my wife's name and have me as a named driver - this was back when it was still legal to discriminate based on gender for car insurance. Anyway my no claims bonus lapsed while I was named driver and my new one is up to five years now.

DrPsychia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924542#Comment_120924542

Wow, I didn't know this. Thanks for the tip Gumbo

DrPsychia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924691#Comment_120924691

What colour did you choose Fian? I seen a Atto 3 in 'skiing white' out in the wild today, they really nailed that colour, it looks amazing.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907766#Comment_120907766

There’s an issue with many roadside transformers, handling every house drawn 7.4kwh for several hours.

showers don’t last for hours. And not every house runs them at the same time.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120929098#Comment_120929098

We may have a smart grid to limit supply based on local transformers then.

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908965#Comment_120908965

Most people won't have enough solar generation to allow them to charge their car in any significant amount during the day. Some people may be able to dump residual energy from their home battery to their EV battery at night but again, it'll be in small amounts and the remainder will come from the grid. And even in both those cases, it will only be for a small number of months a year.

Yes there are people out there with massive solar arrays who don't fall into these categories but they are few and far between and unless there's a massive change in solar panel effectiveness, people won't have the roof space available to generate more.

daffodill50

Saw a light blue Dublin Reg BYD Atto 3 in Letterkenny this morning - looks very good in real life!