Random EV thoughts.....

the_amazing_raisin wrote:

Tayto park for sure, possibly even Dublin Zoo (if they ever put in proper parking nearby), lots of tourist attractions could benefit from a decent AC charging park and as you say it could be an easy source of extra revenue

Cliffs of Moher, the supposedly coolest attraction in Ireland has exactly, yes, zero chargers. Has a huge car park, shops, café but no, not even 1 SCP. I'll let that sink in.

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

The carpark is grand where it it, stick 10 7kW chargers in the carpark, and make them free to use.... I'd head there for a day trip from Dublin is there was charging while there...

Free to use?

Clare County Council charge €20 to enter the car park (2 adults).
You ain't getting anything free from them .

Some changes coming to the current system of grants.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0402/1207562-grant-electric-cars/

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Phew grant should be €0

but at least it's being cut for the Range Rover's, because Range Rover buyers really needed that €5k knocked off the asking price...

The same could be said for Teslas. No car is environmentally friendly if we take a wider view.

In reality, the use case is most important. Many PHEVs do 90% of their journies on battery. My own does about 10-20% on battery.

At the risk of sounding like NI's Cash for Ash debacle, if they're to give grants BEVs and PHEVs, it should be a rebate on electricity costs as opposed to car costs.

It would encourage charging infrastructure to be implemented (as a means to track usage would be needed for Revenue), and would also give most benefit to people who would otherwise be burning more petrol or diesel.

Little point in giving 5k to for someone to have a new BEV outside their door, which will never cover any miles, and in fact causes more environmental damage as it's yet another new car after all.

cannco253 wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/kia-sorento-phev-seven-seater-with-practicality-and-comfort-in-abundance-1.4518918

"It’s one of the best surprises of 2021. Kia has delivered a big seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV, with off-road ability, an abundance of modern tech and comfort features for €50,000. That’s €2,440 less than you pay for the equivalent diesel version. Who said going electric meant paying more?

Match all this with the ability to run on full-electric power for 40km along with really smart styling and you can see why we have been so impressed by the new Sorento. To cap it all, that €50,000 price tag (after the SEAI grant) is remarkably competitive for a car of this type."


I guess that €2,440 price difference vanishes after 1 July, unless the OTR price or spec drops.....

Well the UK dropped the grant limit and like magic a bunch of EVs got cheaper. No doubt the same will happen here with EVs and PHEVs that are on the margin of the grant

Did anyone else look at the interior, particularly the central air vents, and be immediately reminded of Star Wars?

Black_Knight wrote: »

Biggest impediment to ev adopting is education? Nah, it's cost and availability. Small hatches are available, Small family cars are available, but only just now are family SUV cars coming available, but still are very high intro prices. Skoda and VW might have mid €30s SUVs coming, but their range will shock the illinformed.

To be fair there's still plenty of people who think EV owners spend half their lives at charging stations or on tow trucks because they ran out of battery

innrain wrote:

Quite a nice test

Thanks for sharing. That's a great little test

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Phew grant should be €0

but at least it's being cut for the Range Rover's, because Range Rover buyers really needed that €5k knocked off the asking price...

I think you could actually say the same for every Tesla vehicle!

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/ford-vw-battery-supplier-said-to-reach-deal-to-avoid-import-ban

I'd say there's a lot of relieved people in Ford and VW at the moment

unkel wrote: »

I wonder what POTUS threatened them with

Probably told them he'd pull all the American troops out of South Korea if SKI pulled out of Georgia

It was a fairly ridiculous one to begin with, companies poach knowledgeable people from each other all the time. Only difference here was that SK were fairly blatant about it and got caught. They were likely always going to settle, but I think LG were stringing it along for all it was worth

I'd say VW's recent power day played into both company's thinking as well. Apparently VW execs weren't too happy about two of their suppliers playing silly buggers and didn't consult them about their whole standard battery cell thing

When VW said they were building 6 battery plants in Europe to supply their EVs, and specifically mentioned Northvolt as partners without mentioning SK or LG, then I imagine people got nervous in both the Korean companies and they decided to go for a settlement quickly

Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines, but the order of events was interesting