Random EV thoughts.....

I think there is perhaps a bit of price gouging or perhaps just ignorance from independent and main dealers atm. Includes not including the grant even though it has obviously been claimed already..

Definitely lots of price gouging going on.

That's where I was getting confused so. I thought a demo model couldn't claim the grant.

IIRC you'll need an outdoor socket as the Fluence only charges off a commando plug, not a Type 2

Other than that, assuming the battery is even remotely healthy it looks like a bargain. Almost cheaper than walking for that price

Yean there's a couple around where I live and I seem to remember seeing a commando socket plugged into the car. Not sure what the other end is, regular 3 pin plug or a commando plug, but adapters are cheap enough

I think you're right that for the local runabout you don't need anything special, so the Leaf is probably more than you need

Says for parts on the add so there's an issue of some sort with it

The ad has no descrption other than "For parts"!? 🤔

Is the car dead? That would be a red flag for you, if it is! 😂

What kind of servicing costs are owners of 3/5 year old EVs experiencing?

I'm in the garage at the moment getting a minor service on a 7 year old diesel done so I'm thinking about a few years down the road when it's time to change.

Timing belt was done previously so thankfully that's off the list, but this time around it's oil, filters, 2 new front tyres and either an aircon regas or new compressor. Next service looks like there's going to be a lot more. CV joints, rear shocks, front pads and a pair of rear tyres.

While the belt, oil and pads won't be needed with an EV, the other suspension-related items presumably are. New EV owners won't have encountered those costs yet, but owners of 5 year old+ cars will I guess? Based on what I can see from the items on our own servicing costs now and previously, should I expect a 50% reduction in servicing costs with an EV over a 10 year lifetime? In reality, not in theory.

Had a Leaf24 for 4 years now, bought 2nd had when 2 years old. There's about 65,000km on the clock now

No significant issues, here's a rundown of what happened beyond the basic servicing

• 5 new tyres after 1st year (€65 each), pretty sure it was on originals when I bought it and tread was worn down already so replaced all 4. The next day I got a screw in the sidewall of one of the new tyres so had to replace it again 😥
• Changed the wipers myself after 2 years (not paying Nissan €75 for wiper blades)
• Aircon got cleaned out with Ozone after 2nd year, would normally be €50 but Nissan forgot to charged me 😁
• A small plastic cover bit fell off the rear wiper arm a few years ago, cost €25 to replace

That was on top of the regular service cost which is like €125 I think, varies a lot between dealerships

No issues with brakes, suspension, light, steering or motor. Battery health is 85% which is perfectly fine for 2nd car (main car is an ID.4)

I was also pleased to see that Nissan gave it a pass on the emissions check every time 🤣

I did have an incident of tactile parking with a concrete pillar which cost me around €450 to repair, but that's more bad parking tax than maintenance cost

Does anyone know if there's any good transport emissions calculators? Ones that accept different modes of transport and give reliable answers

I'm in a slightly annoying dilemma at the moment, basically at some point in the summer I would like to travel with the great city of Eindhoven with my family and return a week later. We don't need a car there, so the options are as follows:

1. Fly direct to Eindhoven, get bus/taxi to destination
2. Fly to Amsterdam, get train to Eindhoven (more options for flights)
3. Get ferry to UK, drive to Eindhoven and back

So the environmental choice would be to not fly and get the ferry, right? I'll be in Greta's good books then

Except the ferry costs about €200 more than options 1 or 2. Now I get that I'm bringing a car in option 3, which wouldn't fit in Ryanair's carry on, but I only need the car to travel to and from the destination, and that's only because it's cheaper and easier than British rail

That's not counting the extra time and expense of staying overnight on the way there and back. I don't count that as an expense since I'd be expanding the holiday and doing more stuff like seeing London as well. So in the interests of keeping things fair I'm only comparing the transport costs

Funnily enough, I actually have no concerns about charging en route, I've plenty of range and would be doing at most a single charging stop per day

I just find it really annoying that to travel remotely environmentally friendly incurs a massive cost increase, so I'll probably go with flying instead. Greta won't be happy with me 😂

Hence my ask for an emissions calculator, I'm trying to mitigate my guilt somewhat in the process

PS - Sorry for the OT rant 😁

True, but planes need to have an occupancy rate in order to be cost effective. If the %age of PAX is too low, carriers reduce the numbers of flights.

OP, if you drink wine you should stock the car on the way back in Northern France. We save around €200 a year doing that. Or end up drinking more wine...

I already have a big enough backlog of booze to get through 🤣

I think you have your work cut out for your either way whether its by car or by air. I like the the driving option as I think it could work well. You could plan plenty of stops around Supercharging. Not so easy when your in a tin can in the sky with a baby that cant equalise! But you get it over and done with once each way. Good luck with what ever way you choose!

True enough, it's not easy going on holiday 😂

I think my wife would prefer the flying option and generally keeping her stress levels down means that my stress levels also stay down

Plus the kids keep asking me to go on an airplane (we line beside Dublin airport, so get to watch everyone else going on holidays 😭)

Ah well, there's always next time for the road trip 😁