Random EV thoughts.....

It’s an econobox hence the low rent interior but at €10K or under, choices are very limited for something usable with a bit of space.

What I will say to new car buyers, choose the car you like and will hold on to, do some research and stop trying to sell your 1, 2 and 3 year old expensive cars you'll be hammered!

Keep them and it's only a paper loss which will resolve itself over time.

But we bought at high point in 22/23 markets, no crystal ball but things might be better from here.

Just from my own experiences, a base model cupra born 58kwh in 2022 cost me the same as a base model 77kwh Tavascan would cost me today. So we bought at silly times, in hindsight.

I don't know if I'd recommend that, my parents Kia Niro spent nearly as much time in the dealer as it did at their house in it's first year of life before they gave it back.

I would have been very annoyed with the resolution but they paid for a new car of the same spec. No issues with the current one.

Would definitely put me off ever buying one.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) spent at least €120,000 installing 12 electric car charging ports at Leinster House. One was damaged shortly afterwards in a collision and an official complaint was made that they were a trip hazard and a danger to health and safety.

Internal records also detail trouble getting a system up and running to ensure TDs and senators were charged for the electricity they used to power their vehicles.

More details

I guess if the OPW didn't spend their budget they wouldn't get an increase next year 🙄

I would imagine they are at that price

Obviously there's added costs since Leinster House is a historic building, you can't just slap down one of those prefab transformers in the car park

There's probably a list of "preferred suppliers" who they've used before and charge extra for specialist work

However, I also suspect that the OPW is just paying the going rate without seeking other tenders. For example if you want a trench dug you can pay a few labourers or pay ESB Networks to do it, you can probably guess the ESB price is quite steep

It's also worth noting that every time a government department spends money, they get a significant percentage back as tax. I'm not condoning waste but just keep in mind that €120,000 spent isn't a €120,000 cost to the taxpayer

Tendering is only required if the contract is above a certain amount, the figure is quite high, certainly more than the cost of a few chargers (and a bike shed).

No knowledge of the opw rules. It's not exactly a trivial amount 120k.

Bulletproof absolutely not. For all those reasons and others.

Probably discounts Bob from down the pub then 😂

Anyway, it's easy to see how stricter requirements than "dig trench" can add costs, so it isn't a surprise that these contracts are so expensive

I can understand that for the OPW they'd probably rather spend the money to be sure the job is done the way they want than try to save money by getting some idiots who screw it up

It's probably less of a scandal to overpay than to be left holding the bag

However, I would suggest that perhaps the OPW should re-examine some of their tendering practices

I like opw visitor sites. But some of their decisions just baffle me.

It's the result of design by committee where no one wants to responsible for anything.

"...Nobody got fired for buying IBM…"

..etc.

There're numerous reasons for OPW's expensive projects.

• There's a contactor framework which is difficult to get on.
• They have preferred suppliers meaning as a contractor you pretty much have to use them.
• For every single piece of material you use on a job, you must submit datasheets and wait for approval. Most likely would be rejected if it's not one of their preferred products. The absolute best of gear.
• Even though the project management are all engineers, they still hire private engineering consultants, essentially another layer of cost and bureaucracy.

Is this suitable for to charge the 12V battery on an EV6 if you have a dead one?

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