Leccy cars

[Sanjøy]

Now done over 23k in the I3 and the novelty has not worn off. Been using the 3 pin charger over summer and letting the solar slowly trickle charge it as in no rush between school runs.

[Lazydonkey]

We've just passed a year with ours and mrs donkey told at least 3 different people over the weekend how much she loved it. Looked into wall boxes again as we've just changed to octopus but still doesn't make sense for us financially yet. 3 pin it is.

[neil]

We joined the club a month ago when I picked up an I-Pace from Bolton. Now 2k in and love it. It'll probably get used for 99% of our journeys and we've still got the diesel as backup. Just been charging on the 3 pin plug at home which works fine as I doubt we'll ever come home with a flat battery and have to do a 200 mile journey the next day. We're still getting a charger installed as it was part of the car deal, plus it'll be less hassle to use than the 3 pin.

Long distance I'm not convinced the charging infrastructure's there yet but I'm sure that'll come with time - my journey up from Bolton was a mixed bag - Gretna was a mess so I headed up to Abington and got there with 4% charge and luckily they had fast chargers with no queue. Ended up having short stops there, Hamilton to try the Fastned chargers, and Tesla at Dundee. In theory I could have done the trip with a single long stop but even at 100kW that's longer than I'd like to be waiting around, and that relies on getting a fast charger in just the right place which they don't seem to be yet.

[campbell]

Good review Neil.

And well done with the car. Nicely styled bit of kit compared to some of the oddball stuff that producers seem to find obligatory to make their mark.

Just read an excellent insight into solid state batteries. That’s the next big enabler it seems. 2030 for mainstream, maybe.

Might just about be ready for an EV by then

[Lazydonkey]

Ive just moved to Intelligent Octopus which gives us 7.5p charging from 23:30 - 05:30 but, unlike others i looked at doesn't then load the daytime tariff. Looking at EDF etc before it was never worth it for us.

The best bit is you link octopus to your car's app and it then works out a charging schedule for you making them most of them buying in spare / heavily discounted elec. So, in theory, if you plug your car in every day they could charge you during the day now and again too....for the same cost. I was expecting it to be smart chargers only but it works on our 3 pin on the i3. it also applies to all other elec in the house running at that time so i reckon we'll be saving £35 a month on elec. (we do 3k miles a year on the i3 so your mileage may vary)

Well worth investigating if you charger / car combo is on their list

[campbell]

Think I might end up with Octopus. Not by choice like. They just bought Shell Energy I believe.

[neil]

Intelligent Octopus is what I'm planning to move to when our fixed deal runs out in November. I guess it makes more sense being on the 3 pin plug with IO as you'll then get more cheap daytime slots.

[Sanjøy]

Ive just moved to Intelligent Octopus which gives us 7.5p charging from 23:30 - 05:30 but, unlike others i looked at doesn't then load the daytime tariff. Looking at EDF etc before it was never worth it for us.

The best bit is you link octopus to your car's app and it then works out a charging schedule for you making them most of them buying in spare / heavily discounted elec. So, in theory, if you plug your car in every day they could charge you during the day now and again too....for the same cost. I was expecting it to be smart chargers only but it works on our 3 pin on the i3. it also applies to all other elec in the house running at that time so i reckon we'll be saving £35 a month on elec. (we do 3k miles a year on the i3 so your mileage may vary)

Well worth investigating if you charger / car combo is on their list

I never realised they supported the I3 app. But looks like it is not app specific thought via your post.

[Lazydonkey]

Plugged it in last night and got charged until 07:30 this morning. Was originally meant to stop at 05:30 but looks like i got a bonus couple of hours.

Win.

[ed]

Had an ID3 since January, love it!! Travelled approx 4k miles. (Mostly because I can charge for free at the local train station. )

When that breaks I use a 3 pin at home. (thankfully only a couple of times)

[Stu160]

I am looking at a Buzz Commerce to replace my Trafic ...had a test drive and its great . Looking at a few wee extras to make it a weekend camper and Kart transporter

[Scotty C]

I had one on order, but i just couldnt justify the £68k price tag for kids/dogs/bikes as it only came with light beige interior

[robin]

Think I might end up with Octopus. Not by choice like. They just bought Shell Energy I believe.

That would be amusing - I just ditched Shell for Octopus and am disputing my final bill with Shell - I wonder if that will now ever be resolved

I plan to move to whatever their dynamic tariff is - though not for car charging as the garages aren't on the same meter as the house - but even so all our hot water is heated from the electricity supply, so doing it overnight makes a lot of sense. Also we can run the washing machine and dishwasher that way too. If only all the underfloor heating only needed to run overnight too!

[Sanjøy]

Think I might end up with Octopus. Not by choice like. They just bought Shell Energy I believe.

That would be amusing - I just ditched Shell for Octopus and am disputing my final bill with Shell - I wonder if that will now ever be resolved

I plan to move to whatever their dynamic tariff is - though not for car charging as the garages aren't on the same meter as the house - but even so all our hot water is heated from the electricity supply, so doing it overnight makes a lot of sense. Also we can run the washing machine and dishwasher that way too. If only all the underfloor heating only needed to run overnight too!

Get the underfloor up to 90 degrees just as the tariff ticks off!

[robin]

Yeah, it's a slow burner - 500W I think - ain't gonna hit 90° unless it's in a vacuum . It struggles to maintain 18° if the rest of the house isn't heated!