bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 13, 2021 15:15:33 GMT
I'd be interested in your views what has changed (better or worse) and whether or not you want the newer car or sink your lump sum into buying the current car.
When we got the eSoul in November we were and still are extremely happy with it as a runaround car. I'll use it on the days my wife shan't need it for my 50 miles commute. I read Hyundai are looking at upgrading EVs to 800 volts that being the case, if they are available in 3 years time, do I want to throw a chunk of money at the old 380v car?
As I wrote yesterday EVs are developing so rapidly I'm torn between what I know and a bit more future proofing.
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Post by dixinormus on Mar 13, 2021 23:05:34 GMT
It’s a valid point bpg. ICE cars really haven’t evolved much over the past 10 years have they, save largely for electronic frippery that most of us who were alive before the iPhone can probably live without.
For all its limitations, when I compare SWMBO’s 6-year old Japanese diesel 4WD alongside alongside any number of showroom-fresh contemporary offerings the game hasn’t really moved on at all, by any measure.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 14, 2021 5:52:11 GMT
I don't think diesels have moved on much since the introduction of Adblue, true. Petrol has shifted quite a bit though with the introduction of direct injection to the masses. 4 cylinder engines, 2 to 2.3 litres producing 350-400 horsepower off the showroom floor is pretty impressive to me. The need for GPF less so.
I've read (whether it's true or not remains to be seen) coming emissions standards may be so strict as to put the combustion engine for passenger vehicles off the road which would tie in with various governments announcements of end dates for sales.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 14, 2021 18:53:44 GMT
I'd be interested in your views what has changed (better or worse) and whether or not you want the newer car or sink your lump sum into buying the current car. A couple of other factors to consider: the Rex car falls out of eligibility for Congestion Charge exemption this autumn. The weekend exemption has already gone, so this would affect our (mostly) Sunday Barbican trips to the tune of £15. A true BEV car will keep us eligible till 2025, when all ULEV exemptions end. Not enough, maybe 10 times a year, to justify a new car but it goes into the calculation, as does £140 of VED that I pay now and wouldn't for a new car (even a £40,001 car if it's a BEV.) I'm assuming insurance won't be significantly different. So my question is whether, adding together - the £12,300 I have ready for the final payment
- the supposed equity I now have in the old i3
- any eager-to-deal discount from the dealer and BMW
gets me to maybe £20,000. If it does - and BMW's interest rate is still sensible - then I could repurpose the £330 a month I was going to set aside for the eventual replacement car to fund a replacement that's already on the drive, and possibly get some change to stash away too. Laid out that way, it actually doesn't sound too far-fetched. Salesbloke asked yesterday if I'd be open to a deal this month - end of quarter, of course - which suggests that eager-to-deal may be a factor even for the notoriously deal-shy i3. But the first step is to drive the thing on Friday and see whether it's a jump I even want to make. |
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 14, 2021 19:08:34 GMT
"A true BEV car will keep us eligible till 2025, when all ULEV exemptions end."
What does this mean? Any vehicle, regardless of fuel, will have to pay to drive in London or, have I misinterpreted?
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 14, 2021 19:20:52 GMT
That's exactly what it means. In 2025 it becomes a true congestion charge, not the rather muddled mixture (I nearly wrote 'hybrid') it is now.
From the 2018 report to the mayor on the consultation on changes:
On 29 June 2018, TfL made the Greater London (Central Zone) Congestion
Charging (Variation) Order 2018 (‘the Congestion Charge Variation Order’)
which seeks to make the following changes to the Scheme Order:
• Replacement of the Ultra Low Emission Discount with a phased discount
for zero emission capable vehicles and zero emission vehicles before
ending the discount in 2025...
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Post by dixinormus on Mar 14, 2021 20:35:48 GMT
Sounds like a done deal to me WdB! You know you want to 🤨
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 14, 2021 21:00:00 GMT
That's exactly what it means. Crafty Bürgers! The future of UK motoring is pay per mile plus city centre tariffs. Isn't the impact of this to force more people to live in the cities? |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 14, 2021 21:15:08 GMT
It’s hard to see road pricing not becoming the norm (not you, dixinormus ) as fuel tax revenue declines. We can’t simply transfer the tax to electricity, as that would penalise people who just need to keep their lights on. So it’s on the vehicles or on the use of them. |
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 14, 2021 21:51:57 GMT
Again, it's pushing people in to cities and out of cars.
A lifetime of annual rail tickets, new car leasing every three or four years to stay ahead of emissions/taxation changes or live where you work and pay via your mortgage which can be reclaimed when you step off the treadmill and retire.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 14, 2021 22:12:56 GMT
I suppose we are inclined to treat what we grew up with as if it’s eternal and immutable. We’re from the first generation whose parents all had a car (I remember my parents seemed unusual for having two.) Suburbia and rail commuting go back a generation or two further, but it’s still a blip in human history. And both, of course, depended hugely on burning fossil fuels.
Combine all that with what we’ve learned from Covid and a bit of social change is no big surprise. And that means opportunities for someone!
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 14, 2021 22:35:22 GMT
I suppose we are inclined to treat what we grew up with as if it’s eternal and immutable. I don't agree, as a PM, you know the sands are always shifting and bringing people along with you is the biggest challenge. People don't like change but it's happening whether you want it or not. Not what I've learned but will be interesting to find out from Covid is how people's mobility affects the duration of this global pandemic. Spanish flu lasted what, three years? At a time when people were not so mobile. People now think nothing of jumping on a plane halfway round the planet several times a year for work, jumping in a car commuting 100+ miles/day, 45 weeks in the year for work. Now people are booking trips to Costa del Covid ignoring the fact the destination is not immunised. I don't see that going well. |
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Post by dixinormus on Mar 14, 2021 23:03:26 GMT
I can’t see how half the world’s airlines can survive much longer (financially)? That must have an impact on future flight availability (and pricing) way beyond Covid?
Can’t really complain about pay-per-mile road use can we? Seems a fair way of doing things, provided that public transport can take the weight of additional daily commuters who suddenly might not fancy driving 50 miles each way to work. Then again, will office-based workers ever go back to being in the office 5 days/week?
The dilemma of living where you work or working where you live has plagued me for over 25 years. Bring on the shake-up!
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 14, 2021 23:08:38 GMT
Pay per mile will impact the cost of goods in shops /supermarkets if diesel is banned from cities. Imagine the cost of shuttling in all merchandise from distribution centres by 3.5 tonne electric vans that were once delivered by 44 tonne trucks. Each of them on pay per mile.
Imagine no diesel vehicles of any kind inside the M25, no ships upstream of the QE2 bridge (maybe that's already the case I don't know).
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 15, 2021 7:31:09 GMT
If pricing is applied uniformly, maybe. But because the enforcement system will probably be number-plate based, it will be easier to offer lower (or zero) rates to essential deliveries and public service vehicles.
This does mean there’ll be a far greater incentive to make your vehicle appear to be someone else’s. Perhaps a step-up in enforcement of number plate legibility rules will be the first sign of something coming.
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