FTAO EV owners - possible action required before end of March-24

[Jimexpl]

Looks like EVs are now at the critical mass point where they are costing the government and local councils money. EV parking concessions removed from Westminster city council. And whenever one council does something the others follow shortly after.
I imagine they’ll be charged Congestion Charge soon too.
Along with the higher insurance and higher depreciation they look increasingly less attractive.
Then again you just don’t know wtf to do in London, the 2025 zero emission only zone idea got scrapped but the politicians are in their own bubble and come up with these shit ideas over night then revoke them years later just before they’re implemented.

I got a text from Westminster Council today to say that they are removing the EV parking concessions.

[Mito Man]

Looks like EVs are now at the critical mass point where they are costing the government and local councils money. EV parking concessions removed from Westminster city council. And whenever one council does something the others follow shortly after.
I imagine they’ll be charged Congestion Charge soon too.
Along with the higher insurance and higher depreciation they look increasingly less attractive.
Then again you just don’t know wtf to do in London, the 2025 zero emission only zone idea got scrapped but the politicians are in their own bubble and come up with these shit ideas over night then revoke them years later just before they’re implemented.

I got a text from Westminster Council today to say that they are removing the EV parking concessions.

Yeah. The 75kwh battery limit for residents permits is also odd. I guess it’s their way of making people buy smaller cars. The whole residents permits situation seems a shit show for people who have more than 1 car!

[IanF]

Looks like EVs are now at the critical mass point where they are costing the government and local councils money. EV parking concessions removed from Westminster city council. And whenever one council does something the others follow shortly after.
I imagine they’ll be charged Congestion Charge soon too.
Along with the higher insurance and higher depreciation they look increasingly less attractive.
Then again you just don’t know wtf to do in London, the 2025 zero emission only zone idea got scrapped but the politicians are in their own bubble and come up with these shit ideas over night then revoke them years later just before they’re implemented.

I got a text from Westminster Council today to say that they are removing the EV parking concessions.

Yeah. The 75kwh battery limit for residents permits is also odd. I guess it’s their way of making people buy smaller cars. The whole residents permits situation seems a shit show for people who have more than 1 car!

If Aston Martin did a Cygnet 2.0 EV now, they’d probably sell really well.. just need a massive car park outside ULEZ for the cars they are the tender to

[Carlos]

BMW have just started selling a Mini Cooper SE with a 54kw battery and 215hp.

These are developed versions of the 42kw and 185hp motor and battery from the defunct i3s.

Daft as I expect they could have had another few years from the i3 platform with those updates!

[Matty]

The tax breaks for EV's were always going to come to an end once they started to notice the dent in the coffers as more and more made the switch...

Problem is that it makes EV's less and less appealing due to cheaper costs initally being the major draw; the increased initial price over ICE (although the disastrous depreciation means S/H is more appealing) and the fact that unless you exclusively charge from home it's barely any cheaper per mile PLUS you still need to pay £1k+ for a charger.

Also interesting on repair costs. Been looking at Honda E's recently and some of the bills are crazy expensive to replace if the tech that fails....£2.5k for a brake simulator controller? Yikes.

[Mito Man]

Same with Teslas, the parts prices are crazy. I think it’s because none of the electronic and drivetrain bits seem repairable. If an inverter goes or a drive computer it’s a few grand, and the specialists can’t repair anything either, just buy in the same parts from Tesla.
Looking at the Tesla forums if you have a dual motor and one motor dies and it’s out of warranty Tesla themselves recommend you sell the car as is rather than repair it as it means the second motor will go as well and changing 2 motors is more than the car is worth. Then if you do still change both motors you have a battery which is pretty worn and may also die sooner rather than later.
Pretty risky proposition out of warranty.

[DeskJockey]

Zoe has been retaxed. Happy with that!

[Jobbo]

The tax breaks for EV's were always going to come to an end once they started to notice the dent in the coffers as more and more made the switch...

Problem is that it makes EV's less and less appealing due to cheaper costs initally being the major draw; the increased initial price over ICE (although the disastrous depreciation means S/H is more appealing) and the fact that unless you exclusively charge from home it's barely any cheaper per mile PLUS you still need to pay £1k+ for a charger.

Also interesting on repair costs. Been looking at Honda E's recently and some of the bills are crazy expensive to replace if the tech that fails....£2.5k for a brake simulator controller? Yikes.

Cost of the charger isn’t too mad provided it works for many years. I’m starting to think that’s not the case.

And the repair costs for the Honda E are scary. I thought it would cost pretty much nothing to run other than cheap rate charging. Once that isn’t the case, keeping it like a toothbrush always on a charger except when used for short journeys stops being so viable.