Electric cars.

I have mentioned before that I am currently in a PCP deal that finishes in a matter of months, so I do have a decision to make whether I like it or not. The price of used cars has gone up in the same way (or even more so) than new cars, partly because the supply of new cars isn't exactly stellar at the moment, with waits of 12+ months; this is apparently due to a shortage of semiconductors.

EV's get a passing glance as I continue to browse, but to be honest there is very little that falls into the 'affordable' bracket, and those that do are not suitable (let alone likeable) for our wants and needs - - and yes, there is a deal of me being a bit picky, but when prices are sitting north of £18-20k (with the resulting monthly payments) for a used car, I feel I've got every right to be picky.

However, my own experience with EV's, albeit on a larger scale, has put me off EV's almost entirely. The company I work for runs a large percentage of services using electric only buses; these things are circa £500k each (again with the associated lease/financing costs), have chassis that are built in China then shipped to the UK where bodies are built upon those chassis and then shipped out to the purchaser. Straight off the bat, not very 'eco' and not even great for those of us that disagree with the human rights standards of China....

The upside of these vehicles:
- Fairly swift (well, for a bus..)
- Smooth acceleration
- Quiet
- No tailpipe emissions

The downside:
- No heating in the saloons (*)
- Range reduces by circa 20% in the winter
- When there is a powercut or fault, there is no alternative way to 'fuel' them up

The latter two points resulted in us having to suspend one particular bus route at around 4pm on one day last week - - - in almost quarter of a century in the industry, I have never suspended a route in its entirety (I have done entire fleets due to snow, but not just an individual route in full). In fairness, there was a charging issue during the night on a couple of nights, but this has ricocheted on and the grief continues this week (I visited the garage in question on Monday and it was in a state of controlled chaos)

Thankfully, I am no longer at the 'sharp end' sorting all of this stuff out, but suffice to say this has been an eye opener for me - if a fuel pump fails for diesel, hire a bowser and fill 'em up or worst case find a benevolent filling station that takes large vehicles and bend a credit card - electric give you zero options.

(*) They do have an HVAC system of some sort, but it seems to be nothing more than blowers as there was no heat on any of the vehicles I travelled on; indeed, one of them in particular was so cold I was actually warmer standing at the bus stop waiting for the thing to arrive. Presumably, heating the things would sap so much power, they'd likely only be able to do half a day's worth of work.

 

To be fair (not sure why), the world has sleep walked into the situation with China controlling manufacturing and controlling rare earth elements needed for all the demanded toys of the world. Ignored the obvious threat to global supply chains and here we are with few options outside of buying Chinese

 

I think the official line is that 'we' must be green, but the reality is that officialdom give zero craps about it. They're just hopeless and make bad deals because on the back of those deals are riders such as preferred terms on other deals and access to property markets.
Cynical? Moi?

 

I'm a Volvo fan and bought the first 240 in the country but not because I was a fan at the time. I know it was the first one as I bought it off the stand at the Motor Show at half price 'as seen'. I bought it because of the price and they were unable to give a date on delivery because there was a dock strike. It cost me the same price as it would to replace my Escort GT that was falling apart with rust!

I bought my current one four years ago. At the time I wanted to buy one they were only making diesel and I complained to Volvo that I only wanted petrol so I was going to change make. Then the diesel scandal happened and the big news on pollution. So they actually wrote to me and asked me to hold off whilst they started producing petrol engines again. Ten months later I got one of the first new petrol ones, from China, and intend keeping it for as long as possible. In that ten months the price in the brochure had gone up three times but I had my written deal at the earlier price

Now they only produce EV's and the price just four years later is more than double the price I paid. I certainly won't pay that sort of price.

 

That is the problem indeed; although, there are some manufacturers where they may be Chinese owned, but they still manufacture in other countries (Volvo being one) or there are manufacturers who are not Chinese but use their components to a greater or lesser extent.

For me, the best all rounders without being loaded with Chinese tech are the Koreans - Kia & Hyundai are doing some really good stuff at the moment. Sadly, the price tags match.

 

The exploitation is the problem however, and if we in the west are not extremely careful we are about to sleep walk into a society where we are going to be similarly exploited. There are very strong links to the World Economic Forum throughout world governments and that, in my opinion, is a dangerous organisation.

 

On that we will most definitely beg to differ. Their treatment of Uyghur Muslims, their treatment of people in Hong Kong and more recent examples of how they treated the workforce at an Apple Factory or citizens visiting a theme park tell me all I need to know, and that is their behaviours are abhorrent.

 

I looked into getting a heat pump instead of a replacement gas boiler in September. It was made clear that they cost more to run so I declined.

They guy says he was spending £280 per month over the summer , that does seem odd as we and I think all others had their heating off. Heat pumps can be run in reverse to cool a house, like air conditioning so maybe he did that. He also says it might cost £7,000 for a year, I think many households will pay that and more depending on the house size, insulation level and number of occupants.

The amount he paid for his system suggests he lives in a big house and has plenty of spare cash. Running a log burner at the same time sounds like a bad design. I don't have much sympathy for him as his story doesn't stack up.