tweaked9107

A lot use google docs these days and supposedly it is pretty good (and free). I can't speak from personal experience though as I've been using the same office package I've had since 2016 that I just transfer across every time I get a new PC.

So although I agree that it is ridiculous that it hasn't moved with the price of cars, i do kind of think what's the big deal about the £355 a year car tax? Sure money is money, I get it, but the reality of it is we all end up paying the same over the years just in different forms. I remember paying nearly £400 a month back in 2013 for a 2.0T A4 (that's £512 in today's money). With the luxury car tax a new Golf R comes out roughly about the same. So when all is said and done the tax is the same it's always been in a roundabout sort of way. The price of the car certainly isn't though...

I think they just like to moan for moanings sake sometimes. The reality of it was that EV tax was always going to have to come in at some point and I guess that point is now. Anyone with a decent head on their shoulders knew it was only going to last so long as an "early adopter" benefit and anyone moaning now is fooling themselves. Probably the same people who are moaning about interest rates... because rock bottom was always going to last forever when the average historically is about 7%. The main drive now needs to be manufacturers pushing down the prices. They don't have much incentive at the moment due to high demand for high priced, higher margin cars, but affordable options will surely have to appear eventually.

It's funny you mention the pointing to the dash cam thing. I had some jackass tailgating me the other day. I was doing 35 in a 30 and this old boy with his wife in the passenger seat was right up my arse in his Peugeot 3008. To send him a message I slowed to about 25 (didn't touch the brakes even once) and he just started pointing at his dashcam. What was the message there? He has incriminating evidence against himself? It just goes to show that half the people out there don't even realise they are doing anything wrong and are just shit drivers plain and simple.

This is why I think the NHS should be like car insurance. If you do something stupid and unnecessary you aren't covered and have to pay for it yourself.

So I'm guessing the moral of the story is if you approach a "puddle" and there is a crowd of people with their phones out videoing... turn around and find a different route 😂

I don't blame you for foregoing a company car in future. At first the idea of a "FREE" car was a great benefit - at least before joining that's what I thought a company car was anyway. It was only after joining that I found out this is most definitely not how it works. Begin rant: I knew I would have to go hybrid or electric as it's company policy. This is an annoyance as they didn't increase their contribution when they made that decision, despite the fact that as we all know, hybrid and EV comes at a cost. I wasn't there then to experience it though so whatever. Then I saw the company car tax stuff. Like I get it, you are getting a financial benefit and therefore should be taxed on it. But how the hell the government come up with their tax numbers I have no idea. To me it should be as simple as... how much does the company contribute towards the car because that's how much I am actually benefiting financially from it. Now tax that amount by whatever tax bracket you are in. Done. But nope, for some reason there is this good ol calculation that means a M340i (because it's a mild hybrid apparently...) comes out as costing around £450 a month in tax alone... which is MORE than the company contribute towards it. So you'll end up paying something stupid like £800-900 a month once the upscale is factored in. So of course I'm forced down the plug-in or EV route. All of a sudden a it's £30 for a plugin or £0 for my EV a month. So okay, great, we are back to it actually being a benefit again I guess, but of course the upscale is more because the P11D is more. It still works out a lot (and I mean A LOT) cheaper to get a £66k iX3 over a £55k M340i, but as we all know, they are only going to shaft us all once we have moved over and that £30 will suddenly become £300-400+ Now all this wouldn't be a problem in future if I could just opt out. Well I can't. For my job I have to have a company car. For whatever reason the company refuse to let you use your own car. The only people still allowed to do it are legacy users from 20 odd years ago. They just get a set lump of cash in their pay each month that they can do with as they will but this hasn't changed in 20 years... the idea being it falls behind and will eventually force them to switch to the company car scheme. With all the issues surrounding I wouldn't be surprised if they go back to a scheme like this to be honest. It's causing them all sorts of pain dealing with delayed cars, long lead times, shit 3rd party lease companies etc. The really hilarious thing as well is that there isn't a single car on the scheme that is a cost option (no upscale). Car prices have gone up so much that even a bloody Suzuki Swift requires an upscale. Hell, a basic hybrid Seat Leon Estate or Golf Estate is £150+ upscale. Bonkers! TL;DR - don't believe a company when they put a company car down as a "benefit" - unless it's an PHEV or EV... but that won't last much longer.

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it's the companies that are slow to react, it's the government. I believe if a company deviates from the government set rate there are tax implications for the user. It's why they brought in a few different systems for fuel as they were having the same issue. For example my company does one system where you just type in the business mileage and it spits out the government rate, and another where you have to record your mileage and fill out a bunch of extra detail for it to calculate a claim sum. The latter gives you EXACTLY what you are owed is the preferred method at the moment, but it is a bit more of a pain to do. At the moment the government EV rate is 5p per mile which is absolutely ridiculous. Now obviously it depends on the car but the iX3 I've got on order gets around about 3-3.4 miles per kWh. Let's say 3 for the sake of simplicity (and based on my driving style). That means that the government thinks I'm pay 15p per kWh... I'm actually paying 35p. So the rate the government set is less than half what the biggest energy supplier charges. And that's charging at home. If you go a use a fast charger at a Shell garage, you are getting f*cked for 79p per kWh. That means at a shell fast charger it would cost £59.25 to fill up the iX3, but you'd only be able to claim back £11.25 of that... That means that if you do 10,000 miles a year for work, you'd be £2,100 out of pocket using fast chargers. Now okay, that's the extreme end of things and if charging at home with the same mileage you'd be looking at £660 out of pocket, but it's still f'ing ridiculous either way. The government need to pull their finger out their arse and revise the rates already.

That's why, just like with future cars, the electricity supply needs to be diverse as well. Plenty of solar and wind, but throw in some nice big nuclear power stations to go with it. As you've said as well, we will eventually need manufacturers to settle on one supply type and plug. Even phones haven't managed this yet because of those dumbasses over at Apple (although they are being forced to in the EU). Apartment dwellers and terraced housing will also be an issue here. I haven't heard any good solution to this problem yet.

That's exactly right. I went with the iX3 because the overall cost was the same as a X3 30e hybrid despite the car being over 10k more P11D. Its all thanks to the crazy low BIK. That being said though, we know it won't last. It'll definitely go up again in a couple years time and I won't be surprised if its a larger jump than before. That coupled with the soon to be new budget that'll probably be lowering the 40% tax threshold (because f**k the middle class as always), and things will start to sting.

Unfortunately we all know it isn't going to happen. They'll keep burning coal and we'll keep enjoying their cheap labour. I honestly don't think that many people are buying electric cars to "save the planet". Sure some are claiming that's what they are doing and some will get a warm fuzzy feeling inside thinking they are an eco warrior, but in reality most are going electric because they are being forced to... like myself (I had to go hybrid or electric for the company car). The problem with hybrid is it CAN be good. Cars like the 330e or C300e are great, if used correctly, but most of the time they just get driven around on electric only or ICE only and are inefficiently lugging around an engine/fuel and/or a battery and motor. Again it's all about an individual's situation and whether it fits.

O that's exactly it. As I said, I feel comfortable going electric at the moment because there is no risk for me. It fits my situation and I won't be left holding the bag. If it was my own money I'd be sticking with ICE for now. I don't think there will be a betamax situation for any of them though really. I kind of feel like each one will find its place, whether it be city cars, lorries, ships, planes etc. There won't be a one size fits all solution is what I'm getting at. I do however think there will be a situation where one type devalues more than another maybe... but let's say they turn around tomorrow and say they can make synthetic fuels using existing manufacturing and infrastructure and it will cost £1 a litre and work in every car. Overnight we can go from drilling oil out the ground and destroying the environment to whatever... (this is hypothetical afterall). Will that suddenly mean all electric cars are useless and worthless? No. People will still like the silence, the instant torque, the 0-60 in 2 seconds and the charging at home rather than going to a forecourt. So it will still have a place, just in a reduced capacity. The only real concern is if you get caught out buying a car with 300 mile range when they release the 600 mile version the next day. Again though, that isn't going to happen because even if the tech did exist, manufacturers want to make their money and release it gradually. Just like releasing a 300hp car, then a 310, then a 330 and so on, they will do the same with range.

It just seems at the moment like most companies are throwing shit loads of money at a bunch of smaller startups and hoping something sticks. Whether it be better batteries and drivetrain for EV's, hydrogen fuel cells or synthetic fuels. I actually think it might be all three or maybe 2/3 working in combination. EV for me is just a stop gap and although it may have a place in the future, it's not a long term solution on it's own. I've got one on order, but it's only for the reasons that it suits my lifestyle nicely. Company car so I'm not footing the bill for the upfront cost, don't do mega miles so only need to charge every 3rd or 4th day maybe if that, and a nice big driveway at home where I can charge rather than rely on charge points (of which there aren't many in most areas and the ones that are there barely work). Those circumstances mean it's the perfect solution for me. If however you do big miles, lots of long journeys or can't charge at home... it's not great. Hydrogen fuel cells seem like a good idea, but I personally don't see it in the long term (I'll admit limited knowledge on liquid hydrogen generation costs and logistics and storage etc). You don't need huge battery banks like EV's which is great, and you can refuel just like you do a normal ICE car. You also get the smoothness of the EV powertrain also. As said, limited knowledge on the downside, but the volatility of hydrogen, the energy/cost of producing it and how it will scale I have no idea. Seems to be very early days for the tech still so time will tell. Synesthetic fuels. So again, not completely clear on the cost/energy/raw ingredient requirements to produce this, but it seems like my favoured option between this and hydrogen. You can use it in most any car just like normal fuel creating instantly near zero emissions, the existing infrastructure can be used for its transportation, storage and deployment, and the tech is already there. For this one it really just comes down to the efficiency to produce it and scale it up. Would it be cost prohibitive or is it a good long term solution at large scale? Not sure. One interesting point someone made was you could stick these plants by massive wind farms and solar farms and use the energy not going into the network from them to power them. That way you don't have losses where electricity isn't being used and you can't store it (such as on a very windy night when everyone has all their devices/oven/shower turned off). So my prediction for the future, depending on economies of scale, would be a mix of EV and synthetic fuels. The most interesting thing for me though is that car companies and major energy providers honestly don't seem to agree or know which way to go. A lot have obviously gone heavy into EV NOW, but when you actually listen to what they say and read more into it, they aren't even sure if its a long term option or not. Just that it's what needs to be done now until something else comes along.

Let's be honest, do we REALLY think we are hitting that 2030 target? I appreciate that EV adoption is gathering pace ( 12% of new car sales in 2021 vs just 1.6% in 2019), but i guarantee a significant portion of that is company car users like myself. There are wayyyy too many issues to overcome in such a short space of time. Okay 2030 isn't all of a sudden all ICE cars banned from the roads, but 50% of cars on the road in the UK are 0-6 years old. Are 50% of cars on the road going to be EV in 2036? No chance. Between the infrastructure issues (charging points and electricity generation), increases in electricity costs making them less appealing, and prohibitive upfront costs (even a small basic EV like the Fiat 500 is £30k), there is no way that date will be implemented. I'd be willing to bet they blame things like the cost of living crisis and Ukraine war/energy costs for rolling it back to 2035 and eventually 2040.

Not a consumer rights expert so you'll have to look it up and review your contract with the dealer. I seem to remember most places word it so that you have pretty much no rights and what you consider unacceptable vs them can be two very different things. Most dealers will want to work with you a little and will try and repair, but it really does depend on what the issue is. Rejecting a new car is a risky game at the moment as demand still out strips supply though. I'm on an ix3 forum and a few people were unhappy with the finish on their paint for a specific colour. BMW were more than happy for them to reject the car as it meant they could stick it up at a premium as a "drive away today" new car. I seem to remember in both instances they would just get their deposit back and no compensation. Baring in mind these people had waited 6-12 months for the car already. The same is happening with some options being deleted from the cars. Its normally smaller things like passenger electronic lumbar or the kick to open boot, but unless you ticked the option and paid extra for it you don't get any compensation. Manufacturers have you by the balls at the moment because they know you don't want to wait another 6 months.