EV grant changes

Item on the Beeb today says that the grants for electric cars are reducing too.

Have a listen to this before rushing to buy an electric van for work.

Thomas Nagy on Fix Radio 4th March 2021

EVs the Government WILL subsidise with the slashed plug-in car grant | Daily Mail Online


Z.

However Nissan are now only making the NV200 as an electric vehicle, the diesel engine is to dirty to comply with the new requirements are too difficult to clean up, so they have simply tweaked and rebadged the Renault Kangoo and called it a Nissan NV250 with the existing Euro 6 Renault Diesel engine that runs on diesel and Adblue.


However it is not just as simple as having an “Euro 6” engine because there’s different classes of Euro 6 and no one trusts the test results anymore after the Volkswagen dodgy test results, plus the evaporation from the fuel tank and system has to be taken into account.


My issue is that my Renault NV200 van is classed as a car, around eighteen months ago the Heddlu sent me a speeding ticket for doing 59 MPH on the A road up past Wrexham whilst I was on my way the Llandudno Junction to do a job, after some muttering I picked the phone up and spoke to a lady in Rhyl who posted a cancellation letter to me because although it looks and works like a van, it is indeed classified as a car on the logbook, so I can do 60 MPH on A roads rather than being restricted to 50 MPH like vans that are not car derived.


So I cannot replace my van like for like and get a new one with a cleaner Diesel engine, but the range is too restrictive with an EV, Wednesday I filled up with fuel in several minutes giving me a range of over 380 miles, more than enough to get home from the other side of Cambridge.


If I swap to a “van” that isn’t a “car” I will have to drop my speed by 10 MPH on roads like the new  A14 dual carriageway and other dual carriageways like the A449, A40, A30, A38 as well as single carriageway A roads, which will significantly increase my current driving times. It could add easily add half a hour or more onto my working day, last year I went to Lowestoft and back on motorways and A roads and averaged 60 MPH going past the same speed camera van in Norfolk on both the way there and the way back with the possibility that the guy inside will press the button to say I am driving a van like the Welsh guy working with the Heddlu did, as well as numerous fixed speed cameras without any issues, because I was driving within the speed limits, but if I were in a van that is not classified as a car it would have added a hour onto the working day. Had I been in an EV I may have to have recharged eight times to complete the journey, I would have been out overnight in a hotel to do a hour and a half of work.


So there’s no incentive for me to replace my van I need to keep it running as it is.


However all of this raises a different issue, if electricians and other trades are going to be pushed into having electric vehicles the trades have got to change they working practices significantly as working more than fifteen miles from home using a vehicle such as an electric Renault Kangoo van is simply not going to be an option.


So how firms are going to get electricians at the right place at the right time to complete work needs serious consideration and a massive change of working practices.


Firms will either have to severely restrict the areas they work in or they will need access to a network of tradespeople who will be able to get to the right place at the right time or there will have to be a massive improvement on the range of electric vans.


I should really be able to do another 100,000 miles in my NV200, so it should see me through until I’m pushing seventy, so it seems the best plan is to just look after the diesel van I already have.

Silly me - I thought that vans were allowed to do 85 mph. ?


There is a similar thread running in a motoring forum to which I belong except that the emphasis there is on cost. The break-even point seems to be around 20,000 miles/year, but if you can only do 100 a day and with 220 working days in a year (allowing for annual leave, CPD, sick leave, etc.) that seems difficult to achieve.


I don't suppose that many employers will want their staff spending 1/2 hour charging up and of course with motorway prices, the break even point changes.


For me, two things have to change before I get an EV.


(1) the price differential


(2) I do not believe that the earthing/broken neutral situation has been addressed adequately for those with a TN supply.

Monday I went back to a job to try and finish off someone else's work,  the one day the sat nav sent me through the London low emission zone,  at the moment I don't have to pay, but with the parking dispensation being nearly fifty quid a day when the emission zone charges kick in it could cost around sixty quid a day to drive to the job and park without the vehicle running expenses. 

Wednesday my brother phoned and said his car had broken down on a garage forecourt,  I was too far away yo do anything about it. However it was still there on Friday, so I drove up to Birmingham and got it going, my brother lives two streets into the new Birmingham low emission zone,  between the garage and his flat I drove past the new ANPR cameras that will go live 1st June 2021. Then when I got to his flat I had to pay for the on street parking using the app on my phone,  because the operators seem to have stopped maintaining the parking machines. 


So to call and see my brother as I do occasionally on the way back from a job will cost me at least £8 for the low emission zone charge plus at least £2.10 for the on street parking, so over a tenner to call for a cup of tea on the way home from work or just to do a quick repair for someone without any vehicle running expenses. 


Locally to me  the residents parking permit schemes have been extended and tradespeople have to have parking permits that can only be purchased by residents, not landlords or the tradies.


I keep trying to quietly explain to people that the reasons why tradespeople in London charge what are to be possibly extortionate prices is because of the cost of working in London and if they want residents parking permit schemes, restricted parking and low emission zones then the costs incurred by tradespeople in fees and, or in replacing existing vehicles with new emission compliant vehicles will ultimately have to be borne by the customers with tradespeople rates increasing significantly to cover the additional charges. 

If you're going to buy an electric van, you really need to check what you're getting before you buy.  Some have a theoretical range of over 200 miles.  Others are well under 100.  Also check that it has rapid charge - some don't.