The all things EV chat thread

[Bunkermagnet]

An non-EV post... Since we got the EV, it is now our primary car. Gets plugged in at home every night.
My hatch back is not getting any love at the moment. It does the odd run to the station drop off etc. This morning the Mrs decided to use it... and lo and behold, it was nearly empty. Neither of us were able to figure out when we last went to the pump.
Once you have figured it out, charging at home is a no-brainer. When you couple it with Solar, it is next level. (as posted on the Solar thread), this month, I used £61 worth of leccy, but exported £67 - DESPITE charging the car every night. So £150 worth of diesel for the SUV is now powering the national grid..

Why does the Govt not provide subsidy for home owners to micro-generate and switch to EVs

Or looking at it another way, why should VAT on your leccy only be 5% when its being used as a fuel for your motoring? We all know the majority of the fuel cost is tax for the Govt so why shouldnt the EV motorist pay the full VAT on that leccy?

 

[cliveb]

Why does the Govt not provide subsidy for home owners to micro-generate and switch to EVs

Well, the government did used to subsidise home owners to micro-generate.
It was called the Feed In Tariff scheme, and it was a fabulous money-spinner for those people able to afford to install panels.
(In fact it remains a money spinner for them, as it's still in operation. Anyone who got in at the peak rate back in around 2011 is now being paid north of 60p per kWh, regardless of whether they use it or export it, and the rate increases by inflation every year).

Problem is, the payments made to the people with panels come from a levy on everyone's electricity bill. (And those payments will continue for the next 15 years or so).
Truly a scheme to take from the poor and give to the rich.

By all means the government should find a way to encourage take up of home generation, but not at the expense of everyone else.
But I worry that those in power have a track record of failing to understand the law of unintended consequences.

 

[Mudball]

Or looking at it another way, why should VAT on your leccy only be 5% when its being used as a fuel for your motoring? We all know the majority of the fuel cost is tax for the Govt so why shouldnt the EV motorist pay the full VAT on that leccy?

You are saying, it being a bit like red diesel being put into personal vehicles. I agree with the logic, but it will be difficult (& damaging) to force the idea till you have a even higher adoption of EVs. What if I have EV but i dont charge at home? or if i dont have an EV, but allow my driveway to used for charging. What if my EV is out of service for a day/week/month and I cant charge it - do i SORN it and get my VAT back? What happens when i go on holiday etc etc etc. # PandorasBox... there are bigger tax violators than EV folks to go after.

Well, the government did used to subsidise home owners to micro-generate.
It was called the Feed In Tariff scheme, and it was a fabulous money-spinner for those people able to afford to install panels.
(In fact it remains a money spinner for them, as it's still in operation. Anyone who got in at the peak rate back in around 2011 is now being paid north of 60p per kWh, regardless of whether they use it or export it, and the rate increases by inflation every year).

Problem is, the payments made to the people with panels come from a levy on everyone's electricity bill. (And those payments will continue for the next 15 years or so).
Truly a scheme to take from the poor and give to the rich.

By all means the government should find a way to encourage take up of home generation, but not at the expense of everyone else.
But I worry that those in power have a track record of failing to understand the law of unintended consequences.

i agree, this is why i am for more subsidies for micro-generation. Any house owner with a roof pointing the right direction should get subsidy to install it. Every new house built in this country should be mandated to have it - just like having any utility. The 2011 FIIT would have been amazing. Every new tech needs incentives and those who could have used it. Fair play, cant blame them.

Also fair comment on govts not being great at making such things work - but these usually start with good intend before some poor execution. I guess the Green discounts in NI has a similar poor record.

I can empathise the poor to rich move of money, but i guess the argument is more nunaced than that, and should not been seen in isolation. It is similar to me saying that I pay national insurance and tax, while not using the NHS once in the last 12 months, so i m subsiding the sick.
The reality is, we will never adopt anything new if we dont see a benefit. When our panels were going up, my neighbour came around and the first question was 'what is the payback'. As soon as i told him, I cant see the return before 8-10 years, he turned away. He does not know if he will see value and why should he invest in somehting that the next buyer will benefit from. This is not withstanding the fact that the average tenure in our cul de sac is about 30 years. Without a subsidy, we wont convert them

 

[jim8flog]

Or looking at it another way, why should VAT on your leccy only be 5% when its being used as a fuel for your motoring? We all know the majority of the fuel cost is tax for the Govt so why shouldnt the EV motorist pay the full VAT on that leccy?

Whilst that sounds like a good I know the way my leccy use is calculated not a great thing to put on the power companies to sort out.
When I use an ordinary plug in charger there is no way of knowing what I am using the leccy for and the same must apply to all those users that do not have a home dedicated charger.

 

[larmen]

There is a white MG5 that always stands at the same charging lamp post. I keep pointing it out to the misses as kind of exposure therapy for our next car.

The post is surrounded by 4 cars, the MG the only electric one is one of 2 cars that is always double parking. There is an old Range Rover on a proper parking spot, I don't think I have never not seen it there.
This morning I saw the guy for the 1st time, and what I saw is him moving the MG and then pulling a 15 year old Polo into that space. I think he is personally hugging the charging spot with older cars.


Infrastructure doesn't help if we have people like that around.