Could always offer to do shopping for neighbours that are in isolation 
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Yeah for the time being itās going to be sitting and I think Iāve just about read every page in the manual haha.
Great idea, free shopping deliveries from leafy 
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Probably needs a new threadā¦
Are you ready for a hydrogen car?
Anyway just spotted BMW (and Toyota) working on a hydrogen X5 to debut in 2022. Guessing it might be closer to 2027 when you can order oneā¦
Quite interesting to see the layout, going with dual tanks to take 6kg total and 3-4 minutes refuel.
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By then we might actually have a nice second gen Hyundai Nexo and maybe more than five places to fill upā¦
https://mobile.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/nexo
By then the investment in EVs by manufacturers, vehicles and batteries. Will have been so great that the cost of an EV, including that by BMW will have been so great that the cost of an EV will surely have become such that any hydrogen car will be seen as a out of reach for many.
Iāve recently been looking to move to electric however like @PapaSmooth mentioned back in October it is the initial cost - mind you have been looking at Teslaās.
My other, small issue is that some of the lower price models like the Leaf are in my opinion ugly, I currently have the Honda Civic 2016 gen which in my view looks great but I donāt want to just buy an electric car for the sake of it. If you then look at going half way (hybrid) most offer a really small range; ones Iāve seen have no more than 50 mile range which doesnāt then help to push and encourage the move to electric. I think most people would be happy to make the switch now on 2 points:
- Better and more competitive prices
- A range of at least 300-350 miles
Luckily, scrolling through Twitter the other day I did see that Tesla have opened up their patent as open source so that others can see how their technology was developed, here is their blog post for those that are interested
https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you?
I hope once the COVID-19 blows over that businesses realise that most office workers can do the same job at home and we end up with far less cars on the road.
That should help the environment and give back many hours that are spent driving to another building to sit on a chair tapping on a keyboard, that you as long as you had the internet you could be the other side of the World and still do it.
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The model S is what I am looking at currently, even the basic and not with the extended range, however am tempted by the full autopilot feature (just like a gadget, donāt know if I would actually use it much).
However, it is the cost, I think like everything you need to:
A) Save damn hard
B) Pay rise, pay rise, pay rise - would make it easier to afford.
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If you work employed worth seeing if your company has a salary sacrifice scheme.
Iāve found out ours doesnāt but is planning to set it up, or was back in Feb before it all kicked off. Iām going to enquire again when things have calmed down.
So leasing a Tesla on gross salary before you have tax and NI taken off saves a huge amount monthly as BIK is now 0% on EVs.
I donāt understand the salary sacrifice and BIK thingyā¦
So if my work does salary sacrifice, according to this calculator I can have a Model 3 for Ā£154 per month? 
That might be so, depends largely on your marginal rate of tax for the most beneficial arrangement.
More important today is job security and the ability to maintain our present standard of living.
I think that in twelve months times many of us will view these schemes in a very different way.
So why arenāt all employers doing this if all they have to do is recalculate your salary and payslips which is probably automated through some software anyway 
I know mine does the cycle to work scheme where they get you a new bike and all the equipment through salary sacrifice. I really need to look into this 
Iāve always wanted a Tesla.
My Renault Zoe arrived last week. Hardly had a chance to drive it, but really loving it so far. Itās nippy and has great handling. So easy to drive.
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Employer commitment?
What happens to the car if you leave your current job, are made redundant, become sick or fired?
This is surely a consideration for the employer, i.e. does it lock you into a āguaranteedā job for 3,4,5 years because of the car? Am I missing something other than the obvious if you part ways; is the car simply taken back from you and you pay no more? In which case, thereās nothing to lose.
Or is the car āownership/lease/PCP/rentalā transferred between employers if you switch employment?
I have also considered presenting the sacrifice scheme to my employer, but need to consider the potentially expensive personal downside(s) first
I find this a really interesting post. I agree that electric car prices are high, but if I compare the original list price of my Honda Civic 2014 (Touring EX Plus) with a Tesla Model 3 I find them to be very comparable (Ā£38k vs Ā£40k), the real difference is that the second hand prices are not really comparable (for some reason Teslas do not depreciate the same way as ICE cars).
The Range requirement of 300+ miles though I really question. How many people really need to do 300+ miles off a single charge? Is this just that we have become so used to ICE motors and filling up with fuel every 300 to 500 miles that we cannot conceive of doing it a different way?
We recently invested in a second hand Leaf (latest shape). I was surprised how large it is, and I would definitely compare it to my Civic (although the back seats donāt fold flat so the āextendedā boot is not as useful). With a range of 160 miles on a full charge I was concerned because my partner works in Manchester and commutes 80-110 miles to get there (depending on route), stays a few days then commutes back. A full charge on a normal 13A socket can complete overnight, and many of the locations she works (Hospitals) have some charging facility available.
Whilst she has to be concious of the battery state at no point has she had to resort to a top-up quick charge on any journey (although COVID-19 meant she only did 4/5 weeks before the lockdown).
If you are planning on getting an EV the ONLY thing you need to do is ensure that wherever it is parked overnight has available charging then you only need to have the range for your single longest journey. Is that really 300 miles?
Mindset for EVs is different.
David
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Good advice if you are fortunate enough to have a charging facility at an overnight location, very many donāt.
More important is to be aware of available chargers in the area and allow sufficient time to charge when needed.
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Currently for me until there is a good electric pick up with over 300 miles range (that includes towing a trailer) electric isnāt an option.
Waiting to see Fordās electric Ranger when itās finally ready.
Itās true that the typical Jo probably doesnāt need 300 miles on a single charge maybe thatās just me (possibly a few others) because Iām/we are used to having a car that would run on petrol/diesel that would do this on a full tank.
But on the other hand, whilst I only commute 21.4 miles to/from work 5 days a week (obviously not including self isolation) if you have these needs because you go camping throughout the year etc and have need to take 2 cars, I wouldnāt want to have a car with such a low mileage range that I would need to stop every 100 miles to ensure I have enough charge to get to the destination. Like everything it all comes down to individual need
I agree 100 mile range would be a pain. But 200 mile range would get you to pretty much anywhere in the UK with one maybe two stops at most.
In the new Zoe itās 50 mins to go from 20% to 80% at a 50kw charger, which you can find at plenty of motorway service stations.
Just because youāre traveling to the middle of nowhere doesnāt mean you have to charge in the middle of nowhere. You can charge 100 miles away from your destination, go to your destination then drive 100 miles back on your return trip. Granted it takes more planning, and you will have to wait an hour every 3 hours of driving. But just plan your lunch to coincide with your stop. Also worth factoring in the cost of refueling. It might only take 5 mins to fill your tank, but itāll cost about 10 times more than charging an EV.