Less than 50% coal now https://www.theguardian.com/business...tricity-source

Mine increased 2K during the order process as they put the prices up ahead of brexit, and I don't see them losing value quickly. The Model S has been around 4 years, and has proven the technology very well +++

I like the VW ID3, and new Porsche is oh so pretty and lovely inside but they both suffer the identical issue that VAG are failing to address, and will be their downfall - Charging.

Tesla, very wisely, have invested very, very heavily in infrastructure making the Tesla truly usable over long distance.

Every other manufacturer is living in a dream world where you're going to happily join a queue of Nissan leafs for one of the couple of fast-ish chargers at most service areas, assuming they're working, online, not vandalised and compatible - Oh, and you have an account, the app downloaded bla bla bla.

There are ICE cars, Generic EV's, and Tesla - 3 very separate categories and sadly none of the Generic EV's are of the slightest bit of interest to me as they are all city hoppers for doing shopping or the local school run only, and I don't see that changing overnight......

This. +++

Welcome, first follower. :yippee:

A mate of mine has a hybrid Golf and that seems to be quite competent with decent electric range (30 miles or so) and good performance if you have to switch to petrol (1.4).

Not sure which model it is exactly (GTE maybe?) or even if it's available any more though as they seem to be going pure electric.

I looked into the GTE over the years several times.... its a safe bet, but actually, does a poor job in both courts - Its a slow petrol as you're lugging around batteries and motors, and a poor electric car as it has small batteries.

But - Most importantly (for me) - It has none of the tax breaks that full electric cars get, so its kind of the worst of both worlds to be honest.

Electric is quoted as costing around 4p per mile to run. As a private car, doing business miles at 45ppm, thats profitable - As a company car, the tax breaks are even better (0% BIK from April 2020)

Its pretty much a no brainer all round.

I love Audis. I do. They're great, but I missed the character of the D2. I wanted a soul, a personality that made the car feel alive again - and not just a tool.

The Tesla does that - Its a great car - But, its the little things, the toy box, the games, the silly stuff, that humanises the otherwise complex machine.

96 hours in. Loving it more to be honest. Its crazy. But right now, for £54K - Best move I ever made.....

I'm with Ian on the GTE (and Hybrids generally) - they're a very poor compromise, and do neither job properly. And buying one now is economically about as sensible as buying a new diesel, as they're yesterday's technology, and the depreciation on them will hit anyone who buys one very hard in their pocket.

Which is why I'm a happy bunny driver ;) : lucky enough to have both - as well as a lovely little Fiat Coupe 20vt to play with when the sun is shining +++

The character of D2 I’ll miss forever +++

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...2TToUAHJHRZ0cf

It seems that electric is becoming more viable in the UK, and a recent email round with my cousins, one of whom owns a Leaf (yawn), about a Leaf critical report was met with no humour.
But government incentives, a cleaner grid and zero emissions zones in cities, incentivises EVs. They make more sense in the UK and you view them differently to us.

We have no such incentives here, no support for low or zero emission vehicles, little real government action on cleaning the grid (unless you count closing old power stations without building new ones), and only minor incentives to put solar panels on the roof...

Teslas and hybrid Camrys are the only LEV/EV vehicles with any traction at all in our market, and that's because Teslas are cool and have impressive performance and range, and hybrid Camrys are economical and "normal"!

So, update after 2000 miles, and 22 days.

Still loving it. Electricity aside, it truly is a great car.

It turns more heads than my RS6 ever did, and from a far broader range of folks admiring the electric motor silently moving along.

I will, in the interest of balance document any downsides I have found to date:

1) The ordering process. Its nothing like as slick as you might want. You go online, pop it in your basket, and commit to buy it with a deposit. Then, you sit patiently hearing nothing. It was a very frustrating experience, and logistically a nightmare for me (having no car) and other folks who had leases coming to an end etc. They have a lot to learn about the motor industry, but I think they are listening.

2) Service centres. They are still few and far between, and they do seem quite overwhelmed still with the surge of Model 3 demand. I am a little nervous that if this piece of tech wonder breaks, only they can fix it, and they are pretty busy. Its a small concern, but a concern nonetheless

3) Spotify. Its great, but keeps crashing. Its a real shame, its the only thing that does seem buggy, and when your tunez crap out, the journey is rubbish. Various workarounds now exist, involving switching to other inputs for a bit etc, but its a distraction for sure.

4) I have a minor rattle at high volume from the passenger side dash area. Its actually a compliment to the (a) quality of the audio kit and (b) the standard of fitment of the rest of the cabin that one single rattle is annoying. I will do some DIY diag on it at some point and try and work out exactly where it is - if a simple push the trim back properly doesn't work, I'm sure Tesla would sort it for free, subject to service centre availability

5) There are no grab handles. Its an odd omission. There are coat hooks in the rear - But sometimes, especially as a passenger, I like to hang on, and can't in this car....

That's pretty much it on the downsides.

The upsides, I don't have time to write about right now. There are loads. I find it hard to believe I'd want to ever go back to the hassle and cost of having an ICE car. It really does feel a completely last century device. I've refused point blank to drive the Q7 since the Tesla came along. The turbo lag is verging on dangerous, and it has an annoying rattling noise at the front....... ;)

Something Beverley noticed when we test drove the other models a while back. She WOULD refuse to let us buy one due to that omission! The sales people were just bemused when we told them and had no explanation. :tuttut: