How much to fill your Battery by June 2022

[watty]

It's almost 50.  House was built in the early 1970's.  Garage was converted in the '80s or '90s so 'some' wiring upgrading was done then.  Before my time.  Ironically, there was an oil crisis in the 1970s and the house was built to run on electricity.  I was told there was a huge ?generator/aircon/heater/something something? under the stairs.

Quotes varied from €10k-€14k-ish.  Some went the whole hog and threw in smoke/CO2 alarms, outdoor lights, anything they could think out.  There were 1 or 2 who were maybe cash jobs, not 100% legit but I worried about the insurance then if something went wrong.  Or is ESBN put in a smart meter and noticed the new wiring with no paperwork.  Each time I would say I just want a 16sqmm wire from there to there (~6 metres) but no, them's 'the rulez'...

I gave up after a couple of weeks and said I'd come back to it after Xmas but I'm happy enough with my current situation now so they can all go fuk themselves 

Don't bother telling your kids to become doctors or even drug dealers, being an electrician is where the real money is 

[silverbullet]

It's almost 50.  House was built in the early 1970's.  Garage was converted in the '80s or '90s so 'some' wiring upgrading was done then.  Before my time.  Ironically, there was an oil crisis in the 1970s and the house was built to run on electricity.  I was told there was a huge ?generator/aircon/heater/something something? under the stairs.

Quotes varied from €10k-€14k-ish.  Some went the whole hog and threw in smoke/CO2 alarms, outdoor lights, anything they could think out.  There were 1 or 2 who were maybe cash jobs, not 100% legit but I worried about the insurance then if something went wrong.  Or is ESBN put in a smart meter and noticed the new wiring with no paperwork.  Each time I would say I just want a 16sqmm wire from there to there (~6 metres) but no, them's 'the rulez'...

I gave up after a couple of weeks and said I'd come back to it after Xmas but I'm happy enough with my current situation now so they can all go fuk themselves 

Don't bother telling your kids to become doctors or even drug dealers, being an electrician is where the real money is 

Electricians charge what they like.

Plumbers, even apprentice plumbers charge a fortune for one or two minutes of sloppy work...see Conor Mc Gregor for details.

Mine's a 53 year old ex-corpo money pit.

[John m]

Our Kids squeeze is an Electrician with more certs than Big Dommos Printer .Ill ask him to find out and see if he can come up with a price to Install them .

[John m]

Watty .the charger can be a stand alone unit with its own meter or connected to your own fuse board if it is compatable .I THINK if it is a stand alone unit with its own meter the ESB will charge you a second standing charge for the second meter (ask them ) The electrician who connects it needs to be Certified  he will install the charger and give you the cert .You must have this before the ESB will go live .Our kid use to have the certs but he now works for a Major Electrical Contractor and is only certified to do their work but his Foreman has the certs so I asked him to get all the info for you his Foreman installed his own meter after he bought a Renault Zoe .Think the Sparks you talked to is trying to get work .The Rat might know I think a family member has a EV .

[mercenary for hire]

Slightly off-topic but Watty would you go electric agian if your home charging issue wasn't there?

How many miles are you actually getting from a full battery?

What's your typical consumption?I calculate that an MG5 ev would be half of the fuel running costs of my Prius but that could easily change.

I know you've answered these before but all over the different threads.My inner Jew is telling me to take the MG5 cancellation that I found by accident thinking that the delays on other EVs are gonna be a lot worse and could potentially go beyond my renewal date next year.

Yer man wants 33k for the lower spec MG5 which is a lot more than they were originally.Still be nice to have something brand new that I owe very little on.Even if it isn't as fancy as some other EVs it could be sold on in three years for a profit if I got bored with it.

[John m]

Think you answered your own Question Merch ( it could be sold on in three years for a profit if I got bored with it.} If you take the EV grant do you have to replace EV with another EV or can you go back to Stone Age motoring ?

[John m]

@ Merch not my business but when you look at the upside for casual traders who dont do 70+ hours a week and live in a City close to a charger .Do we really need the bigger dearer version of an EV to make pay .If I was in the market for a NEW vehicle and was getting all the coin in grants .I would be getting Stickers and meter fitted to that motor as soon as .Range anxiety is for lads that need to earn not lads that earn when they need .I think reading your posts over the months you want a new motor go treat yourself like you said after grants and tax write-offs you could make a profit if you never drove it .Get in there before somebody else does .Not like you to be posting your business on tinternet .

[mercenary for hire]

You need to replace the EV with another for the three-year duration should something happen to it.After that you can buy whatever you want.

Talking to a few dealers and they don't seem to have any insight on future supply.It's not the vehicle I really want but it's relatively inexpensive.Gonna think more about it.It's really hard to dump my current yoke when it's running alright.Could be a mistake.Need a crystal ball..

[John m]

You need to replace the EV with another for the three-year duration should something happen to it.After that you can buy whatever you want.

Talking to a few dealers and they don't seem to have any insight on future supply.It's not the vehicle I really want but it's relatively inexpensive.Gonna think more about it.It's really hard to dump my current yoke when it's running alright.Could be a mistake.Need a crystal ball..

Your not dumping it you are selling it for 5K scrappage !

[mercenary for hire]

Maybe 20k scrappage..but I'm oddly attached to my old taxi.Never really let me down much in ten years.It's never even been on a tow truck once.Bit like giving the dog the lethal injection..

I'll probably have to make a scrapbook of all the times we had racing immigrants..ah the memories.

[John m]

Maybe 20k scrappage..but I'm oddly attached to my old taxi.Never really let me down much in ten years.It's never even been on a tow truck once.Bit like giving the dog the lethal injection..

Devils Little helper here .Will there be motors available before grants run out ?What price will they be ?Old Shep is coming to a scrap yard near you and you cant prevent that .Lets say the price of the motor goes up 3K in a year effectively you are paying 3K to stay sitting in your present motor plus fuel charges .Is it worth that to you ?

[watty]

I'm not sure I personally would pick a 2021 MG5 short range or the 2021 MG ZS as I think their real life battery range is a bit too small.  YMMV!  The new 2023 ZS has a real life range of something like 350-400km so that'd be ok if you liked the look of it.  There'll be no discounts for the next year or two.  It wouldn't surprise me if you could sell your place on the waiting list to someone else for a profit?

Slightly off-topic but Watty would you go electric agian if your home charging issue wasn't there?

Yes but...

1. My last taxi was a 15 year old Octavia with nearly half a million kilometres on it.  I had to buy something and it was gonna be a 5yr old Prius or Skoda until the EV grant came along.  I got a brand new car for 12k.  As long as it last 5 years and 1 day, I believe I'll have made the right decision?

2.  EVs are basically computers on wheels and the car companies are playing catch-up with their designs & software.  I think EVs will get better and better each year.  So it's not like, for example, an Avensis that only gets updated every 5 years or whatever.  Your EV will be 'old school' by this time next year.  I'm ok with that for a taxi I paid 12k for.

Mileage:
Real life is about 300km but I rarely go above 150km/day.  Officially we can refuse jobs over 30km so that's all I need to be concerned about really.  So I'm not bothered about these once-in-a-lifetime 'Mayo' jobs.

Fuel Costs:
EVs are cheaper to run at the moment.  Ignoring the May price increases, I'd reckon very very approx home charging would be 1k/yr, public charging 1.5-2k/yr and diesel at 3k/yr.  But 70% of the price of diesel is tax, I believe, so if/when we all switch to EV, the Govt will lose a shitload to tax and the price of EV electricity will go up.

Battery range/longevity:
I'm not concerned about the range or the longevity but I won't elaborate.  It's a bit like religion - you either believe or you don't.  When I talk to anti-EV people, they have no facts, they just don't believe.

Negatives:
1. Don't crash!  EVs are new technology and don't share a platform with other cars so parts will be expensive.  It was a trend long before EVs but official garages don't keep stock anymore so it was always a day or two wait if you wanted an official part.  Now I'm pretty sure any MG stock will have to come from China so your MG could be off the road for weeks?  I'd bet it's the same for VW and the others as well.

2. Servicing.  There's only 2 MG garages in Dublin.  There is a EU law that manufacturers have to share the 'computer' stuff with independent garages but I think they're dragging their feet on it.  So for the next few years, I'm stuck with those two MG garages.  Also, I have 16 inch tyres while some of the other EVs have 20 inch tyres - expensive to replace!

3. There's very little that a drunken cnut can break in my MG5 at 2am in the morning.  Some of the other EVs are like something out of Star Trek - there's lots of breakable stuff in the cabin.  I won't fancy pricing the cost of replacing that stuff.

Summary:
If you can wait, each year will bring a better and better EV.  But the 20k EV grant is only for this year and next.  So it's a balancing act - wants v. needs.  I needed a new taxi and the 20k showed me the way to go.

[watty]

Watty .the charger can be a stand alone unit with its own meter or connected to your own fuse board if it is compatable .I THINK if it is a stand alone unit with its own meter the ESB will charge you a second standing charge for the second meter (ask them ) The electrician who connects it needs to be Certified  he will install the charger and give you the cert .You must have this before the ESB will go live .Our kid use to have the certs but he now works for a Major Electrical Contractor and is only certified to do their work but his Foreman has the certs so I asked him to get all the info for you his Foreman installed his own meter after he bought a Renault Zoe .Think the Sparks you talked to is trying to get work .The Rat might know I think a family member has a EV .

The electrician has to be RECI and on the safe electric list to get the €600 SEAI installation grant.  The SafeElectric boys know they're in demand and charge appropriately.  Gossip says there's a 6 week waiting time for home charger installations at the moment.

I think the problem is that the cert that gets sent to ESB Networks has to state the entire house has been inspected and is ok.  Legit electricians won't risk their reputation/licence and put their name to dodgy paperwork.



Also, I got a house charger with the car so they can't buy the charger themselves and add another margin on top of that 

[John m]

Watty .the charger can be a stand alone unit with its own meter or connected to your own fuse board if it is compatable .I THINK if it is a stand alone unit with its own meter the ESB will charge you a second standing charge for the second meter (ask them ) The electrician who connects it needs to be Certified  he will install the charger and give you the cert .You must have this before the ESB will go live .Our kid use to have the certs but he now works for a Major Electrical Contractor and is only certified to do their work but his Foreman has the certs so I asked him to get all the info for you his Foreman installed his own meter after he bought a Renault Zoe .Think the Sparks you talked to is trying to get work .The Rat might know I think a family member has a EV .

The electrician has to be RECI and on the safe electric list to get the €600 SEAI installation grant.  The SafeElectric boys know they're in demand and charge appropriately.  Gossip says there's a 6 week waiting time for home charger installations at the moment.

I think the problem is that the cert that gets sent to ESB Networks has to state the entire house has been inspected and is ok.  Legit electricians won't risk their reputation/licence and put their name to dodgy paperwork.



Also, I got a house charger with the car so they can't buy the charger themselves and add another margin on top of that 

You have the single phase charger you want to connect up but have you looked at a stand alone connection .I thought you had a 3 phase fast charger .

[watty]

I'm not sure what you mean but...  If you mean 2 meters, I doubt that would be feasible.  They charge something like €2k just to upgrade the master fuse on their meter so a second meter and MPRN would be seriously expensive.  If you could get a second MPRN for a domestic house?

The ESB meter cabinet outside the house was sacred ground for a long time and only ESB stuff could go in there.  Then the rules changed in March 2021 (or 2020?) and you could put the connection (sub-fuseboard?) in there & basically have 2 fuseboards - one for the house and one for the wall charger all running to the same meter.  But not all sparks were knew that.  And KN networks, the sub-contractors for Electric Ireland, refused to use that option as well.  Then the rules changed again recently and now it kinda is ok but only as a very last resort.  But what sparks will take the risk if their competence could be questioned 6 months down the road?  And there's the risk that when ESB Networks replace the meter with a smart meter, they could kick out the gubbins for the wall charger.

And not one electrician ever said you're fukked for the 7kW charger so how about plan B and we stick in an external 3kW socket (like a regular plug) and at least you'll have something.  No, the lazy greedy unprofessional  feckers just saw the $$.

To be honest, I wasted 3 weeks of  my life on this shit before Xmas and my head was wrecked with being told 3 or 4 different versions of the 'rules and regulations'.  So I basically moved on and forgot about it.