u/Parking-Treacle-4474

I hope all my fellow EV owners are doing alright. 5.5–5.7 mi/kWh on my commute lately. Did 31 miles today at 5.7, same journey on 5.5 yesterday, mainly on A roads below 60 mph.

How are everyone else’s EVs doing in this weather?

Hi everyone this is an encouraging post who are thinking to switch to an EV but hasn’t decided yet.

I am on octopus intelligent tariff, also I have 6 solar panels on the roof with octopus outgoing.

I have been credited almost 36 pounds over 30 days thanks to the electricity I sell to the grid.

My electricity bill just came in at 61 pounds, including house + ev charging usage on 8 pence overnight.

Considering that I am doing almost 1k miles every month for work and pleasure, cannot believe that I would downgrade my outgoings this much. Just to note before my EV I was using an ICU petrol/turbo average car and needed to fuel up every week(45 to 50 quid now? Weekly, imagine that..)

And if you have solar( please sign up to outgoing octopus)

Edit(if you are able to charge at home with a wall box or granny charger)

Have nice savings everyone, you deserve it!
Kind regards,

Hi everyone,
I lightly kerbed the front passenger wheel on my my car today. It’s only a small bit of kerb rash on the edge of the wheel.
I contacted a local wheel refurbishment company and they said they couldn’t price it without seeing it in person because they weren’t sure how the grey plastic trims come off. They also said the damage is so small that I’d probably be better off using a SMART repair company, as they can repair and paint it without removing the trims, which would save me money.
Has anyone had these wheels repaired before? Is a SMART repair the best option, and will it look good afterwards? Also, roughly how much should I expect to pay?
Or in another way, can I DIY this ??
And any recommendation of places that can fix this around south wales would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Hi everyone,
I’m based in Wales and I’m looking for some advice regarding a neighbour’s parking.
I’ve attached a photo to show the situation. In the main image, the Mercedes parked in the distance is the vehicle I’m referring to. The small site plan in the bottom-left has been annotated to make the layout clearer: the red arrow points to the neighbour’s driveway, while the white mark indicates the location where the Mercedes is usually parked.
My concern isn’t that they choose not to use their driveway. Rather, the vehicle is repeatedly parked on a dropped kerb at the corner of a two-way residential road. Because of its position, I feel it partially restricts visibility for drivers turning into and out of the junction, particularly when another vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction. It also appears to obstruct the dropped kerb, which is intended to provide easier access for pedestrians, pushchairs and wheelchair users.
The vehicle is parked there regularly rather than just occasionally.
My questions are:
Is parking on a dropped kerb like this enforceable in Wales?
Does the fact that it’s on a corner and may reduce visibility make it a police matter rather than one for the local council?
If I wanted to report it, which authority would be responsible?
Would the attached photo be sufficient evidence, or would more evidence be needed?
I’m not looking to cause issues with my neighbour—I just want to understand the legal position and whether this type of parking could present a road safety issue.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice as I’m quite worried.
On 6 March 2026, while moving house, I accidentally reversed an Enterprise rental van into my neighbour’s parked and unattended 2019 Mercedes A180 in Carmarthen (Wales), the car was parked on road in front of the house even though they have driveway with 2 allocated parking. They always leave their cars on the curb as they driveway is bit further down the road, they must be lazy.
I immediately:
Left my contact details because they weren’t home, I think they were on vacation.
Contacted Enterprise the same day.
Sent them photos of the damage.
Cooperated fully with the claims process for the rental van.
Paid the excess required under my rental agreement.
The damage appeared to be mainly the rear light for the Mercedes and rear corner for the van. There was no personal injury and the other vehicle was unoccupied.
Around four months later I’ve now received a bundle of documents, including HM Courts & Tribunals Service paperwork, with me named as the Defendant.
The claimant is seeking £10,995.15, broken down roughly as:
Vehicle repairs: £3,468.54
Hire vehicle charges: £4,189.50
VAT on hire: £1,107.57
Non-standard driver charge: £1,140.00
Delivery/collection: £158.33
Recovery: £821.21
Engineer’s fee: £60
Admin fee: £50
The hire vehicle was apparently used for 38 days, which seems excessive to me considering the damage appeared relatively minor.
The Particulars of Claim state that I negligently reversed into the parked vehicle. I accept that I was at fault for the collision itself.
I am really concerned that this amount is significantly high than it should’ve been.
Also in the paperworks he deemed the vehicle unroadworthy until the repairs were done. Can this be correct ?
My questions are:
Since I was driving an Enterprise rental van and reported everything immediately, should Enterprise’s insurer be dealing with this claim and the court proceedings?
Is it normal for me personally to be named as the Defendant even though the vehicle was insured through the rental company?
Are hire charges like this (over £6,000 including VAT and extras for 38 days) commonly challenged by insurers?
I’m obviously not trying to avoid responsibility for the accident, but I’m concerned about being personally liable for almost £11,000 when I believed this would be handled by the rental company’s insurance.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Edit, thanks for the community for their guidance and support.

Hi Everyone,

Bit anxious about my charging as it is my first time on the charger which was installed 2 days ago.

I plugged the car and left it now, the app scheduled itself for to be ready with %100 by 5.30 am as I will take the car for work. I know that cheap rates are between 11.30 pm till 5.30 but also octopus agent said if we schedule the charge cheap rates applies out of those times too, please see the picture attached and advise me if schedule between 9.07 pm till 11.30 will be on cheap rate as well or I have done something wrong, should I unplug and plug it in around 11.30.

Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,
I had my Octopus EV charger (their own brand) installed today and was trying to sign up for the Intelligent Octopus tariff.
Unfortunately, every time I try to complete the sign-up, both on the Octopus app and through the website, I get an error saying:
“Uh oh… Don’t worry, it’s us not you”
Error code: UKOB-AUTH-0142
I’ve attached screenshots below.
I called Octopus support, and the agent said it could be because they’re updating the website or having a temporary issue, and suggested I try again over the weekend.
I was just wondering if anyone else has had the same issue recently? If so, did it resolve itself, or was there anything you had to do to get it working?
I have tried on my phone and laptop, I have a smart meter and also outgoing octopus tariff.
Thanks in advance!

So today I went to work for the first time with my recently bought EV, its a 65 mile in total round trip on an A road (60mph) with 20mph sections on it. Now I am relayed on public chargers but waiting my wall box to be installed with octopus tariff. I am yearly making almost 15 thousand miles and was buying 3 to 4 tanks petrol a month. What do you think about the efficiency of the vehicle and what would be the savings in regards to the petrol/electric change in a year?

PS I went to same road back and forth, going there I achieved 4.6 miles per kWh, coming back 5.2 per kWh, same driving style on ECO mode.

Thanks in advance.

Hi folks,

I have been checking corsa-e lately and bought a 51kwh long range a few weeks ago. I have seen 50 and 51kwh versions for sale in the UK, however when you check evdatabase seems like there is a 54kwh version but couldn’t find it on Vauxhall website as brand new or used on Autotrader, does anybody have any information on this particularly if its on sale in different county markets or something.

Asking cause 54kwh with lightweight of the segment would be great option for people who doesn’t want to have a tank SUV, considering that 54kwh version battery is used for Mokka, e-2008 etc.

https://ev-database.org/uk/car/3221/Vauxhall-Corsa-Electric-54-kWh

Thanks in advance.

I’ve recently bought an EV through Spoticar and the deal included a free home charger installation through Octopus.

I’ve now received the referral and been given 4 charger options to choose from.

Before I make a decision, I’d like to hear from people who have experience with these chargers. Which one would you pick and why? Reliability, app quality, smart charging features, integration with Octopus tariffs, and long-term ownership are probably my main considerations.

I am considering tethered.

Ps. Living in a new build at the moment and signal is
weak, so WiFi would be better ?

Thanks in advance

Bought a used Vauxhall Corsa Electric 2 days ago and I’m probably overthinking things a bit, so wanted opinions from people who know more than me.
Car had around 3,800 miles when I bought it. Clean history checks, no accident records and not written off, but I noticed there has been a registration plate change in the past.
What started worrying me:
Driver front tyre visually looks more worn/scrubbed than the other tyres
The tyre production date on that tyre is 5024 while the others are 4924
Some suspension/underbody components on one side look silver while others are black
I checked the tyres properly:
Same brand/model/spec tyres all round (Michelin Primacy)
Front tread depths are basically identical (~6.4mm on both fronts)
No obvious uneven tread depth across the tyre
No bulges or major damage
The “rough” tyre mainly has more feathering/scrubbing on the tread blocks, but depth is almost the same as the other front tyre.
I’m trying to work out if:
This all sounds totally normal and I’m just inspecting too closely after buying the car
Or whether this could suggest previous damage/repair that didn’t go through insurance
Would appreciate honest opinions from people who know tyres/suspension/body repair better than me.

Thank you,

Hello everyone,

I’m thinking about buying my first EV and there’s currently a really good scheme on Stellantis used vehicles for the Alfa Romeo Junior — £4,000 deposit contribution plus a free wall box.

I’ve narrowed it down to two cars I’ve enquired about. The main visible differences are the roof colour and the “Speciale” sticker/badge on the bodywork.

I spoke to the salesperson and he told me they are basically the same car, but from different production dates. According to him, one left the factory before September 2024 and the other after September 2024, and Alfa supposedly removed the Speciale decal/badge on later cars. He says the blue one is newer for that reason.

What’s making me unsure is that I’ve looked at other 24-reg Juniors online and some older ones also don’t seem to have the badge, so I’m struggling to fully believe that explanation.

The prices are very similar, so I don’t want to end up choosing the wrong one if the red car is actually a higher spec or has extra equipment.

Does anyone here know the Junior range well enough to explain the differences or confirm whether Alfa really removed the Speciale branding on later production cars?

And I am free to get any comments on what type of ev I should go for, I am doing 33 miles round trip to work every week 4 days, I would be happy to get at least 210 realistic range, I have a corsa reserved as well but I am unsure about it. Its a 75 reg corsa yes, pre registered 200 miles on it for 16k. Max I can go for is like 19 20k

Thanks in advance