As always...

Pre-conditioning. Not sure if it’s really considered an ‘option’ as it’s standard fit on basically every EV, but coming out the house on a cold morning to a warm, already defrosted, car is just lovely.

This is so very British. Man in shed makes interesting but slightly useless machine, says it’s the best thing he’s ever built. I love it. 

100%. I drive a ‘SRSM’ Polestar 2, which has a WLTP range of just under 300 miles, which means 220 in the real world. I have free charging in my building’s car park, because they haven’t worked out how to bill us for it (which is a very nice perk). I’ve had it just over a year, and I’ve fast charged a bit but not that…

I feel this is more aimed at the European market anyway. It’s a small car, even by our standards. It’s a b-segment semi-premium car, which is a small niche right now, but I think could prove successful. Mini have had the premium small car market pretty tied up, with only really the Audi A1 encroaching on it.

I really don’t know how Subaru has survived. Well I mean I do....their parent company just firehoses money at it to prop it up. I maybe see 1 or 2 Subarus a month around my area.

Can’t say I ever had an issue with keeping my Android phone topped off using USB-A to -C cables and Android Auto.

The A330-800 is kind of a weird one. It is like a parts-bin special. The main costs are in certifying it, and the vast majority of the certification would have been common with other A330 models. But I still don’t think it’s likely to be profitable. The -900 is doing OK and is keeping Boeing honest with the 787, which…

They’ve been the law here in the UK for decades now. My first car was a 2002 VW Polo that had zero luxuries - no AC, manual locks, manual windows etc, but still had an immobiliser as the law required it. Car theft in the UK is now often either relay attacks (with cars that have proximity keys) or just stealing the…

Insurance would cover other weather related damage for sure - things like flooding or damage from falling branches. I think the question is why you should make a claim if there wasn’t anything beyond heavy rain on a parked vehicle, which is what the article implies. It doesn’t sound like the vehicle was actually…

I think there are a few factors involved right now. The UK economy is kind of in the shitter, and confidence is LOW. Nobody particularly feels like making a big change as a result - and for a lot of people, an EV is quite a jump. The government is currently going absolutely batshit and is fundamentally dysfunctional,…

Charging every night isn’t an issue if you have your own parking space with access to a charger - plenty of people do exactly this with PHEVs due to short EV only ranges anyway.

Oh for sure they’re not 1-to-1 yet - but the level of planning required is improving a lot, and so is the hassle levels.

I’ve found the one in my Polestar to be reasonably well calibrated. It also just flashes the light, and doesn’t beep. It’s a bit more enthusiastic when reversing out of a parking space, and it beeps doing that, but overall it’s not bugged me much.

Some Volvo dealers do servicing, but not sales, so you might be OK where you are. It’s a different model here in the UK- any Volvo dealer will service them. In the US they have to sign up to it. 

As an owner... they are my biggest bugbear of the car. They’re terrible. 

At least in the US many houses have dryer outlets in the garage, which an EV charger can plug into. In Europe, we have 240v so our charging out of a regular plug socket is faster, but we don’t routinely have higher amperage sockets in houses, and much more of the housing stock has no off-road parking anyway. One…

We’re already getting to the point where if (and it’s a big if) the charging network is up to it, EVs are road trip cars. Not all of them, of course, but Lucid have vehicles that’ll do over 500 miles on the EPA cycle. Even if that’s 300 miles in the real world, that’s longer than I’d want to drive non-stop, if nothing…

Volvo and Polestar seem keen on Wool. I’m wondering about the new EX30 for my next car, and I’d 100% go for the wool seating option. I currently have a Polestar 2 with the ‘Weavetech’ seats, and I’ve no idea what they’re actually made of, but they’re a good ‘premium’ feeling alternative to leather IMO. Unfortunately…

I’m English and I bought a ‘portable’ unit and a vent kit in 2020. It’s been a life saver. I evangelise about it to everyone when they whine about the heat. I know quite a few people now who have one, and sales have been going up over the past few years.