javadude

You're right, EVs still involve a lot of CO2, but a lot less than ICE cars. So there's a conspiracy between the governments of the world to push us into cars that are more difficult to tax, cheaper to fuel (and aren't enslaved by the major oil companies), more reliable, cheaper to maintain, and can be both more fun and more relaxing to drive than ICE cars? Hmmm doesn't seem so bad! If it's just to be able to control us with things like speed limiters then.... that's coming in anyway regardless of the fuel type. Given how crap our government are at promoting EVs and supporting charging infrastructure it seems more like something that's been forced on them that they're paying some kind of lip-service to than is coming from them. Norway are doing a good job (85% EV sales in May). Maybe there's a conspiracy there.

So you don't believe climate change exists? Or you think there's a better solution than EVs? Or the price of fuel is to push people into EVs? Not sure what you're saying.

I'm still on a fixed rate Octopus Go tariff paying 5p/kw at night so fill up for 1.5p/m compared with what would be about 21p/m for my old petrol NX. A 200 miles journey to visit family costs me about £3. I've not had to charge out in the wild much. When I have its mainly been on 7kw posts while staying away from home. Those have been hit and miss but it depends a lot on the network. They were BP Pulse, who have a fairly appalling reputation for reliablity. It's almost like BP want people to keep on buying petrol. The Tesla chargers are the gold standard for other's to follow. Plug and play if you have a Tesla and very reliable and fast (eg charge speed of up to 1000 miles range added in an hour on the V3s). Only 15 opened up so far and you do need to use an app if you don't have a Tesla. Hopefully it'll push the other charger networks to up their game. Also thinking you might find it useful to download the Wattsup App (or Zapmap, ABRP...), plot usual routes that you take and see what public chargers are available on the route.

The range wouldn't be such a big problem if the car had ultra-rapid charging. Wonder if they'll ditch the CHAdeMO connector and go for a better charge speed too but then the RZ still only manages 150kW charging. My two year old EV has 250kW. How long do we have to wait for Lexus to catch up?

When I test drove a Kia e-Niro the pedestrian alert sounded like someone on a train playing music loudly on headphones: that annoying faint tinny almost musical sound. At first I thought there was a car behind me with the radio on loud but then I realised there was nothing behind me. Fortunately you could turn it off and just look out for people about to step out in front of you.

I don't understand why manufacturers are not including dashcams as standard these days.

On the EV and Tesla FB groups there are plenty of people talking about driving the NC500 in their EV so Scotland can't be such a problem. Even with current electric costs it's cheaper to fuel an EV at home and on some public chargers. (For my EV I pay 1.5p/m for electric compared with what would have been 21p/m for petrol of my previous "self charging" hybrid.) Some public chargers are similar to petrol/diesel at the moment but they're typically the ultra rapids that you only use on long journeys (and you'd be paying silly prices for petrol/diesel at motorway services too). You're right: pay per mile or something will happen. For now (and probably always going forwards to incentivise the move for climate change) EVs will be cheaper than ICE cars. They're also a lot more fun to drive. In reply to the original post I have a Zappi home charger in the garage. It wasn't cheap but I combined fitting it with a much needed rewiring of the garage and I look on it as a home improvement rather than just related to the purchase of one car. I don't use many features on it yet but it'll work well with solar panels when we get those. The app to view energy usage of the house and charger is cool. I use the car to schedule charging within a 00:30 to 04:30 cheap rate slot (with Octopus Go) but I think the zappi has some sort of scheduling too.

You only need the range to drive for a couple of hours on the motorway and the charge speed to top up in the time it takes to stop for a break (eg toilet, coffee). EVs have that already. (eg mine will do 4 hours+ / 250-300 miles on the motorway and recharge to 80% in 22 mins.) Degradation is low and already better than the earliest EVs. Things like reduction in weight and use of cheaper and easier to source materials are going to be more significant (eg Tesla's LFP battery which doesn't use cobalt).

Build quality is a lottery. When I bought (Sept 2020) mine had a list of cosmetic issues that they fixed under warranty as did many others but plenty had no problems at all. These days the UK ones are built in China and soon Germany and the quality is meant to be much better. Reliability wise after purchase mines been great and any electric car should be way more reliable than a hybrid or pure ICE as there's far less to go wrong. (My breakdown cover reduced when I changed from Lexus to Tesla.) Just waiting for Lexus to build a class leading EV. (Sadly the UX300e and RZ450e aren't 😢 ) Most surprising to see broken down: any Lexus. I've seen a few but not many over the years.

I had a IS220d Sport. The gear box was better than the non-sport which I had as a courtesy car once or twice. 6th gear was so long that it struggled at 70 as mentioned. Sport gear box was nicer to drive but a bit clunky to deal with the torque. The amount of torque and the responsiveness was good. I modified my previous IS200 but didn't feel the need with the IS220 as it had everything and was quicker. Fuel economy wasn't great for a diesel as they'd just worked out how to meet some new emissions regulation. Vague memory something like mid to high 30's as the sport was less than the non-sport too. It had some recall thing done on the valves or something I think. Apart from that it was reliable but maybe I was just fortunate. If I bought again and was still into ICE cars I'd prob get the IS250 though.

From https://electrek.co/2022/01/12/government-data-shows-gasoline-vehicles-are-significantly-more-prone-to-fires-than-evs/

It's a good job petrol isn't flammable...

You don't need an app for to pay for destination (AC) chargers. They're provided for complementary charging for customers of the restaurant etc. Looking at that photo I'd guess the one on the left would work for a non-Tesla. The app is just required for (DC) superchargers.

Tesla destination chargers are AC. If red and labelled for Tesla charging then they only allow Teslas to charge. If white and labelled for EV charging then any car can use them. Often there's one of each. Tesla superchargers are DC. Some (eg 15 in the UK) are open to other makes as part of a trial but they're only suited to cars with charge ports in certain locations (eg rear left or front right) as the cables are short.

I don’t know of any BEV that takes 2 hours to charge. Mine takes 20 mins to charge 10 to 80%. That works during a toilet/coffee break. Mine may just be “an experiment” and “garbage” but it’s better (with the exception of problems on collection, but plenty have no problems) as a car than any Lexus I’ve driven and better than their current BEV offering sadly. Yesterday I drove 4 hour / 185 mile round trip to visit family. I didn’t need to charge during the day and returned with plenty of range left. It was really relaxing to drive being so quiet and smooth and when I wanted to have a bit of fun, which I did quite a bit too, it did that more than adequately. 0-60 in 3.7 seconds (Tesla 3LR with acceleration upgrade) makes for fun leaving the lights/roundabouts. Cost for “fuel” was £2.76 when it charged while I slept on cheap rate. EVs are already better than petrol/diesel and very necessary now. It just needs a mindset change: refuelling is not something to stand around for. It’s something you leave the car to do while you sleep, shop, pee, go to the gym...

The UX boot is tiny.

😮You could buy a lots of different full EVs for similar or less and do 200-300 miles on electric and pay 1/10th the price of petrol.

Guessing it would be no where near as easy as they cover the bottom of the car but it probably won't stop some people even if they cause massive damage and aren't successful. 😢

I wonder how Lexus marketing will square that when they've been selling the idea that self-charging is superior to the better options of plug-in hybrid or full electric. 🤔

One extra benefit of the UX300e...

` I did the calculation based on published range for several cars when I was deciding what to get after my NX. Telsa Model 3 LR = £135 per mile. Lexus UX300e = £208 per mile The only EVs which came out worse that Lexus on my list were Audi e-tron, Jaguar iPace, Volvo XC40 Recharge and Mercedes EQC but I suppose on that basis you could say the UX300e is better value than other established premium brands. Full list: ID.3 138 UX300e 208.67 Tesla 3 SR+ 159.41 Tesla 3 LR 135.03 Hyundai Kona Premium 64kWh 119.27 Kia e-Niro '3' 64kWh 119.61 Kia Soul 122.05 Peugot e208 GT 143.48 Corsa-e 143.65 MG ZS EV 156.41 Polstar 2 160.62 Audi e-tron 243.57 Jaguar iPace 223.27 Volvo XC40 Recharge 239.9 Mercedes EQC 265 Note that's all based on published and not actual range.

I've bought from Reading and another Lexus dealer in the Jemca group (Sidcup) and they were great. Really good for servicing too. Always ready to go the extra mile. The receptionist would remember my name despite only going in once or twice a year.

That's a nice sounding exhaust system.

That's what I did. PDP on my NX ended in Oct. If the UXe had been worth waiting for I'd have got a little run around for a few months. I was really disappointed that Lexus couldn't manage better. Bought a Telsa Model 3 Long Range instead. Longer range that the UXe, faster charging (up to 5x the kw), CCS charging instead of the Lexus "betamax" choice of Chamedo, super charger network, faster acceleration (0-60 4.2s), bigger boot, over-the-air updates so it improves gradually over time. It makes my NX look like an antique. Would never go back to an ICE car.

You nailed it here. Most people will charge just a days worth of commutting, or charge every few days. Rarely will you reach 0 and charge to 100% on any day. EVs will help smooth out demand by using surplus power, eg wind power, overnight when little else is being used. It already happens. On the Octopus Agile tarriff they sometimes charge negative overnight to encourage people to take the excess. Then there may come a time when smart chargers are used to manage demand and still finish in time for you to leave in the morning. You mentioned 22kw charging at home... that needs a three phase supply which will cost you a few thousand. I find 7kw fine. I'm on Octopus Go (My referral link is share.octopus.energy/noble-sheep-177 if you want to switch - we each get £50 credit) and get 5p/kw charging from 00:30 to 04:30 and that's usually long enough to charge my daily usage. Also it equates to about 1/10th of the price of petrol. (The £50 credit I got on referral effectively gives me 3,000 miles free fuel.)