Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk
- Thread starter PracticalMac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not necessarily, those with older cars will pay higher rates both in annual tax and for driving in certain cities. Again, it’s to push people towards less polluting cars. My Audi A4 would cost me £9 a day to drive in Bristol for example, so naturally we take our EV instead as it’s free.
I remember my last trip to London from Heathrow airport, the Mercedes A180 rental had a green sticker on it to allow it to drive into central London.
Is that how that how they charge you at cities ?
You have to pay online before visiting but ANPR cameras which are used all over the UK are also used to check every car going into these zones. I think there is a certain grace period, but if you don’t pay, you get fined. The congestion charge covers central London only, but ULEZ zones go further into the suburbs and my car costs £12.50 a day there. I’d rather use the train or EV.
Basicallly petrol cars need to be euro 4 compliant and diesel cars euro 6 minimum. All to do with emissions.
No, it is not by a sticker. It is all automated using number plate recognition. I guess the sticker is more for the rental company than for compliance. You also see EVs in the uk with a green badge on their numberplate but again that just nonsense, you don't have to have that at all on your car. We have personalised number plates and not go that ugly green thing on it.
It all depends on how polluting your car is, reads like your Audi A4 is a dirty diesel and not euro 6 compliant. My 5.0V8 Super Charged Range Rover is emissions-compliant, and I don't have to pay a thing.You have to pay online before visiting but ANPR cameras which are used all over the UK are also used to check every car going into these zones. I think there is a certain grace period, but if you don’t pay, you get fined. The congestion charge covers central London only, but ULEZ zones go further into the suburbs and my car costs £12.50 a day there. I’d rather use the train or EV.
But even so, considering the costs of public transport, it is still cheaper to drive in opposed to taking the train, especially so when there is more than one of you in the car.
My TMY just upgraded over the weekend:
2021 TMY 7-seater LR: 2023.32.9 FSD Beta: 11.4.4
2019 TM3 LR: 2023.27.6 FSD Beta: 11.4.7.2
I got the TM3 in Jan and immediately joined Beta. I got the TMY in March and it took a week or two to get into Beta. Both were Used from Tesla with FSD and AB included.
11.4.7.2 seems fine to me, it is my wife's car now, so I don't get a lot of drive time, just to the weekly car wash. It did try to go into a center turning lane when I was going straight. I was on a local street without a destination, so just wanted it to keep me in my lane for about 3/4 of a mile.
I use Beta for almost 90% of my driving (on the TMY), I am in the NYC metroplex (Long Island, and I commute into NYC). In my area Beta works really well.
University isn't free in the UK, it's currently £9250 per year plus your accommodation costs. Prescriptions aren't free either unless you are over 60 or have some long term condition. Healthcare is only free if you have an urgent life threatening condition or are prepared to wait a long time for treatment.
Prescriptions are free in Wales for all and tuition fees are subsidised to £3465 per year if you are Welsh, so not free but significantly cheaper.
Exactly. The correct term would be free at the point of use. As nothing, but the sun coming up in the morning, is free.
We do have to pay for all of that. Just comes out of a different pot. And that NHS really isn’t that great. Sadly I had to make use of it due too CAP and sepsis last August and my gosh I’ve been in army field hospitals that provide better and more caring service. And then there is the cost of medication; it’s three times as much as if you could buy it direct; amoxicillin.
Too many people have rose tinted glasses about those “free” services, but we pay for it big time.
Not true my friend. I don’t pay for Perscriptions. Tuition fees are free in Scotland I believe and subsidised in Wales. You have to pay for accommodation if you are at Uni or not I believe. That’s true the world over!
There are personal differences whether you pay at the point of use, but ultimately we all pay for it one way or another. To think or present like it is free is simply not true.
This is getting to a whole different level and highly polical
But in the simple form, nope it is not free you are paying for it. Although some may say that England is paying for it in Scotland especially. Ultimately us in the UK are paying for it. Nothing is free.Agree with youThere are personal differences whether you pay at the point of use, but ultimately we all pay for it one way or another. To think or present like it is free is simply not true.
This is getting to a whole different level and highly polical
Nothing is free anywhere in the world. For example, lest say that one has a job and the employer provides parking with electrical outlets to charge one's car. One may assume that the electricity is "free," but it is not. A business cannot survive under a long term revenue loss, so the accountants have to figure profits over loss of revenue, which in turn includes the employees' wages, and this is only one in a myriad of expenses. Every little expense by the business (electricity, other utilities, maintenance and repairs (structural, equipment, parking lot, and so on), wages and compensation, taxes, and so on, all are accounted for each day, each week, each year.
Exactly! And thank you for nicely moving it back on topic. Agree 100%, very good example, free employer charging, or free hotel charging etc only exist at the point of use, but it isn't really free.
Agree with you
Nothing is free anywhere in the world. For example, lest say that one has a job and the employer provides parking with electrical outlets to charge one's car. One may assume that the electricity is "free," but it is not. A business cannot survive under a long term revenue loss, so the accountants have to figure profits over loss of revenue, which in turn includes the employees' wages, and this is only one in a myriad of expenses. Every little expense by the business (electricity, other utilities, maintenance and repairs (structural, equipment, parking lot, and so on), wages and compensation, taxes, and so on, all are accounted for each day, each week, each year.
The tax relief employers are getting from EV’s at the moment mean they can offer a gesture like free charging while at work. No doubt this will change as more employees get EV’s. Right now it is free in our situation.
Indeed and combine that with a pay rise, company paying for the charger plus installation at home and its much cheaper than the car I drive daily to and from work. The £20 a month company car tax is much better than the £365 a month it cost for the Audi A7 TDI Sportback 40 we briefly had before it too.
The building my office is in has two free 80amp chargers. So while the installation and ongoing running expenses cost the landlord, I'm fairly certain there are either tax incentives or rebates to defray the cost of the "free" chargers. It's correct someone has to pay for these "free" chargers and it's the tax paying public.
Ours is paid for by the boss. We had it installed (I ordered it as part of my role) and the electricity is not that much compared to running a large office.
Generally I charge about once a week which is enough that I don’t have to charge at home.
If it’s a public building/property, most definitely the tax payer picks up the tab or it is recovered via other funds. Charging is becoming a lot more expensive in public here, but some private businesses are able to offer free charging as part of the incentives for attracting people to the company. It won’t last forever no doubt.
Ours will. I wrote the policy! But we also offer private health care for all staff which many don’t.
Health cover is one thing I get but not an EV program yet, i’ll probably opt for the octopus energy scheme once I need a new car and get an EV on that through my wife’s company. I don’t plan on getting rid of my A4 anytime soon though. You’re lucky with the long term free charging, I think it’ll be quite a few years before we are paying to charge, but it’s not like it’s expensive anyway, especially on subsidised company schemes, it only costs about £11 at home!
I do understand, but in reality this electricity nor anything else is free. Tax incentives are paid by the working class (all tax payers). The employer is paying for the electricity, since it is cheaper for he or she to pay for the amount of electricity given to you "free" for a few hours, than it is to significantly increase your wages x 8 hours per day. Most companies have work-incentives, but every incentive is taken into account down to the "penny" by the accountants, since the company cannot exist long under a loss of revenue.
It is the same for the healthcare offered to the employee by the employer. Someone has to pay for it. The simplest way to understand is by breaking it down to the individual level: how much you earn/how much you spend. If you spend more than what you earn, then somebody else has to pay for some of your living expenses. You can see this by the great number of "green technology" companies that pop here and there and then disappear a few years later. Government grants (tax-payers' money) alone can't sustain a private sector company.
Last edited:
Every little thing in life costs something. The simplicity of it makes it difficult for some to understand. A "bookkeeper" or accountant understands the importance of gains versus losses for the company (and so the bookkeeper in the family). Somebody may say "electricity in my company is free," but is it truly free? Does the same person says, "I work for free?"
I received a bill (on the mail) from one of my automobile insurance companies for a total of 25-cents a few days ago. More than that money was spent by the company to recuperate twenty five cents (employee work time, computer, electricity, bill writing, printing, toner, envelope, mail stamp, etc.), but every cent spent is taken into account by the bookkeepers. The loss of money on me as one customer is gained by the company from other customers.
Last edited:
Yup. Sadly in the UK, and I’m sure elsewhere, the lefties and non nett contributors just don’t get that concept. It’s been years of conditioning that they now simply can’t see that someone is paying for that. And it’s not just government services; it’s the same with employment. And some of it can be direct and some more subtle.
As you say, stems demand for salary increases, or even can contribute to a reduction in the short term illness figures. And so on.
Another big thing over here, and a next financial scandal waiting to collapse is that people can buy cars under what is a Salary Sacrifice scheme; simplistically said the car is leased, and the money is taken direct by the employer from the salary before tax.
Too many only see that shiny new car they now can afford which they couldn’t if they actually had to buy it. But somehow they don’t see they are locked to their employer if they want to keep the car they are paying for. Nor that they’ve reduced their salary which also impacts other areas such as (mortgage) affordability, pension contributions, and even things like government benefits in the unfortunate event it is required.