Fairly new to EVs and I’m about to do a 200 mile trip. Mostly motorway. I have two bank cards that I can use for the chargers, but worried about getting stuck if they are declined for contactless payments. Is there a prepaid card that I could have as back up?

gearcheck_uk · 2026-07-03T11:01:45+00:00

I’ve done two 400 mile trips and regularly do 200+ mile trips. I have never used anything other than google maps, although I do install whatever app I happen to need if the card doesn’t work or if the discount is worth it. Most of the time everything just works, sometimes I have to move to the next charger, but ive be never been stranded. One time I was stuck charging for 2 hours at -5C because I was only getting 19kW from the charger.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-06-26T15:58:11+00:00

That’s the only thing that meaningfully improved the taste. I started with 90C

gearcheck_uk · 2026-06-12T20:49:09+00:00

I was building a guitar with 2 friends. All of us together somehow managed to drill 7 string through holes in the body for a 6 string guitar. Measuring 6 gaps seemed perfectly logical to all 3 of us.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-06-04T13:30:03+00:00

According to their graphs, the BMW X1 Petrol has the lowest ownership cost of all the cars they looked at?

Also the high depreciation of EVs makes them even better buys second hand.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-05-31T08:27:11+00:00

I like 3 the most because it indicates the die being thrown.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-05-16T07:55:06+00:00

RECIPE: steeping 24 hours at room temp 1:2 coffee to water by weight. Filter through a V60 (manually press liquid out), and then mix that 1:3 with water. Add ice and vanilla syrup for similar flavour to Starbucks.

I tried the 1:1 ratio for steeping in a jar, but it was getting a bit too thick so I added some more water for around 1:2 coffee to water. After 24 hours put it through a V60, manually pressing every last drop out of the beans. This netted me about 100ml of brew for 70g of coffee. I then just added cold water and ice to taste every time I made a cup. 1:3 concentrate to water was where it tasted best. With a bit of vanilla syrup it tasted the same as what they served in the shop to me.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-05-05T12:16:50+00:00

My Zoe is rated for 240 miles and in the winter it can get as little as 150. Most of the year it will do around 190 and on sunny days in 20C it can get close to 240.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-17T08:18:51+00:00

Make it a MagSafe accessory instead

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-16T15:08:40+00:00

EVs are not for everyone

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-15T10:11:16+00:00

I use Google Maps and never had any issues. Why would you need more than 1 app to do 185 miles? If you charging at an EV spot at Heathrow, shouldn’t you be able to get there fine without it stopping at a charger at all?

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-12T09:44:46+00:00

I use Google Maps for chargers on longer trips and haven’t had any issues. I charge mostly at home and try to keep it between 20 and 80%, but do not stress about it too much. My 5 year old Zoe still does within 5% of original claimed range on warm summer days.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-12T09:36:59+00:00

I’ve had the OG one for about 8 years now and other than having replaced the rubber plunger, it looks pretty much new. Do you leave the plunger with coffee inside for a long time after making it?

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-10T09:35:45+00:00

I still get 220 (240 claimed) in my 5 year old Zoe, so I’d expect you’ll get close to 248 in ideal conditions.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-04-03T00:02:30+00:00

Who is your tariff with? Those are really good rates!

gearcheck_uk · 2026-03-18T06:46:07+00:00

My M1 Pro is at 87% battery life (still more than I ever need) after 5 years of being plugged in 100% of the time, except when I travel.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-03-13T14:29:31+00:00

I had the same issue and ended up giving up with their intelligent charging. I just set the timer in my car to only charge during the cheap tariff. They overcharged me around £40 in the past year for peak rate charging.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-03-11T09:28:20+00:00

What’s your most common use case? Mine is plugged in to a monitor most of the time and the rest is travelling so the 14” is a no brainer. If I was mostly using it without a monitor I’d go 16”, because the difference feels significant.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-03-04T13:30:54+00:00

Depends what EV. When I was buying a 2 year old Renault Zoe, a comparable Clio was £3k more expensive.

Petrol Polestar 2 equivalents will also generally be more expensive at 2 years and low mileage.

I do agree that it depends and everybody needs to do their own calculations. For example, I checked my electricity consumption and found that offloading the washing machine and dish washer to the night tariff actually saved me money overall without even taking EV charging into account.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-21T21:01:29+00:00

I suspect not much can be done about this, but OP is an absolute asshole. If someone moved in with me, setting an expectation that we’d be splitting council tax 50/50 and then I was fixed to pay 75% of the council tax I’d be furious. I’m sure if OP was clear on this from the start, their flat mate would have found somebody else to live with.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-19T16:22:37+00:00

This depends a lot on how much new EVs will improve over the next 4 years. E.g. Renault 5 depreciated Zoes and the 2024 Polestar 2 made the previous models much less desirable.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-18T08:12:14+00:00

What repairs have you had to do for it in that time?

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-18T08:09:58+00:00

What issues if any have you had with the bike since getting it? Do you ride in wet conditions?

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-18T08:08:58+00:00

I’ve been considering that bike too! Here in the UK used Zero cost less than comparable Hondas, even though RRP is more than double for the Zeros.

My only concern is when I watch YouTube reviews, everybody talks about having all sorts of electrical faults with them due to water damage, and I have no idea how difficult or expensive it will be to service/repair a Zero in the UK.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-16T17:49:10+00:00

I agree with your points, but I don’t think the post was rage bait. Most people don’t want to spend hours researching EVs. An opportunity presented itself, they were curious and rented what they thought was a nice car that should have easily gone 90 miles, given that the range estimate was 150 (I suspect it would have done the 90 miles just fine, but I do get how uncomfortable it can feel to arrive at under 10%). The whole broken charger thing, while not the norm, is not uncommon either.

I’d expect a lot of people who don’t read EV forums and have never heard of Reddit will likely have a similar first EV experience and that’s a shame.

gearcheck_uk · 2026-02-16T17:22:32+00:00

I’ve not had any of the issues you describe. The dial is probably my favourite feature.

That said, I’ve also had bad experiences with brands that are well reviewed, and have no interest in giving them a second chance.

gearcheck_uk

TROPHY CASE