Affordable Electric Vehicles

It's 2024; for goodness sake, why can't we have affordable electric cars for the masses?

You'd think we'd have the answer to this sorted by now.

On Monday, I asked if you're an electric car user or not.

In 2014, I purchased my first and only electric car. It cost ￡20k and has a range before needing a recharge of around 100 miles.

An ideal shopper for multiple short trips not exceeding 50-70 miles. It doesn't sound much, but I was mostly doing this in a gas gusler, which could cost upwards of ￡300 a month. Now I hardly touch the long-distance car, but there again I have public transport nearby in reasonable abundance.

For living in the countryside, it feels like a gamble to go electric unless you know your range and your car. Yes, electric vehicles are sensitive creatures.

They are not keen on cold or warm weather, and god forbid that you should drive like a boy racer! Still, there are more advanced electric options out there.

There's just one catch. The investment. ￡45k for a similar model to mine. If you go for a Tesla. ￡60k at least. There seems to be a trend going on here.

Then there is range anxiety. The will I run out of charge kind. But there's always a but: if you drive sensibly and sedately, your range will improve greatly and actually, Tesla has built a fair charging structure in the UK.

The only thing is, it's no longer free. Um

The real problem still remains, however we play this. There are just too many cars on the road and it keeps rising.

Going green or not isn't going to change this anytime soon.

What should we do? Let me know.

Businesses being flexible about working from home

Working from home isn’t a new thing. It didn’t start because of the pandemic.

It’s been around for years.

Even decades ago, if you had influence over your boss or a certain set of personal circumstances, you could wangle it, even wing it.

First, it was flexible workings. The wife needed to be at home or later, the husband, so his wife could go back to work.

Then people would say there are too many distractions at the office so it will be better to spend a day or two a week doing the important stuff.

Being prepared to commute further for the right job has also grown in popularity. And so the argument goes, “If I’m spending 3 hours a day travelling 5 days a week, won’t I be more effective, more alert and more productive if I spend more time at home?”

For those businesses located in cities or remote business parks, this is a strong argument.

The pandemic, if it did anything, showed that it was possible to base a lot of jobs at home. Sure, there were exceptions, but the technology to back this up has been around for years.

Where do you stand? Better to be at home or the office?

Look at ma face. Do I look bothered?

Not all fares are equal if you don’t know already

On creating a random journey to the Far East and beyond

I was comparing the same journey from London Heathrow.

Then it dawned on me that each of the fares quoted were departing at the same time. On closer inspection, fares were for the exact same flight, yet…

The fares were radically different! The same flight, maybe even the same seat!

The airlines will no doubt say, “You’re not comparing like with like”

For me, it highlights the complexities of fare structures.

Clearly, airlines hedge their bets by having multiple deals for different suppliers, even when maybe these are meant to be code-sharing flights.

In a sense, it makes sense to operate this way. After all, filling a flight makes it profitable, even if you have to shave off a percentage for your partners.

But here’s the thing. If you’re not taking a closer look at what’s included, the rules, the baggage allowance, etc., you may be missing a trick.

The devil is in the details, as they say. And it may explain some of the differences.

Naturally, an airline will only offer all the bells and whistles to those who choose to book directly, to those who are prepared to travel with them regularly or might be persuaded to.

These days, competition between airlines and routes has never been higher.

Where do you stand?

Are you not bothered “Look at ma face. Do I look bothered?”

Or do you watch airlines like an Eagle?