Volvo future?

[Guy Dickinson]

Thanks very much everyone. Some really good advice i think!!

[ThomasG]

How quickly do electric cars charge?

Once in a while I will go trough 3 tanks of petrol in less than 30 hours..
Spending most of that time rolling, of course.
Fill up takes, like.. 5 minutes? Including payment, queueing etc?
What would I do with electric?
Go to Folkestone, stay for hours to recharge, then maybe I'd reach France/Belgium border (or maybe not) and sit there for few hours to recharge..

Nope, electric isn't for me.

[Simmy]

Originally Posted by Guy Dickinson

I think the electric thing is way too optimistic. As you say - hardly any charging points etc etc. And are they really that environmental? May be in the area round the car but the power stations will be working overtime, probably belching out more CO2 in many cases. Also the transfer of energy from power station to car will lose a lot of it.

there are four thousand charge points in the uk

[middleman]

Originally Posted by Simmy

there are four thousand charge points in the uk

That's not a lot when you consider the amount of cars on the roads. As mentioned the infrastructure just isn't there at the moment and it won't arrive overnight.

At the moment I have a 2016 V40 D2 but have just bought it's replacement. An 2006 V70 petrol which I think is 10 times the car, the build quality is missing in the V40. Don't get me wrong it's a nice enough car by todays standards but the quality of materials is somewhat suspect. It has covered 5 times the mileage of the V40 and is wearing much better in all respects. I'm not sure how robust the materials used in the newest models is but someone told me the quality has dropped because so much has to be easily recycled now.

For me a Volvo always said longevity, built like a tank etc. I think they have recently lost that reputation and are just built like any other car. I can understand there are probably very valid financial reasons behind this for Volvo but the new cars aren't getting any more affordable and for me they needed to keep the unique selling point they had rather than follow the Germans.