I found, after recommendations from SF, Brave to be another good one, no ads on YT.
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What does get on my goat is the unboxing videos of a product .. But having said that there is plenty of great information on consumer product repair .. like replacing the door seal or drive belt in a washing machine or ..and I am serious here ..replacing a lightbulb in car ..
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Some modern cars are a nightmare for this, involving significant dismantling.
We’re seriously interested in buying an EV to complement our much loved Octavia mk3. I’ve watched numerous YT videos and so far, the shortlist is Renault 5, Micra version of same and Skoda Enroq. Neither of us like SUVs generally but we want to have a look around the Skoda as it seems to offer a lot - and also we’ve been delighted with the Octy. We sat in a Renault 4 and my impression was that the forward view was as if we were looking through a letterbox. The R5 had much better view to the front. As for charging - noting the thread topic I am interested in V2H. We’re looking at solar. Is V2H widely available. Does anyone use it on here?
May one ask why?
Firstly because they use additional materials and energy over a traditional car to do the same job, and secondly because I prefer to sit closer to the road. Maybe they could grow on me. I can see their advantages for those with back problems or where the terrain or weather conditions call for more ground clearance. Most of the SUVs and cross-over cars to us seem like they have been stretched upwards with tall doors and smaller windows. Not aesthetically pleasing - but of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Sorry Michael, I misread SUVs for Evs.. My bad. I tend to agree with you
Sorry but I am an SUV or more correctly a crossover convert .. I got the original Renault Scenic in 1979 and have never looked back .. tremendous capacity in ferrying thing over to France . And 3 kids elsewhere . And much easier for aged bodies to get in and out off. The original Peugeot 3008 was a worthy replacement ..not the current model which got steroids . My wife has just got the opel Frontera precisely 3causecit is high rise …
I don’t think one needs an SUV for capacity. I’m sure we could fit a mini in the back of the Octavia. An estate would hold even more. I do see your point about ease of access for passengers though.
You have the same charging port as us.
I generally let the car decide, and I don’t think it’s ever directed me to a non working charger. I use the free BMW charge card which is affiliated to many suppliers. Though I have set it to favour Ionity, because I’ve an abonnement. Over the last three years the car’s directed me to many providers, including Tesla. However, in Italy it can try and take you off the autostrada to charger in the middle of carparks and industrial estates. Which wastes time and may not have coffee or toilet facilities. So in Italy I do check out its suggestions. But in France it has been flawless and luckily I’ve never had issues, Total or otherwise. The R5e uses Google and after a couple of 1,200 jaunts I wouldn’t trust its charging plan/recommendations at all. But since we now only use it locally now charge at home it’s not an issue.
I think it’s early days yet but it has potential. I’d say it needs to be carefully controlled and monitored. One wouldn’t want to pop out to the car and discover 5% charge because it’s been drivng the house clim all day 
When we put in our first charger the electrician, a very smart guy and a pleasure to deal with, put in a load balancer so that if the house and charger load was heading for the total house capacity the charger was throttled back to prevent us tripping the the (miles away) EDF box. Having it became even more important when we put in the second charger because their total load could potentially now top 22kW. Though we have the second charger throttled at 7kW for the moment, so 18kW maximum EV load. A few of the current and many of the next generation EVs will offer 22kW A/C charging. So our peak charging load could hit 32kW (only the first charger can go to 22wkW) in due course 
I’m sure using the EV battery as a home electricity storage device, for Solar for example, will require some clever control system too. Way beyond my mergre knowledge of the topic.
Could you please clarify?
In December ‘24 I, retrospectively, foolishly and against the best advice of my long suffering wife, who had flown ahead, drove the R5 to the Cherbourg ferry, 1,200km (and back again the end January or early February). A trip the i4 does flawlessly. Just before Lyon the good old Google and its faulty R5 interface advised me to take a “quicker/shorter” route over the Massif Central. It said I’d loads of charge to get to the next high speed charger. As I reached higher levels and hit snow (not that that would worry me) the Google driven Satnav decided I didn’t have enough range, by a big margin. It had dumped me in it 
I just replotted my own route but if I hadn’t been used to driving an EV it could have been awkward. Middle of nowhere, snow on the roads and temperature (and thus range) still falling.
I’d give the R5k’s route planning null points. It was actually irresponsible. Though I hope it has been improved by now, our R5 was one of the first delivered, nevertheless, care is required.
It was a shortsighted, if expedient move by Renault to abdicate elements of their user interface to Google. A bit like Ken Olsen of Digital thinking that hardware was still more important than software. Look what happened there. On the other hand VW wasted €14b on their screwed up software development project (arrogance, how hard can it be attitude the answer is very hard) and they are now sensibly partnering for a second go. Renault, IMO chose a bad partner in Google.
No ..the Scenic 1 was a wonder .. and I doubt that any estate would have been able to take the shapes of loads .. tables chairs and I think a recliner .2.8 metre lengths of cladding ..in bulk . The Peugeot was good but nowhere as capable with wide loads ..and the current 3008 ..which my son has is woeful in comparison. Of course a real van is or the combo types much better still
I replaced my Karoq back in January. At the time I was quite interested in the possibility of an Octavia, and test drove a 2 year old model from the local dealer. It was adequate, but the load space lacked the height found in a small-medium SUV and the low ride height didn’t make for better cornering while at the same time making the view of the road ahead less good. I liked the idea of better economy, but not the handling or general ride.
The Octavia is a very functional car, but this kind of design won’t be attractive to some for good reasons.
Does anyone make an electric Berlingo? The diesel version seems to be the most popular vehicle round here.
I’m pretty sure that Citroen does.
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That’s nice.
Pedantic mode on, the Scenic is an MPV not an SUV. Also a fan of the original models and the incredible space you could have by removing the seats.
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