New 9000 acquisition

[carrera]

I would be delighted to have a source for that.

Installation of EV charging equipment does come with installation costs, which can be dependent on the capacity of the local grid and substation. About £800 if you are lucky or early, can be easily 15k from reports i have seen. One off rather than annual

[sgould]

I did look for a source after I posted, but I couldn't find one, so I may be wrong.  It was a throwaway comment on the radio news while I was driving.  It might just be the one-off connection charge. That might have a surcharge over the actual cost of connection.  When I worked for the water company, each new connection had an extra "infrastructure charge" which was justified on the grounds that one day, the whole infrastructure or treatment works would need upgrading to cope with all the extra load being added piecemeal.  it would be interesting to see where all that money, which should be safely invested, is now...

[Geoff1951]

Various fairly reliable web sites say between 70% and 90% of UK water companies are not owned by UK pension funds, so dividends mainly go overseas.  As does a fair chunk of the profits made by the power utilities - e.g. Scottish Power is owned by a Spanish company.

But we all more or less knew this.

[welshwizard]

Interior size reduction is ongoing.  It's mostly due to the increase in requirements for crash protection, especially side impact.  Our 9-3 is a bit cramped inside compared with the 9-5, but it almost the same size as the 9-5 outside.  Virtually the same width and only 150mm shorter.

 So true, Will.  I was perplexed by the visual and dimensional similarities and differences beween the 9-3 and 9-5 when I changed the former for the latter.  Externally the 9-3 looked much narrower than the 9-5 (to my eyes) but the brochures and a tape measure proved it wasn't that great a difference.  The five years or so later development of the 9-3SS bringing more (?) crash protection and narrower interior space.

Whereas the NG9-5 is a tight squeeze, the OG 9-5 wasn't and when my Dad replaced his silver 9-5 estate with the red 9-3, and I went from a 9-3 to an OG9-5  the 9-5s could sail into the garage with no issues, the mirrors when folded in helped.  The mirrors on the 9-3 stood out a bit more even when folded and there were numerous clangs on the garage door frame.