I'm quite surprised that your guest, Sarah, and her wife, didn't think to do a full external insulation wrap as we are beginning to do in the UK. Admittedly it's not cheap, but the long-term benefits from an energy and comfort perspective are enormous; their energy requirements should drop considerably more if this was done. Our local Council did this to several of their post-WWII prefab social housing estates and residents say that the difference is like night and day. Uninsulated external walls can be like leaky dams, they just don't have the thermal performance that they should. As for the affordability of an EV for this household, there's no need to be afraid of buying secondhand, especially if you do your research [& Sarah's not afraid of that] and look for those coming out of the company leasehold fleet after their 3-5yr lease agreements have ended. There's nothing wrong with a well maintained 2ndhand EV and it dovetails nicely into Sarah's efficiency ethos as it is a prime example of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - the 3 R's in other words. Company vehicle leasehold fleets are usually well maintained. Sara in her continuing endeavours to convince her other half to sell the old dinosaur juice guzzler in favour of an EV, might do well to point out to to her the difference in the total cost of ownership or TCO; pretty much like night and day.
I'm quite surprised that your guest, Sarah, and her wife, didn't think to do a full external insulation wrap as we are beginning to do in the UK. Admittedly it's not cheap, but the long-term benefits from an energy and comfort perspective are enormous; their energy requirements should drop considerably more if this was done. Our local Council did this to several of their post-WWII prefab social housing estates and residents say that the difference is like night and day. Uninsulated external walls can be like leaky dams, they just don't have the thermal performance that they should.
As for the affordability of an EV for this household, there's no need to be afraid of buying secondhand, especially if you do your research [& Sarah's not afraid of that] and look for those coming out of the company leasehold fleet after their 3-5yr lease agreements have ended. There's nothing wrong with a well maintained 2ndhand EV and it dovetails nicely into Sarah's efficiency ethos as it is a prime example of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - the 3 R's in other words. Company vehicle leasehold fleets are usually well maintained. Sara in her continuing endeavours to convince her other half to sell the old dinosaur juice guzzler in favour of an EV, might do well to point out to to her the difference in the total cost of ownership or TCO; pretty much like night and day.