Electric motoring + bangernomics

britishmoneysaver

Hello all,

I'm not a usual poster, sometimes reading other peoples threads for advice and stuff! I am posting here regarding motoring; I plan to be driving soon, and look to cut costs from every angle really.

I note that there is a sort of "bangernomics vs newer cars" discussion on this forum. What has not been mentioned anywhere is the benefits of electric cars - great for the environment, and cheap to run. The only downside is that you can't find many cheaper examples.

Upon researching on the internet, I have come up with the idea of - although time consuming, and possibly initially costly - of buying a 'banger', fitting it with an electric motor. The benefits would surely be that there would be no road tax, and sub-1p a mile running costs, although converting a car to electric does cost about £2-3k.

What does anyone think of this?

[Deleted User]

Surely they aren't so great for the environment if the electric used to power the car came from a coal fuelled power station. :rolleyes:

Just my 2p

Lum

Electric cars aren't that cheap to run and any claimed environmental benefits are, quite frankly, lies since the vast majority of electricity produced in the UK comes from fossil fuels of some sort.

Some of the greenies think that we can survive purely on renewable energy if everyone just cut down their power consumption, personally I don't think this will ever happen but even if it did, that idea is hardly compatible with the idea of everyone running electric cars now is it? Maybe if people stop moaning about nuclear power then an electric car might become a clean option.

If you really really want to try this and do it on the cheap, I'd start by buying a car with a knackered engine, such as a Rover, as a non-running car will sell for a lot less than a runner, but you're going to end up shelling out 3 grand plus, have a massive electricity bill and only be able to go about 200 miles (on a good day, downhill, with the wind behind you) before needing to be home and charge overnight.

This may be fine if you live somewhere like London and only use the car for commuting and shopping, but in that case you may as well just get a second hand Gee Wiz or something.

You'd be better off getting a more normal car and doing an LPG conversion

britishmoneysaver

Some very valid points - I'll presume it's not such a good idea after all..

I was only looking for something to do maybe 40+ miles a charge in, I just don't want a G-wiz because I just don't like them..

SailorSam

I have'nt got any figures but i did'nt think the cost of recharging electric vehicles was that great, certainly not as polluting as burning petrol in a normal car.
What you will find expensive, probably more than an electric motor, i the cost of batteries.
It is'nt just a normal car battery, check that out before you start buying a car to convert.

Lum

SailorSam wrote: »

certainly not as polluting as burning petrol in a normal car.

Yes it is, it's just that the pollution happens far away from where you happen to be at the time, so you can be all smug about how green and environmentally friendly you're being. See also: Toyota Prius drivers (the ones who didn't just buy them to avoid the Con. Charge) who get worse MPG than the likes of the VW Fox.

Jakg

Surely a car engine is much much less efficient that a coal generator...

hewhoisnotintheknow

what about a horse?

Lum

Jakg wrote: »

Surely a car engine is much much less efficient that a coal generator...

Don't forget transmission losses in the national grid (I'll let a qualified electrician quantify that one), losses converting from 240V AC to 12V DC (even the best PSUs are only about 85% efficient), losses in charging the battery and indeed electric motors aren't 100% efficient either.

britishmoneysaver

Surely there must be some way of having a car, however small, with minimal running costs, inc road tax/depreciation/maintenance etc.. I just presumed that electric was the way to go, as even LPG still costs 60p a litre or so, and apparently you lose 20% of your fuel efficiency, so in real terms it's more like 80p a litre compared to petrol..

And I cycle everywhere, but I plan to be doing eighty mile round trips, as I regularly travel somewhere which is forty miles away.

barrymung

Reliant once made a four-wheeled electric car. I believe it was either a Fox or a Kitten with an electric motor in it and some large batteries under the floor.

They didn't make very many but suspect there are still a few knocking around as they had GRP bodies which didn't rust.

Most of the rest of the car was standard Reliant stuff-cheap, reliable and easy to repair.

I suspect that you could buy one of these cars for ~£500 to £1000....if you could find one.