5 grand grant off electric car Jan 2011

Shimrod

Do you really want to take the 3 year £14K depreciation hit on an electric car at the moment? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11112820
Even the manufacturers (Mitsubishi in this article) acknowledge that the batteries are expensive, and are likely to have a relatively short life.
In the comparision on the BBC website, the electric car only appears cheaper because it includes the congestion charge - not applicable to most of the country!
If you want to do a long journey, you either have to have another car or hire one - both additional costs that again don't show for the electric car.

If this is a money saving exercise, you'd be much better off with a frugal small engined petrol or diesel car - buy one a year old to save even more cash. If you feel strongly about 'saving the earth', then look into the environmental impact of assembling and subsequent disposal of the battery first.

jaydeeuk1

I'd give it another 10 years before thinking about getting one of these. Its like computing where technology in computing power has exploded and we have ever more efficient engines too, battery technology has never kept pace. And I can't see that improving in the next 5 years or so.

novazombie

Shimrod wrote: »

Do you really want to take the 3 year £14K depreciation hit on an electric car at the moment?

Really oh great. So are you saying I can buy a 3 year old EV for £1000? Because they will be £15K new after the grant!

motorguy

novazombie wrote: »

Really oh great. So are you saying I can buy a 3 year old EV for £1000? Because they will be £15K new after the grant!

I take it you didnt bother reading any of the posts after your original one?

Lum

Shimrod wrote: »

If this is a money saving exercise, you'd be much better off with a frugal small engined petrol or diesel car - buy one a year old to save even more cash. If you feel strongly about 'saving the earth', then look into the environmental impact of assembling and subsequent disposal of the battery first.

Don't forget that most of that electricity will come from burning oil or gas, and if there is a massive spike in demand, it'll be the oil and gas power stations that have to ramp up production to meet that demand since solar and wind outputs are fixed by the environment. Alternatively they will put electricity prices up to try and reduce demand.

Either way you will still be burning fossil fuels. Not that that will stop all the sanctimonious morons from acting all smug about their purchase because they aren't causing any fossil fuels to be burnt within a 5 yard radius of their drivers seat.

Shimrod

Lum wrote: »

Don't forget that most of that electricity will come from burning oil or gas, and if there is a massive spike in demand, it'll be the oil and gas power stations that have to ramp up production

It's more than ramping up production - the UK would need to have a sizeable building programme of new electricity generation facilities if we all wanted to have electric cars. But the same people who want to drive electric cars don't want new coal fired power stations (even if they scrub the co2), don't want nuclear, don't want windmills (spoils the view), don't want wave generation (destroys the local environment). So where do they think the power is going to come from?

Lum

Shimrod wrote: »

So where do they think the power is going to come from?

It comes from a little magical socket in the wall that contains pixies and fairydust. Power stations are just useless blots on the landscape that do nothing at all and are built by evil rich corporations built by Cyrill Sneer from The Raccoons for the sole purpose of destroying our planet in order to further the owner's nefarious schemes.

Comstock

sassy-one wrote: »

Oh yes, the government trying to get people to move over to electric cars, as well as putting the costs of everything else up!

This will go the same way as the scrape-age grant went on cars, okay for the rich but the poorer will get poorer.
Now a lot of people can't afford a car because there are not enough cheap run a rounds about under £500 any more!

I won't be entertaining one!!

I agree. Scrappage and the electric car grant are basically welfare benefits for the rich.


If you are going to subsidise anything, subsidise some decent quality bicycles (including electric ones). They are really green.

novazombie

Looking at the amount of EVs coming out next few years, I think we will be seeing a lot more on the roads in the future.

Comstock

novazombie wrote: »

Looking at the amount of EVs coming out next few years, I think we will be seeing a lot more on the roads in the future.

And that's great. But they shouldn't be state subsidised.