Buying a Hybrid or Electric car - advice required please

geek84

Hi Folks

I am thinking of buying a new car and am considering either buying an electric or hybrid car.

Can someone please be kind enough to explain the difference between the two and what things to consider in order to make my choice. Or at the end of the day, would you advice just to buy a petrol engine car until the electric/hybrid cars become a bit more popular?

At present, I have got an ordinary petrol engine small family car.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Yolina

Fully electric: needs to be plugged in to charge (a dedicated charging point is recommended to avoid putting too much load on your home circuit - I think there are grants available for that), and for now limited autonomy so OK as long as you don't need to do long trips

Hybrid: you have 2 engines, one petrol and one electric, so no need to plug it in to charge. Depending on how you're driving and the type of road, the car will use: electric only, petrol only or both engines at the same time.


* Long post warning *

I am the proud owner of a shiny new Yaris hybrid (yes, I know brand new is not very MSE but I paid off my mortgage a few years ago, so decided to save up for a brand new car for once )

It's a rather neat little thing. A bit strange at first with the auto CVT gearbox and the rather efficient regenerative braking. It's obviously fantastic around town and when stuck in traffic (which, being in London, is quite often) and ok for motorway. I come from a 1.6 Peugeot 206 so I was a bit surprised that I actually liked the hybrid - not as much power as my old car but a fair amount of torque, the steering is *very* light though which does take a bit of getting used to.

My MPG isn't quite amazing yet (best so far is a 66.5mpg trip, otherwise I'm mostly around the 55mpg mark). However that should improve when 1) everything has bedded in (after about 1000 miles or so) 2) I have learnt how to get the most out of it and 3) spring comes round (the system is less efficient at lower ambient temperatures)

Bonus: I get free road tax and congestion charge exemption (0.79g/km for my model)

Toyota have a 5 warranty for the hybrid components and 8 years for the rest so it should last a while (and given how long the Prius has been around, I'm not expecting any issues really)

I'd suggest you go round dealerships and test-drive some hybrids/electric cars and see if you like them or not.

Brand new, the Yaris hybrid is roughly 1.5k more than the equivalent petrol version so up to you to decide if it's worth it for you. Depending on the size of car you need, and if you don't want to go brand new, there's some second-hand Prius and Auris about.

My decision to go for a Toyota rather than another make for a hybrid was based on the fact that they have been doing it for a long time and their HSD system has proven to be very reliable, whilst other manufacturers are just now trying to catch up with it all.

reeac

geek84 wrote: »

Hi Folks

I am thinking of buying a new car and am considering either buying an electric or hybrid car.

Can someone please be kind enough to explain the difference between the two and what things to consider in order to make my choice. Or at the end of the day, would you advice just to buy a petrol engine car until the electric/hybrid cars become a bit more popular?

At present, I have got an ordinary petrol engine small family car.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Depends upon what type of motoring you do. Pure electric cars are charged from the mains and have a range between charges of no more than 100 miles [in round numbers]. Hybrids have an internal combustion engine to back up and so there is no battery-imposed limit on range.

Pure electric cars have very low "fuel" costs but battery life is a biggish question mark and might offset the low fuel costs. Hybrids have been around long enough for battery-related costs to be available and no doubt available via a bit of Googling.

My guess at the present time is that unless you are sure that you only ever want to do shortish journeys then pure electric is unsuitable particularly for a money saving person, giving their excessive costs. Hybrids, because of regenerative braking, make best sense for town stop-start driving - on the open road they become essentially the same as a conventionally powered vehicle.

Overall I think that a small conventional hatchback, either diesel for big annual mileages or petrol for smaller [less than maybe 12,000miles pa.] is still the best bet. They've been refined over the past 30 years or so and, owing to a surplus of production capacity, there's plenty of competition between manufacturers so quality, economy and warranties have all improved. Hybrids and pure electric cars are still evolving.

TonyMMM

I have a Honda Jazz hybrid .... really like it.

Averages around 64mpg depending on driving style .... and if you are gentle you can get up to 70mpg quite easily. My best is 81mpg on a 20 mile trip in town traffic.

johnnyreggae

On Saturday was the Brighton London Future Car Run which is 54 miles - one of the latest all-electric cars from one of the major manufacturers reckoned the only way he'd not run out of electricity was by not turning the radio on and suffering his passenger singing !

Yolina

TonyMMM wrote: »

I have a Honda Jazz hybrid .... really like it.

Averages around 64mpg depending on driving style .... and if you are gentle you can get up to 70mpg quite easily. My best is 81mpg on a 20 mile trip in town traffic.

I haven't quite adapted my driving style to hybrid yet :rotfl: but it will come I'm sure. Still, I find stealth mode to be thoroughly enjoyable.

forgotmyname

Electric cars = limited range do you drive more than 50 miles? Its probably not for you. Also expensive.

Hybrid mixed bag./ There are cars out there that cost half as much and work out better value for money.

worried_jim

geek84 wrote: »

Hi Folks

I am thinking of buying a new car and am considering either buying an electric or hybrid car.

Can someone please be kind enough to explain the difference between the two and what things to consider in order to make my choice. Or at the end of the day, would you advice just to buy a petrol engine car until the electric/hybrid cars become a bit more popular?

At present, I have got an ordinary petrol engine small family car.

Thanks in advance for your response.

albionrovers

Honda Insight Hybrid, very pleased with it, not least because big Jez Clarkson hates it with a passion.
The electric engine charges via the energy built up via the braking system so no need to ever plug it in. No idea how this will play out in the 2nd hand market though when things start to go wrong?

UncleZen

I see the Ali Hussain article has been published on here by a poster yet again.
DYOR, that article its not comparing like with like and doest stand up to scruitiny.

worried_jim

UncleZen wrote: »

I see the Ali Hussain article has been published on here by a poster yet again.
DYOR, that article its not comparing like with like and doest stand up to scruitiny.

Why not? ? ?