Electric Car

pete428

here in northern ireland theres a couple in every mid sized town, theres ones in laybys and car parks on the main roads to belfast city. we have guys going to belfast weekly, its about 120 miles round trip. We head up fully charged, park up in a car park with a charge point, go to the meeting, and come back to a fully charged car. Also, in a cold, wet day i can turn the heating on from my phone whilst its still charging, so when i get into the car its nice and warm. If theres a lack of charge points in your area, thats unfortunate, cause I do think there great. yes you have to do alittle forward planning, but if your the type of driver that only puts a tenner of fuel in your car at a time, theres no difference, you'd have to find a petrol station to top-up.

neilmcl

topdaddy wrote: »

So to clarify; your post is to tell me Ive mistakenly said "rent" whereas I should have clearly stated leased? HUGE difference. I cannot appologise enough.*






* I dont.

I think his post was more to say that IF you did know something about the subject then you wouldn't have stated that it was somehow "suspect" to lease the battery.

In reality, given how battery technology could improve over the coming years leasing is actually a very good idea.

topdaddy_2

neilmcl wrote: »

I think his post was more to say that IF you did know something about the subject then you wouldn't have stated that it was somehow "suspect" to lease the battery.

In reality, given how battery technology could improve over the coming years leasing is actually a very good idea.

Good ideas do not discount it from being suspect practice.

neilmcl

topdaddy wrote: »

Good ideas do not discount it from being suspect practice.

So what's your reasoning for it being "suspect"?

To me, pros & cons of electric cars aside, it makes sound, commercial sense to market the car in this way.

Netwizard

pete428 wrote: »

its well spec'd out-fact

The smart phone controlling depends which spec you go for. This isn't available on all Nissan Leafs.

In the interests of fairness, A Ford Focus Studio is £13,995 brand new and is much better specced than the Nissan Leaf.

A new Vauxhall Astra Expression is £12,995 before any options but is still well specced compared to the Leaf.

A new Golf is £16,775 so £275 more to buy new, so i'll give you that one

Obviously Ireland is much more geared up for coping with electric cars, but in the UK at least, its a none starter for most people.

topdaddy_2

neilmcl wrote: »

So what's your reasoning for it being "suspect"?

To me, pros & cons of electric cars aside, it makes sound, commercial sense to market the car in this way.

The suspect part is that they charge you for the lease(not rent) of the batterys. So what does this do to second hand car prices? Is it an issue to transfer the lease(not rent) over? What happens in the event of a total loss incident/accident? Will performance be maintained along with the lease(not rent) cost? To name but a few considered in but a moment.

pete428

just read the ford focus studio review, only get it in 3 colours and bad re-sale value, and only additional extra looks to be alloy wheels.

there dosn't seem to be any real difference between the vaushall astra expression and the leaf.

i'll pass on giving a review for the golf, because i work for them.... lol.

looking at those 3 cars the astra looks best choice for selling price, but ill still stick up for the leaf, over the course of 3 years, i have no doubt it will have saved us a fortune in costs. also remember the leaf is an automatic car, were as the rest are manual.

I thought we were last to get sorted with charging points, when we first started with the leaf the only charge point was 6 miles away, although you can charge it from your house electrics, it takes about 8/9hours to charge that way. over the past 8/12 months there turning up everywhere over here.

F1F93

FWIW, I looked at the Renault ZOE and the clio last night. Both seem a similar sort of size. Based on discounts from Drivethedeal.com, the ZOE and the Clio seem a similar sort of price when you take into account government grants, as both came in at about £12K. (Yes, I know the Clio can be had for less, but it wasn't the same spec). This was without the battery rental.

Now consider the battery rental. £70 a month for 36+ months, doing less than 7500 miles a year, which comes to £840 a year.

Now consider the fuel for the petrol version:
A gallon of petrol will cost approx £6 (at 129.9ppl, the average in my area) and will last around 35 - 40 miles. So 7500 miles a year will use 185-215 gallons, costing £1100-£1300.

So you are at least £300 up before VED, which for me at least has gone up each year for a while. Yes, you have to charge the ZOE, but at £2 per 100 miles for a charge, that's still only £150, and chances are you won't always be charging it up at home.


Just to show that electric cars make sense for some!




EDIT:
After actually doing the maths, if you're considering the renault clio/ZOE, the ZOE will save you money if you do more than 4,291.1 miles a year. This includes the cost of electricity, battery hire, petrol and VED.

Guinness-Cat

Hi,

I got a Nissan leaf last June on an 18 month PCP deal, and am fairly happy that it's saving me money. It all depends on finding the right deal, and you commute.

Work and back for me is 55 miles, which it manages quite easily even in the winter with heater on etc.

We have even taken it on a weeks holiday to the Isle of Wight with no issues with family of four.

The rapid charging network is not coming on a lot at motorway service stations (thanks to Ecotricity) which makes longer journeys more do-able - although I admit I have only used them about 10 times since buying the car.

The battery doesn't need to be replaced as often as some may lead you to believe (top gear etc) Nissan warentee it for 5 years or 60000 miles - that may be where you have the numbers from, but battery issues only appear to be occurring in very hot climates (Arizona) and there are a lot of cars in the UK with significant mileage and no or very little battery degradation now.

My current PCP deal ends at the end of December, and I will probably be looking to replace with another leaf.

worried_jim

How much is the lease costing you each month?