Electric car & charging

Kim_kim

sillygoose wrote: »

Meanwhile I will swan around in my big SUV paying £220 a MONTH less tax than most other people in theirs.. and nothing is going to stop me feeling bad about that

What do you mean by £220 less a month?
Do you think you will save that on fuel (& fuel is mostly tax)?
My current SUV is 31 MPG.
What did you get off your electric charge daily & what MPG did you get when ran out & changed to petrol?
What model have you gone for :-)
I love the 4 with the parking camera & the heating app for frosty mornings :-). But it's a lot of money for those two toys!
Wasn't bothered about the other toys.
I liked the black, but my daughter thinks I should get white.

sillygoose

AdrianC wrote: »

Yes, hybrids are. The entire concept is flawed.

4.7m 4wd 200bhp, £30 a month tax instead of £230. Doesn't feel flawed to me!

But yes I do know what you mean and anyone buying one of these for Green or fuel economy reasons is likely to be disappointed, it is what it is, a legal 'tax dodge' There are many more to come. Mercedes are doing a C330 with a big petrol engine and just enough battery/motor to get a low CO2 rating. I doubt if these will get plugged in ever!

Kim_kim

sillygoose wrote: »

4.7m 4wd 200bhp, £30 a month tax instead of £230. Doesn't feel flawed to me!

But yes I do know what you mean and anyone buying one of these for Green or fuel economy reasons is likely to be disappointed, it is what it is, a legal 'tax dodge' There are many more to come. Mercedes are doing a C330 with a big petrol engine and just enough battery/motor to get a low CO2 rating. I doubt if these will get plugged in ever!

My reason for looking at this car was mainly fuel economy.
I thought it was an economical on fuel SUV?
I thought I could do most of my short daily driving on the £1 overnight electric charge?
For the longer journeys I do once a week or so, I thought it might still be a tad cheaper than my current 31 MPG.

sillygoose

Kim_kim wrote: »

What do you mean by £220 less a month?
Mine is a company car so I pay company car tax on it. A typical 4wd SUV would cost me £200 to £250 a month in tax as its based on CO2. As the PHEV is only rated 44g/km I will only be taxed at 5% of the value. (I also get tax relief as I have to contribute towards the lease so net tax will be little)
Do you think you will save that on fuel (& fuel is mostly tax)?
My current SUV is 31 MPG.
My current diesel SUV does between 28mpg and 40mpg depending on how late I am! I don't pay for my fuel so not too bothered but speaking to many owners worse case on long trip the PHEV may do 30mpg but many get 40mpg, and petrol is cheaper than diesel too
What did you get off your electric charge daily & what MPG did you get when ran out & changed to petrol?
Don't know.. car arrives tomorrow! didn't measure on test drive days, had too much fun driving it.
What model have you gone for :-)
I love the 4 with the parking camera & the heating app for frosty mornings :-). But it's a lot of money for those two toys!
Wasn't bothered about the other toys.
GX4H apart from the app (can't wait) the 4 has electric based heating, the 3 only from the hot petrol engine. The 4 can heat using charge from the battery so can run without the engine, its very quick to warm up too. The 3 always has to run the engine for heat. A lot of people finding this kills the fuel economy hopes in cold months.
The 4 electric tailgate was great, especially in the rain as it can be lifted and do all its dripping before you get near it. Also the headlights, the HID's in the 4 are astonishing makes night driving totally different compared to the ordinary ones in the 3
I liked the black, but my daughter thinks I should get white.

White.. its free! (back to the first point about company car tax, more cost extras I add the more tax I pay)

sillygoose

Kim_kim wrote: »

My reason for looking at this car was mainly fuel economy.
I thought it was an economical on fuel SUV?
I thought I could do most of my short daily driving on the £1 overnight electric charge?
For the longer journeys I do once a week or so, I thought it might still be a tad cheaper than my current 31 MPG.

Yes it will be cheaper on fuel. Just don't expect 148mpg.

Even if it only does your journey one way on electric, you don't bother charging there then petrol on the way back at 40mpg your still well in the lead. Looked at realistically like this you won't be disappointed.

But you can see why most of these cars are going to company car drivers for tax reasons, yet the car is marketed strongly as this eco wonder, its not its true purpose. That said in the right conditions it can be very, very fuel efficient too.

Kim_kim

Thank you SillyGoose.
Let me know what MPG you get on yours if you can.
Thanks for the heating clarification.
Are you saying if I get the 3 I will have to use the petrol engine on cold mornings & not have the option of electric?
It's got to be at least 5 months of the year the heating is on, at least for a while. I didn'tunderstand that from my test drive - thanks for pointing that out. Yes it does change the picture as thats where I would get my fuel savings that 18 mile round trip to work. If I had to use petrol - no saving!

Spicy_McHaggis

sillygoose wrote: »

Yes it will be cheaper on fuel. Just don't expect 148mpg.

Even if it only does your journey one way on electric, you don't bother charging there then petrol on the way back at 40mpg your still well in the lead. Looked at realistically like this you won't be disappointed.

But you can see why most of these cars are going to company car drivers for tax reasons, yet the car is marketed strongly as this eco wonder, its not its true purpose. That said in the right conditions it can be very, very fuel efficient too.

No way will you get that.

sillygoose

Kim_kim wrote: »

Thank you SillyGoose.
Let me know what MPG you get on yours if you can.
Thanks for the heating clarification.
Are you saying if I get the 3 I will have to use the petrol engine on cold mornings & not have the option of electric?
It's got to be at least 5 months of the year the heating is on, at least for a while. I didn'tunderstand that from my test drive - thanks for pointing that out. Yes it does change the picture as thats where I would get my fuel savings that 18 mile round trip to work. If I had to use petrol - no saving!

Hi,
Yes the 3 is £5000 cheaper not just because of less toys you see but also stuff under the bonnet you don't.

The 3 is like any other car, you jump in turn it on and if you want any heat the petrol engine starts straight away and when its warm then you get some heat ( the heat is taken from the hot engine). Yes it will use petrol but the car will run the engine quite slow so it will use less than if it was driving the car - that is still done by the battery/motors you have charged up overnight. On the plus side any spare power will contribute to help pushing the car and adding charge to the battery as you go.

The 4 has an electric heater instead that can run off the batteries, this is why the remote control is possible. It starts to heat straight away and if your car is still plugged in when you remote switch the heating on and leave it a while the charger can replace the charge used to warm up the car. You can drive off warm and without the engine running.

For your 18 mile round trip I would even worry about charging at work as you should do all or worst case most of on charge. If you had a 4 you could probably go a very long time without visiting a petrol station.

One other thing, the petrol engine does kick at all times if you want fast acceleration but then stops when you ease off the pedal so not much fuel use in all cases but I found for for typical slow commuter traffic and dual carriage way up to 75 mph you can run electric easily.

smitchy73

A friend of mine's drives a Vauxhall Ampera, he drives around 30 miles from home to work on one charge, then charges whilst at work, and drives the journey back home on the top up, he rarely uses petrol except if he has a longer journey to make, his lifetime mpg in two years sits at around 500mpg, this is someone who uses the electric only to the full use.

I drive a Nissan Leaf and compared to a VW Golf Bluemotion I save around £4000 per year over 20k miles, with a monthly car payment and 'fuel', both had free road tax, my car payment is a lot less and not paying £150 per month in diesel, compared to about £40pm on electric.

smitchy73

AdrianC wrote: »

Because every time you plug in to a public charging point, somebody else pays for your electricity. It won't last, of course.



Probably better not to ask where the electricity comes from.
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
Oh, look - 70% fossil at the moment.

On your first point, in England it is now mostly pay per charge. In Scotland at the moment it is still free in 'most' places

On your second point, if you charge at home and you are on a green tariff, then it truly can be zero emission!