Anyone point getting an electric car if you do low mileage?

FreddieFrugal

This has made me think actually. Considering that the used prices for EVs now are very similar to standard powered cars. I'd consider replacing the wife's petrol fiat 500 with a city sized EV when the time comes.

It only ever does short trips so charging would be no problem every couple days over night.

Do the plugs lock onto the car so they can't be removed without key? Would be major pain to find some kid's mucked around and unplugged it.

prowla

As it stands, I would think that (going back to the thread title) electric cars are precisely suited to low mileage.

Their downsides are range and time to charge. I also wonder about the residual value, once the batteries have expired.

Their clean credentials are debatable, as the power they use is generated somewhere, but at least it's not fumes on the road. For the meanwhile, I'll stick with my older car.

FreddieFrugal

prowla wrote: »

Their clean credentials are debatable, as the power they use is generated somewhere, but at least it's not fumes on the road. For the meanwhile, I'll stick with my older car.

As you say, suggesting that they are ZERO emission is incorrect, as although they may not directly emit CO2, CO2 is still generated in the creation of the energy that charges them. They're still a good 1/2 of the emissions level of a standard car once that is factored in.

And obviously considerably cheaper for the owner in terms of fuel.

bigjl

Richard53 wrote: »

Serious question: a lot of people mention 'free' charging points. As I believe that nothing in life is truly free (well, nothing concerned with motoring, anyway), who is paying for the 'free' electricity at the 'free' charging points? If it's an employer offering it as a benefit, or a commercial organisation offering it as an inducement to visit and spend money, I have no problem with that. If it's public money, I am paying indirectly, and I am not impressed.

Tesla Rapid Charge Points are completely free (caveat is on the cheapest Tesla S you had to pay for free access as an upgrade but that may have changed now)

Tesla was also considering allowing other EVs to use his fast charging network as long as the other manufacturers didn't charge.

I looked seriously at the Tesla S as an alternative to an E Class for work, the fuel savings would have more Hanade up for the extra purchase price of the Tesla.

Though my concern was the rear legroom in the Tesla S, it is decent enough but the floor is quite high so it pushes passengers knees up towards their chest, a bit like in the back of a Nissan Pathfinder.

Used EV are also good value.

You can buy a 3yr old Leaf for £7500 if you look around.

Though I would have concerns with reliability as they age, as you can really only take it to the main dealer.

And some main dealer technicians are not the best.

I think for those living in a large Town or City that rarely go longer distances EVs will be the future.

After all you can easily rent a car for longer journeys.

But will an EV ever replace "Bangernomics" as the cheapest way to run a car?

Probably not for a while.

ElefantEd

Yes, the plugs lock on (you can set a switch so that this happens automatically, on a Leaf anyway). Again on a Leaf, you can unlock it by pressing a button on the remote.

It will be interesting to see how long the batteries retain their charging potential. I think that the first Leafs are about 5 years old (the period for which the batteries are guaranteed) so whether they deteriorate after this (or rather, how quickly) is a key issue for how sustainable they really are.

We use 100% green electricity so hopefully are minimising emissions. The rapids at motorway services and IKEA are done by Ecotricity so should also be emission free; I don't know about Local Authority chargers, probably they aren't. I suspect that in any case it is more efficient to generate electricity in power stations and transmit it around the country than to have lots of small individual, portable, power stations in cars. But I don't know for sure.

The_Groat_Counter

dannyrst wrote: »

The only problem with an EV at the moment is you have to plan your journeys. You can't just jump outside and drive somewhere if the car is still charging from the last journey. For this reason, I'd only consider one for a second car.

I looked into an EV on behalf of a couple of friends who make a fair number of shorter journeys, but they also make some longer journeys so if they had an EV it would only work if it was a second car - however they're just not in the business of having a second car so it's a no go. In the future when plug-in hybrids have developed more that might suit them and others like them.

FreddieFrugal

ElefantEd wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how long the batteries retain their charging potential. I think that the first Leafs are about 5 years old (the period for which the batteries are guaranteed) so whether they deteriorate after this (or rather, how quickly) is a key issue for how sustainable they really are.

Read that replacement battery costs just short of £5000, with £1000 taken off for return of the old battery. That's already a lot cheaper than figures given just a few years ago. Won't be too long hopefully until the cost will reduce further.

Think if the price was £1K-2K it would be more appealing to those buying a used car. Indeed my main concern is that in order to be able to afford an EV, I'd be looking at a second hand one, of course that means some of that time limit on the battery is already gone.

It's off putting if the cost of the new battery is almost the same as the cost of the car. Especially as the new battery is going into a car where all the other components are already several years old.

You'd just feel like trading it in, but it would be worthless. Still early days with these things. I'm sure one day soon the batteries will last up to a decade or more with decent capacity, and it won't be a problem

gzoom

So just been for a i3 test drive with my parent in-laws.

But the i3 is pretty pricy for what it is, going to look at a Zoe tomorrow, their annual millage is 6K, deprecation on their mini in the last 5 years has worked out at £200/month. With Zoe deals coming in at below that, and with a very small deposit, next to no running costs it's, they are sold on the idea getting an EV to replace their mini - They still do have an E-class Merc though, I'll be doing my best to convince them to replace that with a Tesla in a few years time....

Cannot have them getting on before me

ElefantEd

The_Groat_Counter wrote: »

I looked into an EV on behalf of a couple of friends who make a fair number of shorter journeys, but they also make some longer journeys so if they had an EV it would only work if it was a second car - however they're just not in the business of having a second car so it's a no go. In the future when plug-in hybrids have developed more that might suit them and others like them.

Nissan actually offer a solution to this. Basically you can borrow a petrol car from them for a couple of weeks a year if you need to make trips for which your electric car isn't suitable. We've never taken them up on this, so I don't know the details, but might be worth investigating. Of course, if it was for more than a couple of longer journeys it might not be available.

I should say that long trips aren't impossible in a Leaf, but you do have to plan a bit, and be prepared to stop every so often to recharge. The longest I've done is a couple of hundred miles each way (Berwick-Manchester), which was fine; I just had to stop for the loo/coffee more than I usually would!

gzoom

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Had a little go in a Toyota Mirai at Millbrook last week. Lovely car, nice inside, beautifully screwed together, very handsome, can be filled with fuel quickly, and 250 mile nominal range - and nothing but water out the back.

I wouldn't hold my breath for hydrogen fuel cell cars.

California the land of the ultimate well heeled tree hugger currently only has 9 (NINE) hydrogen stations to cover an area twice the size of the UK....

http://cafcp.org/toolkits/stations