Considering an electric car?

psarb

Does anyone have any experience of owning/charging an electric car where they don't have a driveway? We park on the street outside our house and for this reason at the moment can't see how we could easily own an electric car, much as we'd love to make the switch...

DrEskimo

psarb said:

Does anyone have any experience of owning/charging an electric car where they don't have a driveway? We park on the street outside our house and for this reason at the moment can't see how we could easily own an electric car, much as we'd love to make the switch...

Yes I don't have a driveway and owned one for 18months now.

I use a combination of public chargers, but mostly charge at my parents house. Bought a charge point for about £350 and had it installed by my FiL, who happens to be a licensed electrician (very handy!). Before lockdown I was doing a 80mile round commute to Oxford but there were chargers at my offices, so used those.

Basically it very much depends on your usage, your typical patterns and what the infrastructure is like around you. Also depends what car you buy, as a larger capacity battery will potentially negate the need to charge every day, but again depends on your usage. 

Me currently...I work from home now 100% so I barely need to charge my 41kWh Zoe every 2 weeks. I see my parents/family on a Sunday so just top it up whilst I eat my Sunday roast!

Herzlos

psarb said:

Does anyone have any experience of owning/charging an electric car where they don't have a driveway? We park on the street outside our house and for this reason at the moment can't see how we could easily own an electric car, much as we'd love to make the switch...

What's your general driving patter like? Where does the car get parked?

Is there charging at a car park near your work, shop or live?

Fletchasketch

Has anyone leased an EV via the salary sacrifice scheme? With the 0% BIK it almost sounds too good to be true. I.e. brand new car with all insurance, servicing and charging costs for £160 per month given the tax saving. Would be good to hear of anyone leasing via their employer. Thanks. 

DrEskimo

Fletchasketch said:

Has anyone leased an EV via the salary sacrifice scheme? With the 0% BIK it almost sounds too good to be true. I.e. brand new car with all insurance, servicing and charging costs for £160 per month given the tax saving. Would be good to hear of anyone leasing via their employer. Thanks. 

It does seem a good deal, however when I looked into the costs it was still more expensive than owning a used EV outright. 

I think a Tesla Model 3 was around £500/month as a HRT, which to me still seems too expensive....I can't imagine a used model costing as much as £6k per year.....

ElefantEd

Not having a driveway or garage where you can be sure of charging an EV overnight is the only real remaining obstacle to owning one (money aside). I would be very reluctant to have an EV without a guaranteed charging point, and I am a big fan of EVs. The public charging infrastructure is ok but not 100% reliable - if only because you sometimes have to wait (inconvenient at best).