How much to live on

middlewife

Good luck, zapmap can do route planning for you, and show real time information. Always have a plan b charger in case plan a is unavailable and personally I charge when I'm down to 30%.

You have a lovely day for it which will help with range and not having to stand in the rain. I've done Reading to Falmouth several times around 230 miles and reading to Lincoln around 170 miles. Regularly did reading to Bristol when mum was alive.

If paying contactless, make a small purchase using your PIN so your card isn't blocked at the charger.

Good luck!

QrizB

Today however I need to do a relatively long journey. I shall update on any potential range anxiety later!

I'm a passenger with Mrs QrizB right now, approx 100 miles into a 240-mile trip in her 120-ish-mile range EV.

I expect we'll charge twice. No big deal. Even allowing for 60p/kWh public charging it'll still be half the overall cost of doing the same trip in my diesel.

Organgrinder

Well first half of journey complete. Lots of range left and amazingly when I move onto the new tariff it's working out at less than 2p a mile!

I'm a convert!

Pat38493

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976770#Comment_81976770

I also recommend the Octopus Electroverse app - it works with or without CarPlay to find chargers that are currently available. Also, when there are plunge pricing days on Octopus Agile, they often announce discounts of up to 25% on public charging at some of the providers.

Another advantage is that if you have a compatible car you can set it up to instantly charge so that as soon as you plug your car in, it starts charging - no faff with apps etc (possibly this function only works with certain charge providers, but it worked for me the other day).

The only downside is that Gridserve is not part of it, so the chargers it finds are usually not at motorway service stations, but once you know how to use the app you can usually find chargers with only a minute or two of detour. Most of the time there is a Costa or some kind of fast food or pub at the chargers anyway.

The car technology has moved on a lot in the last few years - the other day I had reverse range anxiety whilst at the change stop! By the time we had visited the facilities and grabbed a snack and drink, the car was overcharged and I ended up on 50% when I reached home!

Organgrinder

Well any range anxiety disappeared after the first half of the journey. Total distance travelled 124 miles. Fair bit left on the battery (range isn't huge .... approx 195 miles). Had Aircon on and still averaged over 4 miles per kWh - didn't use maximum energy recovery mode either. Obviously in winter I won't get anything like this but it bodes well.

So at the moment I thoroughly recommend them. My advice is do not buy new - the depreciation is horrendous. I picked up one under 2 years old and paid only 36% of the original price. How anyone would have paid £38,000 for a brand new one is simply beyond me.

Running costs. Insurance is higher. How much obviously depends on the model. Fuel costs will depend on tariff but expect between 2p and 8p per mile. I'll be switching tariff this week and my fuel bill will plummet from £80 a month to £15 but this is offset by a £15 increase in my day time electricity costs. Road tax is the same.

So a significant annual saving but....don't forget to include the installation of a home charger. Mine is £800 for the charger and the installation.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977557#Comment_81977557

Apart from the costs, how is it to drive? Electric cars have a reputation for fast acceleration, but when I had one for the day it was not really noticeable. Then I realised it was in economy mode. When I worked out how to switch it to Power/Sports mode it was like a different car. However the battery went down a lot quicker !

Organgrinder

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977639#Comment_81977639

I like it. I don't use the sports mode. Too twitchy for me.

But I do like the instant feedback and modify my driving style accordingly.

My wife says it's more a case of me trying to save money though.

Pat38493

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977639#Comment_81977639

My wife is on her 2nd electric car and she loves it - in fact it gave here a lot more confidence on the road because of the instant torque response - she is not a very confident driver generally due to an accident long ago so this has been really helpful. To be fair though it was also her first non manual gear change car so that will be part of it as well.

Clowance

For me, currently running a 15 year old small Toyota petrol with 150,000 on the clock, any cheap electric car would be way out of my budget and the battery for such an old electric would be useless for any distance. I also worry that once we are all forced onto electric cars, the government will put the price of charging elsewhere than your house to the same as petrol or diesel. What do other people think?

QrizB

I also worry that once we are all forced onto electric cars, the government will put the price of charging elsewhere than your house to the same as petrol or diesel. What do other people think?

That would be a nice change.

If you're comparing a diesel car getting 50mpg to an EV getting 3mpkWh, public charging is already often more expensive than buying diesel.

With diesel at £1.80 a litre, 50mpg is ~16p per mile.

If public charging at 70p/kWh, 3mpkWh is ~23p per mile.