Eating a Vegetarian Elephant

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, good planning! We didn't make any mortgage OPs with Mr Cheery's lump sum either and I've not been thrown off the board (yet) 😂

Chiglepig

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, good planning! We didn't make any mortgage OPs with Mr Cheery's lump sum either and I've not been thrown off the board (yet) 😂

I won't tell anyone CD!

themadvix

Re EVs, you might want to take a look at Fully Charged on YouTube. It’sa series all about electric vehicles, with reviews and a mini series by Maddie Moate (children’s tv presenter, she’s impossibly happy!) about getting an EV for the first time.

We love our Audi A3 e-tron but would probably go for a full electric now. A hybrid costs considerably more than the ICE version though, but it is far more efficient, especially if you usually do short journeys - our mpg is almost always over 100 because we can do ~20 miles on electric which covers a lot of our travelling.

Don’t be fooled by Honda’s ‘self-charging’ hybrids - all this means is the petrol engine charges the motor, it’s nowhere near as environmentally friendly as a plug-in.

MissMoneyManager

Hi Chiglepig,

I am fortunate that I get a company car with my job which is only used for personal use I drive around 12,000 miles per year.  I have chosen hybrid/full electric due to the very minimal company car tax at the moment.  I had a G0lf GTE for 2 years which was plug in hybrid. The advertised range for using electric only was around 30 miles but in reality, was closer to 20 (I think in general the advertised range is more realistic these days).  For all electric vehicles, the range is quite a bit longer in warmer weather because the battery is already warm (this is very non tech speak!). In the winter I would need around £45 in fuel once every 4 weeks and then every 6-7 weeks in summer so despite the low range it saved a lot in fuel costs. For the past year I have had a Ren@ult Zoe this is not a "cool" car like the G0lf but I am more interested in money saving than aesthetics and I much prefer it.  It is very comfortable and quiet plus there are more mod cons available for a lesser price. I see you had previous bad experience with this brand but so far so good. We have even driven from Suffolk to Cornwall in it but would not recommend long journeys until you are used to public charge points as the speed can vary enormously. Also if you do many long-distance journeys, I would recommend getting a car with rapid charging capabilities, mine does not as it was an optional extra. Getting charge points installed can be very expensive but if an electric car does not come with a 3-point plug charger these can be bought online and does not need to be branded from the manufacturer as they are far more expensive.  The Zoe takes around 24 hrs to charge via 3 pin but that would give you between perhaps 180-220 miles depending on time of year so if you don’t do many miles you wouldn’t necessarily need a charge point and if you were to go on a long journey you obviously set off fully charged and use public points on the way.  Other benefits are better parking spaces in car parks that offer charging. Some places offer free charging and pay for parking others offer free parking and pay for charging etc but I’ve generally found that you save money when out and about.  I’m sorry I can’t comment too much on the price of these cars they are generally quite a bit more expensive than their non-electric counterparts, but I really would be reluctant to go back to a petrol/diesel so personally I would recommend full electric provided the price was something you are happy with.

MissMM x

Chiglepig

Brilliant advice @themadvix, thanks.

Our commute to work  (both in the same building) is just under 20 miles perday, but only for about seven months of the year. We currently get a discount on our parking permit for car sharing, but all electrics are free (at the moment), so something to consider. Our longest regular journeys (pre-covid) are to the theatre about twice a month (60 mile round trip. And if I go to visit my parents, every tiny village in Brittany seems to have a couple of charging points and its around 100-110 miles from the port (we're only 15 miles from the port on this side). So all in all, the sums for an electric might add up. Not going to rush though.

themadvix

Miss MM, I periodically look at Zoes secondhand as my car is still a gas guzzler (I try to use DH's whenever possible, but sometimes he wants to use it! 😮). I'd definitely have one. 

Chiglepig, I'd be wary of thinking that you can charge at all the charging points you see in France (or elsewhere). Often a lot can be out of service and depending on the car you get they may not be suitable as cars have different connectors and can take different kWh-ages. Newer cars are likely to be type-2 (plug type) and 3-phase (electricity type... relates to power available) which is what you want really - they can charge faster, can use more of the charging points and I think are what is becomnig standard. I think this is covered in the Maddie Moate Fully Charged series. There's an app you use called Zap Map to search for and filter charging points to see the ones that are relevant (and the car system should be able to navigate to them too, but it might not always be as up-to-date as Zap Map. (Sorry, there's a lot of research to be done!)

Re home charging, we got a charge point installed because it's much quicker than 3-pin. For our small 20 mile range it's not necessary in terms of being able to get the juice into the car fast enough, but lots of energy companies (esp. green ones, we use Octopus) offer  tariffs suited to charging overnight - we pay 5p/kWh for electricity between 12.30 and 4.30 am, so we charge overnight. If we didn't have the charger it would take longer than that period. There's a government grant available, which reduces the cost, but it's unlikely you won't have to pay anything towards it because it depends on your set up (for us, the charging point earth wasn't an option - concrete below, so we had to have a special breaker? box fitted which cost a bit more etc.). If we move, we'll likely take the charging point with us unless the new owners want us to leave it (and there'd be cost to that - unless we're here for longer than a couple more years).

Chiglepig

@themadvix, @MissMoneyManager, thank you so much, both of you for taking the time to write in so much detail.

I actually loved driving our Renault Megane (and the Megane Sport DH had before), it was much nicer to drive than the Focus, which is more of a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin sort of car, it's just that it spent so much time on the side of the road (bought it when it was 18months old in 2008 and it had to be scrapped in 2012) I wouldn't risk it again. Now, my ancient VW Polo was an absolute legend!

I'll be putting DH on the research - now he only works two days a week, he has the time.

Chiglepig

What a relief, the sun is shining!

And . . . Mr, Chigle's lump sum arrived in the bank account, so he needs to get it somewhere it can earn it's keep  

I told him not not to do anything silly - he said "Silly is subjective"

greent

Whoop to the money arriving! 💰👏🥳

Chiglepig

PBs topped up to full allowance without me saying anything, apprently he really wanted to spend some money and doing that felt like spending without actually spending