EV, Hybrid or ICE?

Pixie5740

I'm returning to the UK in 2022 or more specifically Scotland.  Before moving overseas I sold my beloved Land Rover ( ) so I will be looking to get a new (not necessarily brand new just new to me.)

The Scottish government is offering interest free loans of up to £28,000 towards the purchase of an EV so I wonder if that is the way to go.  However, I do not have off-street parking at my home so will have to rely on public charging points.  This is not a massive deal (or is it) as there are public charging points within walking distance of both my home and the office. Even the village my parents live in has a public charging point and it is in the back of beyond.  I might eventually look to buying a new home with off-street parking but that is several years down the line.

Another option is to go for an ICE car whilst I still can and think about an EV if/when I eventually buy somewhere with off-street parking.  The final option is to go for a Hybrid but part of me thinks it is the worst of both worlds or is it the best of both?

I use my car for zipping round town, doing the shopping, transporting bikes, etc.  Every second month I usually do a longer drive from Aberdeen down to the Central Belt, Highlands or Western Isles.  I have had a look on Zap Map and it seems even places like Mull and Thurso have rapid and fast charging points so if I had a long (300 mile) range EV it might be ok.

What would the MSE motorists do?  Just buy a sub-£2,000 ICE vehicle or take the plunge and go electric?

Stubod

If I did not have my own guaranteed charging point on my own property I would not be going full EV....

Pixie5740

Stubod said:

If I did not have my own guaranteed charging point on my own property I would not be going full EV....

That is what is putting me off full EV.  Maybe I just stick with petrol for now. At some stage though all the people without off-street parking will have to move away from petrol and diesel cars. 

Keep_pedalling

Where sbouts in Scotland? 

Herzlos

With something like the long range MG5 EV coming in at about £27k and a range of about 250 miles, I'm not sure a hybrid would make much sense. Hybrids are great if you do a combination of lots of tiny drives followed by a few huge ones or charging is unreliable. We were looking at a hybrid but are just going to bite the bullet and go full EV.

But realistically if you can charge *near* home or work, then you'll presumably only need to do it weekly or so unless you do far above average mileage.

Even with an 80% fast charge you should still be able to make ~200ish mile legs without needing to recharge and you could probably do with stopping to stretch your legs every ~3ish hours anyway.

Aberdeen to Glasgow is only about 150 miles so you could do it without stopping.

It's a fairly big estate so you should be able to put bikes inside it or on a roof rack (though not all of the models have roof rack ratings and some have very low ratings so you'd need to check before committing).

Pixie5740

Keep_pedalling said:

Where sbouts in Scotland? 

The granite city (I would just have said Aberdeen but that is not enough characters for the forum).

Pixie5740

Herzlos said:

With something like the long range MG5 EV coming in at about £27k and a range of about 250 miles, I'm not sure a hybrid would make much sense. Hybrids are great if you do a combination of lots of tiny drives followed by a few huge ones or charging is unreliable. We were looking at a hybrid but are just going to bite the bullet and go full EV.

But realistically if you can charge *near* home or work, then you'll presumably only need to do it weekly or so unless you do far above average mileage.

Even with an 80% fast charge you should still be able to make ~200ish mile legs without needing to recharge and you could probably do with stopping to stretch your legs every ~3ish hours anyway.

Aberdeen to Glasgow is only about 150 miles so you could do it without stopping.

It's a fairly big estate so you should be able to put bikes inside it or on a roof rack (though not all of the models have roof rack ratings and some have very low ratings so you'd need to check before committing).

A hybrid seems to be a half way house and I'd be as well going petrol or full EV rather than an in between option.  I've only just started to look at the different electric cars available.  I had a look at the long range Tesla 3 but that is, unsurprisingly, ££££.  Then I looked at the more modest Hyundai Kona as I'm currently driving a Hyundai and rather like it.  The MG5 EV could be just the ticket though....lots more research required.

If only I could drive from Aberdeen to Glasgow without stopping.

Herzlos

Pixie5740 said:

If only I could drive from Aberdeen to Glasgow without stopping.

I couldn't either. My bladder is no match for most electrics cars ranges

castle96

My circs like yours. Am sticking with pertol as long as possible!

Petriix

Definitely don't go hybrid - a pointless waste of time, typically less economical than a diesel but really expensive to maintain.

I'd make a spreadsheet to weigh up the relative costs of an EV vs an ICE. In fact I did exactly that when making my purchase decision last year. My MG5 was projected to break even VS a 3 year old Golf estate over 7 years. However, my projections were based on quite a pessimistic residual value on the MG. In reality, the MG has only depreciated by ~ £1000 from new in 11 months.

Look at the total cost of ownership. I'd recommend the new MG ZS LR right now because it has even better range than the MG5 LR and is cheaper to lease (from £260 per month, 1+35 last time I checked). With that kind of battery, you'll only be charging once every 200 miles in winter and could get 300 miles with careful driving in summer. Servicing is next to nothing and charging is still free in much of Scotland.

Grumpy_chap

Pixie5740 said:

If only I could drive from Aberdeen to Glasgow without stopping.

That's around 150 miles or so.  Well within the real world range of a fair number of EV's currently available.