Electric vehicle justification

hollie.weimeraner

I bought an E Niro 4 in January having moved house and cut from 2 cars to 1 car so had the resources to pay for it. It cost me £34,500 which was a great deal for a new car but was old stock that Kia Bolton were selling. I also paid £1,000 for a charger to be fitted with a grant), 750 for a Zappi 2 and £250 to have my electrics sorted for the charger. I love the car having moved from my main car which was an Auris tourer but in your situation I'm not sure I would choose that option now.  My car has actually gone up in value since I bought it because of the stupid times we live in but some time in the future things will return to normal and prices will drop I suppose (who knows).

Anyway there's plenty of help here https://www.speakev.com/

Have you considered a hybrid? 

I did love my Auris tourer

Grey_Critic

I keep telling people *enjoy the so called benefits whilst you can* The government gets over £37 Billion from the motorists and will need to get it from somewhere once it is all electric.

gerryf

Thanks to everyone for their wise advice. It is much appreciated. I had failed to fully appreciate the depreciation angle.There are so many assumptions, what-ifs and predictions that it is very difficult to make a decision. One problem for me is that none of the cheaper EVs can compare when it comes to the space and practicality of the Jazz hybrid. Another one is that although I have a Smets-2 smart meter it hasn't worked for over two years and Eon don't seem interested in fixing it. So it's a costly business charging at the price cap tariff. Rightly or wrongly I have decided to go for the Jazz and hope it doesn't turn out to be disastrously wrong. Thanks again to all who replied.

Herzlos

Grey_Critic said:

I keep telling people *enjoy the so called benefits whilst you can* The government gets over £37 Billion from the motorists and will need to get it from somewhere once it is all electric.

It's going to be at least another 20 years before we see combustion engines being a minority on the road, so what makes you think they won't be ripped off at least as much?

Herzlos

gerryf said:

One problem for me is that none of the cheaper EVs can compare when it comes to the space and practicality of the Jazz hybrid.

I understand the Jazz is more practical than it's size would imply, but the Nissan Leaf seems to be slightly bigger; about 100l more boot space, about 30cm longer, 10cm wider. They start about £10k less than the VW ID4 (£29k for the pretty well specced base model).

dipsomaniac

Herzlos said:

The other big selling point is convenience; if you can charge at home you never need to visit a petrol station again. Some car parks have EV charging points in prime spots too.

5 mins in a fuel station (pay at pump) once a month is not a inconvenience for me. I can also fill a can for my motorbike

Herzlos

dipsomaniac said:

Herzlos said:

The other big selling point is convenience; if you can charge at home you never need to visit a petrol station again. Some car parks have EV charging points in prime spots too.

5 mins in a fuel station (pay at pump) once a month is not a inconvenience for me. I can also fill a can for my motorbike

It depends how often you pass a fuel station and how valuable you view your time. I'm really bad for forgetting about fuelling up and needing to make a special journey to a petrol station a mile away before going on a long trip.

ComicGeek

Herzlos said:

dipsomaniac said:

Herzlos said:

The other big selling point is convenience; if you can charge at home you never need to visit a petrol station again. Some car parks have EV charging points in prime spots too.

5 mins in a fuel station (pay at pump) once a month is not a inconvenience for me. I can also fill a can for my motorbike

It depends how often you pass a fuel station and how valuable you view your time. I'm really bad for forgetting about fuelling up and needing to make a special journey to a petrol station a mile away before going on a long trip.

This is a key reason why I changed to an EV. I don't pass any petrol stations on my normal work/school routes, so any trip to a petrol station became a 20-30 minute detour. I got fed up doing that on a Sunday morning, and then being made to pick up a long list of food shopping at the same time - didn't help that there aren't any pay at pump at the closest stations, so always a queue to pay.

grumiofoundation

Grey_Critic said:

I keep telling people *enjoy the so called benefits whilst you can* The government gets over £37 Billion from the motorists and will need to get it from somewhere once it is all electric.

As above how long until it’s “all electric”.

To me always seems a rather desperate argument against EV ownership that many years in the future EV ownership will not be the same as it is today. 

I think a more pertinent question is over the next say 5 years as EV ownership increases will the overall income from ICE owners be kept consistent by increasing costs per ICE driver or will costs be passed on to EV owners.
I don’t see the second as a foregone conclusion. 

Grey_Critic

You don't seriously think the government will not move the costs over to EVs - £37 Billion has to be got from somewhere and there is already a system in place - just add EVs on - easy.