The Great Debate. EV's will cost less than petrol cars over 5 years.

Grumpy_chap

Bachelorplace said:

Agree - the used EV market does not look good. Many things that may go wrong also - few indies will know what to do with.

What are those "many things that may go wrong" please?  With an EV and not an ICE?

michaels

WE bought a Nissan Leaf for £12300 (0% finance over 6 years) 7.5 years ago.  It now has 75k miles and is worth perhaps 7.3k so 5k depreciation in 7.5 years.

It does about 3.75 miles per kwh - so 20,000kwh.  We have charged almost entirely either at home or for free at our local Nissan dealer - generally at about 10p per unit, recently more but we have gone onto a time of use tariff that is 4.5p per unit - lets say 10p on average so £2000 for fuel.

Insurance has been the same as a petrol car - about 250 per year or less.

Road tax zero

Maintenance - it has been heavy on tyres - lets say 8 new tyres at £55 each - £440 also front drop links done by an independent for £75 fitted and 2 wiper blades £10

Servicing - annual dealer service negotiated to £125 on average so £875 - MOTs included as this was supplying dealer

So a focus sized car, 75k miles 7.5 years from brand new - total cost £10,275 or 14p per mile

DrEskimo

Bachelorplace said:

Agree - the used EV market does not look good.

Which is it? Are they too expensive, or are they all going to be worthless?

Both can't be true.

Unless you just mean new EVs? In which case the answer is simple. Buy a 2-3yr old EV for peanuts apparently. I can't wait to apparently pick up all these dirt cheap barely used EVs with long warranties....

mgfvvc

A timely video on the state of the charging network by EV Man on YouTube.

Freecall

silverwhistle said:

....the driving experience is far nicer: better acceleration, far quieter and no local pollution. In the summer I even get some of my day to day mileage effectively free from my solar panels. As I'm retired I've no early morning departures but those who do appreciate pre-warming the car without having a dirty exhaust polluting the local environment.

Something that is often missed in this debate is the fact that EV's are simply better.

Getting hung up on variable costs and specculative life expectancies is meaningless.

If you want a better car, get anEV.

Simple as that.

MikeJXE

Freecall said:

silverwhistle said:

....the driving experience is far nicer: better acceleration, far quieter and no local pollution. In the summer I even get some of my day to day mileage effectively free from my solar panels. As I'm retired I've no early morning departures but those who do appreciate pre-warming the car without having a dirty exhaust polluting the local environment.

Something that is often missed in this debate is the fact that EV's are simply better.

Getting hung up on variable costs and specculative life expectancies is meaningless.

If you want a better car, get anEV.

Simple as that.

Thats a matter of opinion 

Freecall

MikeJXE said:

Thats a matter of opinion 

People often suggest that batteries will 'degrade' by (say) 20% or re-sale values will be (say) 20% lower - or higher.

These things are, at the time of stating, a matter of opinion.

The statement that EV's are better however is, at the present time, simply a obviously apparent matter of fact.

QED

NBLondon

Freecall said:

The statement that EV's are better however is, at the present time, simply a obviously apparent matter of fact.

Only for a certain set of criteria.

mgfvvc

Freecall said:

Something that is often missed in this debate is the fact that EV's are simply better.

Up to a point. From an engineering perspective an EV is simpler and therefore better. From a driving perspective an EV has instant torque and no gears to worry about. An underfloor battery pack gives a low centre of gravity and even weight distribution. Against that is a weight penalty, and extended charging times. Given the right infrastructure and a car that charges quickly the charging times may not matter, but for long distance driving not all EVs will charge quickly enough.
There is also still the issue of limited choice.

Freecall

mgfvvc said:

Up to a point. From an engineering perspective an EV is simpler and therefore better. From a driving perspective an EV has instant torque and no gears to worry about. An underfloor battery pack gives a low centre of gravity and even weight distribution. Against that is a weight penalty, and extended charging times. Given the right infrastructure and a car that charges quickly the charging times may not matter, but for long distance driving not all EVs will charge quickly enough.
There is also still the issue of limited choice.

All true, along with dozens or even hundreds of other parameters which offer pro's and con's.

I was simpy summarising the collective result of these points which is so obvious that anybody can easily see, EV's are better.

That simple fact sometimes gets lost in the noise of the debate though.