Eletric cars are they worth it - do you have one

silverwhistle

I've had an EV for three years now after a lifetime of cheap second hand cars. When I started researching, second hand ones that would do what I needed were not good value, in my opinion, so when a local dealer had a good offer I jumped and raided my savings (helped by a lifetime of cheap cars!). Two years later at the time of its service ironically I was offered more than I paid for it new so moved on to an MG4.

Given the increase in the second hand market with lease cars being released these days I'd have had no hesitation going for a SH model and the choice has expanded greatly.

I charge at home and the ~200 mile range has done all my regular trips until a few weeks ago when I headed 300+ miles north and needed to charge. I didn't make my planned charger on the M1 for two reasons: needed a loo stop before the car needed it and the motorway was shut due to an accident! On the return trip again I changed my plans using zapmap which showed me a charger from a reliable company (Instavolt) just off the motorway which suited my need to charge.

I was probably a little cautious on my first long trip and charged before I needed to, but even with the slightly higher battery percentage I saw speeds of just over 80kWh for my car which meant stops were never very long.

I won't be going back to ICE, and next year plan to take the car across to France and would have no hesitation in doing so.

Newbie_John

I was debating it as I'd like to be as eco friendly as possible but, they're not worth it for most people sadly.

First of all, cost of a new car - more expensive.
Insurance - more expensive.
Charging: if you use public charging points - it's more or less comparable to petrol. At home you need to invest at charging point, using normal 35p rate generates some savings and could work out for someone who drives a lot.
But if you go for some smart Octopus tariffs and charge it at night.. then your day rate goes up. You can try agile and hope for close to £0 rates but this could be a lottery. Getting solar panels.. more and more costs.. 

So it could be worth for some, but not many of us.

silverwhistle

But if you go for some smart Octopus tariffs and charge it at night.. then your day rate goes up.

My average currently is around 16/17p with Intelligent Octopus, and this should go down as my day rate is still 39p as opposed to the currrent ~30p peak rate. I'm a low mileage user though and many people use more at night and pay a lower average. Forget 35p or even 30p, quoting those is misleading.

grumiofoundation

Newbie_John said:

I was debating it as I'd like to be as eco friendly as possible but, they're not worth it for most people sadly.

First of all, cost of a new car - more expensive.
Insurance - more expensive.
Charging: if you use public charging points - it's more or less comparable to petrol. At home you need to invest at charging point, using normal 35p rate generates some savings and could work out for someone who drives a lot.
But if you go for some smart Octopus tariffs and charge it at night.. then your day rate goes up. You can try agile and hope for close to £0 rates but this could be a lottery. Getting solar panels.. more and more costs.. 

So it could be worth for some, but not many of us.

As I said upthread if you can charge at home it is in my opinion almost certainly a no brainer to get an electric car*

*of course will be a small number of cases where this is still not the case

To answer some of your points

1) Don't buy a new car (ICE or EV)
2) Is insurance actually more expensive?
3) Home charging point ~£500 (or you can just use an outside plug as long as on separate circuit). So maybe 1/2 months commuting cost.
As said 35p is a misleading amount. We charge at home solely at 9p (calculated as ~10% of the cost of petrol for commuting). We only use public charging on a long journey (and even then as you say the worst case is same price as petrol).

When we last compared day rate for Octopus go was not higher than other tarf

born_again

Newbie_John said:

I was debating it as I'd like to be as eco friendly as possible but, they're not worth it for most people sadly.

First of all, cost of a new car - more expensive.
Insurance - more expensive.
Charging: if you use public charging points - it's more or less comparable to petrol. At home you need to invest at charging point, using normal 35p rate generates some savings and could work out for someone who drives a lot.
But if you go for some smart Octopus tariffs and charge it at night.. then your day rate goes up. You can try agile and hope for close to £0 rates but this could be a lottery. Getting solar panels.. more and more costs.. 

So it could be worth for some, but not many of us.

Current
Flexible Octopus
Unit rate 29.26p/kWh
Standing charge 53.96p/day

Moving to
Intelligent Octopus
Unit rate (23:30 - 05:30): 7.50 p/kWh
Unit rate (05:30 to 23:30): 29.56/kWh
Standing charge: 53.96/day

So 30p kWh dearer in the day. easy to shift some of that load to the 6 hours night period.
Which then make the saving on charging 👍

tripled

happyman70 said:

I am considering buying an electric car but i am not sure. My concern is most of them only let you travel around 200 miles before they need a charge.

I would like to know of people's experience with them, and if there are still free charging points, and how the cost of fuel compares to a petrol car

We have had a Renault Zoe for around a year now.

It indeed only lets us travel around 200 miles before it needs a charge. Despite that we have done over 14,000 miles in the last 12 months and rarely charged it away from home. Most EVs are good for all relatively local journeys such as the daily commute, going to the shops, hobbies, eating out, etc. If you can charge at home they never need to stop to fill up with petrol. However, they are suitable for only occasional longer journeys unless you drive a more expensive EV such as a Tesla with a longer range as you do have to think about finding a working and available public charger, which isn't always as straight-forward as it should be.

We have found our Zoe great for daily use. It is quiet, economical and quite sporty (electric motors typically are). It never needs to go to the petrol station. It's also nice that it can pre-heat and defrost itself on winter mornings. Routine servicing is quite minimal (a pollen filter in year one). Our second car is an old diesel and we seldom use that except for long distance trips and towing.

There aren't many free charge points left, and public charging can vary in price. Our current tariff with British Gas gives us 5 hours overnight @ 9.4p/kWh. We get about 4 miles per kWh, so it costs about 2.4p per mile for power. By comparison, the diesel costs us around 14p/mile at current prices (55mpg @ £1.55p/l).

Brie

I'll be waiting a bit longer before getting one, assuming I do at all.  (well maybe in 20+ years?)

First off there is very few places to charge in our area.  I don't have the facilities at home (yet, it's possible but at what cost?) and despite what is apparent from others posting there are very few public charging spots.  Possibly a couple dozen at most in an urban area of 300k people.

The other thing is the cost of the vehicle.  I'm not in a position to pay £20k for a car but might stretch to £5k for a cheap runabout.  I don't think a EV is possible at that price.  

My current plan is to run my petrol VW up into the ground (or near enough), dump that, and share the OH's monster diesel and when that's on it's way out look at the alternatives.  

zee34

happyman70 said:

I am considering buying an electric car but i am not sure. My concern is most of them only let you travel around 200 miles before they need a charge.

I would like to know of people's experience with them, and if there are still free charging points, and how the cost of fuel compares to a petrol car

I dont have an electric car, maybe if i only used it in cities to get around then maybe. But I do drive long road trips on weekend and I just couldnt trust it. Also, a full charge can take like an hour or more?? Sitting around in a service for that long? Until the charging networks are improved, location, lenght of charge I just wouldnt havr it. And they are not much more environmentally or cost friendly either. Manufacturers have no clue how to get rid of the used batteries, the cost of replacing them every 7 years i think is expensive. The mining process is ruining the environment. Sooo no, maybe a hybrid..best of both...but deffo not electric

WellKnownSid

zee34 said:
the cost of replacing them every 7 years i think is expensive.

Only Daily Mail readers need to change the batteries every 7 years...

zee34

WellKnownSid said:

zee34 said:
the cost of replacing them every 7 years i think is expensive.

Only Daily Mail readers need to change the batteries every 7 years...

I dont read news papers. 10 years then , they wont last forever. While a normal car engine will last much longer.