EV owners: question about EV charging

Nebulous2

We've had one vehicle for many years, then after taking a new job which required a second vehicle I decided to try a BEV. 

The price and depreciation risk was a concern, particularly as I didn't know how long the job would last, so I leased a leaf. 

I've no home- charging, do around 1000 miles a month, at a cost of £60, and I'm really happy. 

Cost of use was never the major deciding factor, in some ways it was / is a toy, or an indulgence, but from the beginning I couldn't believe how pleasant it is to drive. The experience is hard to describe, but feels better than any car I've ever had. 

We've found ourselves doing occasional day-trips and outings, in a way I haven't done for years, simply because we enjoy running around in it. 

Yes - long journeys could be a pain, the most we've done is a weekend trip of around 200 miles each way.  That required two charges en route, at more expensive rates, but didn't contain any dramas. 20- 85% battery takes around 35 minutes on a 50Kw charger, enough time for a toilet and coffee stop. 

Any car purchase is a compromise. People compromise on space, price, speed and running costs all the time.

There was a saying with cyclists buying upgraded wheels. From weight, strength, price, pick any two. 

Somehow the same compromises in EVs have become politicised, and become the hill people are prepared to die on, rather than a rational decision of weighing the pros and cons. 

born_again

Spies said:

Charging networks are still taking the mick with pricing at the moment which doesn't help uptake, Tesla is there charging 30-40p a kwh and then you have the greedy ******** at instavolt charging 85p per kWh, that's more expensive to run than a petrol car! 

While I agree in someways. 
You are missing that Tesla is almost a closed market for their owners (not often seen charging anywhere else) & they can also subsidise the costs of the charges & power in the car purchase costs. They also built up a lot of sites on the cheap years ago. Many in out of the way places @ hotels etc with no facilities for drivers etc.
Notice they also charge non Tesla owners more to charge than Tesla owners.
That is clear from the fact that some early Tesla owners get free charging. So that cost is built into the price they paid for car.

The likes of Instavolt can only recover the costs to install chargers via their pricing models. So is always going to be more expensive. 

Herzlos

Spies said:

Charging networks are still taking the mick with pricing at the moment which doesn't help uptake, Tesla is there charging 30-40p a kwh and then you have the greedy ******** at instavolt charging 85p per kWh, that's more expensive to run than a petrol car! 

85p/kwh at about 3-4 miles/kwh means 21-28p/mile. UK average petrol is 153p/l (177p/l on motorways), which would be the equivalent of about 27-32mpg (28-37mpg motorway at motorway prices).

That's comparing worst case electric with best case petrol.

Of course you'll now claim that your petrol car genuinely gets 70mpg and you don't live anywhere near electricity to try and one up me.

WellKnownSid

Nebulous2 said:

We've found ourselves doing occasional day-trips and outings, in a way I haven't done for years, simply because we enjoy running around in it. 

100% this.

Even restricting to home charging, I can do over 300 miles of driving over a weekend and think nothing of it.  Heading to Glasgow or Edinburgh and back, trip to the seaside, Lake District, Yorkshire dales or off to the Metro centre.

300 miles in my diesel would be fifty quid.
300 miles in the electric is less than £7.

Take a packed lunch and some flasks of tea and coffee to save the expense of eating a lunch out.  Home in time for tea or grab a McDs with the app.

That's true MSE.

"Oh but electric vehicles attract a minimum £10,000 premium over ICE cars and another £5,000 a year to insure".  No they don't - many second hand EVs are cheaper now than ICE equivalents.  Insurance in our case was the same.

Martyn1981

Herzlos said:

alan_d said:
However, for anyone who regularly needs to travel further, or tow things, they are not there yet.

It'll take a while because it's a pretty niche market, but I'm confident that eventually you'll get EV's with towing capacity of 3500kg, decent range for a decent price on the used market.

In theory, because of the torque and weight, an EV should make a great towing vehicle, but the biggest let down at the moment is range and lack of type approval.

You might find hybrids will be the choice of vehicle for towing for a long time to come, until liquid fuel becomes too expensive.

If you want to tow 3,500kg, and also have the ability to volunteer for Mountain Rescue, then you could consider a Munro BEV.

Doubt the Tesla Cybertruck will come to the UK, but towing capacity (braked trailer) should be around 5,200kg, possibly 6,350kg for top spec models.

Of course, as you point out, BEV's are perfect for towing, as they have massive torque, available from zero rpms (always hard to describe the torque 'curve' for an BEV).

No shortage of clips of BEV's towing, but the selection at the 40s mark in this vid from the Australien Government, are fun, especially the drag race between an ICE sports car, and a BEV, towing a trailer with a sports car.

Spies

Herzlos said:

Of course you'll now claim that your petrol car genuinely gets 70mpg and you don't live anywhere near electricity to try and one up me.

I drive an ev so why would I do that?

You use the motorway fuel analogy, but similarly if you come off the motorway a mile or so you can find petrol much cheaper, same doesn't hold true for charging. 

Herzlos

Spies said:

Herzlos said:

Of course you'll now claim that your petrol car genuinely gets 70mpg and you don't live anywhere near electricity to try and one up me.

I drive an ev so why would I do that?

You use the motorway fuel analogy, but similarly if you come off the motorway a mile or so you can find petrol much cheaper, same doesn't hold true for charging. 

Why not? There's nothing stopping you leaving the motorway to find a cheaper charger. It'll take you longer though.