Electric Cars: Are they Really Worth it? (Ch5)

maxmycardagain

Hoenir said:

born_again said:

In the real world EV prices are beyond the budget of the average person. 

And anyone with no off-road parking

born_again

maxmycardagain said:

born_again said:

Are they worth it..

My math
Kia Niro Hybrid 16,400 miles, cost in Petrol £2,108,83
Kia E-Niro 11,183 miles, cost in electric £209.15

OK so just over 5K less in E-Niro. So that's just another £100.
Got to love home 7p charging.

And compare purchase price, fees, etc?

how much is the home charger?

if you want to do a 500 mile round trip compare petrol vs a home charge and 3 away charge ups? (and time spent when/if you find a charger)

Cost of charger was paid back in 9 months in difference between spend on petrol & electric used.
Cost of EV was a couple of grand over P/X. Again already paid back. No VED helped a lot 🤣
500 miles would be 2 charge stops for me. Extra cost is absorbed into home charging. So is not a issue.
Finding chargers piece of cake. 10X more chargers than petrol stations.

Did 800 miles on holiday last year & cost was a couple of quid more than previous hybrid the year before.

WellKnownSid

maxmycardagain said:

born_again said:

Are they worth it..

My math
Kia Niro Hybrid 16,400 miles, cost in Petrol £2,108,83
Kia E-Niro 11,183 miles, cost in electric £209.15

OK so just over 5K less in E-Niro. So that's just another £100.
Got to love home 7p charging.

And compare purchase price, fees, etc?

how much is the home charger?

if you want to do a 500 mile round trip compare petrol vs a home charge and 3 away charge ups? (and time spent when/if you find a charger)

These are sensible questions, and ones we'd pondered on.  I think the reality doesn't kick in until you actually buy and actually own an EV.  Yes, you can pay £120k for an EV - but then we wouldn't ever spend that on a petrol car so it doesn't make sense to.

In our case the purchase price was £13k 20 months ago.  A 1 litre Cat N Clio with 30k more miles on it would have been the nearest equivalent.  That would not have had leather, heated steering wheel etc etc.

Home charger had a grant towards it (rural Scotland) so paid for itself in about six months.

Same with public charging really.  The headline figures are damned expensive for public charging - but when you think of it they are too for motorway fuel services etc.  We wouldn't dream of filling up at a BP station on the M6 - we would just drop off at a junction and pop into a Tesco or wherever a mile off the motorway.  So why would we treat charging any different?

Just looking at our receipts for a recent 700 mile round trip to London.  In our diesel MPV it would have been £115.  Our hybrid can do it for about £80.

Zoe needed three charges:
1 stop at a Tesla Supercharger (plenty available) £12.80 (DC)
1 stop at the hotel (6/6 chargers available) £19.31 (AC 22kW)
1 stop at a Tesla Supercharger (plenty available) £13.60 (DC)

Arrived back on 19% so roughly £3.10 including charging losses of 10% to get back to 100% (AC 7kW)

Total spend £48.81*
*There were plenty of chargers / EVSEs available at every stop.  The kids needed wees more than the car ever needed charging.

So under two-thirds the cost of our hybrid.

paul_c123

WellKnownSid said:

................ The kids needed wees more than the car ever needed charging.

..........

Do they take an hour to go to the loo though, each time?

ElefantEd

paul_c123 said:

WellKnownSid said:

................ The kids needed wees more than the car ever needed charging.

..........

Do they take an hour to go to the loo though, each time?

The latest rapid chargers are so quick that the last time I stopped at a motorway services for a wee and a coffee, the car had finished charging before I was half way through my drink.

WellKnownSid

paul_c123 said:

WellKnownSid said:

................ The kids needed wees more than the car ever needed charging.

..........

Do they take an hour to go to the loo though, each time?

Realistically it takes them about 15 minutes so we could have chosen to plug in each time but it would have been pointless and expensive.

Much better to “go-deep” as Bjørn Nyland would say - plugging in at a low SoC and popping into the garden centre for wees and grab a coffee and cake after four hours on the road. The reality was that the car was ready to go and I had to go and move it (to avoid idle fees) before the cake arrived at our table.

And don’t forget that this is in a “city” car designed 15 years ago.  Modern EVs can theoretically charge 10x faster than the Zoe but learning new skills makes it far less clear cut in practical terms.

Cornucopia

My most recent road trip experience is very similar.   From Yorkshire to Kent, I used several Gridserve chargers at services sites on the A1 - only for around 15-20mins each though.   I also used a charger outside an M&S store in Grantham (whilst I was eating lunch) and finally an MFG fuel forecourt with 8 chargers in Huntingdon.   I aimed for 10% remaining when I got home. 

All very easy, no queues at all and no charging session took more than 20 minutes.   

Ibrahim5

Just fill the tank up before you leave. Job done.

Cornucopia

Ibrahim5 said:

Just fill the tank up before you leave. Job done.

Yes...  a friend has a petrol car.   I was with him the last time he filled it up.   It cost him £100 more or less.

When I'm at home, I use local public chargers and generally pay between Free and £6 for a decent chunk of charge (maybe a third of the battery), and I usually get free parking with that. 

WellKnownSid

Ibrahim5 said:

Just fill the tank up before you leave. Job done.

I have a hybrid which just had almost a quarter of a tank in.  £19.61.

NINETEEN POUNDS!!!!!!!!

I could cover 1,300 miles on £19.61 of electrons!