Switch from ICE to EV

TwiJack

At the moment I have an ICE car (petrol) and I expect it will be running for at least another 5 years. I also don't drive that much at the moment (mainly in and around town, and the occasional longer trip), about 5k miles per year. I know my next car will be an EV, but I find it difficult to pinpoint that moment in time where I could still sell my current petrol car (read: while there still is a market for ICE cars) and switch to EV. I also want to avoid the situation in which petrol gets too expensive for me, and the current upheaval doesn't help.

How could I identify that tipping point where it's better to sell this car and make the switch?

fwor

The simple answer is: you can't. You're trying to predict the future (future car prices, future electricity prices, future petrol prices), and all you can do is guess.

If you want to make the change for environmental reasons, there are good reasons to believe that keeping an old car running is probably better than buying a new one - especially if your yearly mileage is low.

If you want to make the change for financial reasons alone, it is unfortunately just going to be a guess. Peace could break out all around the world suddenly, or one of our glorious leaders might decide to start bombing someone else, just as suddenly.

WellKnownSid

At 5k miles a year in a car you already expect to keep running for another five years - the financial argument for switching will be pretty marginal. Oil prices always go down as well as up, and the second hand market for EVs is too nascent for any certainty.

We switched from diesels to petrol hybrid and Electric to give us the best of both worlds - including the ability to fill up at home even in the event of fuel strikes or disruption. Our EV ended up effectively being a “free” car with the savings in household electricity switching to an EV tariff being larger than the costs to finance and run an EV.

rollingmoon

It's not always easy to call because we don't know all the variables, but when you say you hope the car will run another 5 years, then I assume that, like mine, there's not a lot of cash tied up in it and you're running it into the ground. Factor in your low annual mileage and it looks really hard to justify the eye-watering cost of an EV as opposed to getting another ICE clunker.

My solution was a £750 Cat N write off Dacia; £20 tax and 50mpg on diesel. The fact that it's all stoved in up one side doesn't bother me in the slightest; that just means that its chances of surviving being parked in The Hood where I work are that much greater.

Mildly_Miffed

There will be "a market for ICE cars" for many years, even decades, to come. About three-quarters of all new cars sold last year, and so far this year, have ICE. More than half are pure ICE.

Could you have reliably predicted the current situation 18 months ago, let alone five years? If you genuinely could, you'd probably make a fortune through betting and publishing your predictions.

born_again

Look for a 2nd hand EV, you will not regret it. Just stay away from Stellantis cars.

I do 6K a year. So far since Sept 23 I have spent under £300 in charging car at home.

So your real point is can you charge at home, make sure you have a smart meter & get a charger that works with your chosen tariff, then swap now & enjoy the massive savings.

daveyjp

Any vehicle purchase ends up costing money. Don't try and guess the market, if you want an EV buy one when you are ready.

Arunmor

At some point in time the government will have to make a serious attempt at recouping the lost revenue generated by declining fuel duty. When that day comes EVs won't be nearly as cheap to run.

Herzlos

The market has likely already adjusted to the rising fuel costs; my diesel value dropped by about 10% recently, despite having been pretty much fixed for the last couple of years.

Will the fuel costs get worse? Absolutely, but on your mileage it may not make that much difference.

Does going to an EV make life easier for you? Being able to charge at home, for example. If not, then I'd wait until you're going to replace it anyway.

IOWJJBTM2025

Trying to guess the best time to change cars is a very personal decision as there are so many factors, especially when you add changing from ICE to EV into the pot. Normally if the car you already have is running well and not costing a lot to keep it is best to hold onto what you have. To be able to recoup the cost of changing your car by saving on forecasted running costs - especially if you only do 5K a year is going to take some time to materialise and the figures used to base the estimated saving could all change. For all we know petrol could be more expensive or cheaper this time next year. The government could introduce a new scrappage scheme and a new high discount for EV's - we just do not know.

Before you start - Have you got an EV charger and space to charge off road? If not then EV ownership can be more complex - having to rely on Public chargers is not something that I have experienced but would certainly count as a negative in my opinion.

I made the move to EV 18 months ago. The push for me was back in 2025 :-

My current Kia Rio was 15 years old and wanted some money spending on it.

• Major Servrice and MOT Due.
• Possible new Clutch required as it had started to slip.
• Full set of Tyres required for MOT
• Air Conditioning was no longer cold. Had it re-gassed and it only lasted a few weeks so more investigation required.

Do I commit and spend money on an old car, then I saw an advert where they was offering a discount of just over £10K off list price for the MG4 EV.

I already had a 7kWh EV charger installed on the driveway at home and the work office had free EV charging available so decision was made.

After making the move from ICE to EV I have a few comments:-

Negatives

• Since buying the car the road tax has increased from Zero and had to pay £195 a few weeks ago for the next year.. There is also a planned additional cost 3p per mile to be introduced in 2028.
• Insurance was a lot more for the EV, especially recently when I wanted to get my 19 year old son onto the policy to help drive me around.

Positives

• EV is very easy to drive. Excellent on short trips and when queueing in traffic.
• Using Wife's ICE MPV currently costs approx. 20p per mile. EV costs 5p per mile.
• No queueing at Petrol Stations. We have a single rate electricity and pay 23p per kWh any time. If EV battery gets down to below 30% we plug in and charge back up to 80%. As a rule of thumb going from 80% down to 30% gives us a range of 140 miles. For a longer trip we charge up to 100% to give more range. On the home charger it takes an hour to put 10% charge in.
• First Service was £100 at main dealer.
• Depreciation on a brand new car is hopefully not too high when taking into account the big discount when purchasing.

We fixed our energy costs for a year in January and pay 23p per kWh for electric. We are hoping that in April the government saving will be applied which should reduce down to 20p per kWh. Unfortunately we cannot fix the cost of petrol for the ICE car.

Trying to estimate what is going to happen to running costs in the longer term is just a guessing game.

Hope the above helps.

chuffinnora

My experience of a PHEV over the last year has been good. I love the way it drives on EV, smooth, quiet, powerful.

Going on holiday or long journies the ICE part is crucial. Very few holiday lets have EV charging points. Public charging is a joke with the massive charging rates. I'm not a convert to full EV yet.

We home charge overnight at 7.5p, so the vast majority of short journies are always EV. Out of the last 15000 miles, 10000 has been on EV. Big saving on fuel costs.

Tax is another joke. Most decent PHEVs are over £40k list (appreciate there are always cheaper options). That now puts you into VED at £640 (years 2-5) with Rachel from accounts keen to add another £100-200 per year on your mileage from 2028. A pretty bad incentive to tempt new takers over to PHEV and then onto EV.

Loved my old diesel, but manufactures quickly trying to kill them off.