Just timed my Diesel refueling time. The car already had quarter of a tank. From entering the forecourt to leaving took exactly 10 minutes. I paid at the pump and didn't have to queue. Cost £45
Going on a 500 round trip tomorrow that i did last week in the EV. I stopped once each way last week to recharge the car. Each stop took 30 mins. I started with a full battery which cost around £5 from my home charger using off peak rates. Each stop was after driving for around 2.5 hours. On each occasion, the car had exceeded my target charge of 80%. This was because we used the toilets first. Then queued for food and then ate the food.
The cost for both extra "Rapid" charges came to £62 as we just used the service station chargers. We could have saved if we went off the motorway. So the total was £67. The car was still showing 44 miles left.
If a had to rapid charge at the start, the diesel would be cheaper. (unless i shopped around for cheaper charging etc)
The diesel costs around £60 to fill at £1.30 a litre (Costco). The range is showing at 480 miles. That will rise significantly once on the motorway. So i fully expect to be able to do the trip on the same tank.
I might be a bit quicker though. Not because i don't have to recharge. More because i know i will go a bit faster in the diesel. It doesn't seem as sensitive to the slightly faster speed economy wise.
So no real cost or time difference apparently. I will know for sure tomorrow.
The weather isn't looking great tomorrow for a Manchester to South Downs National park and back (Duke of Edinburgh GOLD for my son etc)
(To quote my own post)
Ok , i'm back from "take two" of my EV v Diesel challenge! I said i would post my true findings.
To cut to the chase for those who don't like long posts....."Diesel Won"
It's as simple as that. The diesel journey was 1 hour quicker and £7 cheaper.
There was some mitigating factors though.
First up was leaving at 7.00am versus 10.00am in the EV. That meant no traffic going through Birmingham on the way down. But the EV also had a temperature bonus last week due to the warm weather. In winter it wouldn't have faired nearly as well range wise. The temperature wouldn't bother the diesel either way.
The EV had 44 miles left, the diesel (1.6 DCi @ around 55-60 mpg was showing over 100 miles left). I would expect that diesel "range" would come down with urban driving tomorrow, they will be closer in reality.
I also only stopped for 15 mins (versus 30 mins with the EV) on the last stop with the diesel, as i didn't have the missus with me, and the diesel didn't need to charge.
Because of many variable factors, they were actually very similar. I averaged 70 mph on the motorway in the diesel because it doesn't vastly affect the range. 60ish mph seems the sweet spot for my EV.
If my EV had a better than 280 range, i maybe could have driven faster to make up the time difference. I have always thought that EV's need a real world 600 mile range to make ICE obsolete.
But as it stands for high mileage runs/users, ICE still edges it for me. For urban average users who don't do long range all the time, especially those who can home charge, then i feel EV's make a lot of sense. So it's more a preference thing.
For me personally and my use, electric is the perfect fit. So hopefully, longer ranges/faster charging and more ways to charge, will allow more people to enjoy all the other benefits only EV's can give!
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