Electric cars

bluetonium said:
Took delivery of my new EV last week, so far very impressed and it seems that there has been much effort to make the interior as plush as possible to attract drivers to the technology.

One question I do have though, are people really paying £0.61 to £0.91 per kWh to charge quickly when out on the road? If so, it's going to cost me much more per mile easily. Whilst I'll obviously be charging at home as much as possible, if I ever need to do more that 250 miles I likely will have to charge on the go, and it seems extortionate!

Just been looking at UK holiday cottages for the summer, and they've cottoned on as well. If you want a place with a charger facility then it's an extra £500 or so for those properties! Hot tub surcharge territory this!
Click to expand...

Charging on the go in this country is ridiculous.
You can get it cheaper if you use the open to all tesla charging points (just need to download the app). I have octoverse app which gets you some discounts (today you get 15% of at various chargers). Found myself on long journeys checking which companies are along the way and signing up the the app and checking what deals they have.

It winds me especially at these big charging hubs that the facilities run by some global coffee chain pay hardly any tax in this country yet I have to pay an extortionate amount in tax to get from a to b, be it either in an ev or ice car.

Sorry rant over. There is a guy on YouTube called dave takes it on. His videos might not be for everyone however he does a video once a month which where checks out prices of the charging companies which is quite useful
 
uweuweuwe said:
Charging on the go in this country is ridiculous.
You can get it cheaper if you use the open to all tesla charging points (just need to download the app). I have octoverse app which gets you some discounts (today you get 15% of at various chargers). Found myself on long journeys checking which companies are along the way and signing up the the app and checking what deals they have.

It winds me especially at these big charging hubs that the facilities run by some global coffee chain pay hardly any tax in this country yet I have to pay an extortionate amount in tax to get from a to b, be it either in an ev or ice car.

Sorry rant over. There is a guy on YouTube called dave takes it on. His videos might not be for everyone however he does a video once a month which where checks out prices of the charging companies which is quite useful
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. It's my first EV and feels bit like I've been duped on the costs. All the talk is about how much cheaper and cleaner they are to run, but now I'm finding that I may have to drive out of my way on some journeys to get a preferential charging rate, and still be out of pocket compared to if I'd just kept my unleaded hybrid. Not going to help incentivise the move to electric unfortunately.

I suppose you just have to play it off against the tax saving on the car, but no wonder the vast majority of charging points at shops and services are installed and then hardly ever used! I'll investigate some of the apps and subscriptions, cheers.
 
bluetonium said:
Took delivery of my new EV last week, so far very impressed and it seems that there has been much effort to make the interior as plush as possible to attract drivers to the technology.

One question I do have though, are people really paying £0.61 to £0.91 per kWh to charge quickly when out on the road? If so, it's going to cost me much more per mile easily. Whilst I'll obviously be charging at home as much as possible, if I ever need to do more that 250 miles I likely will have to charge on the go, and it seems extortionate!

Just been looking at UK holiday cottages for the summer, and they've cottoned on as well. If you want a place with a charger facility then it's an extra £500 or so for those properties! Hot tub surcharge territory this!
Click to expand...
You are not wrong about the price of public charging. It's partly because of the initial investment of setting up the charging networks. Then some profiteering. Motorway charging rates are the worst. (same for petrol and diesel)

As already mentioned, there are plenty of ways to reduce the costs. But i feel they are very disjointed and overly complicated. I pay half price through the Renault scheme. But i can only use certain chargers.

I've done the same long journey in both my EV and diesel (posted a few pages back). I charged to full at home. Used my cheaper chargers on route. The costs weren't that far apart. The diesel journey was cheaper/quicker though.
Things are reversed for local motoring. The EV is simply (way) cheaper and better.

It's all still in the infancy, and i feel the government should have been more involved to simply things.
It is improving, but i still struggle to properly plan ahead. Which i suppose is my own fault.

I feel the real breakthrough will be longer range EV's. A (real) 600+ mile range would mean you could charge at home, and pretty much drive anywhere, and then return home.
These cars are coming soon. But they won't be cheap (initially).
 
jrb said:
Test drives can be booked at Kia main dealers in April.
Click to expand...
Both great cars no doubt, If you are going to own one Kia/Hyundai give 7 year warranty/ other manufacturers not so generous with 3 mostly. (MG do 8)
 
bluetonium said:
Took delivery of my new EV last week, so far very impressed and it seems that there has been much effort to make the interior as plush as possible to attract drivers to the technology.

One question I do have though, are people really paying £0.61 to £0.91 per kWh to charge quickly when out on the road? If so, it's going to cost me much more per mile easily. Whilst I'll obviously be charging at home as much as possible, if I ever need to do more that 250 miles I likely will have to charge on the go, and it seems extortionate!

Just been looking at UK holiday cottages for the summer, and they've cottoned on as well. If you want a place with a charger facility then it's an extra £500 or so for those properties! Hot tub surcharge territory this!
Click to expand...
You have to factor in that you will start off with a full charge that cost you £0.07 per kWh (or less) to begin with. If you were to drive say 400 miles in one day and your car can only do 250 miles,then you would have to put in aprox. another 200 on the road (because you loose a bit in the charging and you need to return with more than zero miles left) at say £0.80 kWh this would cost you £45 - so the whole trip would cost £5 charging at home + £45 on the road = £50 for 400 miles. the average of the two is then only around £0.40 per kWh and the equivalent to a petrol car of 65 MPG so its still cheaper!
 
I coming up to having my eV for a year. In that time I've done just under 13,000 miles. Only 2 holiday trips have I used public chargers and each time has been a Telsa supercharger. 1st trip to Cornwall I did over 1000 miles in the week and it cost me about £93. If I'd joined Tesla subscription for just £10 a month it would of cost me about £65, that's including the subscription. I was lucky in the sense there's a supercharger just off the A30 near Newquay where I was staying so it didn't cause much effort to keep charging through the week. I did 2 stops on the journey, Gloucester services and Telsa showroom in Exeter. The showroom was a 10 minute drive off the motorway so no big deal. Free coffee and toilets which is nice.

Arnold Clarke have a good system going which is about 55p per kW. You can book in before you arrive to make sure a charger is available. Loads of them in and around the north but less more south you go. Zapmap app is good for finding the cheapest and fastest in the area. Just takes more planning before you set off that's all.

When we stopped at Gloucester by the time we'd used the bathroom and had a look around the farm shop my car was back to being at 80% so didn't haven't to wait a second. I guess it can be hit and miss and there will be times you have to wait for a charger to come available but on long journeys having a good rest is fine.

I've just checked where I'll be charging in June when im back in Cornwall and it's 23p per kW off peak and 40p peak. Peak being 8am-8pm with subscription 33p and 56p without.
 
bluetonium said:
I know what you mean. It's my first EV and feels bit like I've been duped on the costs. All the talk is about how much cheaper and cleaner they are to run, but now I'm finding that I may have to drive out of my way on some journeys to get a preferential charging rate, and still be out of pocket compared to if I'd just kept my unleaded hybrid. Not going to help incentivise the move to electric unfortunately.

I suppose you just have to play it off against the tax saving on the car, but no wonder the vast majority of charging points at shops and services are installed and then hardly ever used! I'll investigate some of the apps and subscriptions, cheers.
Click to expand...
Over time, you’ll realize how much money you save on routine ICE maintenance. I’ve owned an EV for over 3 yrs and it has not cost a penny in maintenance costs, and should save me even more as it ages.
 
kippax_blueboy said:
Far too expensive for someone who drives less than 100 miles a week. I will stick with my 10 year old petrol for now.
Click to expand...
That's fine if you already own a car. What if you needed to buy one though?
Is a 5-10 year old car with unknown faults/history a good bet? Would a big repair bill wipe out any savings?
I've kept our 2017 diesel. It's only £35 a year to tax. No monthly payments. It is in showroom condition.
However, the maintenance bills are really starting to rack up. Every fault seems to cost £500 now. And that is using a trusted local garage. It has cost £2000+ in the last year alone. Just small niggly faults.

The Dacia Spring is a very cheap EV. It only suits those who do small miles though.
Secondhand, they cost even less. You will get some warranty. Maintenance cost are minimal.

As Crooky correctly just said, it more comes down to your personal use pattern. "Brilliant if you can charge from home and primarily drive short journeys. Bad if you can't charge from home or primarily drive long journeys."

I feel that will change as range of EV improves. Next year will see a massive improvement on that front.
It will eventually trickle down to even the most budget of EV's.

There is nothing wrong with a modern EV. Internet scare stories have done so much harm.
You don't have to hate an EV, they just might not be for you.

People are putting themselves into camps. Pro or anti EV. There really is no need.
I couldn't give two shits what others drive. I view it as "your loss" now! :)
 
kippax_blueboy said:
How much would a small 8 year old EV cost?
Click to expand...
You can buy the fantastic new BYD Dolfin Surf for £16500. A great little car on the outside but loads of room on the inside for 4 adults and loads of fun to drive. I test drove one with a view to buying it as town car/ 2nd car run around.
I would imagine that in 8 years it would be worth somewhere around £2 -£3k
 
Pontypool Blue said:
You can buy the fantastic new BYD Dolfin Surf for £16500. A great little car on the outside but loads of room on the inside for 4 adults and loads of fun to drive. I test drove one with a view to buying it as town car/ 2nd car run around.
I would imagine that in 8 years it would be worth somewhere around £2 -£3k
Click to expand...

Bloody hell just seen this today, decent if you want a bog standard no thrills EV for city driving.

Dacia Spring 27kWh Expression 48kW 5dr Auto Electric Hatchback - Plymouth at Vertu Motors | hotukdeals

www.hotukdeals.com www.hotukdeals.com
 
We still have a few free chargers in Scotland. Today I set off with 71% charge, drove 10 miles for lunch whilst I charged the car at a National Trust for Scotland car park. Drove another 20 or so miles to another NTS Car Park (with free charging) for coffee and a trip to their 2nd hand book store did errands on the way and return having done another 25 miles and had 81% charge left.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top