Electric Cars
 

Reading about the Tesla model 3 today has peaked my interest in EVs. My commute is 10 miles each way so well within the range of all EVs. They have also fitted charging points in the work car park which I think are free to use.
Effectively this means my commute will be free.

Apart from commuting I mainly just use my car for trips around Milton Keynes, a town littered with EV charging points and most trips are less than 10 miles.

Occasionally I'll do longer trips, maybe a couple of times a month.

Currently I drive a BMW320D it's economical enough, I drive like a moron and still get about 35mpg on the commute, or 50 on the motorway. I estimate I spend £100-150 a month on fuel and average 12,000 miles a year. Car is worth about £5000 and I probably spend £500 a year on servicing, tyres, brakes etc.

So the first question is, would an EV be a viable and economical solution. Obviously buying a brand new car is always going to be expensive, but I am planning to buy a brand new car anyway, probably leasing some sort of diesel car for around £300 a month.

Second question is, what are EVs like to live with? How long do they take to charge? How much does it cost to charge them? What is involved in servicing them? Are real world ranges for someone with a heavy foot like myself approaching real world distances? What reliability issues do you worry about?

Would a plug in hybrid be a better option than a fully electric car?

Thanks :)

Re: Electric Cars
 

the big drawback i see with electric cars is the battery lease. even if you pay for the car up front you still have to pay a lease on the battery's.

i have spoke to a tesla owner when i was up at Dunnet Head and asked how the fek he got an electric car this far north and he said that he had the touring pack fitted that gets him around 240miles out of a charge and the charge takes around an hour form empty.

Re: Electric Cars
 

I would say speak to Brettus as I think he has a BMW but he seems to have dropped off the forum. I didn't realise that you had to lease the battery.

Re: Electric Cars
 

We are in a honeymoon period at the moment with EV, people not really interested in them because of cost and range, so free charging and other subsidies being offered, but once enough EV's are sold and government have a captive market just watch the price of charging go upwards rapidly. If EV's ever do get popular in UK we will be in strife with electrical supply because of unreliable wind turbines and solar we are losing our 'base capacity' of reliable electrical power from coal and nuclear.

Electric vehicles are not even gonna help save the planet ......

electric vehicles - the inconvenient truth videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6GeHnMwl1c

Re: Electric Cars
 

Nissan leaf and Renault Zoe are available with lease or buy the HV battery.

Re: Electric Cars
 

Zoe battery lease @£69/month
That's more than I spend on diesel for my shonky Skoda!

Re: Electric Cars
 

Interesting, just looked on Autotrader for Nissan Leaf. You can get a low mileage maybe 3yr old example for well under 10k, maybe £7k or so, battery bought. Depreciation is monumental. I think if I was in the market I'd go that way, accepting the fact that after another 3 or 4yrs I'd probably have to give it away. 24kWh battery version looks like it'll give you a reliable 80mls range, maybe a bit more if you drive it conservatively, enough for most daily purposes.
We're in early days yet, another 10yrs of technical development and things may well look a lot better, as long as someone actually gets their backside in gear and thinks about how we are going to generate all the electricity, and we'll see what the Chancellor comes up with to replace all the fuel duty and VAT which will be disappearing before his eyes. The DUP don't pay for themselves you know.
If new model range does get extended significantly, who will want a 6yrs old EV which will only do 80mls? No-one. Scrap it. Very green.

Re: Electric Cars
 

Tree hugging has nothing to do with the reason for considering electric.

0-60 in under 6 seconds and full torque from 0 revs is the main draw :)

Re: Electric Cars
 

This is a major selling point, I still weep at what an i8 did to me on the sv [emoji23]

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Re: Electric Cars
 

electric cars wont work due to the charging time problems. think about how many cars are on the roads. there will have to be massive 'charging parks' where people are going to have to sit for an hour while their car charges... ermm i dont think the public will be to happy about that. its a logistical nightmare.

the real solution is hydrogen powder. it would be exactly the same as filling up with petrol/diesel, like the public are already accustomed to. the by-product is ermm water which could be collected in a separate tank and taken while you fill up with the hydrogen. the water will be pure so can be circulated into the water supply. its a win win situation.