[Misc] Electric Cars

[Fungus]

My e-208 is on charge in the garage at the moment. I’ve started using the Loop Energy app to find the “greenest” times to plug in…

 

[brighton_dave]

Salary sacrifice lease renewed going from a Peugeot 2008 to a cupra born. The cost is a fair amount more but still only around 370 net as a result of the tax/ni saved. I don't remember the exact figure. Includes 12k miles per annum, insurance for me/wife and no unexpected bills to worry about. I did the figures around taking a loan out for a used car but the EV wins all day long. Factor in child benefit repayment savings too but bringing down your taxable income.
If it wasn't for salary sacrifice it wouldn't be affordable, so I get why the outlay for an EV isn't for all.

 

[GOM]

Is going electric really that "good" for the environment ? We don't generate enough electric from non - nuclear renewables, I bet key components come from war torn bits of central Africa and the spent batteries will end up being dumped in Asia. Am I being cynical ?

No you are not being cynical, just misinformed. I can't be bothered pointing you in the direction of fact checking instead of listening to the FUD.

 

[GOM]

Yes, and what many people seem unable to get their heads round, Boris Johnson-like, is that for many of us mere plebs the £30K initial starter stake in the new shiney green uplands is something that hasn't been made avilable to us, hard working people and benefit scroungers alike.

Over to you, clever people!

Very few people buy a new car outright, EV or otherwise, they rent it, otherwise known as a lease, or buy on PCP. At this point EVs are hardly any different in price to ICE cars.
The second hand market for EVs is getting better and prices there for EVs can be similar to their ICE equivalents.

If you are interested in learning rather than ranting maybe have a look at this

 

[GT49er]

Very few people buy a new car outright, EV or otherwise, they rent it, otherwise known as a lease, or buy on PCP. At this point EVs are hardly any different in price to ICE cars.
The second hand market for EVs is getting better and prices there for EVs can be similar to their ICE equivalents.

If you are interested in learning rather than ranting maybe have a look at this

Geez! I'm not in the £10,000 car market!

..............and nowhere near paying £370 a month rental (plus an up-front fee) either!

 

[Fungus]

Very few people buy a new car outright, EV or otherwise, they rent it, otherwise known as a lease, or buy on PCP. At this point EVs are hardly any different in price to ICE cars.
The second hand market for EVs is getting better and prices there for EVs can be similar to their ICE equivalents.

If you are interested in learning rather than ranting maybe have a look at this

That’s very impressive!

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

What is the predicted lifespan of an EV? Say a low to mid range, mid size one.

 

[swindonseagull]

My e-208 is on charge in the garage at the moment. I’ve started using the Loop Energy app to find the “greenest” times to plug in…

View attachment 170156

Im more worried about cost of charging .....not when some random app tells me its greenist.

 

[Fungus]

Im more worried about cost of charging .....not when some random app tells me its greenist.

Well, the same app tells me how much I'm paying for my electricity and gas usage. I assume you worry about the cost of petrol?

And it's not "some random app" - I believe it was recommended by Bozza himself, in the thread about reducing the cost of heating homes, and saving money.

Plus, it's no hardship being green in this case - it just means I might wait a couple of days before charging.

 

[The Grockle]

I’m not sure I could be arsed with it all it annoys me waiting for my Dewalt batteries to charge

Haha we just do it over night or grab a coffee at a service station.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Im more worried about cost of charging .....not when some random app tells me its greenist.

I have a Tesla Model Y - leased via salary sacrifice through work.

Our energy supplier is Octopus Energy. We switched to their Intelligent Octopus tariff when we got the car.

We paid £700 to install an Ohme charger.

The charger integrates with the tariff, and the car, so I can plug it in and it will only charge at a per kwh price below a certain price OR within certain time windows.

Our tariff is 7.5p / kwh between 23:30 and 05:30 so we have it set to charge to 80% between these hours. The Octopus App does all the number crunching.

When we're doing longer journeys we allow it to charge to 100%.... which means we could fully charge the car to its 75kwh capacity for £5.62 which gives a range of 275-320 miles depending upon weather / driving style etc, which is bloody brilliant.

We have also recently installed solar and a home battery on / in the house. We only have room for a smaller array (3.8kw) and we have a 7.5kwh LifePo4 battery, and Growatt hybrid Inverter. During the winter I've configured the battery to charge from the mains also during the overnight cheap period, so when there is no sun we still start the day with 100% battery state of charge (at 7.5 / kwh) and this gets slowly used up during the day.

The only restriction is that the installed hybrid inverter only delivers 3kwh of power, so if there is no sun, having the kettle, air-fryer, microwave, hob, oven on at the same time (any combo) will still draw some mains power, even with a full battery. When it's sunny (even now) we can draw over 1.5kw of power, so we could run at 4.5kw on a sunny day. (I've done some testing and the washing machine will operate within the 3kwh and the dishwasher is closer to 4kw for a period.

The key thing is that we're currently only paying for peak electricity from 6:30 or 7pm each day, which in the summer will go to zero, we we'll be harvesting solar until the early evening anyway.

The other advantage is I have the ability to monitor lots of cool data / stats from the system online.

 

[nicko31]

I have a Tesla Model Y - leased via salary sacrifice through work.

Our energy supplier is Octopus Energy. We switched to their Intelligent Octopus tariff when we got the car.

We paid £700 to install an Ohme charger.

The charger integrates with the tariff, and the car, so I can plug it in and it will only charge at a per kwh price below a certain price OR within certain time windows.

Our tariff is 7.5p / kwh between 23:30 and 05:30 so we have it set to charge to 80% between these hours. The Octopus App does all the number crunching.

When we're doing longer journeys we allow it to charge to 100%.... which means we could fully charge the car to its 75kwh capacity for £5.62 which gives a range of 275-320 miles depending upon weather / driving style etc, which is bloody brilliant.

We have also recently installed solar and a home battery on / in the house. We only have room for a smaller array (3.8kw) and we have a 7.5kwh LifePo4 battery, and Growatt hybrid Inverter. During the winter I've configured the battery to charge from the mains also during the overnight cheap period, so when there is no sun we still start the day with 100% battery state of charge (at 7.5 / kwh) and this gets slowly used up during the day.

The only restriction is that the installed hybrid inverter only delivers 3kwh of power, so if there is no sun, having the kettle, air-fryer, microwave, hob, oven on at the same time (any combo) will still draw some mains power, even with a full battery. When it's sunny (even now) we can draw over 1.5kw of power, so we could run at 4.5kw on a sunny day. (I've done some testing and the washing machine will operate within the 3kwh and the dishwasher is closer to 4kw for a period.

The key thing is that we're currently only paying for peak electricity from 6:30 or 7pm each day, which in the summer will go to zero, we we'll be harvesting solar until the early evening anyway.

The other advantage is I have the ability to monitor lots of cool data / stats from the system online.

I'm on this tariff, charge the car, set the dishwasher off, washing machine and charge my solar battery too all off peak.

Last week Octopus gave me a saving session and I earned £8 discharging my battery when the grid needed it, this paid for the household power plus the standing charge for the week.

Octopus are a very innovative company and a shape of things to come to balancing grid demand

 

[swindonseagull]

Well, the same app tells me how much I'm paying for my electricity and gas usage. I assume you worry about the cost of petrol?

And it's not "some random app" - I believe it was recommended by Bozza himself, in the thread about reducing the cost of heating homes, and saving money.

Plus, it's no hardship being green in this case - it just means I might wait a couple of days before charging.

Here we go
I don’t use petrol so I don’t care about the price.
So you wait a couple of days to charge ?? Just to be green, How on earth is that practical ? I need my car for work every day…

Sorry can’t come to work today it’s not green enough to charge my car… oh won’t be able to go to The Amex as it’s not green until Monday !!! Madness…..

Well if Bozza recommended it !!!!!

 

[swindonseagull]

I have a Tesla Model Y - leased via salary sacrifice through work.

Our energy supplier is Octopus Energy. We switched to their Intelligent Octopus tariff when we got the car.

We paid £700 to install an Ohme charger.

The charger integrates with the tariff, and the car, so I can plug it in and it will only charge at a per kwh price below a certain price OR within certain time windows.

Our tariff is 7.5p / kwh between 23:30 and 05:30 so we have it set to charge to 80% between these hours. The Octopus App does all the number crunching.

When we're doing longer journeys we allow it to charge to 100%.... which means we could fully charge the car to its 75kwh capacity for £5.62 which gives a range of 275-320 miles depending upon weather / driving style etc, which is bloody brilliant.

We have also recently installed solar and a home battery on / in the house. We only have room for a smaller array (3.8kw) and we have a 7.5kwh LifePo4 battery, and Growatt hybrid Inverter. During the winter I've configured the battery to charge from the mains also during the overnight cheap period, so when there is no sun we still start the day with 100% battery state of charge (at 7.5 / kwh) and this gets slowly used up during the day.

The only restriction is that the installed hybrid inverter only delivers 3kwh of power, so if there is no sun, having the kettle, air-fryer, microwave, hob, oven on at the same time (any combo) will still draw some mains power, even with a full battery. When it's sunny (even now) we can draw over 1.5kw of power, so we could run at 4.5kw on a sunny day. (I've done some testing and the washing machine will operate within the 3kwh and the dishwasher is closer to 4kw for a period.

The key thing is that we're currently only paying for peak electricity from 6:30 or 7pm each day, which in the summer will go to zero, we we'll be harvesting solar until the early evening anyway.

The other advantage is I have the ability to monitor lots of cool data / stats from the system online.

My roof faces the wrong way !!

 

[Fungus]

Here we go
I don’t use petrol so I don’t care about the price.
So you wait a couple of days to charge ?? Just to be green, How on earth is that practical ? I need my car for work.

Well if Bozza recommended it !!!!!

Have a lovely afternoon.

 

[nicko31]

Here we go
I don’t use petrol so I don’t care about the price.
So you wait a couple of days to charge ?? Just to be green, How on earth is that practical ? I need my car for work.

Well if Bozza recommended it !!!!!

Even if you couldn't do this, electricity is generally greener at night most days anyway, that's when there tends to be an excess and its cheapest. That's why Octopus can flog at 7.5p...

 

[brighton_dave]

Geez! I'm not in the £10,000 car market!

..............and nowhere near paying £370 a month rental (plus an up-front fee) either!

If the 370 references my comment, there is no up front fee through salary sacrifice. I'm also saving £200 pm fuel, insurance at about 50pm, having to pay to maintain the car, mot, tax etc. Biggest peace of mind no unexpected bills. Had to replace the flywheel and gearbox in my passat which was big money. Oh and I avoid all the pollution charges and get to drive a lovely car I could never afford outright.
It's all down to how it works for the individual. I was paying 230pm on a car loan for an 11k car previously so tbh I'm only slightly out of pocket.
As I said isn't for everyone though. If a lose my job, circumstances change then it might not be for me.

 

[chickens]

What is the predicted lifespan of an EV? Say a low to mid range, mid size one.

My Leaf is working fine but at 7/8 years old has lost a chunk (around 20%) of range. As far as I can tell they will go on as long/longer than a combustion engine car, due to less complexity/moving parts but the battery degrades over time.

I suspect newer models will have more advanced battery management systems to lessen degradation, but the Leaf was first to market so will be “first production attempt” in terms of both battery and battery management design.

Nissan are really coy about pricing for new batteries, though there are 3rd parties offering aftermarket solutions. Not sure I’d put my trust in them TBH without a staggeringly good guarantee.

 

[nicko31]

My Leaf is working fine but at 7/8 years old has lost a chunk (around 20%) of range. As far as I can tell they will go on as long/longer than a combustion engine car, due to less complexity/moving parts but the battery degrades over time.

I suspect newer models will have more advanced battery management systems to lessen degradation, but the Leaf was first to market so will be “first production attempt” in terms of both battery and battery management design.

Nissan are really coy about pricing for new batteries, though there are 3rd parties offering aftermarket solutions. Not sure I’d put my trust in them TBH without a staggeringly good guarantee.

Still on 80%? Seem pretty good to me.

 

[chickens]

Still on 80%? Seem pretty good to me.

I get the impression mine was quite well looked after before we got it. It’s getting more miles put on it now though.