[Misc] Electric Cars

[dsr-burnley]

I remain in favour of electric cars, I own one, however they do currently rely on you being able to charge at home to be cost-effective.

If you can’t, charging at public fast chargers increases the cost by a multiple of 10, which is quite the markup.

In short, if you have a driveway/garage and your regular daily drive is less than 200 miles a day, you’d be stupid to not have an electric car.

If you don’t have a place to put a home charger and/or you drive more than 200 miles a day then electric cars are not currently for you.

Finally, I feel EV manufacturers are missing a trick by lumping the cost of the battery in with the car. I would personally prefer to own the car, and lease the battery. Renault used to do this, but have apparently stopped, which is annoying.

So are you saying that someone who drives a smallish petrol car like a Corsa, that cost £4,500 eight years ago and has 99,000 miles on the clock with no sign of implosion as yet, would save money by buying something electric? I'm not sure you're fully costing the depreciation into this. I realise prices have gone up since 2016 and a similar car now would probably be about £7k-8k, but even so, I don't think it would be a money saver.

Happily I'm absolved from being stupid because I don't have a driveway. But if I did, I would respectfully suggest that the appropriate insult would be "tight fisted", and for less well-off people in my position the appropriate (albeit severely unkind) insult would be "poor".

(It's also worth bearing in mind that road tax is coming in next year and some form of road pricing will certainly follow. HMRC get a lot of money from petrol duty and they surely are going to want to replace the tax from somewhere.)

 

[Audax]

i was thinking about an electric car, and 2 very good friends who are fireman said you are not buying one Col.

That was all the advice i needed.

For what reason? Last I saw, the "credible" research that's been done says that an ICE is more likely to require the attention of fire services than an EV. I had this discussion with my dad a while back, after he sent me a vid that explored the potential problems if an EV goes into thermal runaway. Yes, thermal runaway can be catastrophic for a car. But no, it doesn't happen very often. The average ICE is more likely to catch fire than the average EV.

 

[chickens]

So are you saying that someone who drives a smallish petrol car like a Corsa, that cost £4,500 eight years ago and has 99,000 miles on the clock with no sign of implosion as yet, would save money by buying something electric? I'm not sure you're fully costing the depreciation into this. I realise prices have gone up since 2016 and a similar car now would probably be about £7k-8k, but even so, I don't think it would be a money saver.

Happily I'm absolved from being stupid because I don't have a driveway. But if I did, I would respectfully suggest that the appropriate insult would be "tight fisted", and for less well-off people in my position the appropriate (albeit severely unkind) insult would be "poor".

(It's also worth bearing in mind that road tax is coming in next year and some form of road pricing will certainly follow. HMRC get a lot of money from petrol duty and they surely are going to want to replace the tax from somewhere.)

No, if you’ve got a car in good working order with no reason to change it, then don’t change it. For @Bozza I’d stick with his policy of running the Civic for as long as it’s running and not costing him. I was thinking more of a scenario where someone was looking to buy now. Definitely keep the vehicle you’ve already got, the landscape is always changing, and there’s a lot of evolution to come with EVs.

 

[GOM]

The obvious answer for us should be to replace Mrs D’s very old runaround (we need to do this soon) with an EV and use that for all our short journeys……but I can’t see how spending upwards of £30k makes sense to do 1-2000 miles a year, and I’m reluctant to buy an older EV given the battery deterioration over time So it’ll probably be another ICE.

I can’t see how spending upwards of £30k makes sense to do 1-2000 miles a year in any type of car.
Battery degradation is proving to be a lot less of a problem than first thought many years ago. This was mainly due to the Nissan Leaf, the only EV sold in a volume in the early early days having a very poor battery management system.
Nowadays I wouldn't buy anything other than a second hand EV.

The truth about electric car battery degradation - Which? News

Switching to an electric car has plenty of benefits, but should you be worried about the lifespan of their batteries?

www.which.co.uk

 

[GOM]

i was thinking about an electric car, and 2 very good friends who are fireman said you are not buying one Col.

That was all the advice i needed.

 

[happypig]

So, the new (electric) Ford Capri. £48000:

Or....

Mint condition (proper) Capri £17250 :

The latter leaves you with £30k for petrol and repairs.

(I don't have spare cash to buy either, sadly, but if I did, it would be the bottom one because I still have a living soul.

 

[Bry Nylon]

So, the new (electric) Ford Capri. £48000:

View attachment 185566

Or....

Mint condition (proper) Capri £17250 :

View attachment 185565

The latter leaves you with £30k for petrol and repairs.

(I don't have spare cash to buy either, sadly, but if I did, it would be the bottom one because I still have a living soul.

Well, you would still have a living soul until you get hit by another vehicle, whereupon the 1980s Capri and everyone in it would be crushed like a tin can. (But yes - it is a beautiful car).

 

[happypig]

Well, you would still have a living soul until you get hit by another vehicle, whereupon the 1980s Capri and everyone in it would be crushed like a tin can. (But yes - it is a beautiful car).

But (and it's a big but) if new cars were lighter and had a lot less safety features, people would be more likely to drive them carefully.

 

[chip]

Still going after 40 years, bet that orange monstrosity won't be.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I can’t see how spending upwards of £30k makes sense to do 1-2000 miles a year in any type of car.
Battery degradation is proving to be a lot less of a problem than first thought many years ago. This was mainly due to the Nissan Leaf, the only EV sold in a volume in the early early days having a very poor battery management system.
Nowadays I wouldn't buy anything other than a second hand EV.

The truth about electric car battery degradation - Which? News

Switching to an electric car has plenty of benefits, but should you be worried about the lifespan of their batteries?

www.which.co.uk

Yep. Tesla is currently offering journalists a week with a nine-year-old Model S with 250k miles on the clock. It's saying the battery degradation after 200k miles in 12% on average for its cars...

 

[Fungus]

Well, you would still have a living soul until you get hit by another vehicle, whereupon the 1980s Capri and everyone in it would be crushed like a tin can. (But yes - it is a beautiful car).

And he’ll have to spend a fortune on cassettes.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Taken the plunge and ordered a i4 through our work salary sacrifice scheme.
Car was built in June pre i4 facelift so got a very good deal with the monthly outlay £60 more than our Tiguan that’s going back as the lease has finished. Included maintenance, insurance, free home charger and no deposit

Looking at the electric tariff I’m moving onto, I will be able to charge fully c340 miles for £7 rather than the £75 it cost me to fill up last weekend. I make the money back on one tank effectively

Car is arriving next week and have a OhMe charger being installed this Friday.

So far so good but I need to educate myself on the various public chargers and access requirements. It seems some require membership need dedicated rfids cards to access, but assume you can use a standard debit or credit card on most other than the Tesla super chargers?

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a decent public charging guide?

 

[chickens]

Taken the plunge and ordered a i4 through our work salary sacrifice scheme.
Car was built in June pre i4 facelift so got a very good deal with the monthly outlay £60 more than our Tiguan that’s going back as the lease has finished. Included maintenance, insurance, free home charger and no deposit

Looking at the electric tariff I’m moving onto, I will be able to charge fully c340 miles for £7 rather than the £75 it cost me to fill up last weekend. I make the money back on one tank effectively

Car is arriving next week and have a OhMe charger being installed this Friday.

So far so good but I need to educate myself on the various public chargers and access requirements. It seems some require membership need dedicated rfids cards to access, but assume you can use a standard debit or credit card on most other than the Tesla super chargers?

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a decent public charging guide?

If you don’t have your domestic electricity with Octopus, then my advice would be to switch to Octopus. You can then request an Electroverse card using the app, and they will add your charge costs to your monthly energy bill (itemised) - seems to work with all the major charging networks/stations. You can use the card or the app to initiate/end charges, so as long as you’ve remembered one out of your wallet and your phone you’re ok.

 

[GOM]

If you don’t have your domestic electricity with Octopus, then my advice would be to switch to Octopus. You can then request an Electroverse card using the app, and they will add your charge costs to your monthly energy bill (itemised) - seems to work with all the major charging networks/stations. You can use the card or the app to initiate/end charges, so as long as you’ve remembered one out of your wallet and your phone you’re ok.

and to add that you don't need to have your electric from Octopus to get the Electroverse card (it's free). You just link your debit/credit card to it.

 

[beorhthelm]

So, the new (electric) Ford Capri. £48000:

View attachment 185566

Or....

Mint condition (proper) Capri £17250 :

View attachment 185565

The latter leaves you with £30k for petrol and repairs.

(I don't have spare cash to buy either, sadly, but if I did, it would be the bottom one because I still have a living soul.

utter madness, they take an iconic sports coupe and use the brand for an SUV. daft obsession with larger cars, even the hatch backs now are getting to SUV dimensions. shirley smaller, sleeker coupe would be more optimal for EV?

 

[chickens]

utter madness, they take an iconic sports coupe and use the brand for an SUV. daft obsession with larger cars, even the hatch backs now are getting to SUV dimensions. shirley smaller, sleeker coupe would be more optimal for EV?

They did it with the Puma as well, which was originally a nippy little sports coupe, then came back as a box on wheels. Disappointing to see them cannibalising their own legacy like that.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

and to add that you don't need to have your electric from Octopus to get the Electroverse card (it's free). You just link your debit/credit card to it.

I’ve downloaded the app and ordered one thanks

I will compare the BG gas EV tariff and the octopus one as currently with BG and will need to factor exit fee

 

[happypig]

Still going after 40 years, bet that orange monstrosity won't be.

View attachment 185568

That is a thing of beauty.
I very nearly bought a 3.0 many years ago but I plumped for a Renault 18 Turbo instead.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

They did it with the Puma as well, which was originally a nippy little sports coupe, then came back as a box on wheels. Disappointing to see them cannibalising their own legacy like that.

Yeah, but the trouble - for those hankering after the past - is that Puma is the best-selling car in the UK this year, so it's a policy that clearly works!

Personally, I don't get too hung up on these things - there's been enough time between the original Capri and this one for it to be reinvented as something else completely.

For another example, look at the Jeep Avenger. I was at a launch event where another UK hack was LIVID that it had chosen that name, saying that people would get it confused with the Hillman Avenger. The Jeep crew (average age c.30) looked completely bemused at what said journo had complained about.

The same for Capri. The vast majority of people who buy that car would not have much knowledge of the original Capri, let alone driven one. They couldn't give a shite what it was called!

 

[Fungus]

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a decent public charging guide?

We've used ZapMap in the past, but we don't go out of home range very often. But we've recently moved to Octopus and set up with Electroverse, as others have mentioned.

At the moment, though, we're charging off free sunlight.