[Technology] Electric Vehicle

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I'm currently researching the EV market and have concluded that it's a minefield!

It's very difficult to see the upside with £25k+ for a decent vehicle, issues over the life, charging time, range and renting of batteries and the cost of "on-the-road" charging points.

Other than the very obvious environmental benefits what are the positives here?

Could anyone with an EV let me know the bits I'm missing please?

My commute is 20 ish miles each way, we have a couple of other vehicles so can use them for the longer journeys or when we need more space and I don't want anything too small.

 

[Hampden Park]

great pun in your opening line btw - watt about a hybrid?

 

[seagully]

I bought a Vauxhall Ampera 2 years ago. It can do about 40 miles before the petrol 'engine' kicks in. For your needs it would be perfect. I save loads on fuel but don't have any 'range anxiety' on longer trips. Servicing costs are generally lower on EVs as there are less moving parts, which also means (generally) less to go wrong. The instant torque and near silent ride are also big pluses for me.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

great pun in your opening line btw - watt about a hybrid?

Seemingly all roads lead to this!

 

[Hampden Park]

positive, really positive.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I bought a Vauxhall Ampera 2 years ago. It can do about 40 miles before the petrol 'engine' kicks in. For your needs it would be perfect. I save loads on fuel but don't have any 'range anxiety' on longer trips. Servicing costs are generally lower on EVs as there are less moving parts, which also means (generally) less to go wrong. The instant torque and near silent ride are also big pluses for me.

It's odd Vauxhaul don't sell this now and don't have another Hybrid model until 2020!

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

positive, really positive.

I just feel flat as a result of this search, luckily it was free so no charge!

 

[seagully]

It's odd Vauxhaul don't sell this now and don't have another Hybrid model until 2020!

It is strange as its US equivalent the Chevy Volt was very successful. Part of the reason I bought it though was due to the low price following Vauxhall discontinuing them.

 

[wehatepalace]

Hybrid is definitely the way forward.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I'm currently researching the EV market and have concluded that it's a minefield!

It's very difficult to see the upside with £25k+ for a decent vehicle, issues over the life, charging time, range and renting of batteries and the cost of "on-the-road" charging points.

Other than the very obvious environmental benefits what are the positives here?

Could anyone with an EV let me know the bits I'm missing please?

My commute is 20 ish miles each way, we have a couple of other vehicles so can use them for the longer journeys or when we need more space and I don't want anything too small.

Depending on how you charge the vehicle and where the electricity is from it can be considerably cheaper to run that an ICE vehicle. Also, for a full EV the service costs are drastically reduced as the setup is considerably simpler.

My next car will be an EV, I'm just waiting to see how quickly battery energy densities increase and cost drops.

I've test driven a Leaf, and that's a wonderful car. The Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona look great, and offer 300 miles per charge which is almost good enough for most journeys.

I'm fortunate to have a driveway, so when I get one I will get a fast charger installed, so I can charge at home.

https://electrek.co/2018/12/30/new-electric-vehicles-2019/

There are plenty of new EVs in the pipeline, and I know a lot of people are waiting for the next improvement, as I am.

My driver (excuse the acidental pun) isn't primarily cost, it's to ensure I drive a car that isn't pumping out toxic gases including CO2 everytime I drive it.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Depending on how you charge the vehicle and where the electricity is from it can be considerably cheaper to run that an ICE vehicle. Also, for a full EV the service costs are drastically reduced as the setup is considerably simpler.

My next car will be an EV, I'm just waiting to see how quickly battery energy densities increase and cost drops.

I've test driven a Leaf, and that's a wonderful car. The Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona look great, and offer 300 miles per charge which is almost good enough for most journeys.

I'm fortunate to have a driveway, so when I get one I will get a fast charger installed, so I can charge at home.

https://electrek.co/2018/12/30/new-electric-vehicles-2019/

There are plenty of new EVs in the pipeline, and I know a lot of people are waiting for the next improvement, as I am.

My driver (excuse the acidental pun) isn't primarily cost, it's to ensure I drive a car that isn't pumping out toxic gases including CO2 everytime I drive it.

We have the same motivation for purchase BUT I am the sort that would worry about running out of charge and do have longer runs, for which I could use another vehicle.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

We have the same motivation for purchase BUT I am the sort that would worry about running out of charge and do have longer runs, for which I could use another vehicle.

Range anxiety.... yep

That's why I like the look of the Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona - both use the same battery (heck, they're effectively the same car under the body, as Kia & Hyundai are part of the same group) as they offer real world range of 300 miles.

Another point of anxiety in the UK is access to chargers, especially where people don't have the facility to charge at home overnight.

There is a network of charge points, so it's just a case of planning ahead

https://www.goultralow.com/how-do-y...MCLdXQrRIWoEMUpKAcQGzkfBj11opV2waAjLYEALw_wcB

More are being added all the time though.

 

[wakeytom]

Depending on how you charge the vehicle and where the electricity is from it can be considerably cheaper to run that an ICE vehicle. Also, for a full EV the service costs are drastically reduced as the setup is considerably simpler.

My next car will be an EV, I'm just waiting to see how quickly battery energy densities increase and cost drops.

I've test driven a Leaf, and that's a wonderful car. The Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona look great, and offer 300 miles per charge which is almost good enough for most journeys.

I'm fortunate to have a driveway, so when I get one I will get a fast charger installed, so I can charge at home.

https://electrek.co/2018/12/30/new-electric-vehicles-2019/

There are plenty of new EVs in the pipeline, and I know a lot of people are waiting for the next improvement, as I am.

My driver (excuse the acidental pun) isn't primarily cost, it's to ensure I drive a car that isn't pumping out toxic gases including CO2 everytime I drive it.

Trouble is what is the real world mileage - I looked at the Golf e and the real world mileage was just over half if I recall correctly.

I wanted to go full electric but Tesla are not on our list (model 3 plus looks a really good option and is reaching close to advertised miles in testing) so ending up a Toyota Hybrid as they are tried and tested. Feel like I am at the very least doing something but I can use it practically as well.

 

[seagully]

Trouble is what is the real world mileage - I looked at the Golf e and the real world mileage was just over half if I recall correctly.

I wanted to go full electric but Tesla are not on our list (model 3 plus looks a really good option and is reaching close to advertised miles in testing) so ending up a Toyota Hybrid as they are tried and tested. Feel like I am at the very least doing something but I can use it practically as well.

The Kona and Niro will be at least 200 miles 'real world' mileage

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Range anxiety.... yep

That's why I like the look of the Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona - both use the same battery (heck, they're effectively the same car under the body, as Kia & Hyundai are part of the same group) as they offer real world range of 300 miles.

Another point of anxiety in the UK is access to chargers, especially where people don't have the facility to charge at home overnight.

There is a network of charge points, so it's just a case of planning ahead

https://www.goultralow.com/how-do-y...MCLdXQrRIWoEMUpKAcQGzkfBj11opV2waAjLYEALw_wcB

More are being added all the time though.

Charging shouldn't be a problem, as I'll put a home charger in and I can install one at work (for clients, of course)! I'll take a look at the Kia, thank you.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Now for the naive question, the Kia e-Niro states that it does 282 miles on a single charge, anyone know what's the cost of a single charge?

 

[wakeytom]

The Kona and Niro will be at least 200 miles 'real world' mileage

That is very good. Do you know what the charge time is as the golf on a normal plug at home was something like 14 hours (again too slow to use for daily commute as I often get in at 8pm then travel 630 the next morning)

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

At around £36k it's not cheap. My mileage is 15,000 a year and would cost around £60 a tank that does 360 miles = 42 fill ups at £60 = £2,520, given that I pay myself 45p a mile I'd also get £6,750 in mileage, which I'd get with a petrol car also. Other than the environmental benefit I'm not seeing it.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

At around £36k it's not cheap. My mileage is 15,000 a year and would cost around £60 a tank that does 360 miles = 42 fill ups at £60 = £2,520, given that I pay myself 45p a mile I'd also get £6,750 in mileage, which I'd get with a petrol car also. Other than the environmental benefit I'm not seeing it.

https://www.drivingelectric.com/your-questions-answered/466/how-much-does-electric-car-cost-run

 

[Triggaaar]

we have a couple of other vehicles so can use them for the longer journeys or when we need more space

If you have other vehicles, the environmentally friendly option would be to stick with what you've got, rather than have another car. Building and then disposing of this new car has a greater impact on the environment than you'd offset with less petrol use.