Are you ready for an electric car?

I’m in a similar situation to @ChrisBeldam whereby I have a few cars so would need a couple. But either way that’s another (quite large) added expense that I didn’t factor in.

It wipes out all of the servicing and road tax savings over several years I would have been benefiting from should I switch to an EV :frowning:

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For those that recognise that the day of the ICE is coming this will be of interest to many.

A year or so ago, don’t use the car as much now, I could easily recover the cost of charger by gaining free parking.
And of course the various low emission zone and congestion charges.

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Ahh I’m too northern to be stung with congestion charges and the likes thankfully :grin: So no savings to be made there :pensive:

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I love watching YouTube on the Tesla car ownership reviews - largely pretty good - and those from Artisan Electrics on installing different types of home chargers.

I must say for my limited use of a car now I’m retired an EV is a no brainier in the medium term. I’m going to drive my diesel galaxy into the ground first then keep one petrol car alongside my future EV - my BMW Z3 for driving in the sun!

For now perhaps :thinking:

How far north are you ?

Totally agree that in your circumstances an EV is a no brainer.

As for the excursions in your BMW Z3 in future years I wonder if petrol will go the way of "Esso Blue”, you will remember that.
Today it has to be sourced from places like B&Q and of course Amazon.

Esso Blue, those were the days :rofl:

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My home charger was “free” with the purchase of my EV. The grant paid for half of it and the dealership paid the other half. I’m sure this is a fairly standard offer.

You would not need to charge in the town. You’d charge three quarters of the way to the town at a motorway service station, then again at the same service station on your return journey.

Manchester is supposed to be getting a clean air zone as well, I understand.

You are quite right and our friends up t’north will not escape them.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/fleet-faq/what-are-the-proposed-uk-clean-air-zones-caz#UK%20Clean%20Air%20Zone%20plans%20interactive%20map

Interesting that quite a few opposed the idea. (Thankfully).

It costs a fortune to use the roads as it is :sweat_smile:

Thousands opposed the Mayor’s congestion charge in London all those years ago and then the LEZ and then the ULEZ.
Now thousands have given up their diesels and are buying BEVs. :wave::blush:

“All those years ago” is how far away the country is for providing decent EV infrastructure.

Currently EVs are unaffordable, impractical and/or not financially viable to so many people. No amount of silly taxing, congestion zone charging or clean zone things can magically change any of this.

This is what needs to be addressed first without blackmailing people to make a switch with “do it or else we will charge you more” and they’ll then find people are happy to make the switch :slight_smile:

Most of those cities in the link you provided are years away too, with the majority delayed with no date whatsoever. So hopefully councils and governments etc pull their fingers out to start work on the fundamentals in the mean time.

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Can I like this twice? This is exactly how I feel! I can’t even get the council to change a lightbulb on the street, let alone get them to install EV points so I can charge a BEV without going out of my way.

The pandemic made me want to ditch airplanes for all routes where there is a road connecting my starting point and destination. Better infrastructure, or much longer range/faster charging will be the only things to get me to switch; but then I’ll gladly do. Otherwise I’ll keep begrudgingly buying used ICE cars and moaning about the rising costs

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Couldn’t agree with you more. I’d be more than happy to switch once its no longer inconvenient for me.

Plenty of people saying ‘its not inconvenient now, you can do xyz’, and ‘oh they’re coming down in price’ perhaps it’s not for them but for me it’s still too inconvenient and too expensive

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Also just for comparison I’ve had a look at the electric version of my current car.

VW Up E - 161 miles on a current charge. 0-80% charge in an hour on a CCS fast charger. 7 hours on a slower charger or 16 hours on a home wall socket. Cost new is about 23.5k. Can find a couple of pre-owned for about 15/16k, perhaps there are some cheaper out there but I couldn’t find any near me.

Current VW Up petrol car, bought with 20k ish miles on the clock back in 2015. Cost me £3.5k, does roughly 400 miles on a full tank. Full tank costs me £25.

Of course this isn’t a direct comparison and there are caveats for both petrol and electric cars but for me, this is a prime example of why the economics don’t yet work for me. Once I can get an electric car for as cheap as my current car, with the same kind of range and the same ease of charging as I do with petrol. Then I’m happy to switch :slight_smile:

Take into consideration that most manufacturers only offer ~5 years warranty on batteries. If those need replacing you’re in for a very big bill. They only have a lifespan of ~8 years so will need replacing eventually.

To give you an idea on cost…

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Nonsense!
Please do some research before writing that a battery has a lifespan of 8 years.
In fact all EV manufacturers in the U.K. have taken the lead provided by the U.S government which mandates a warranty period of at least eight years.

You will find that all makers warrant the battery for eight years.

As for the lifespan being for just eight years it would be helpful if you would provide evidence for that.
It is the case the Nissan, for one, is recovering the cells from used car batteries to install them in their home battery packs.

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I did. I checked quite a few articles and I even quoted them too :slight_smile:

With the huge cost of replacing a battery you have to consider the resale value of the vehicle too. It must impact this when you come to sell :grimacing:

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That doesn’t really help Joe Bloggs, an EV owner, though, does it? They will still have to fork out for a new battery regardless of where it goes

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