Anarchist
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123
I think this is the same for a large majority of drivers at the moment. Because of the price difference between electric and ICE cars you need to do a fairy high mileage to make it cost effective.
I changed from petrol to hybrid about seven years ago, and my total running costs dropped by about 20%, but because of my low mileage I reckon I’m just about breaking even now.
I’m sure that my next car will be electric, but it never really makes sense for low mileage drivers to change a car in order to benefit from decreased running costs.
To be sure, there are many other benefits to be gained from changing a car (improved safety features, reliability, reduced air pollution etc), but better finances is rarely one of them.
So, with the current state of the world, and the cost of both energy bills and petrol prices going through the stratosphere, does that make the case for EV’s stronger or weaker?
Walking around town this morning, I noticed there seemed to be a lot more older Nissan Leaf’s on the road than I remember - the 2014 model with a relatively small range/battery. I wonder if these are from 2 car families who would always ‘default’ to their other (presumably petrol) car for everything and only used the Leaf if they had no choice, but have now swapped to use the Leaf for city driving because it still works out cheaper?
Has anyone done the sums yet on how much it’ll cost to fully charge a car battery overnight once the price rise kicks in next month compared to filling up a tank of petrol?
Seems like most EV manufacturers are having trouble delivering. Some have even reduced trim specs to just the most basic or the most basic and the most expensive.
Fires at major IC manufacturers, a 2-year pandemic and a war have all contributed to major supply-chain issues. Not good.
1 Like
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
130
I’m feeling that we’re now at the tipping point where EV’s age as fast, if not quicker than consumer tech.
iPhone? 2-3 years then move on.
EV? 2-3 years then move on.
Cars, however, are designed to last 10-15 years, with few issues in the first half of that timescale (wear-and-tear issues accelerate after the 50% lifetime milestone), so 7 years’ish for a car (ICE or EV) is realistic.
So as more EV’s are developed with greater tech, the previous, used, models will be offloaded at an ever decreasing price. In theory. In reality - the current supply/demand imbalance means if you have a 2-3 year old EV, it is probably worth more than you paid for it and dealers will snap it up pronto in a p/x move. But what do you p/x to when there’s nothing available? You can’t. So you keep it.
Massive car industry development conundrum. All these nice new cars- but try and get one…
Tell me about it.
I have been waiting for the release of a car I have almost set my heart on for the last 6 months.
Latest press release is saying
“On sale by mid May, with the first deliveries expected by the end of the year”
The thing is this also then applies to the rest of the car market. The technology in a petrol car might not date as fast, but the desirability of owning one will the better that electric cars get. And also the more fuel, congestion and clean air zone charges are geared towards pushing them out.
A new petrol car today might be extremely difficult to sell in seven years time. By that time, it could well be the running costs of petrol make a new electric just a better deal even if you were practically being handed one.
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
136
I purposely went with a 36 months with the MG5 LR due to the tech improvement and thinking there would be something to switch to.
Today will be 4 months with 32 left. The same lease today is £2k more total cost
Should of possibly taken a 4yr
The only new estate I can see is the Audi A6… At probably £70-80k
I think this could be ignoring how many people make purchases.
Lots of people hold on to their phones until they literally break. I hold onto my phones for 18-24 months but I’ve no doubt my 13 Pro Max would still be a very capable phone 5 years from now.
And much as you may want to replace your car regularly, the sheer cost and depreciating nature don’t make that a viable option for many people. Tech may move on, but the car doesn’t suddenly stop working.
Having been leasing now for about five years, it’s been interesting to see the improvement in baseline kit over even this short time. It’s always nice to drive a new car, but cheapest option is always to buy a little bit used and run for as long as financially viable.
It also ignores the likely subscription services future that we’re in for with EVs. Tesla already charge for updates and gimp the hardware through software locks. In all likelihood the cars will keep improving over time (to the limit of the physical hardware).
2 Likes
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
139
It does as of pretty much this year
You can currently buy the ICE models G70 / G80 and their SUV equivalents GV70 / GV80.
The new EVs of those SUVs and saloon should appear around June
I’ve added a ‘season’ column to all of my spreadsheets which has unlocked a few new ways to look at my data, including comparing the estimated battery life of my Renault Zoe in the summer to the winter.
In the spring and summer, a full battery on my 50kWh Renault Zoe predicts I will get around 225 miles. In autumn and winter that drops to around 175 miles.
Since it costs me approximately £2.50 to “fill my tank” at home (50kWh at octopus go’s 5p/kWh), this seasonal difference means that it costs me approximately 1.1 pence per mile in the spring/summer (£2.50 / 225 miles) and 1.4 pence per mile in the autumn/winter (£2.50 / 175 miles).
As an aside, I did a 320 mile “road trip” last week and stopped once on the way to my destination for about half an hour and again once on the return trip for about half an hour. Both times we stopped primarily to eat some food while the car charged.
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