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Original poster

Go electric or get one last petrol car?

134 replies

Orangeinmybluelightcup · 02/05/2021 17:49

Has anyone tackled this one yet? 13yr old estate is now borderline unsafe. Would ideally like to go electric. Most charging could be done at home, so constraint 1: need to investigate getting a charging point installed. Constraint 2 is looking like getting something big enough for X2 kids in car seats and larger sized dog in the boot. Constraint 3 is the price, looking second hand but bigger electrics are newer technology still so look like £25k! Hybrids are an option but from the reading I've done the petrol kicks in soon and when they're running on petrol they're less efficient because they're heavier. But getting one last petrol car seems like a shame... Has anyone else had this debate, what did you do?

OP posts:
CheshireSplat · 02/05/2021 20:24

If it's your only car and you want to be able to do long journeys, I'd go hybrid. We have one EV (have had it for 3 years). Love it! But when we need to drive 270 miles in one weekend to see my parents it isn't feasible so we take the petrol car. As a pp said, they're brilliant for 48 weeks of the year.

We took the EV to meet family and all the county councils charges were broken so 3 of DHs 5 hours with his family were spoiled trying to work out how to charge the car. LIDL to the rescue. If you have plenty of time those kind of adventures are fun, but usually not convenient.

For any trip of 150 miles or less we take the EV and I absolutely love it.

AlwaysLatte · 02/05/2021 20:24

Similar situation, we went for an MG ZS fully electric, I love it. We installed a pod point and charge it on cheap rate electricity overnight. We probably wouldn't have gone for this actual one if we didn't have a second (diesel estate) car, which is what we use for longer journeys, as we don't want to have to break up a journey to charge and the range on this is only 144 miles. Hopefully when we come to replace the diesel the range will be much longer for a second electric. But it is great for the school runs, and I often have to do 100 miles or so in a day when I go to both my parents to help them in between school runs. And so far (we've had it a year) we've never had to charge it anywhere other than at home.

AlwaysLatte · 02/05/2021 20:28

We usually charge it every night so it's full in the morning.

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Original poster
Orangeinmybluelightcup · 02/05/2021 20:34

@AlwaysLatte I've just been looking at them, looks like a real option! Was getting a charger installed a headache? Am really not sure how they'll hook it to my electricity meter...

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 02/05/2021 20:52

You need a smart meter and if you’ve got a garage with electric supply it’s not that hard.

We had to have our garages capacity upped to 80amps to run the charger, it cost £250 all in with a new master board out there. Then the fitter ran the wires off that.

ConnieCaterpillar70 · 02/05/2021 20:55

I went for petrol when I changed mine earlier this year. I don't think there is anything like the infrastructure ready for them locally (rural Gloucestershire) and the thought of a long journey filled me with horror.

And when we're still burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, I don't see how they can be environmentally friendly.

Original poster
Orangeinmybluelightcup · 02/05/2021 20:59

@Fluffycloudland77 driveway but no garage... Electricity meter is 2 rooms away...

OP posts:
Original poster
Orangeinmybluelightcup · 02/05/2021 21:01

@ConnieCaterpillar70 also in Gloucestershire. The furthest I drive is Oxford, once a month maybe. So I'm not worried. And we've only had green energy at home for many many years, really no reason to buy from fossil fuel company!

OP posts:
Kotatsu · 02/05/2021 21:03

I've gone Plugin hybrid - because whilst my day to day journeys comfortably fit into the range, I need to be able to do long journeys too (once allowed), and they're cross border so hiring a car wouldn't be an option.

From what I can establish, I'm just not willing to trust service station chargers on a long journey with 2 young kids yet, so I want the petrol backup, despite the heavier car impacting efficiency.

The car after this plugin hybrid though, once the range is available to travel from mine to my parents (on the ferry and across Wales/England from Ireland), or chargers are available and reliable enough in 5-10 years, I'll happily change to Electric.

I would be buying Electric now if it wasn't for this couple of times a year journey (and that my daily commute is luckily short enough to slip into the PHEV range)

Frenchfancy · 02/05/2021 21:09

We've just changed and decided on a diesel.

Electric was so much more expensive and the infrastructure just isn't there. Hybrid looks great in paper but we get better mileage on our diesel than most hybrid cars.

If we wanted a city car we would have gone electric, but we live rurally, need a car big enough to take teens and a dog, and do daily commutes of +50 miles.

MiddleOfThePack · 02/05/2021 21:10

recently upgraded from hybrid to full EV, via my salary sacrifice scheme. Took car away for along weekend last weekend. if you like roadside coffee and 45 minute breaks every so often, it's fine.

However When we have a longer holiday later this year though, we'll use the old diesel. The infrastructure just isn't there just yet to go any real distance and definitely not if you want to spend a day touring the Welsh mountains!

Namenic · 02/05/2021 21:25

We need a 3 child seat car + some luggage space/space for grandparents. So have decided to go for a 2nd hand petrol (7 seater) while the kids are still in car seats.

We are hoping this will last approx 8 years, when we will almost be done with child car seats and perhaps can think of a more suitable electric car for the teenage years.

poppycat10 · 02/05/2021 21:32

I have a (self-charging) hybrid. Half the price of a similar sized electric car. I use about 1/3 less petrol than I did with a petrol car.

However, I don't think they're very efficient on longer journeys, I only use it around the local area.

But they're a good stepping stone.

jazzandh · 02/05/2021 21:42

WE've had an EV (i3) for 4 years now. WE also have an X5 and a MiniVan available to drive - we fight to drive the EV and want to see the X5 as soon as we can.

The Ev is just such a brilliant car to drive, cheap and easy to run.

If we travel far enough - we will hire a larger car, but the i3 transports 3 tall persons comfortably.

Go electric - you will not look back!!

jazzandh · 02/05/2021 21:46

Oh and we have a wallbox to charge.

We do not have a smart meter.

Our meter is the opposite side of the house, but did have a feed that went out to the garage that was spurred off for wallbox.

It didn't seem too problematic.

tinytemper66 · 02/05/2021 21:51

I have a hybrid which is good on petrol. Toyota Corolla.

modgepodge · 02/05/2021 22:14

We got a full electric in January, having precious had a hybrid. Both company cars though, not sure I’d take the chance if I was paying! We also have a petrol car which we could use for very long journeys. We have a charge point at home which we use almost exclusively, very rarely charge out and about. Just changed electricity tariffs to octopus and we get 4 hours a night v cheap rate - this puts about 60 miles in, for less than £1.50. If we charge in the day it’s about 3x that, so still cheaper than petrol. The charging infastructire out and about is getting there - motor way services have fast chargers, Tesco have free slower ones (so I always get about 15 miles for free while I shop), where I live there are plenty at petrol stations and so on too. It’s not like that every where (yet) though.

Car is an audi etron and I LOVE it. Plenty big enough for 2 child seats and a dog. Very pricey though - as I say, I’m not sure I’d go for it if it was my money!!

Honeyroar · 02/05/2021 22:20

We were at a motorway services the other week. There was a man on his mobile just outside speaking to someone on his mobile. He was saying he’d only hired this electric car to try to be green, but he’d missed the turnoff on the motorway and had to go an extra ten miles to the next junction to turn round. Those twenty extra miles meant he had to stop and charge the car before he could carry on. His three hour journey was now going to be five hours. He said he was never having an electric car ever again!!

safariboot · 02/05/2021 22:36

If you have the budget and most of your driving is short journeys a plug-in hybrid appeals. But you'd want your usual driving to be well within the electric-only range.

murbblurb · 02/05/2021 23:37

No one has green energy at home. We all have the same mix. Some companies pay more lip service aka carbon credits.

To be greener - have less, use less, buy less, drive less, fly less. It will hurt.

AlwaysLatte · 03/05/2021 00:24

I've just been looking at them, looks like a real option! Was getting a charger installed a headache? Am really not sure how they'll hook it to my electricity meter...
It was fine, we had a company come out and fit our and no problems at all. We did have it on the wall of a building we've only just put up though so the cables were already ready and waiting for it when it arrived.
Another thing I love about electric cars is the acceleration. Best I've ever had for that!

Original poster
Orangeinmybluelightcup · 03/05/2021 06:26

@murbblurb

No one has green energy at home. We all have the same mix. Some companies pay more lip service aka carbon credits.

To be greener - have less, use less, buy less, drive less, fly less. It will hurt.

I know that but I'm glad the money I'm spending on home energy isn't too a fossil fuel company, who put profits back into that business. Its not credits. The profit is used to invest in more renewables. Agree about the rest too have certainly done all the low hanging fruit here, anything else would be drastically life changing. My own view is system change is needed, big companies and government.
OP posts:
Pyewackect · 03/05/2021 06:39

The technology isn’t quite there yet. When you can get 500 miles from a five minute charge and they doesn’t cost the same as a Range Rover then maybe.

Ilikewinter · 03/05/2021 06:50

Im making a similar decision, looking at PHEV as my work commute is short and they are just installing charging points, but i make long weekend journeys. However im not sure i can justify the cost over the petrol version. If i go electric im considering PCP as im not sure what would happen to second hand resale value in 3yrs.

MiloAndEddie · 03/05/2021 06:58

It’s petrol for me. We only have a parking court at home, no driveway so no way of installing a charger.
Plus where we go on holiday has nowhere to charge it (it’s only just got decent wifi Grin
I’d also like the technology to ‘bed in’ a bit more before committing, more charging points, see the lifespan on the batteries etc

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