Electric car - good deal?

[HappyKoala56]

I'm not really fussed about the car I drive - the reliability and fuel economy are the most important factors for me. I have never leased a car as to me it's money down the drain. My husband is a bit more worried about the car he drives and has taken a step backward for a few years now as he left his job with company car. He has never complained, but know he likes a new car. At the point he gave back the company car, he used the car I had while I bought a cheaper lower spec car.
He has started a new job (50 mile round trip daily) which is a very eco friendly business and has free electric vehicle charging. The company has fields of solar panels which power the business and the car charging so this isn't likely to change with rising electric costs or anything. Hubby wants to use an electric car scheme which would mean a brand new electric car with 200 mile range on lease for roughly £300pm on salary sacrifice. Currently he is paying around £250pm for fuel to work and back, plus local travel to the gym etc. I then have to put money aside for tax, maintenance, mot and breakdown cover which would be included in the £300 for an electric car.
Is this a good deal? It seems our outgoings would be roughly the same but would make DH happy. I won't have to pay for maintenance etc, but equally we won't ever own the car. Is there another option that might save me money?

To add, he isn't keen on a second hand electric car as apparently the batteries aren't so good as they age, so won't get the same range.

200 mile is quite a small range, as that maximum range

Ours does 550km ( about 340mile) range, and looses about 20% in winter. I wouldn’t get a car with much less range than that. For us it’s ideal as daily we hardly use any mileage, but when we do long distance that’s about 3hrs range before we stop for lunch/ charge and leaves enough we aren’t panicking it’s low

I agree that no way would I get an electric car with such a small range unless I only did local journeys.

The idea is that he would basically be using it for work which is a 50 mile round trip. So every 50 miles he would have the opportunity to charge again for free.

If the outgoings are the same, I would! I know it doesn't seem right not owning the car, but for me the benefits would outweigh. How often would he get to upgrade to a new car?

The lease would be 3 years

Also to add (sorry) I have a fuel efficient family car we would use for any sort of long journey. The electric would be used exclusively for taking DH to work and back, and local travel. Swapping cars isn't an option as I travel on average 80 miles daily so would cost us more.

The tax on an electric car is tiny. Currently 2% if the value of the car per annum. Compare that to the tax on the £300 salary and I suspect taking an EV car will work out cheaper overall especially with free charging and very low road tax

Sorry, my message may not be clear. So the benefit would be at 2%, so on a £40k car this would be a benefit of £800 per year - taxed at marginal rate. So a 20% taxpayer would pay tax of £160 per year.

I drive an electric and have a 190 mile range that's pretty accurate but depending on the make - do your research bc lots of makes SAY their range is X miles and real life driving it's way under it

How many chargers are available at work? What happens if they're out of order? Will they be a priority to fix? What KWh do they charge at?

Doing 50 miles on it isn't quite as simple as 200-50 road miles before you charge

Between 20-80% is where it's faster to charge. It can have quite a difference - not only is it more expensive but over or under it's much much slower - as an example, I charge to 100% before any longish journey and while I can get to 80% in about 30-40 mins. It's another hour on top bc of how slow it is over 80% to make it to 100%

It's unlikely to be rapid chargers at work so would be even slower (a LOT slower, talking multiple hours slower)

It's certainly possible and I personally think far cheaper to do what you want to do- but I would be aware of the factors than simply thinking ooh great let's do it

The weather also hugely impacts range. As an example- in the summer, a/c will eat your range super fast and in winter heating will eat it almost as fast. But on 50miles round daily - you can't really think you'll just be careful on those things, you'll actually find them essential. I've driven London to Oxford and only charged once on way back round trip on a mild day... and charged 3 times on a round trip with traffic on a very severe weather day and still felt enormous range anxiety about it

It's something you quickly pick up but sounds rather complicated when explaining it. FWIW I drive a Hyundai and they're a rather accurate brand when they tell you their range. When I was shopping around- there were some that came 30 miles lower than what they stated and every brand is giving you best weather mileage

If I was a brand new driver- I'd probably be comfortable with the set up

As an experienced driver, without a longer range it might be frustrating

I am a disabled new driver- stopping frequently for periods to charge and resting suits me brilliantly

If I had a tight schedule and was used to a 2min can refuel anywhere way of driving- while it's completely possible, it would probably get frustrating- the infrastructure isn't really there yet. I frequently have to drive to other chargers bc they are out of order or been occupied since the few mins ago I checked zap-maps and they were free so headed to them

Tbf if it's only used for 25 miles distance between ability to charge

I don't ever worry about 25 mile journeys unless I'm under 50%

I would worry about a 50 mile journey in terms of where chargers are and where the next ones are if those aren't available or out of order

Thanks everyone for the input - it's good to hear from people actually using EV everyday and what the realities are. I think from my perspective I'm only concerned about cost and this will probably make sense for us. For DH he will need to be aware of the realities of using an EV and I will ask him to look at this without his rose tinted glasses. He can decide if it's something he can live with.