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Original poster

Can someone who knows about plug in hybrid cars talk some sense to me please?

32 replies

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 03/12/2023 20:46

Hello, please can someone talk some sense to me please. DH and I keep falling out about it.

I am getting a new car in a couple of weeks. It's a Skoda Octavia plug in Hybrid. I get it as a lease car to do my job, but can use it for personal mileage. It will come only with a charger than can only be used at public charging points. I've confirmed this with the dealership who are delivering it.

Our nearest public charge point is 6 miles away. It charges 80p/kWH, and is not really anywhere I would need to go very often. Our nearest 2 big supermarkets do not have any. There are none near my normal office, although there is near an office I visit about once a fortnight.

At home we pay 29p/kWH and we have solar panels with batter my storage. Across 12 months around 2/3 of our electricity is solar generated, so "free" (although we are still paying for the panels).

My driving is either journeys of 4-20 miles locally, or about twice a week I do a return journey of 90-150 miles.

I would like to get a home charger installed.
DH reckons this is unnecessary. The lease company have said that they do not want the car charged using a 13amp/3pin trickle charger. I don't see why I should be going out of my way to recharge at 80p/kWH when I could get a good portion of charge via solar panels for free. I realise I will still be buying fuel and I won't be stranded etc, but I feel like a home charger would pay for itself within a year due to the solar panels.

What am I missing? DH is usually pretty good at this stuff.

OP posts:
PermanentTemporary · 03/12/2023 20:58

Dp has had a full EV for 2 years without a charger and we are finally getting one this month. It's going to be an awful lot more convenient.

Lots of things are 'unnecessary'. We don't live a life of subsistence agriculture. He needs to be more specific as to why he wants this particular inconvenience to fall on you? Presumably you are likely to have either hybrids or EVs in the future - it doesn't have to pay for itself in a year does it?

I think the only issue would be if you know you are moving very soon?

Tomnooktoldmeto · 03/12/2023 22:03

We have a Mercedes company car that is dual fuel. We had a home charger fitted from the start and have it on our OVO power plan that is really cost effective and green energy

We rarely use petrol but more so in winter when a charge gives us about a fifth less mileage than in summer due to the cold weather, it’s something I don’t think people are made aware of enough but you may need to factor into your calculations

Brackhurst · 03/12/2023 23:07

Properly installed home chargepoints do usually make life easier, and modern PHEVs and BEVs will also charge on them lot faster than on ‘granny’ or three-pin sockets.

You may well not be planning a house move but they’re a ‘nice to have’ if selling, too.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Cars & vehicles
Original poster
IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 04/12/2023 18:06

Thank you.
DH reckons we should get a trickle charger and then see how we go. I want to be able to charge at home somehow, and feel it's pointless to spend, £200 on a trickle charge cable, which could go towards an EV charger.

No plans to move.

OP posts:
Peacheroo · 04/12/2023 18:21

In the same boat as I just ordered a plug in for my work.

Why do the lease co not want you using a standard plug? Would they know?

Have your work asked for proof/confirmation you can charge at home?

I have to pay back business miles so there is a saving to charge at home rather than a pay location - how long will it take to charge? Mine is 6 hours so that's quite a lot and can you leave it there that long?

Plugs are quinte expensive. I've been quoted over a grand but am thinking of going through the standard plug route.

ForestDad · 04/12/2023 18:35

3 pin chargers will run at about 2kw so take a long time to charge a big battery. 4miles/kWh ish so about 16 miles range for every hour of charge.

Yes I'd get a charge point. Make sure it's got smart features and links with your solar to put any excess into the car.

Think about siting the charger so that it powers your current car and other options i.e some plug in middle of the front and some on one side where a fuel input would go.

PermanentTemporary · 04/12/2023 19:08

I think particularly as you are starting with this car in the cold weather, a trickle charger will be a pain. But I'm quite compliant so I tend not to do things that I think might invalidate my car insurance!

Peacheroo · 04/12/2023 19:16

PermanentTemporary · 04/12/2023 19:08

I think particularly as you are starting with this car in the cold weather, a trickle charger will be a pain. But I'm quite compliant so I tend not to do things that I think might invalidate my car insurance!

Does it invalidate insurance?

Peacheroo · 05/12/2023 08:25

I thought there would be more answers on this tbh.

How many miles does it get from a charge? If you're driving 6 miles back it probably negates a significant proportion of the charge you just had. In all likelihood, you wouldn't be getting a full charge when you go there as you're not leaving it long enough. Looks like most of your miles would be covered by the electric which is great but seems a lot to pay £x for a charger to only do such few miles.

The biggest issue is why you can't use a 3 pin. That would solve a lot of it.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/12/2023 09:49

80 p/kWh is extortionate and not worth considering. That and the fact that it's miles away will mean it's probably more expensive to use than petrol.

Ideally you want the two long journeys each week on as much electric as possible, or else it's kind of pointless having an electric car.

How much is a proper charger? Aren't they around £500? Have you looked into all the schemes to get them at a discount, eg via your electricity company, even if it means moving supplier (although obviously you don't want to negate any current arrangement you have for selling the electricity back to the grid).

Gut feeling is that you'd get back the cost of the charger fairly quickly and there must be an app or website that will crunch the numbers for you.

What does he see as the disadvantage of a 'full' electric charger except cost? It seems silly spending £200 with a plan to spend more on top to get the proper version, you might as well just get it, be done, and not waste the £200.

You could just sort it and tell him you're getting a home charger.

Madameprof · 05/12/2023 09:53

Having just bought an EV and not got a charger yet, I've been advised by the car company and by a friend who is an electrician that charging a car via a 3pin plug overnight is a massive fire risk which is why car dealers no longer supply those cables. Getting a home charger, especially if you have solar panels is a no brainer.

Peacheroo · 05/12/2023 11:15

@BarbaraofSeville I've been quoted up to £1200 for mine. The charger unit itself is around £650 and then there's a cable and possibly a mini consumer unit or fuse box depending on logistics. Then of course, there is labour.

I know people have had it fitted by podpoint for £750.

There are no government grants anymore and I've not heard of a provider offering a discount but am very interested so will be off to Google.

The issue with the hybrids, and where I think the husband is coming from, is that they only do 20-40 miles on electric which is neither here nor there for most people. It's certainly what's stopping me from wanting to pay £1200 when I do 1-200 miles per day.

GasPanic · 05/12/2023 11:31

It depends how long your car takes to charge. Hybrids don't often have a huge range so trickle charging can be practical.

As other people have said though, there can be "issues" with trickle charging of EVs normal plug sockets, You shouldn't really charge electric cars from normal plugs for a number of reasons.

One possible way is to get a "proper" normal plug installation. This will cost less than a proper charger but still something more than nothing.

The other is to get a proper charger installed. If you are contemplating getting an EV in the future this is probably worthwhile, and is the kind of thing that will add to the value of your house.

I suppose the big question is who pays for the petrol. If your work is paying for all the petrol then it's a non issue in cost terms. If you pay for your own miles then it is another question. It seems hard to believe your work would make you drive miles to charge (on their money). So how do they expect you to charge otherwise ? Maybe work would contribute or pay for your proper charger. I seem to remember some sort of grant being available, but maybe that is for full EVs only.

PermanentTemporary · 05/12/2023 16:20

I've now had an estimate for £1400 to install a charger, which includes an extra bit of work to fix an electrical bodge job the previous owner did. Like others, as you have panels I think it would obviously be sensible to have a charger at home.

Wrapunzel · 05/12/2023 22:32

I paid £1k for pod point to install ours, we have a 25 mile range and I do a 20 mile round trip most days so it's ideal. Our hybrid is clever and plans battery use around the programmed journey so will make the petrol engine more efficient on long journeys rather than using the electric early on Halo

Takeitonthechin · 05/12/2023 23:05

Did you ask the company why they did t want you to use a trickle charger?

Netaporter · 05/12/2023 23:16

I bought an Andersen car charger. They can be spec’d how you want them to look. The company wanted £500 to fit them, I paid a lot less for a local electrician who took around 3 hours to fit it properly. If you are reclaiming on expenses, it is a lot easier to work out definitely what you have used via the app. It is irrelevant if you have generated ‘free’ electricity if you are entitled to reclaim it. Unless you have an exterior socket, the cost of leaving a draft via a door/window not properly closed will soon add up. Plus the fire risk associated with 3 pin chargers.

Proper home chargers are a game changer for any EV/PHEV ownership.

MercianQueen · 05/12/2023 23:48

Mine is on a company lease. We have no choice but to trickle charge as we're on a listed building and not allowed to install an on street charger. It's fine, we use the Intelligent Octopus tariff. But I genuinely don't understand how your leasing co can specify no trickle charge.

Peacheroo · 06/12/2023 20:05

MercianQueen · 05/12/2023 23:48

Mine is on a company lease. We have no choice but to trickle charge as we're on a listed building and not allowed to install an on street charger. It's fine, we use the Intelligent Octopus tariff. But I genuinely don't understand how your leasing co can specify no trickle charge.

Can I ask what you use please? Just a normal plug or have you had a solid outdoor one fitted? I will be doing this I think once I know it's not a huge fire risk which I'm assuming you're comfortable with if it's listed?

maggiso · 06/12/2023 20:44

If you want to EV drive in your PHEV it will need plugging in almost every day as the PHEV EV range is so limited. I don’t think having to drive 6 miles each way to charge will work! A home or work place charger is the way to go. A trickle ( 13 am ‘granny’) charger could I suppose work if you have a suitable safe dry outdoor power point - ?in your garage for instance. We used a trickle charger when we awaited our charger instillation ( we don’t have a garage) but it was a bit of a worry- dangling a cable out of a window or letter box and worrying about rain, trip hazard or security! We had waterproof outdoor sockets installed at the same time as the cabling was installed for the charger unit.

DecemberSleet · 06/12/2023 20:47

Have you checked how long it takes to get a home charger installed where you live? It took over 8 months for us. Friends have been waiting longer.

Get on the waiting lists and make a decision once you get an installation date.

In the meantime I would buy a trickle charger as I find charging at home so much more convenient. I have a full electric now but had a plug in before this one.

maggiso · 06/12/2023 20:50

By the way public charging points are unreliable- often out of service or if working may be in use.

PermanentTemporary · 06/12/2023 21:19

We asked for ours 2 weeks ago, it's being installed on Monday.

MercianQueen · 06/12/2023 22:11

@Peacheroo when we got the car it came with a lead with a 3 pin plug which then runs through some kind of transformer. We plug it in to a standard domestic 3 pin in our front room and pass the lead out through the window to the car. We can't have an outside charge point but we've never had any problem.

Most plug ins come with a 3 pin lead - my brother's Tesla was the same. Just takes longer.

Peacheroo · 06/12/2023 22:17

@MercianQueen thank you! Very interesting! If they come with the wire it can't be that bad either...