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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder if someone like me can afford an electric car?

54 replies

RagzReturnsRebooted · 05/12/2021 09:46

Always had 10yr old+ second hand cars, last one I spent £3.5k on. Currently spending around £250 a month in Diesel and wondering if there's some way I could go electric and either cut costs or have it work out the same? I can't afford to buy a new car outright, we have a low household income. I've never bought a car on any kind of payment scheme and have no idea how they work but there must be some kind of scheme for electric vehicles that make it affordable for people like me?
We rent and can't put in a charging point, but there are two in the town I work in (none in our closest town or our village, but plans are in place to put a few in the village car park in the next few years). I drive to work 4-5 times a week, 30 mile round trip, very rarely do long journeys.

I'm just wondering if the amount I spend on Diesel could offset costs of getting an electric car. Is this a silly idea? I feel like they aren't for people like us, but I don't want that to be true.

I have done some Googling but it's quite overwhelming and I've no idea what I'm looking for. I work for the NHS but not directly, so my employer isn't part of any salary sacrifice car schemes.

OP posts:

lilydaisyrose · 05/12/2021 10:00

This is exactly the situation we are in and have our brand new (bright red!) electric car arriving in March (Nissan Leaf). My husband is a teacher for a LA so we are salary sacrificing 10,000 mileage p/a for £243 p/m. All servicing, tyres, insurance etc covered (& no tax)! We hand it back after 4 years so it's not ours. I know you can't do this but just wanted to show you the figures. I wonder if you can find an HP or PCP deal for an electric car for around £250 p/m. The problem may be finding one though as I don't think they can build them fast enough for the demand and there's very little on the second hand market.

We currently spend around £100+ p/m on diesel for an old '09 people carrier (which cost just over £4k, 4 years ago) and pay car tax at around £20 p/m, insurance around £19 p/m and at least £50 p/m average on repairs/MOT etc. I am also expecting to get around £8-900 by selling my old rusty bus. We are with Octopus and can move to OctopusGo with cheap overnight charging.

Since WFH, I rarely go further than about 20 miles from home and if I do, it's to the nearest city, around a 60-70 mile round trip.

I really hope you find a solution.

Original poster

RagzReturnsRebooted · 05/12/2021 10:09

Thank you, that salary sacrifice scheme sounds perfect. I will suggest it my employer, anyway, in case it it something they could organise easily. I imagine it is administered by a third party and would not require them to do much.

OP posts:

OhMyCrump · 05/12/2021 10:11

Maybe look at other lease schemes?
I think that is more affordable than buying for us normos.

mogsrus · 05/12/2021 10:19

Two in the town you work in mmm not ideal is it atm. You will get to them one day & find both of them either being used, or out of order. The infrastructure is just poor atm , hoping it will get better in future as we are all going to need it

wonkylegs · 05/12/2021 10:19

We've got ours on a salary sacrifice lease £300 a month for a v.v. Expensive electric car we couldn't afford to buy.
I quite like it despite being initially skeptical as at the moment there is so much change in the electric car market it's good to be able to give it a try without being tied to a particular car (we tend to buy cars and keep them til they die so this is a departure for us)
You can charge from a normal plug it doesn't have to be a car charger it just takes longer.
We are on the octopus tariff so charge overnight but we've also got solar panels so charge from them in summer (they only produce enough for the house in winter)

Bubblecap · 05/12/2021 10:21

It’s a simple enough cost benefit analysis. A quick google shows the cheapest electric cars are around 16k. It also shows how the rate per mile varies depending on when you charge up your electric car. Next door have a nice looking 40k electric car that they have charging up overnight so use cheaper electric. Though this is not strictly accurate and a very rough estimation electric cars cost about a third per mile as a petrol or diesel car to run energy wise. But that’s literally KW versus MPG.

Problem you have is to buy a car on credit is always pretty dire, your 16k cheapest electric car wouldn’t actually be that.

topcat2014 · 05/12/2021 10:23

What car is £16k, I thought the cheapest was nearer £30k?

Singleorigincoffee · 05/12/2021 10:24

Leasing a car is the way to go. But the best thing to do is to look for the best deals and not a specific car.

For example electric cars are still quite expensive ATM so you could do hybrid instead for now. We usually set a budget per month such as £300 a month and see what's on offer. Stick to 2/3 years as it's essentially brand new car and under warranty so less likely to go wrong or need stuff fixed.

Be aware of deposit costs, admin costs and service costs, end costs, higher mileage is higher price etc (mroe expensive brands would have higher service costs)

MissyB1 · 05/12/2021 10:24

We are doing it through salary sacrifice, will work out about £250 a month.

TreeLawney · 05/12/2021 10:26

I’ve just organised to lease as the best way I can afford one currently. Only need something small as it’s our second car so for a little runaround VW will cost me around £150 pm for 2 years, then we’ll reassess (we are also usually buy something a couple of years old & keep forever). I contemplated something a bit bigger / more luxurious for around 250-300 pm but in the end decided little & more money to save for the next car was more practical!

We will put a charging point in at home though.

Currently it is very frustrating that an electric version of petrol cars around £20k new costs more like £30-35 but I’m hoping in a few years the balance will shift & buying outright will be more affordable for ordinary families.

Mirrorxx · 05/12/2021 10:30

We have leased a Hyundai Kona for 239 a month for 2 years. It was a pre registered car which meant it was delivered within 3 weeks of ordering.

mogsrus · 05/12/2021 10:35

Charge a vehicle by normal plug & you are talking serious amount of time. The maximum draw from a household plug is 3k, this means 13hours fora 40 Kv battery hopefully no power cut during the night

Original poster

RagzReturnsRebooted · 05/12/2021 10:41

@Mirrorxx

We have leased a Hyundai Kona for 239 a month for 2 years. It was a pre registered car which meant it was delivered within 3 weeks of ordering.

Were there a lot of extra/upfront costs with that? I could afford the monthly costs.

OP posts:

BarbaraofSeville · 05/12/2021 10:42

You do sound like the type of person for whom an electric car would be worthwhile and should be workable.

I'd firstly explore if there are any work schemes, also whether it is possible to charge your car at work?

If you can't do salary sacrifice, then look at lease or PCP, because a lot of the cost will be offset by the cost of diesel and road tax. Also see if there are any scrappage schemes available to get your dirty diesel off the road to help with the deposit.

TreeLawney · 05/12/2021 10:45

@RagzReturnsRebooted your first payment is a larger amount - 3, 6, 9 or 12 months worth of the monthly payment. The larger upfront the lower the monthly cost for the remainder of the lease. You also choose how long you want the lease for - again monthly cost is lower usually for a longer lease time. The annual miles you want also changes the monthly cost.

Having just gone through this - deals were a lot cheaper 6 months ago (!) and it is also very hard to find any cars in stock right now.

mogsrus · 05/12/2021 10:55

Just wondering about lease. If you cannot meet repayment for whatever reason ....like when the world stopped in 2020 does the car get taken back. Guessing I know the answer.

TiddleTaddleTat · 05/12/2021 11:02

We were thinking about this a couple of years ago but couldn’t make the numbers work. Had always bought older cars and run them into the ground. In the end we got a hybrid on a HP deal around £200 a month then I paid it off. Hybrid cars obviously still require petrol but my experience has been very positive and we spend about half as much on fuel as we did on the petrol car. The infrastructure just isn’t there yet for EVs here and it’s only wealthier people that can buy upfront that seem to be taking the plunge here. I’m not a fan of leasing either as I worry about being liable for damage

insancerre · 05/12/2021 11:06

Have you looked at hybrid cars?
We have one and the fuel costs are so much lower plus no charging points to worry about
You can get a bank loan to finance it

Mirrorxx · 05/12/2021 11:08

@RagzReturnsRebooted no it was just one month up front. You just need to look for special offers

Hoppinggreen · 05/12/2021 11:10

Aside from costs I really think you do need a driveway to charge the car on. Relying on charging points elsewhere is risky.
I actually think that in a lot of areas that will be the biggest block to people getting electric cars

TimeForTeaAndG · 05/12/2021 11:14

We are looking at a self-charging hybrid for our next car. Charging points are not really anywhere near the places we go most often and a friend pointed out to us that a lot of points are in car parks and places which are not the best for safety if you're a woman alone.

Original poster

RagzReturnsRebooted · 05/12/2021 11:23

[quote TreeLawney]@RagzReturnsRebooted your first payment is a larger amount - 3, 6, 9 or 12 months worth of the monthly payment. The larger upfront the lower the monthly cost for the remainder of the lease. You also choose how long you want the lease for - again monthly cost is lower usually for a longer lease time. The annual miles you want also changes the monthly cost.

Having just gone through this - deals were a lot cheaper 6 months ago (!) and it is also very hard to find any cars in stock right now.[/quote]
I found a reasonable looking one, around £230 a month, but it was only for 5k miles. I do over 10k miles, with work and ferrying DCs around, that pushed it up to £370!

My workplace is a small GP surgery, so no provision at the moment but we are now run by a larger (NHS owned) organisation so may be able to persuade them that it's a good idea to look into the salary sacrifice schemes. Some of our GPs may be interested, especially if there are tax benefits!

OP posts:

Original poster

RagzReturnsRebooted · 05/12/2021 11:26

@insancerre

Have you looked at hybrid cars? We have one and the fuel costs are so much lower plus no charging points to worry about You can get a bank loan to finance it

I did wonder about that, I have a good credit rating and income is due to increase next year, so I could manage a loan. I have no idea what I'm looking for, hybrid wise though. I'll see if I can find some good articles.

OP posts:

coachmylife · 05/12/2021 11:37

Hybrid cars are in lots of ways the worst of both worlds - all the engine stuff to maintain and drag around, as well as the battery etc.

Make sure you are realistic about your mileage. Does 30 miles 5 times a week really add up to £250 in diesel? 650ish miles for £250? We don't own a car, and rental cars are generally petrol now, but that seems incredibly inefficient (or you're driving quite a lot more than that - weekends, other trips etc.) Don't under (or massively over-) estimate or it'll be expensive...

icedcoffees · 05/12/2021 11:41

In your shoes, I wouldn't even consider it if there were only two charging points and I couldn't install one on my property.

What happens if you need to charge your car and the charging points are both broken, in use or out of order?

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