To not get an electric car?

[Jamesblema]

I was keen to get one as our second car (small-ish run around mainly for DH to do his 25 min commute every week day - we have a larger family car).

My main reasons were the savings on running costs and the benefit to the environment. I figured we could spend 6-8k on the car and then we would save massively on petrol costs. However, taking to the men at our local garage has put me off- they said that electricity costs are almost as much as petrol and repairs on electric cars require specialist mechanics and can be massively more expensive especially when something goes wrong with the battery. They also said that the estimated remaining mileage is often more than you actually have left and you can easily run out of charge and need to stop for over an hour to charge up. The cost of buying a hybrid is putting me off that option too.

So aibu to keep my petrol car at the cost of the environment? Any positive electric car experiences?

I don’t like the reports of them exploding and the fact they need a new battery every 10 years which are £000s. I want to be environmentally friendly but I think I’d only have one as a lease car if I went down that route.

I’ll add, friends who have them love them but they’re all very new so it may be a different story in 5-10 years.

I have an electric car.
I charge it at home and it costs me under £3 for 200 miles.

It is worth looking at mileage range as in cold weather it does drop

As far as things going wrong. There is not as much to go wrong as a conventional car as there is no engine.

Not all as green as it is ment to be. But we can conviniently forget about it, as it isn't on our doorstep!

www.mining-technology.com/analyst-comment/lithium-mining-negative-environmental-impact/

Electric cars don't need much maintenance/servicing so there's a bit of a conflict of interest there...

For a second car with a short commute I'd go electric. We have an ionic for that exact job and it's great. Can do any sensible day trips without charging and on an EV (basically economy 7) tariff it's cheap to charge.

We've had it a year and it's massively reduced our commuting costs compared with the "boring" diesel we had before.

But still way greener than the equivalent fossil fuel car.

Ours is super cheap to run. No servicing, clean, smooth, fast - could never go back to oilburners.

I think they're being a little pessimistic.

Electric cars cost less to service as there's less to go wrong. You can get warranties against batteries if you buy from a dealer and even an older battery, which won't hold as much charge as when new, should still be in a decent state if it's not been misused.

I've never had mine at a specialist mechanic - it simply doesn't need much servicing other than brakes and suspension. An occassional software update but that happens 'over the air' and doesn't cost.

And you can run out of charge just like you run out of petrol - it doesn't just happen without notice. You can see the estimated miles and work your charging schedule around it.

If the car is being used on the same daily routine, you would just get into the habit of charging it at home every second/third/fourth/whatever night and if so, you can change your tariff so that the costs are low. And even on a non EV tariff, it will still be cheaper than petrol/diesel.

I think you'd struggle with your budget to get one with a decent range but if it's the second and smaller family car, I think you might be able to get by.

They aren't green when you consider cradle to grave. They are expensive unless a business buys them and can write them off. I have the Tesla as with 380 mile range it generally gets me where I want to be without hassle. I find I always have MORE range than it says, which has come in handy twice. Its free to charge at work so its a virtually free means for getting most places. I wouldn't buy the electric mini as it came with 100 mile range which would work only to and from work but not any weekend activities. They are an interesting toy but not going to save the planet or anything but it is economical if you can write it off and use low cost electricity.

Expensive to buy.
Cheap to run and maintain.

You are trading up front purchase cost against future lower petrol, tax and maintenance costs.

I wouldn't buy one if I couldn't charge at home, because the public chargers are expensive and slow. OK every now and then for long distance but not great if you have to do frequently. If you charge at home you can get an EV tariff you can do better but even on the price cap tariff you will do better than petrol in terms of costs to run - maybe 50% ? Then you have lower maintenance charges to benefit from as well.

They are good to drive and tbh I don't think there is much difference in terms of safety etc cf. a petrol.

The real question is what is your daily mileage ?

I have an electric car and don't have any of the problems you have been told about. The mileage gauge is pretty accurate, have not needed servicing or anything half as much as petrol car does, electric is super cheap we charge ours with a mix of solar and economy 7 (Octopus do great deals) and its super cheap (would be different if you are charging out and about and not at home). I would really recommend. We also use it now for main car, this weekend we drove from home counties to south wales quite happily, charged there and came back in a oner.

DB has an electric Audi.

He was down to 12miles range after Leeds to Birmingham recently, and after going to NINE different charging points on the motorway then at the NEC he couldn't find any fast chargers (several non-functioning, any functioning were all in use) and ended up on a crap trickle charge at the NEC for some exorbitant price and it only gave him about 50miles charge in an afternoon. He had to drive home again that day, so then had to hunt for another fast charge, which still takes 1.5hrs or more, wait for it to charge up then drive home.

They both now take the family diesel car if they travel further than a single charge can do in a return journey. Absolutely pointless - spending all that money on a white elephant.

I'm wait until they've sorted access to proper EV chargers nationally. Not worth it at the moment unless you only do local driving with absolutely zero need to ever go further.

No problem with ours, had 2 years.
We have done long journeys often, we live where it’s really mountainous and minus temperatures in winter and the range is fine. We have 500km roughly in summer. Winter range still 400km ish.
It’s never just dropped range.

We average around €20-30 a month in charging, which is far less than our older smaller petrol cost in Petrol. This February it cost us €23.40.

Are they?
They are made mostly from plastic (crude oil).

My question is: when will something truly have a positive environmental impact,
If you compare something that is already here: older car, versus something that is specifically produced for you: new electric car.

Bottom line is, we need to consume less not more.

I’ve driven ours to the alps and back on several trips. Never once had an issue with charging, chargers or range. Time your charges with breaks you’d be taking anyway on proper long road trips and you have no difference in journey duration. For day to day use we charge at home. Can’t do that with a petrol pump.

Depends if you don't mind lithium lakes and have looked at research into the increased pollution from tyre particles due to excessive waste.
The scrappage of cars that can't be sold because nobody wants to buy a second hand car with a battery that will need replacing at the cost of £000,s next year. Or the ones who run on 3g systems that will no longer work as 3g is scrapped.

We have a self charging hybrid.
It's 'smart' in that it automatically changes between the two fuels but for short commutes , you can override it to use one more than the other.

Funny how the guys at your local garage (which presumably doesn’t service electric cars given their comments about how specialists are needed) think petrol and diesel cars are the way to go…

YANBU. We had one on a weekend long test drive and were very much put off. A car with a supposed 175 mile range dropped to 99 in the cold! Just not feasible for us, plus mad insurance and maintenance costs made it a no go. Alright if you’ve got a short city commute but not for anything else

^Expensive to buy.
Cheap to run and maintain.

You are trading up front purchase cost against future lower petrol, tax and maintenance costs^

Indeed. Always do the maths. I bought a 2 YO small petrol car for £8k. A very slightly newer electric version of the same car would have been more like £18k. It would have taken the best part of a decade to make back the extra upfront cost, even if the electric I charged it with was free.

I'm open to the idea of an electric car for personal use and have a vague plan for one when my current car reaches the end of it's life - I'm hoping there will be some trade in deals that will make it more financially viable.

I wouldn't consider it for business use because I do some very long work days that I have no desire to make longer because I'd likely have to charge up twice and no I wouldn't spend the time hanging round service stations drinking coffee while the car charges.

So while MN loves an electric car, there's still a lot of shortcomings for many and the cost is often too high for those who generally drive low to mid price cars.

I didnt want one but DH did. I leased one so he could see what a bad idea it was.
Unfortunately I fell in love with it and have now bought one.
I absolutely love driving it, its so smooth and quiet. Costs me very little to run as I charge overnight at home mostly for around 2p per mile, according to my App I save around £250 per month as opposed to petrol.
I ahve never had any issue charging on long jorneys and it hasnt blown up yet.
I cant say I bought it to save the planet or anything but I just enjoy it.
Its not for everyone but its great for us

There's a fuel station near us (not on the motorway, it is a few minutes from a junction but it's not signposted as a service station, so effectively a standard suburban filling station) that sells electricity at 65 p a kWh so about 5 times what people pay at home on a special tariff.

If you bought that, it would probably cost more per mile than petrol/diesel to run the car, so putting electric car drivers at even more of a disadvantage cost wise.

I'll be sticking to petrol for as long as I possibly can. I don't have a driveway so can't charge at home and wouldn't spend long enough in a shopping centre etc. to charge it.

Time your charges with breaks you’d be taking anyway on proper long road trips and you have no difference in journey duration.

We'd only stop for long enough to grab something to eat and use the loo as we'd just swap drivers rather than taking a long break. I can fill up the car in 5 minutes so I don't want to be sitting around in services waiting for the car to charge.

I wouldn't touch one - they are mot as environmentally friendly as you think unless you plan on installing solar panels to charge it. Repairs are expensive and depreciation is huge

I've had mine just under a year and done about 7000 miles

Done a few long trips where I've used Tesla Superchargers (& never had an issue finding one available) but mostly I charge at home as I get 240 miles on a full charge

I've spent £351 on electricity in that time (OVO do a cheap anytime rate)
Petrol would have been £1694

No servicing required at all yet
You can warranty the battery and there is no engine or exhaust system to go wrong. No oil leaks and very easy and quiet to drive

We had a hybrid for 2 years before this one and that made our minds up really

We have our own business and bought it through that, which means you can offset 100% of the cost against corporation tax in the first year too (in case any business owners are considering!)

Oh - and it takes 15 mins to charge to full at a supercharger - so by the time we've got something to eat and been to the loo it's done, no waiting around