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Original poster

Worried about buying electric

34 replies

vitahelp · 13/05/2025 22:12

I’m about to buy a new car, it will be either BMW i4 or BMW Gran Coupe 440i.

To look at they are virtually the same car, but the obvious difference is electric vs petrol. The ones in my price range of £35-40k are 2/3 years old with 10-20k mileage on the clock.

I’m not worried about range etc, my main concern is how much the car will be worth when I come to trade it in. I want to keep it for 4-5 years, by then it will be up to 8 years old. Will the battery be almost game over by then and the car worth virtually nothing? Or am I worrying over nothing here?

OP posts:
FoxRedPuppy · 15/05/2025 09:46

Blackcountrychik83 · 14/05/2025 13:27

The lack of working charging stations around the country would put me off an electric car . The infrastructure isn’t there yet .

I charge mine at home and when I’ve needed a fast charger I’ve never not found one. There is a lot of talk about infrastructure but it isn’t my experience at all.

Caspianberg · 15/05/2025 09:58

My point is, there’s nothing wrong with Electric cars at all, but you need to be aware of what you buy

If you are expecting to do motorway drives and longer trips, you need something with a bigger battery. 77kw min really.

It you only ever drive local for office or school run, then a cheaper 42kw battery range is fine. As it probably does like up to 200km best range and you doing 20km to school or office and back daily and that’s it.

We have one car. So have a long range, with 77kw battery. As it’s one car to do everything. If we bought a second, we wouldn’t need two long range ones as a short range cheaper and smaller for daily run around whilst the other person did the long trip would be perfectly fine. So both types of range are fine to sell as an option. But buying a car with tiny battery and then expecting it to do miracles isn’t going to happen

Clearinguptheclutter · 15/05/2025 11:46

TMMC1 · 15/05/2025 09:00

unless you live and drive in a city centre, don’t buy electric.
you say you need the Xdrive due to where you live. Do not get electric unless you want a permanent headache with charging.
We now have a third car for when the electric doesn’t have enough charge to get to where we need. We can’t have a fast charger at home as the conservation officer won’t allow it. The car takes 38hrs to charge from 5miles of range. It only does 80 in winter and 120 in summer. It’s a mini.

The whole infrastructure isn’t fit for purpose.

Show quote history

That’s not been our experience at all though admittedly it makes things a lot easier if you have a home charger. 300 mile range which is standard for newer EVs.

we rely on public chargers rarely, yet have never had a problem. The infrastructure is way better than it was 5 years ago.

Tryingtokeepgoing · 15/05/2025 12:37

TMMC1 · 15/05/2025 09:00

unless you live and drive in a city centre, don’t buy electric.
you say you need the Xdrive due to where you live. Do not get electric unless you want a permanent headache with charging.
We now have a third car for when the electric doesn’t have enough charge to get to where we need. We can’t have a fast charger at home as the conservation officer won’t allow it. The car takes 38hrs to charge from 5miles of range. It only does 80 in winter and 120 in summer. It’s a mini.

The whole infrastructure isn’t fit for purpose.

Show quote history

Not my experience at all, and I do ~20,000 EV miles a year in the UK and Europe.

I think you are being led up the garden path on home charging as well - a MINI only has a 32KwH battery - even using a 13A socket that would only take 16 hours to charge from completely empty... But then a MINI is a city car; buying a car with a short ranhe and then complaining it doesnt go far enough is like me buying a 2 seater and then complaining I can't carry three passengers ;)

TMMC1 · 15/05/2025 12:48

Collaborate · 15/05/2025 09:42

If your car has a 150 mile range the battery must be small. The posted range of mine (77kwh battery) is 330 miles - real world range 260 miles.

Home charger at 7kwh and I get to charge from, say, 30% to 80% in around 5 hours at home. A 7kwh charge point is not a fast charger. You'd have to spend over £3k to get the fast charger infrastructure at home. If your car has a range of 150 miles in the real world it should take you half the time it takes mine to add 50% of a full charge to the battery. I can't understand why you say you need to charge away from your home.

We charge from a wall socket. We can’t get approval for an EV charger from the conservation officer.

TMMC1 · 15/05/2025 12:49

Caspianberg · 15/05/2025 09:44

the weather makes a bit. But not huge.

If I wanted 100miles, I would never have bought a ‘up to 150mile’ in perfect condition car. As that’s literally 150 at 50miles an hour, perfectly flat, no traffic, no hills, no heating or air con or anything.

Ours is up to 550km. It’s 500-520 average in summer ( with air con on full). In winter will still get 450km. So a bit less, but it’s not ‘really bad’. You buy looking at worse case range, not best case.

We also have a charger at home. No permission needed for 22kw charger or lower

We are in a listed property and require permission for a charger, which hasn’t been granted. We use a standard wall socket in the house.

Tryingtokeepgoing · 15/05/2025 12:58

TMMC1 · 15/05/2025 12:49

We are in a listed property and require permission for a charger, which hasn’t been granted. We use a standard wall socket in the house.

Show quote history

I have a grade 2 listed building in a conservation area and got permssion to install one of these. I only have single phase power, so it can only deliver 7 kWh, but that still means the 84kWh battery of mine can theoretically be charged from 0% to 100% ovenight.

But, as above, a 13A socket should charge a MINI in 14 to 16 hours, not 38...you have some other electrical problem

simpson-partners.com/home-ev-charger/

Caspianberg · 15/05/2025 13:06

Yes we also charge ours at home on regular plug often. As our garage doesn’t have the Ev charger, and we prefer to park undercover in snow or hot summer. I plug in overnight and it’s always full by morning. ( but I top up when it’s around 50% on day to day basis so it’s always ready)

I think it’s around 3kw an hour on our normal home plug v 11kw faster charger we have. So a 32kw Mini would be fully charged within 10hrs even if it was on 0% ( which must be rare surely)

TMMC1 · 15/05/2025 13:28

@Tryingtokeepgoing
we were in rented before and it took the same time to charge on a standard socket.

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