If you can afford it, will you go electric?

[ShiteheadRevisited]

Genuine question - and I promise this is not a goady thread - if you can afford a £40k+ car, why wouldn't you get an electric vehicle (EV)?

I've scrimped and saved for a year and have just got the VW ID-4 (which I love), as I knew I wanted an EV for environmental reasons. A straw poll of my social circle puts cost as the main barrier to buying an EV.

Our daughter goes to an independent school and I've just observed the sea of Range Rovers, Audi Q7s, BMW X3s, Bentley SUVs etc on the school run, and I wondered why, if you can afford it, you wouldn't get an EV? As the EV options get broader and their driving ranges even better, I wonders whether we will finally start to see a significant shift to electric cars in ten UK?

Difficult one for me. My head says yes but I’m a massive classic car fan and have to say that all the car offerings at the moment leave me shuddering at the blandness of them. You can’t beat the sound of a proper engine, electric cars are just silent sneaky fuckers with no personality.
Plus I’ve got absolutely nowhere to charge one and the astronomical cost to buy one in the first place.

No, for a start most are exceptionally ugly, and the ones that aren't ugly cost an exceptional amount of money.

There are nowhere near enough charging points and don't have a good enough range. I don't want to have to stop and wait for it to charge when doing a long journey

Plus we are just creating another environmental nightmare with batteries that can't be recycled or disposed of

I have one after I got feed up with the massive taxes for company cars. I don't mind being taxed but it was in no way proportional to the benefit, my company car was worth about 13k and a 1.2L diesel so hardly a sports car and I was being taxed over 600 a month.

I'm a bit of an outlier (looking at the studies on daily driving range) and do sometimes travel over 200 miles on one day. The charging points do seem to be broken a lot on the motorway services which has led to some long journeys as I hop from one charger to the next.

For most people I'm sure that an EV would work I know when they've looked at it people vastly over estimate the amount of miles they do.

For those saying EV's cost £40k - no they don't! You can get one on monthly subscription for the same cost as leasing a petrol car, but with free charging, no road tax, no congestion charge and with insurance included - so NO additional costs. We used to lease a small petrol car and have saved a fortune.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

Electric cars are dreadful for the environment. Batteries have to be created and disposed of. Plugging into mains uses electricity which does not help the environment at all. My 2 yr old diesel meets euro 6 Stds and is extremely clean.

If you're talking hydrogen fuel cells then I might listen but they're a way off yet.

Plus we tow a caravan and electric cars don't tow at the moment. Certainly not the van we have.

Our electric car can be set to only charge at night. This means we get a cheaper rate and we are using electricity that might otherwise be wasted as it is off peak. They can’t just shut power stations down at night when people aren’t using as much. They have to keep producing the electricity whether it is used or not.

I just want a Tesla 😭

But my 20k a year income says no 😭

Can batteries be recycled?

EV or gas, what pollutes more?

@MNSavedMyLockdown

For those saying EV's cost £40k - no they don't! You can get one on monthly subscription for the same cost as leasing a petrol car, but with free charging, no road tax, no congestion charge and with insurance included - so NO additional costs. We used to lease a small petrol car and have saved a fortune.

They DO cost lots if you want to buy them. I don't want to lease a car. I like to own mine. Paying all that money every month and having nothing to show for it at the end of it is not my preference. The cheapest EV car right now is the Smart ForTwo at just over £20k. I bought my (larger, more practical and quite frankly much nicer all round) car for £15k cash. And it's all mine. No worries about mileage or scratches to be penalised for. And I doubt I'd be able to squeeze myself into the Smart car, let alone my son in his HBB and a weeks shopping.

We paid £6K for our second hand Leaf, and £15K for a second hand i3.

Not until charging is quicker and the range is longer. I don't want to need to charge it in the middle of a journey or before I return home

There are still multiple issues. Amongst others:

Disposal of batteries
Infrastructure
Ability to travel on long journeys without a great deal of planning
Using electricity is only as green as the underlying company production- so if the company producing the electricity is using fossil fuels to do so this is not green

That said I would like to have an electric car when these points are solved

We've had an e-Golf for a little over 2 years now, and we don't have a charger at home. When DH worked in an office (40 miles away) there was a charger there, so he charged it at work during the day and drove it home and then back to work to charge again the next day. Otherwise there are free chargers around (at least 10 within a couple of miles of our house), so we just plug it in and do the shopping or go for a walk for a bit. It wouldn't work for everyone but not having space to charge at home need not be a barrier.

@MargaretFraggle

We paid £6K for our second hand Leaf, and £15K for a second hand i3.

Leaf has a maximum range of 168 miles. i3 a maximum of 153 miles. So that's a no from me, based on that alone. Both are hideous to look at, mediocre bhp. And neither are the most spacious of cars. I'm 6'3, DH 6'4, son looking as though he's going to same way. Yeah, no. Quite happy with where I spent my £15k....

@MNSavedMyLockdown

For those saying EV's cost £40k - no they don't! You can get one on monthly subscription for the same cost as leasing a petrol car, but with free charging, no road tax, no congestion charge and with insurance included - so NO additional costs. We used to lease a small petrol car and have saved a fortune.

I wouldn't lease a £40k petrol car either though.

Each to their own. I like my Leaf I agree that not all electric cars suit everyone's needs, and that the charging infrastructure and range on some needs improving. The majority of most people's car journeys are not long ones though and yet everyone focuses on this. And it is not true that all electric cars are expensive if you want to buy them (though some are, especially new ones).

I would urge everyone to watch the links I posted and bear in mind that some industries have a vested interest in dissuading us from going electric. I am married to a former petrolhead, who also likes the sound of a motor.

Nope. The range on most of them is way too small, they cost too much to purchase, they're mostly ugly looking cars, and the batteries weigh a LOT. Plus I have serious concerns about how the charging infrastucture will be improved and the time it takes to recharge - Im not sitting on a forecourt for an hour when I can already drive in, fill up and drive off again in under 5 minutes. What about people who only have on street parking?

@MargaretFraggle

Each to their own. I like my Leaf I agree that not all electric cars suit everyone's needs, and that the charging infrastructure and range on some needs improving. The majority of most people's car journeys are not long ones though and yet everyone focuses on this. And it is not true that all electric cars are expensive if you want to buy them (though some are, especially new ones).

I would urge everyone to watch the links I posted and bear in mind that some industries have a vested interest in dissuading us from going electric. I am married to a former petrolhead, who also likes the sound of a motor.

My DH is a long time petrol head. He has multiple cars currently (8+ that I know of, there could be more 😬). He's not interested or convinced about EVs yet. When a decent sized (SUV) EV is released, with a range of 500+ miles, I might be persuaded to revisit. I fear though that it would be more money that I was happy with spending, and not for some time yet.

We will be getting one this year at some point. Our current car is 14 years old, rusty, too small with child etc so it’s time for an upgrade.

Current car we bought secondhand but i think we will lease as can lease easier with all insurance/ taxes/ tolls included here ( we aren’t in uk and toll roads alone cost us a fair bit per year even with annual pass). It does seem a big expense, but is to be fair same price as like for like size petrol version.

We have a driveway though and will add a dedicated charger ( this is funded 50% by government also). I can charge easily out and about if needed but the cars we are looking at are all 400km+ range and I won’t be doing more than that without stopping for a break with 1 year old child

The technology isn’t there yet. When you can get 500 miles from a 5 minute recharge and they cost the same as a footballer’s Range Rover then maybe.

They don’t cost - sorry typo

No chance! It's hard enough to park on our street and even if you managed it, you'd have a cable running across the pavement, major tripping hazard!

It's all very well for those with ample garages and driveways but if you live in an old terrace then it's a nonstarter.

Plus the whole battery issue is ridiculous.

Had my model 3 for a year.

Performance of a £160k porsche taycan S turbo, 135 MPGe and with 0% BIK costs me a net (after fuel, insurance and maintenance savings) £125 per month.

No brainer for me.

As for the batteries, the energy and greenhouse gas cost of manufacture is offset by the savings in use so that between 6 and 24 months is the crossover point where you break even in that regard.

Accept that at the moment EVs aren't for everyone, but, they will be very soon once the issues of on-street charging and battery recycling have been sorted.

I have a 12yo diesel that needs replacing. I can't afford £40k on a car but if I could, I'd be cautious about

• range
• availability of charging points
• issue with replacement & disposal of batteries.

I cycle far more now, than I did. My mileage has dropped from 24000 miles a year to 6000. My current thinking in one more diesel for lugging food/teenager/bikes.