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?

@FixTheBone

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.

Really? Tesla 3 0-60 3.7 secs. Taycan is 2.8. Both ridiculously fast, but relatively, the Porsche is still 25% quicker off the mark. HP of the Tesla 3 is 480m Taycan is 750. Not exactly the same

Gone for a hybrid. Dh charges his. It's a big Mitsubishi EB plug in.
Mine is a Hyundai self charging. Love it.

The only type I would get would be a self charging hybrid because I can't be trusted to remember to charge most things, let alone a car.

But

"I think electric cars are the new diesel. Not properly thought through at all."

I completely disagree utterly. They are making huge strides. In electric. And hybrid. Huge developments, rapidly, getting much better all the time.

And the infrastructure is developing rapidly. Huge charging statins being built, like the old motorway service stations.

Way behind what they are supposed to be developmentally per the schedule for reaching out targets by 2025 and 2030, but progress.

2nd hand electric cars, and hybrids, are a very good price. You don't need to buy new new (not that I have ever been able to afford to buy a new new!)

I have an ev. It's the light of my life! 🚗

Bought second hand for 17k, 27,000 miles on the clock.

I have a home charger which fully charges it over night for a couple of pounds (mine off the night tariff).

It has a total electric range of around 120 miles, plus a petrol range extender which gives it another 80 miles.

Not a hybrid - it has no petrol engine. Just the range extender is powered by petrol if you need to.

I drive 140 miles every weekday from my rural location to a city.

When I get to the city I charge for free so that the range is usually nearly full again when I come back for the return journey.

If you need to you can charge VERY rapidly at certain places - 20 mins or so can give you almost a full charge.

It has no engine, no clutch, no carburettor, no big end, no spark plugs, no gears, no gearbox. Very little can go wrong with it so very cheap to maintain.

I think people are understandably a bit cautious but really I know many who have an electric car and have never looked back!

FixTheBone

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.

Really? Tesla 3 0-60 3.7 secs. Taycan is 2.8. Both ridiculously fast, but relatively, the Porsche is still 25% quicker off the mark. HP of the Tesla 3 is 480m Taycan is 750. Not exactly the same hmm

M3P is 3.1 seconds, some have recorded 2.9. 3.7 is the average across the range

point still stands that £60k gets you simultaneously one of the fastest, most efficient, practical family cars on the market. In my eyes, the only compromise is range, and even that is class leading at 275+ miles (and yes, I do regularly achieve that, provided I don't engage 'fun mode')

Because I don't think there's an EV yet with a towing capacity of 3,500kg which I need at least a couple of times a week...

My DH has had his Tesla model S for nearly three years and I'm taking delivery of a Audi e-tron this week. So we won't pay any petrol/diesel costs now - it's a great feeling. DH as free super charging with Tesla as long as he owns the car, so costs almost nothing to run. You just need to allow extra time on a long journey, but we'd usually stop for a coffee or lunch anyway at the motorway services, so it's no big deal.

I think there's a lot of people who will be stuck in their ways, which is understandable, as we've done things the same way for so long, but I think once you drive an EV you never look back. I also think there are some changes and very minor inconveniences we all need to make for the sake of the climate. So for example, I can just about remember when recycling rubbish became a thing. Separating out your rubbish seemed like a pain in the ass but we soon got used to it and now we don't think twice. Plus aspects of driving an EV are actually way better than driving a petrol car anyway - mainly the monthly costs.

The electricity used to charge an electric car will invariably come from fossil fuel or nuclear power, neither which sit happily with me.

I would rather minimise my driving altogether.

I don't buy cars in that price bracket (I'm an old fashioned type who only ever buys my cars in cash, and my budget is usually £15-20k for an almost new one), but I can see myself getting an electric in the near future as the technology improves and gets cheaper. The issues for me are:

Range - I drive long distances (e.g. northern England to Italy or Switzerland in a day), and I drive reasonably regularly in remote areas, like the Scottish Highlands. I need my car to have sufficient range to deal with that kind of driving, I need charging points to be widespread in rural areas, and not to take ages charging up.

Environmental concerns - As stated by a PP, electric cars are only better for the environment if we also deal with how the electricity is produced, and how the batteries are disposed of etc. Petrol/diesel has its issues, but in many cases electric cars seem to be just moving the problem elsewhere.

I’m open to it but there are too many major compromises at the moment. My current two cars are older, and owned outright. I live in a flat, have on-street parking and there are no street chargers on this road. And all our journeys tend to be long ones — 300 miles plus to see family or go on holiday. Both my cars will do over 600 miles on a tank (one’s diesel, the other petrol) and until an EV gets near that I don’t see the need to change. I’d rather keep my current cars for a few more years than contribute to yet more manufacturing — which is where the bulk of the environmental impact of EVs lies.

Anyone have any links to how bad the batteries are?

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

I don't buy cars in that price bracket (I'm an old fashioned type who only ever buys my cars in cash, and my budget is usually £15-20k for an almost new one), but I can see myself getting an electric in the near future as the technology improves and gets cheaper. The issues for me are:

Range - I drive long distances (e.g. northern England to Italy or Switzerland in a day), and I drive reasonably regularly in remote areas, like the Scottish Highlands. I need my car to have sufficient range to deal with that kind of driving, I need charging points to be widespread in rural areas, and not to take ages charging up.

Environmental concerns - As stated by a PP, electric cars are only better for the environment if we also deal with how the electricity is produced, and how the batteries are disposed of etc. Petrol/diesel has its issues, but in many cases electric cars seem to be just moving the problem elsewhere.

It does move the problem elsewhere, but also reduces it.

With the current energy mix in the UK a battery electric vehicle produces around 65% less greenhouse gasses than an equivalent petrol and 60% less than diesel, these figures will only get bigger as electricity production moves towards renewables.

Agree! I've got one too and we charge it overnight on cheap rate electricity - although to be fair our second car is still a diesel at the moment as we don't want to have to stop to charge, so use it for longer journeys. If we only had one car we might also be waiting for a bit until the range increases.

You could cite the manufacturing cost in terms of energy or carbon for any vehicle though.

If you have a working car it will virtually always be more environmentally friendly to keep it running than to buy a new car, whether that's petrol, diesel or electric.

The idea is that people will transition to electric as current vehicles reach the end of their lives.

I haven't got one. We regularly make the trip to the Hebrides from Bristol to see family. I don't think that they have a charging point on the island we visit. In fact if the ferry is cancelled they don't get even get a delivery of petrol or diesel from Shell UK.

I have an ev and love it. Have had them for years now. I totally get that people don't like them though, but I honestly think if people were lent one for a month they would definitely change their mind. Its like driving a spaceship, so intuitive and smooth, and the acceleration is amazing.

Not practical for me to buy one yet, and I need something with seven seats so probably out of my price range anyway.

I drive a diesel currently and I know they're not brilliant but I also don't have kids, avoid plastic as much as possible and don't fly at all so I figure it all balances out in the end. For small local trips, I have the option to use my mum's small petrol car too.

I'd love one but the 120 mile range is a def no brainier for me!

Regularly drive round the UK for work and I couldn't be stopping every 120 miles to charge!

I think what is not understood too is the "fun" factor.

My EV (i3) is just such fun to drive! It's very zippy, brilliant handling, just great all around.

I never gave a damn about cars till I got this, now it every time I get in it I look forward to the ride.

Plus every time you stop at the petrol station to fill up the water/get a snack - you see other people spending £50 or £60 a go on fuel. Makes me feel very lucky.

@NakedBanana

I'd love one but the 120 mile range is a def no brainier for me!

Regularly drive round the UK for work and I couldn't be stopping every 120 miles to charge!

Many do 300 now.

Darlingwithoutyou 300 miles sounds better but still not great. If I take a trip home to Scotland I'd need far more than that.

But def will keep looking.