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Original poster

If you can afford it, will you go electric?

172 replies

ShiteheadRevisited · 17/05/2021 09:10

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?

OP posts:
ItsMondayy · 17/05/2021 20:55

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand I pay the same amount as I previously paid to lease my petrol car, only I don't have to pay toad tax, petrol, insurance or congestion charge.

Orangeinmybluelightcup · 17/05/2021 20:58

We are trying to go EV. Looking at the mg zx to buy or possibly an MG 5 which would need to lease as its over £20k. But we're finding it tricky to get a charging point at home. Waiting for a visit from the lecky board.

headintheproverbial · 17/05/2021 20:59

We've got a small electric run around.

We've kept our bigger family car for longer journeys or when we need boot space.

We do all local journeys and other longer range journeys which don't require a charge.

We're hoping that by the time we have to replace our big car battery life and charge time will be much better.

I'm so glad we got it!

Orangeinmybluelightcup · 17/05/2021 21:01

The lease on the mg5 is £225/m. They're about £25k to buy. Or buying a mg zs is about £18-20k.

MaryJosephJesusAndTheWeeDonkey · 17/05/2021 21:27

@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.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

What do you mean electric cars don't tow at the moment? We have a Mercedes QVC with a tow bar....for towing.

Liltzero · 17/05/2021 21:28

Marking for a later read.

MargaretFraggle · 17/05/2021 21:40

Anyone have any links to how bad the batteries are?

Yes, I posted two links above about battery production, fossil fuels and recycling.

I do get (from experience...) why a family wouldn't want to drive from e.g. Liverpool to Plymouth or for a caravan holiday in one at the moment. But as a runaround or for regular journeys of a couple of hours each way they are a joy.

MargaretFraggle · 17/05/2021 21:41

I do also get that it depends where you can charge and at the moment it's true that it is easiest if you have a drive.

torquewench · 17/05/2021 21:46

@ItsMondayy

It is a finance scheme, just dressed up as something else.

How is it a "finance scheme"? Unless you class any exchange of money as a finance scheme? It's exactly the same model as Netflix. You pay for a service.

Is that how the principle behind it was sold to you? "Its the same as Netflix"? Hey, give me 400 a month and I'll let you drive my car 😂 (it only costs me about 80 a month to run).

Youre only renting a car. Subscription is just a fancy name for it.

MargaretFraggle · 17/05/2021 21:47

Shmithecat2 8 cars! That beats my DHs record... Grin

lakesidelife · 17/05/2021 21:52

I thought about it seriously and around the US city I live in it would be fine, there are a lot here and decent infrastructure.
But we also enjoy road tripping which is better than flying as a way of exploring the country and it just wouldn't work at all in a lot of rural America.
So I am sticking with gas powered for the moment.

Shmithecat2 · 17/05/2021 22:00

@MargaretFraggle

Shmithecat2 8 cars! That beats my DHs record... Grin
That I know of.... I once thought he only had one boat. Found out he had 3 🤨
Lanesra1886 · 17/05/2021 22:02

Yes if I could afford one. I've been in a Tesla and it was great, my god it was fast

MsMarvellous · 17/05/2021 22:06

I've had an electric car before. I'll go back when the range is better, the public charging infrastructure is better, and they are affordable.

It was a great wee car but not without issues.

RickiTarr · 17/05/2021 22:08

@BonnyEm

I don't always have parking outside my property as it's a residential street. Therefore, may not be able to charge my car. Definitely needs a lot more infrastructure in place. What about people in flats too. Not everyone has a driveway.
PHEVs don’t need to be plugged in so are a decent compromise.
Wafflewombat · 17/05/2021 22:16

Test drove a Tesla today. Not sure they have many middle-aged women come in the store. Very smooth and just a tad condescending. I'm very used to your usual car sales executives but I think I was older than the joint age of the staff there today.

Nice car but I can see why the petrol heads struggle with electric now. Plus they only have the one model to order, apparently. I'd assumed the X & S were also available but no, only Model 3.

bouncydog · 17/05/2021 23:55

We drive to Southern Spain so no way could we have a full EV. Sometimes you don’t see a filling station for miles on some of the rods let alone a charging point. Plus all the stuff we take with us we need a fairly good sized boot. We’ve just ordered a Toyota hybrid as a compromise as self charging. Yes I know it has a battery but we keep our cars for years and it has a 12 year warranty so hopefully by the time we get rid a full EV will be achievable. I also have a city car for parking in town that has low emissions and so feel we are doing a little environmentally.

changi · 18/05/2021 00:08

What do you mean electric cars don't tow at the moment? We have a Mercedes QVC with a tow bar....for towing.

Very few current electric cars are rated for towing and most, if not all, are at the higher end of the price range.

The cheapest QVC is £65k. Silly money for many/most people.

CovidCorvid · 18/05/2021 07:05

What do you mean electric cars don't tow at the moment? We have a Mercedes QVC with a tow bar....for towing

It’s great that you can afford that....the highest budget I’ve ever had for a car is 10k. I normally manage to buy a 3yo estate with fairly low mileage for that. However I’m not going to be able to buy a merc nor any sort of high end electric car which can tow.

I am genuinely interested though....how far can you tow a decent weight caravan before needing to charge?

Arrierttyclock · 18/05/2021 07:13

We're considering one for our next car but I don't like the unreliability of having to find somewhere to charge it or having the have a charger put in at home (don't even know if it's possible) it's just a lot of hassle

Arrierttyclock · 18/05/2021 07:14

Also my friends got a Tesla and couldn't have the heating on in December as he was stuck in a traffic jam for hours and was worried his car was going to die. I couldn't cope with that

Shmithecat2 · 18/05/2021 09:18

@CovidCorvid

What do you mean electric cars don't tow at the moment? We have a Mercedes QVC with a tow bar....for towing

It’s great that you can afford that....the highest budget I’ve ever had for a car is 10k. I normally manage to buy a 3yo estate with fairly low mileage for that. However I’m not going to be able to buy a merc nor any sort of high end electric car which can tow.

I am genuinely interested though....how far can you tow a decent weight caravan before needing to charge?

Yeah, I'd be interested in that too, how much towing affects the range.
changi · 18/05/2021 09:27

Yeah, I'd be interested in that too, how much towing affects the range.

I'd be interested to see somebody rock up to a charging station with a caravan attached.

I can't imagine it would go down well with other users.

Shmithecat2 · 18/05/2021 09:29

@changi

Yeah, I'd be interested in that too, how much towing affects the range.

I'd be interested to see somebody rock up to a charging station with a caravan attached.

I can't imagine it would go down well with other users.

😂😂😂 good point.
StapMe · 18/05/2021 10:31

Once upon a time, the uk government encouraged everyone to go diesel because it was better for the environment......I'm wondering about the true overall environmental cost of electric cars with the current (!) technology. How practical are they really. Filling up with petrol takes 5 minutes tops, and even then you get queues at filling stations. Charging takes longer. What about the winter scenes we sometimes see of terrible traffic jams and people are just stuck in them, running out of fuel if they keep the heater on? Using a billy can to put enough fuel in to limp to a petrol station is one thing, but how does it work when the electric cars battery is completely flat?