telstarbox
Established Member
To avoid derailing the other thread. For those of you who have EVs, what are the pros and cons of yours and what sort of mileage are you doing each week.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Tell us about your electric vehicle
- Thread starter telstarbox
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Car 1: 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Does around 200-250km per week. EV range when new was around 40km, now down to around 20km as the battery is pretty worn. Originally purchased as needed a one car family vehicle than could tow, and at the time there were very few EV options for this without spending mega bucks. Will replace in the future with a dedicated EV when budget allows as it's using more fuel than I would like. No issues though with it, has around 170K km on the ODO. Pros: very versatile family car with plenty of space, low running costs as long you plug in. Cons: Battery wear means car is more like a mild hybrid now. Newer versions have larger batteries which should improve this.
Car 2: 2018 40kWh Nissan Leaf, replaced a 2012 Gen 1 24kWh Nissan Leaf. Between 200 and 300km per week. Went to two cars thanks to a house move and grabbed the Gen 1 Leaf as a commuter and kid runabout. Had 51K km when purchased, drove to 123K km and sold it when its range was starting to get restrictive (around 90km max). Aside from the limited range it was a great car, cheap as chips to run, a good size and zero issues. Gen 2 Leaf has more bells and whistles, and the increased range is tasty after the older car (around 230km). Slightly less rear seat room than the older version which appears to have been sacrificed for a larger boot. Pros: Not much to dislike, drives well, enough space for two adults and two teenage kids, has an aftermarket app for diagnosing issues and monitoring battery performance (Leaf Spy), plenty of them out there so spare parts are easy to find and are a genuine second hand option on price parity with equivalent ICE cars. Cons: None unless you are doing long road trips, in that case either get a long range version or go for something else in the EV market.
I should note that we have off street parking and charge off standard 240V outlets, and also have trickle charging available at both of our workplaces so basically never need to use public chargers.
Car 2: 2018 40kWh Nissan Leaf, replaced a 2012 Gen 1 24kWh Nissan Leaf. Between 200 and 300km per week. Went to two cars thanks to a house move and grabbed the Gen 1 Leaf as a commuter and kid runabout. Had 51K km when purchased, drove to 123K km and sold it when its range was starting to get restrictive (around 90km max). Aside from the limited range it was a great car, cheap as chips to run, a good size and zero issues. Gen 2 Leaf has more bells and whistles, and the increased range is tasty after the older car (around 230km). Slightly less rear seat room than the older version which appears to have been sacrificed for a larger boot. Pros: Not much to dislike, drives well, enough space for two adults and two teenage kids, has an aftermarket app for diagnosing issues and monitoring battery performance (Leaf Spy), plenty of them out there so spare parts are easy to find and are a genuine second hand option on price parity with equivalent ICE cars. Cons: None unless you are doing long road trips, in that case either get a long range version or go for something else in the EV market.
I should note that we have off street parking and charge off standard 240V outlets, and also have trickle charging available at both of our workplaces so basically never need to use public chargers.
telstarbox
Established Member
Good insight, thanks!
pdq
Member
- Joined
- 7 Oct 2010
- Messages
- 893
Unlike the previous poster, I am a newbee to EVs. We have a new Kia Niro EV, delivered on March 1st. I have covered just over 3100 miles in that time - mostly my 10 mile hilly commute, but a few motorway runs in there as well. Generally I do 120-150 miles a week, not counting days out and longer adhoc journeys, of which there have been a few.
We bought the car to replace our previous leased Octavia. Clearly a new EV is expensive, but the Niro reviews were good and the size suited us. I also tried out a Hyundai Kona, and we initially looked at nearly new not brand new. Despite the significant premium for a new car, the finance deal available only on the new Kia tipped the balance that way. I would probably have gone for the Kona if the finance had been more favourable, but the two cars are basically the same underneath.
My initial 'man maths' indicated a fuel saving per year of £1600 over ICE, based on 12,000 miles, 40mpg, £1.45 per litre, vs 9p/kWh and 3.5 miles/kWh. We've actually transferred more miles than we anticipated from our petrol cars and we've moved to a 7.35p tariff, so I'm currently seeing a potential fuel saving of £2k a year. Over the warranty period of the car (7 years) this more than covers the premium over the equivalent petrol car. We're on PCP so if used EV prices crash in the next 3 years, we have some protection.
The efficiency started around 3 miles/kWh and this has gradually increased as the weather has warmed up. The overall average since new is now sitting at 3.6. I think we're in the sweet spot at the moment where neither heating nor cooling is required to any significant degree: since the last full charge, I have averaged 4.7 miles/kWh over 100 miles, but there's only been one 10 mile motorway run in that. If I continue at this rate, the current full charge will see 270 miles if I were to take it down to empty.
Usually I charge to 80% then recharge when the range is getting down to 50 miles, or sooner when I know I've got a longer journey. We've got a Hypervolt charger on the drive - chosen because it was due to be compatible with Ovo Charge Anytime, which is 7.35/kWh. We went for one of the more expensive installers with a 5 year installation warranty, so the full install price was around £1200. We could have got this charger for £1050 from a cheaper installer, or got a cheaper charger, but a saving of £250 with potentially poorer support didn't seem the right way to go.
I'm not too concerned about the lower efficiency in the winter. A heatpump was an option, but at £1000 I would never recoup that, and I can pre-heat the car at home when it's really cold. If I was consistently doing longer journeys, then the increased range that comes with increased efficiency would be useful, but at the outset we knew that long journeys would be the exception.
That brings me to journey length/charging etc. If there's such a thing as a non-sweet-spot, then a journey of 100-120 miles is that. It's short enough to do in one stint, but too far to comfortably do the return journey without a charge, especially when it's cold. But it only takes a 15 minute boost at any point, so really no hassle. We've done it twice, and it was so easy, albeit comparatively expensive. But just like you'd not routinely fill up with petrol at motorway services, so an electric top-up away from home is an exception. We just put in a tenner or so, which was more than enough to get us home and onto the overnight charger.
Driving experience - so far so excellent. Yes it's a bit heavy, but we've bought a family car not a roadster. The instant and consistent torque is so impressive, and I think my driving style has become more relaxed as there's no change of gear and the car's always ready to pull. In traffic it's a dream. Set it to one pedal control and it's possible to crawl at ridiculously low speeds, even uphill. Whenever I'm behind a dirty diesel or an old petrol burning oil, I do feel a bit 'smug' that I am not polluting the local atmosphere.
Cons? Nothing at all with EV as a concept. A couple of very minor gripes with the individual car model: I'm slightly disappointed with the heater - I was expecting heat to be instant, like switching on a fan heater, but in reality it's a bit slow to react. Other very minor niggles include a digital speedo 'dial' that goes all the way to 160mph. WHY? The car's max is just over the ton so all driving takes place with the needle less than '12 o'clock'! Wireless Android Auto would have been nice (previous Skoda had this). And the Kia Connect app is great at prompting me that I've parked with the sunroof ajar, but it isn't clever enough that I can tell it to close remotely. Can you tell I've been caught out by that? I get the feeling that a 'simply clever' Skoda would have thought that through. As you can tell, if those are all I'm whinging about, then there's not much wrong.
We bought the car to replace our previous leased Octavia. Clearly a new EV is expensive, but the Niro reviews were good and the size suited us. I also tried out a Hyundai Kona, and we initially looked at nearly new not brand new. Despite the significant premium for a new car, the finance deal available only on the new Kia tipped the balance that way. I would probably have gone for the Kona if the finance had been more favourable, but the two cars are basically the same underneath.
My initial 'man maths' indicated a fuel saving per year of £1600 over ICE, based on 12,000 miles, 40mpg, £1.45 per litre, vs 9p/kWh and 3.5 miles/kWh. We've actually transferred more miles than we anticipated from our petrol cars and we've moved to a 7.35p tariff, so I'm currently seeing a potential fuel saving of £2k a year. Over the warranty period of the car (7 years) this more than covers the premium over the equivalent petrol car. We're on PCP so if used EV prices crash in the next 3 years, we have some protection.
The efficiency started around 3 miles/kWh and this has gradually increased as the weather has warmed up. The overall average since new is now sitting at 3.6. I think we're in the sweet spot at the moment where neither heating nor cooling is required to any significant degree: since the last full charge, I have averaged 4.7 miles/kWh over 100 miles, but there's only been one 10 mile motorway run in that. If I continue at this rate, the current full charge will see 270 miles if I were to take it down to empty.
Usually I charge to 80% then recharge when the range is getting down to 50 miles, or sooner when I know I've got a longer journey. We've got a Hypervolt charger on the drive - chosen because it was due to be compatible with Ovo Charge Anytime, which is 7.35/kWh. We went for one of the more expensive installers with a 5 year installation warranty, so the full install price was around £1200. We could have got this charger for £1050 from a cheaper installer, or got a cheaper charger, but a saving of £250 with potentially poorer support didn't seem the right way to go.
I'm not too concerned about the lower efficiency in the winter. A heatpump was an option, but at £1000 I would never recoup that, and I can pre-heat the car at home when it's really cold. If I was consistently doing longer journeys, then the increased range that comes with increased efficiency would be useful, but at the outset we knew that long journeys would be the exception.
That brings me to journey length/charging etc. If there's such a thing as a non-sweet-spot, then a journey of 100-120 miles is that. It's short enough to do in one stint, but too far to comfortably do the return journey without a charge, especially when it's cold. But it only takes a 15 minute boost at any point, so really no hassle. We've done it twice, and it was so easy, albeit comparatively expensive. But just like you'd not routinely fill up with petrol at motorway services, so an electric top-up away from home is an exception. We just put in a tenner or so, which was more than enough to get us home and onto the overnight charger.
Driving experience - so far so excellent. Yes it's a bit heavy, but we've bought a family car not a roadster. The instant and consistent torque is so impressive, and I think my driving style has become more relaxed as there's no change of gear and the car's always ready to pull. In traffic it's a dream. Set it to one pedal control and it's possible to crawl at ridiculously low speeds, even uphill. Whenever I'm behind a dirty diesel or an old petrol burning oil, I do feel a bit 'smug' that I am not polluting the local atmosphere.
Cons? Nothing at all with EV as a concept. A couple of very minor gripes with the individual car model: I'm slightly disappointed with the heater - I was expecting heat to be instant, like switching on a fan heater, but in reality it's a bit slow to react. Other very minor niggles include a digital speedo 'dial' that goes all the way to 160mph. WHY? The car's max is just over the ton so all driving takes place with the needle less than '12 o'clock'! Wireless Android Auto would have been nice (previous Skoda had this). And the Kia Connect app is great at prompting me that I've parked with the sunroof ajar, but it isn't clever enough that I can tell it to close remotely. Can you tell I've been caught out by that? I get the feeling that a 'simply clever' Skoda would have thought that through. As you can tell, if those are all I'm whinging about, then there's not much wrong.
Hello,
We have a 2017 Renault Zoe with the 22kw battery pack, owned from new on a very cheap deal being one of the last 22kw battery vehicles and the dealer was looking to move it on. Usually will do around 80 miles on a charge, but we only use it for short journeys so don't need a longer range or to to charge it away from the House.
After a few teething troubles including a new motor that Renault resolved under warranty has been trouble free and is perfect for short trips around the city.
We now only pay for the battery lease which is £60 a month, Renault Finance have offered us a discount to pay this off, but this would mean no 10 year warranty. It's a great 2nd car for us, but in terms of number of journeys, but not miles gets used more than our Diesel Volvo.
The Renault Zoe has now done about 36,000 miles.
We have a 2017 Renault Zoe with the 22kw battery pack, owned from new on a very cheap deal being one of the last 22kw battery vehicles and the dealer was looking to move it on. Usually will do around 80 miles on a charge, but we only use it for short journeys so don't need a longer range or to to charge it away from the House.
After a few teething troubles including a new motor that Renault resolved under warranty has been trouble free and is perfect for short trips around the city.
We now only pay for the battery lease which is £60 a month, Renault Finance have offered us a discount to pay this off, but this would mean no 10 year warranty. It's a great 2nd car for us, but in terms of number of journeys, but not miles gets used more than our Diesel Volvo.
The Renault Zoe has now done about 36,000 miles.
Shimbleshanks
Established Member
I replaced my temperamental, unreliable petrol mower with a battery-electric about five years ago. Best thing I ever did.
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
I have only driven one as a rental not owned one - but I agree with these sentiments. Really quiet. I enjoyed driving it. It was a Tesla.
I believe a car sold by a car maker in the UK has by Act of Parliament a warranty, the warranty is for range , battery life in miles or years, and a specification for battery degradation in capacity, the warranty is a requirement for the vehicle to be classed as a ZEV and the warranty is not a "perk" offered by the manufacturer.
Do you have the details of the battery warranty for your car to post on the forum?
pdq
Member
- Joined
- 7 Oct 2010
- Messages
- 893
I previously drove a 2021 MG5 EV Long Range, which did everything I needed it to and never gave me any trouble. The only reason I don't have it anymore is because I needed the money to put towards a house purchase quite urgently, otherwise I'd almost certainly still have it now. The friend I sold it to is really happy with it though, as is my partner's grandfather with his own MG5, which he bought brand new after having a look around mine. I'd definitely buy another EV in the next few years or so, more than likely another MG5 or possibly a Volkswagen ID7 Tourer, I'll have to see what I can afford when the time comes.
My partner drives a Volkswagen ID3 Pro S, which is excellent for our local mileage and her twice weekly trips to Liverpool. It's a very good car to drive and feels very well put together. I have a friend who drives an ID3 with the smaller battery, they're also really happy with theirs.
My partner drives a Volkswagen ID3 Pro S, which is excellent for our local mileage and her twice weekly trips to Liverpool. It's a very good car to drive and feels very well put together. I have a friend who drives an ID3 with the smaller battery, they're also really happy with theirs.
Harpers Tate
Established Member
- Joined
- 10 May 2013
- Messages
- 2,033
I first stepped cautiously into EV use in the autumn of 2017. We had previously used from new a diesel SUV and at 12+ years old and 120k miles, it was practically worthless as a part-exchange, so I bought the new EV - a Hyundai Ioniq - for cash in full. As we were new to EV and apprehensive about things like range (the new car quoted only 130 miles) we held on to the diesel - the only time we have had two cars - "just in case". But we were determined to make as much use of the EV as we could. And, as it turned out, the diesel only came out on four occasions in the 8 or 9 months we held on to it, and all of those occasions weren't necessary; merely to ensure it still worked. And so after those 8 or 9 months, I sold it privately and relied solely on the EV for all our use.
We make a mixture of relatively short local trips and more occasional longer ones and we found it worked for all and any - with a little planning.
Two years later, Hyundai had released an updated version of the same car, with a greater range. Without any real intention to buy, I visited the dealer who offered a part exchange value around 80% of the initial purchase price coupled with a substantial discount on the brand new but pre-registered updated model. And so I changed to what is my current car - a 2019 year Hyundai Ioniq Electric.
It has a theoretical range of just under 200 miles. In practice that varies between around 175 and 230 depending on climate and driving style. And that is plenty for our use. The car is comfortable, quiet (as all EVs are), and very easy to drive. It has unremarkable performance, as this model was designed for efficiency over speed. And it is very efficient - probably one of the most efficient cars ever mass produced. It manages those +/-200 miles on just 38.3kWh stored power. It does on average well over 5 miles per kWh. A domestic recharge overnight at under 7p/unit (the price I will be paying for the next year fixed) works out at around 1.4p/mile fuel cost.
At 35000 miles, it is still on the original tyres, and none of the brake components have needed replacing. It will need new tyres soon.
We have never experienced, in either car, any major difficulty in getting recharged whilst away from home. Yes, on the very rare occasion, we have had to wait for another to finish, but that has always been the exception, and with the huge increases in infrastructure that have already happened since we began this adventure, those instances are now very, very rare and, I suppose, will get rarer yet.
The car is well equipped with just about every bell and whistle available - smart cruise, auto headlights, electric everything, heated and ventilated seats and so on.
There have been three major issues with it, all fixed under warranty.
The first was a tendency for the 12v ancillary battery to discharge, requiring a "jump" before the car would turn on. That affected (or was affected by - I'm not sure which) the emergency auto-call system and was fixed with a firmware update.
We saw repeated warnings to top up the coolant system, despite it being full. After a few failed attempts, eventually the system was flushed out several times and the coolant replaced with a new formula. The water pump was also replaced. Apparently the old coolant had a tendency to crystallise and block the system.
And finally, the main high voltage battery pack was the subject of a safety recall. We were limited for a time to using only 90% of its capacity as a precaution. Eventually the car was shipped off to Tilbury and a brand new modified HV battery fitted, at around 30,000 miles.
We also noted the diamond cut alloys were suffering some cosmetic corrosion. And so we have a new set of those as well.
I am totally converted. I will never willingly revert to driving something with pistons and crankshafts.
We make a mixture of relatively short local trips and more occasional longer ones and we found it worked for all and any - with a little planning.
Two years later, Hyundai had released an updated version of the same car, with a greater range. Without any real intention to buy, I visited the dealer who offered a part exchange value around 80% of the initial purchase price coupled with a substantial discount on the brand new but pre-registered updated model. And so I changed to what is my current car - a 2019 year Hyundai Ioniq Electric.
It has a theoretical range of just under 200 miles. In practice that varies between around 175 and 230 depending on climate and driving style. And that is plenty for our use. The car is comfortable, quiet (as all EVs are), and very easy to drive. It has unremarkable performance, as this model was designed for efficiency over speed. And it is very efficient - probably one of the most efficient cars ever mass produced. It manages those +/-200 miles on just 38.3kWh stored power. It does on average well over 5 miles per kWh. A domestic recharge overnight at under 7p/unit (the price I will be paying for the next year fixed) works out at around 1.4p/mile fuel cost.
At 35000 miles, it is still on the original tyres, and none of the brake components have needed replacing. It will need new tyres soon.
We have never experienced, in either car, any major difficulty in getting recharged whilst away from home. Yes, on the very rare occasion, we have had to wait for another to finish, but that has always been the exception, and with the huge increases in infrastructure that have already happened since we began this adventure, those instances are now very, very rare and, I suppose, will get rarer yet.
The car is well equipped with just about every bell and whistle available - smart cruise, auto headlights, electric everything, heated and ventilated seats and so on.
There have been three major issues with it, all fixed under warranty.
The first was a tendency for the 12v ancillary battery to discharge, requiring a "jump" before the car would turn on. That affected (or was affected by - I'm not sure which) the emergency auto-call system and was fixed with a firmware update.
We saw repeated warnings to top up the coolant system, despite it being full. After a few failed attempts, eventually the system was flushed out several times and the coolant replaced with a new formula. The water pump was also replaced. Apparently the old coolant had a tendency to crystallise and block the system.
And finally, the main high voltage battery pack was the subject of a safety recall. We were limited for a time to using only 90% of its capacity as a precaution. Eventually the car was shipped off to Tilbury and a brand new modified HV battery fitted, at around 30,000 miles.
We also noted the diamond cut alloys were suffering some cosmetic corrosion. And so we have a new set of those as well.
I am totally converted. I will never willingly revert to driving something with pistons and crankshafts.
FormerBritInMe
Member
I didn't realize EVs had a coolant system. I was hoping that moving away from ICE you would get rid of pesky things like coolant systems and water pumps that start failing at inconvenient times (as though there was a convenient time for a water pump to go on the blink).
Here in the US we tend to drive longer distances and charger coverage can be spotty especially in rural areas, so I currently am still in the ICE camp, although I keep monitoring the situation. It does seem that modern ICE technology with its myriad of computers has become too complex for its own good, and EVs appear to be simpler conceptually.
DelW
Established Member
- Joined
- 15 Jan 2015
- Messages
- 5,934
A key factor in getting good life out of the main battery is controlling its temperature during charging (and to a lesser extent during discharging, i.e. when in use). The absence of such a system on early Nissan Leafs is one of the reasons they often had reports of their battery capacity being reduced earlier than was desirable.
Virtually all EVs now have liquid thermal management systems for the battery. However in comparison with ICE vehicles they tend to be a lot simpler with smaller radiators and pumps, as even at high charge and discharge rates battery heating comes nowhere near ICE operating temperatures.
Very good idea to have such a cooling system, in the early years of hybrids, vehicles operated in high-temperature areas such as California had issues with high battery degradation from exposure to high temperature, remind yourself of when a car parked under strong sunlight, the cabin temperature can rise to an extreme level, the batteries were suffering too in the heat. A liquid-coolant system may be programmed to operate and cool the battery when the car is parked to preserve the batteries from exposure to high temperature .
We obtained our first EV in early January, probably the worst weather to start with. It's an MG ZS EV and had 32,000 miles on it.
It's a whole new way of doing things, but works well. In the winter weather it's range was only 80 to 85% of the advertised as new range, which was OK, but not great. However I then discovered the importance of balancing charges - leaving the car on a slow charge once a month for hours after full - which rebalances individual battery cells. Now the weather has warmed up and after the balancing charges the range is up to 99% of new, much better.
We're driving it 1100 miles per month and mostly charge overnight at cheap rate on the three pin charger. Never had to use a public charger yet, and the average electricity cost per mile is 3.1p so far. We've still got another car, because sometimes we need to drive at similar times, but it does very few miles because we use the electric whenever possible. Mrs S had to drive the other car a few days ago (after the MG got a nail in it's tyre) and was quite grumpy about it!
I don't think we'll be going back to ICE - with fuel, discounted parking and less servicing required we're saving £2,000 a year for a start!
It's a whole new way of doing things, but works well. In the winter weather it's range was only 80 to 85% of the advertised as new range, which was OK, but not great. However I then discovered the importance of balancing charges - leaving the car on a slow charge once a month for hours after full - which rebalances individual battery cells. Now the weather has warmed up and after the balancing charges the range is up to 99% of new, much better.
We're driving it 1100 miles per month and mostly charge overnight at cheap rate on the three pin charger. Never had to use a public charger yet, and the average electricity cost per mile is 3.1p so far. We've still got another car, because sometimes we need to drive at similar times, but it does very few miles because we use the electric whenever possible. Mrs S had to drive the other car a few days ago (after the MG got a nail in it's tyre) and was quite grumpy about it!
I don't think we'll be going back to ICE - with fuel, discounted parking and less servicing required we're saving £2,000 a year for a start!
I drive a 22 reg Hyundai Kona 64kW. It's got 42k miles on the clock.
Driving a pure electric is different to an ICE but it's grown on me.
Range varies on the time of year and whether you're using the heating or air con. Range can be as low as 230 miles in winter with heating and as high as 320 in summer with no air con. Remote de-icing and warming of the car is brilliant in winter!
I find range is better if I cruise at 65mph on the motorway rather than 70+.
I've got a 7kW home charger. Get the right EV tariff and cost of electricity is as low as 1.4p per mile.
Never had an issue finding public charging, although it can require a degree of planning. For example, I've driven from Stevenage to Exeter a couple of times. I've got just enough range to get to Exeter if I'm 100% charged leaving home, but on public charging 80% is recommended as rapid charging slows down considerably above 80% to protect the battery, which means I wouldn't have enough range to get back home. What I do is a one-third/two-thirds strategy and stop at Cribbs Causway both ways.
Cost of public charging is offensive - 10 times the cost of charging at home with my EV tariff.
Driving a pure electric is different to an ICE but it's grown on me.
Range varies on the time of year and whether you're using the heating or air con. Range can be as low as 230 miles in winter with heating and as high as 320 in summer with no air con. Remote de-icing and warming of the car is brilliant in winter!
I find range is better if I cruise at 65mph on the motorway rather than 70+.
I've got a 7kW home charger. Get the right EV tariff and cost of electricity is as low as 1.4p per mile.
Never had an issue finding public charging, although it can require a degree of planning. For example, I've driven from Stevenage to Exeter a couple of times. I've got just enough range to get to Exeter if I'm 100% charged leaving home, but on public charging 80% is recommended as rapid charging slows down considerably above 80% to protect the battery, which means I wouldn't have enough range to get back home. What I do is a one-third/two-thirds strategy and stop at Cribbs Causway both ways.
Cost of public charging is offensive - 10 times the cost of charging at home with my EV tariff.
Minilad
Established Member
Last year I was looking to change my second car that I use just for my 50 mile round trip commute and general local odds and sods and I decided on an EV. I settled on a 70 plate Renault Zoe with 17000 on the clock for £11000. It is the 50kw battery version but is the base model with no fast charging capability. This doesn't bother me as I always charge at home and never use it for journeys other than work and local stuff. It is a perfect choice for what I use it for and I don't regret it at all.
The driving is relaxing, it's comfortable and has Apple Car Play for music and Sat Nav. Range even in the colder weather never dropped below around 180 and in the summer it can get around 230 which means I can comfortably do three days commuting and a full charge costs around £4. Not to mention the pre heating capability for frosty mornings It's an absolute no brainer for me.
And before people go on with the whole "petrol heads wouldn't like an EV' my other car is an Alfa Romeo Giulia. That would cost about £28-30 in fuel for three days commuting. I doubt I will buy another ICE car again.
The driving is relaxing, it's comfortable and has Apple Car Play for music and Sat Nav. Range even in the colder weather never dropped below around 180 and in the summer it can get around 230 which means I can comfortably do three days commuting and a full charge costs around £4. Not to mention the pre heating capability for frosty mornings It's an absolute no brainer for me.
And before people go on with the whole "petrol heads wouldn't like an EV' my other car is an Alfa Romeo Giulia. That would cost about £28-30 in fuel for three days commuting. I doubt I will buy another ICE car again.
Car 1: Tesla model 3 I bought used at 2 years old and 28,000 miles. It's now just over 3 years old and 61,000 miles. I have done no maintenance other than wiper fluid, wiper blades and 2 tyres. Tesla replaced the rear motor under warranty no fuss at all (it didn't break down, I thought I could hear a wheel bearing failing, turned out to be a motor bearing).
I use it for business and sometimes cover 1,000 miles a week. I don't often charge away from home. Charged at home it's less than 2p a mile. Long journeys are no problem, in fact they take less time than with petrol and the car charges whilst I have a wee and something to eat which I'd do anyway.
I wouldn't have another, but that's nothing to do with it being electric. I find the seat uncomfortable and it's quite noisy for an EV. Next car will be EV but something more luxurious. It goes like stinky, but I usually have it in "chill" mode for aore relaxed drive.
Fuel savings one pay for the finance costs of the car.
Car 2: Kia Niro EV bought new nearly 2 years ago. Done 18,000 miles. No maintenance. Only been charged away from home a few times. Costs about 2p per mile when charged at home.
Quieter and much more comfortable than the Tesla. I'd use it for my business trips but it has neither the range nor charge speed of the Tesla. Not as fast as the Tesla but I kind of prefer it in some ways.
Wife was sceptical of EVs, as was I till I rented one. Nothing would makes us even consider petrol ever again (or a hybrid for that matter).
I use it for business and sometimes cover 1,000 miles a week. I don't often charge away from home. Charged at home it's less than 2p a mile. Long journeys are no problem, in fact they take less time than with petrol and the car charges whilst I have a wee and something to eat which I'd do anyway.
I wouldn't have another, but that's nothing to do with it being electric. I find the seat uncomfortable and it's quite noisy for an EV. Next car will be EV but something more luxurious. It goes like stinky, but I usually have it in "chill" mode for aore relaxed drive.
Fuel savings one pay for the finance costs of the car.
Car 2: Kia Niro EV bought new nearly 2 years ago. Done 18,000 miles. No maintenance. Only been charged away from home a few times. Costs about 2p per mile when charged at home.
Quieter and much more comfortable than the Tesla. I'd use it for my business trips but it has neither the range nor charge speed of the Tesla. Not as fast as the Tesla but I kind of prefer it in some ways.
Wife was sceptical of EVs, as was I till I rented one. Nothing would makes us even consider petrol ever again (or a hybrid for that matter).
DiscoSteve
Member
I have an August 2023 MY24 Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor - I picked it specifically because at the time it had the longest range WLTP (406 miles) of any EV available in the UK - there are handful now that claim upto 5% further, but its still a good one - I would wince at the common sub-300 WLTP ranges declared for the vast majority of EV's. I am used to driving big diesel 4x4's with 80+ litre tanks so the range thing was the thing that bothered me. It has an 82KWH battery. I have a slow home charger 7 or 8KW so can take hours and hours and hours overnight IF I let it get low - but I never let it get below 30-40%.
So after 10 months of ownership (and only 4000 miles) I have realised the following with this car:
1. I can drive it just like an ICE - the range is enough to not get any range anxiety - there's enough fast chargers in the UK for it not to matter.
2. This means I don't have to care about aircon or heating or any other eco-aware efficiency strategies at all.
3. I don't do enough miles to care about cheap rates at home - I'm on Octopus but my charger is not Ohme so I can't do Intelligent Octopus meaning the chea hours are a bit short - and so the penalty on standard day rates are too high for me (outweigh the cheap hours) - I may be unique in this view (or I burn a hell of a lot of leccy during the day!)
4. It goes likes stink - mine is a slow one and its still about 5 seconds for the 0-60 - this I didn't expect or actually care about (see big diesel 4x4 comment) - but it does change your driving style in that you know you can escape situations if you need to.
5. Because it has Google Maps built in right on the dash it finds all the fast chargers for me on my route and will very a route to take care of potential low battery issues
6. Its easily the best looking EV out there at the moment - and people are not sure what it is either!
7. Driving in unfriendly eco-cities like Bristol and York are a breeze - I just don't have to care about zealous councils in the UK. I am happy to drive it ANYWHERE in the UK if I need to AND had planned a trip to Spain in it until I found out it was still cheaper for me and wife to fly and a hire a car at Barcelona Airport.
8. Finally it important to understand what WLTP really means in the EV world - find out your real world range from it and work to that. For me thats about 340 miles unless its cold or I am being heavy footed (often re: speed thing) - I can drive it down to 250.
So after 10 months of ownership (and only 4000 miles) I have realised the following with this car:
1. I can drive it just like an ICE - the range is enough to not get any range anxiety - there's enough fast chargers in the UK for it not to matter.
2. This means I don't have to care about aircon or heating or any other eco-aware efficiency strategies at all.
3. I don't do enough miles to care about cheap rates at home - I'm on Octopus but my charger is not Ohme so I can't do Intelligent Octopus meaning the chea hours are a bit short - and so the penalty on standard day rates are too high for me (outweigh the cheap hours) - I may be unique in this view (or I burn a hell of a lot of leccy during the day!)
4. It goes likes stink - mine is a slow one and its still about 5 seconds for the 0-60 - this I didn't expect or actually care about (see big diesel 4x4 comment) - but it does change your driving style in that you know you can escape situations if you need to.
5. Because it has Google Maps built in right on the dash it finds all the fast chargers for me on my route and will very a route to take care of potential low battery issues
6. Its easily the best looking EV out there at the moment - and people are not sure what it is either!
7. Driving in unfriendly eco-cities like Bristol and York are a breeze - I just don't have to care about zealous councils in the UK. I am happy to drive it ANYWHERE in the UK if I need to AND had planned a trip to Spain in it until I found out it was still cheaper for me and wife to fly and a hire a car at Barcelona Airport.
8. Finally it important to understand what WLTP really means in the EV world - find out your real world range from it and work to that. For me thats about 340 miles unless its cold or I am being heavy footed (often re: speed thing) - I can drive it down to 250.
Last edited:
Hyundai Ioniq - same version as that posted by Harpers Tale by the sound of it - 21 plate, just had its first MoT. So far I've done just under 10k miles as I really don't drive much since retirement. My once a week trip to the railway is a 50 mile round trip and if that were all the driving I did I'd only need to charge once a month. It will manage Leeds-Newcastle-Leeds on one charge although the last time it came home in 'turtle mode' and I got down to I think just 5% - still a few miles left though.
I charge it at home using the plug-in 'granny charger' - I never saw the need to get a charger installed as I always charge the car overnight once a week so no need for speed. I am careful to run it between 20% and 80% charge (ok, SoC, state of charge then), charge to 100% every so often and leave it around 50% when we are away for a long time, like it says to.
As to driving, thus far it's the best car I've driven, but that is more down to the kit and facilities than the EV business. Why go for an EV? Because I wanted to, because the car had all the bells and whistles, I know my driving style / range suited it, price was good, good trade-in for our i30 diesel.
I've not seen any decrease in range over the time we've had it but then it's done very few miles. It was charged yesterday and says it has a range of 156 miles and 80% SoC. The app on the phone lets me warm and de-ice it remotely which has been nice on a few winter's mornings.
Yes you need to plan trips but there are loads of chargers - look at Zap Maps for example. So far I'be only paid for charging twice (yeah ok apart from paying for the extra electricity usage at home of course), once at a McDonalds on a trip while we had a meal so no extra time spent there, and once halfway home from when I bought the car as that was a 250 mile trip. At other times there are a good few Aldi / Lidl etc car parks with free charging although they tend to be very low power and slower than expected but then 'every lidl helps' (sorry). And anyway the wife then goes shopping so no extra time spent there either!
Downside? It has made me very lazy. I am, or was a petrolhead (later, dieselhead??), into motorsport thru the 1980's. Yes I can throw this thing around but the lack of gearstick and addition of stuff like auto hold and the fact you just push two buttons and set off with 100kW under the right foot both takes away from and adds to the driving experience - hard to explain. (100kW motor, 38kWh battery)
I will not willingly go back to an ICE vehicle.
I charge it at home using the plug-in 'granny charger' - I never saw the need to get a charger installed as I always charge the car overnight once a week so no need for speed. I am careful to run it between 20% and 80% charge (ok, SoC, state of charge then), charge to 100% every so often and leave it around 50% when we are away for a long time, like it says to.
As to driving, thus far it's the best car I've driven, but that is more down to the kit and facilities than the EV business. Why go for an EV? Because I wanted to, because the car had all the bells and whistles, I know my driving style / range suited it, price was good, good trade-in for our i30 diesel.
I've not seen any decrease in range over the time we've had it but then it's done very few miles. It was charged yesterday and says it has a range of 156 miles and 80% SoC. The app on the phone lets me warm and de-ice it remotely which has been nice on a few winter's mornings.
Yes you need to plan trips but there are loads of chargers - look at Zap Maps for example. So far I'be only paid for charging twice (yeah ok apart from paying for the extra electricity usage at home of course), once at a McDonalds on a trip while we had a meal so no extra time spent there, and once halfway home from when I bought the car as that was a 250 mile trip. At other times there are a good few Aldi / Lidl etc car parks with free charging although they tend to be very low power and slower than expected but then 'every lidl helps' (sorry). And anyway the wife then goes shopping so no extra time spent there either!
Downside? It has made me very lazy. I am, or was a petrolhead (later, dieselhead??), into motorsport thru the 1980's. Yes I can throw this thing around but the lack of gearstick and addition of stuff like auto hold and the fact you just push two buttons and set off with 100kW under the right foot both takes away from and adds to the driving experience - hard to explain. (100kW motor, 38kWh battery)
I will not willingly go back to an ICE vehicle.
m0ffy
Member
My current company car is an MG5. It’s not terribly exciting (it’s an estate, after all), but it’s comfortable, practical, and cheap. I get 3.5-4.5 M/kWh, and the acceleration is incredible for such an unassuming car.
I do about 20k miles a year, including trips from the East Midlands to the South West several times a month.
I do about 20k miles a year, including trips from the East Midlands to the South West several times a month.
It's much safer to get a proper EVSE installed.
Some cheap granny chargers don't provide proper PEN fault protection.
Probably more significant, there's a non-trivial fire risk using a granny charger. Any less than perfect terminations in your house wiring, or contact in the socket can cause overheating and a fire.
Really granny chargers are meant to be used as a once in a blue moon get out of jail option, not the primary means of charging.
DiscoSteve
Member
I agree. Before the BPPulse wall socket was fitted at ours, we used a granny charger cable connected to an external 13amp socket which had been fitted as a spur off the ring main - I was so concerned about how hot the damn thing got I stopped using it, preferring to run granny charger lead through a window to a socket directly on the ring main in the house.
59CosG95
Established Member
I've had a Škoda Enyaq iV for the past half a year or so, through my employer via Lex Autolease.
I've got the Enyaq 60 (58 kWh capacity), 132kW (max charging rate 120kW), 177 max hp model, which suits me fine for driving between sites on my current project (Northumberland Line). Very fortunate to have charging ports at work too.
The bootspace is larger than the equivalent VW & Audi models (ID.4, Q5 e-tron), and still goes like the proverbial off a shovel from a standing start, but other EVs (e.g. Polestar) are speedier; think Alton Towers' "Rita" rather than Thorpe Park's "Stealth". Also cheaper than the others as it doesn't carry the badge premium of the other two.
My only regret is not plumping up more of a salary sacrifice for the longer-range model, as I typically have to make two charging stops on the infrequent times I drive between PE3 and NE24, but that's a very first world problem!
I've got the Enyaq 60 (58 kWh capacity), 132kW (max charging rate 120kW), 177 max hp model, which suits me fine for driving between sites on my current project (Northumberland Line). Very fortunate to have charging ports at work too.
The bootspace is larger than the equivalent VW & Audi models (ID.4, Q5 e-tron), and still goes like the proverbial off a shovel from a standing start, but other EVs (e.g. Polestar) are speedier; think Alton Towers' "Rita" rather than Thorpe Park's "Stealth". Also cheaper than the others as it doesn't carry the badge premium of the other two.
My only regret is not plumping up more of a salary sacrifice for the longer-range model, as I typically have to make two charging stops on the infrequent times I drive between PE3 and NE24, but that's a very first world problem!
This thread is to allow posters to tell us about their electric vehicles - if anyone wants to discuss anything else such as "granny chargers" then please start a new thread. And please be polite and respectful to one another in doing so.
Thanks
Thanks
- Status