Pro's and con's for buying an electric vehicle
After reading the posts, I don't think the EV is suitable for me. They are advertised as an Urban vehicle, which rules me out.
I am sure that city / large town dwellers, where the air is most polluted will welcome them.
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Whether it is worthy of consideration depends on individuals usage.
For me at present there would be only the disadvantage of increased purchase cost. We have two cars. An X-Trail mainly for holidays and touring and there is no sensibly priced EV with range or indeed that is permitted to tow.
Our second vehicle probably costs around £300 a year in fuel and £125 in road fund and is serviced every two years or so.
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Our runabout uses a similar amount of fuel but the VED is only £30, again with bi-annual servicing. The only saving would be the fuel costs which, when offset against the capital expenditure would take 70 years to recoup. Can't see any battery currently available having that sort of longevity. The current vehicle is likely to see out our motoring days.
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We only have one vehicle which is our tow vehicle, so another reason that it would not suit us.
However anyone who commutes a short distance to work it would be ideal.
I believe the are being introduced to get rid of pollution, for clean air, and to reduce the use of fossil fuel, but it ends fossil fuel at the moment to produce electricity, even the large wind turbines needs the boost of electricity to start them turning .
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It's necessary for me because of my work. The drop rate of 80 pence per drop is not enough to cover the increasing cost of fuel. So for me, an electric car is the best solution. My diesel running Shogun will remain as towcar to tow the caravan.
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Its like all new ideas it takes time for people to "get on board" , just look at the first mobile phones ,huge things with a heavy battery pack , but now they are so light and small , so there is no reason why electric car wont be widely used in the future
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No because I'm paid £7.50 per hour on top of that. The drop money is paid daily. The wages are paid four weekly.
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As far as I can see they are just starting to get a reasonable range. When I was working it was less than 17 miles to go to work and back. However I could often do between 70 and 90+ additional mileage from work. So, for me I would not have considered anything with a range of less than say 140 miles in winter with lights, wipers and heater going.
So for anyone doing frequent similar mileages they would not have suited the bill when I was working. Now with low mileages they still would not given their cost.
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Pro.....cheap to run compared to buying petrol
Con......much more expensive to buy initially
Pro......reduces pollution at point of use
Con......limited range meantime
Con......unknown life of batteries and cost of replacement
Pro........free parking in some areas and free from congestion charge, meantime
Con........time taken to charge and possible difficulty for many of charging at home
Pro........easy to drive
Con.......use of heating etc in winter and air con in summer will further reduce range
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That about sums it up for the majority, the situation concerning EVs at this point, it will need a lot more infrastructure (at enormous cost)to be installed before they wiil be a viable alternative,I think it will be hibrids that will be the most viable transport for the forseable future
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Why would you think that you would have to replace a complete battery, they are modular and the likes of a Nissan Leaf has 48 modular cells, so faulty ones only can be replaced.
To replace a complete battery pack, Nissan says compare the cost to replacing an engine, very expensive doing it that way. But you can lease rather than buy.
Nissan Leafs in my daughters taxi firm has been known to reach 174,000 miles on the same battery pack, so quite reliable. LINK HERE
Battery pack guaranteed for 8 years, leasing possible, and as battery technology gets better the battery modules can be replaced in the car to keep it up to date.
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Just seen your other thread.
As I said at the beginning, not for us until things improve, but it's nice to know and understand how things work etc. With cars having been around for soooooooo long you tend to know how things work, costs of parts, servicing etc, this to me is different. Did not know about battery modules etc, so I have learnt something, thank you.
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Certainly would not make financial sense for us at the moment, and probably never will. Our second car is a 3 year old petrol Yaris that we have had from new. Current mileage 10,000. We are about to make the final payment on the zero percent deal and it will then be ours to do with as we wish. As it has 2 years left on the warranty, only costs about £500 a year in fuel and £30 VED, plus of course servicing, MOT and insurance, we will almost certainly keep it until 5 years old. At that stage we may go down to the one car, the XTrail tow car. Depending on our circumstances at the time.
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We have only 2 electric car charging points in our town, both in a Lidl car park, with a parking limit of 2 hours max. , and its nowhere near the town centre. Number of times I've seen them being used - zero..Number of other charging points within 45 miles.. zero.
Not practical around here under any circumstances at the moment, so I'll stay with our little diesel Polo until electric cars become viable.
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That's what we use Oneputt and the car has it's own computer map, even telling us if a charger is in use. We have signed up for ecotricity, this gives us card access to motorway chargers etc., £3.50 for each charge plus the cost of the "fuel." So far we've only charged up away from home twice in several months of ownership because the 94ah battery and rex (range extender) are more than adequate to get us to most places. Most of the time we use the fast charger at home.
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Very interesting OP. Thanks
Not many points around us and the ones that are have, at most 2 points at present.
Not something I would want until something increases the number of available charging points, which I'm sure will happen when the cars become more popular.
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