Although electricity as far as cars go had originally been cheaper and cleaner for the environment , with recent world events concerning fuel (ie) gas and electricity
with the price of electricity which as we've been told is going to treble ,
so is having an electric car going to be worth while, as surely even topping up the batteries on an electric car will have to also have to go up in line with the expected and predictable on going demands which have already started,
Q; so is having an electric car worth it when you weigh all the factors of cost into the equation, for those who have one i say good for you but sadly today everything comes with a cost , im sorry to say, :boo:
The biggest bummer with an electric car is the initial purchase price. Using electric is always going to be cheaper than petrol or diesel as they are taxed extortionately. Home chargers for cars run from the same meter as your lights. It isn't cheap to charge a car but it's still a lot cheaper than filling it with diesel.
My son's electric is a fair sized car and has a 70kwH battery. Now the weather has warmed it is giving 4.1 miles per kwH (cold drops that to 3 and a bit). So at say 20p a kwH it is 5p a mile. Diesel is around £8 a gallon so at 50mpg a mile costs over 15p. Electric has got to go up a lot to catch up with that and if it does you can bet diesel will get dearer too.
I expect to see changes in the taxes though when electrics take off big time because Rishi loses so much. I expect to see road usage pricing come in.
Initial cost - Vauxhall boss some while back pointed out that their cheapest small car (I think the Corsa) was £16k, the electric version was £26k. Even at today's prices £10k buys quite a bit of petrol
Mike
I doubt that the batteries will be sustainable. They use some fairly rare materials and I don't think that Li-ion batteries are recycled currently. I imagine they are just hoping a miracle will happen.
I do not want an electric car and I'm glad I can't afford one :rolleyes:
My son in law has just bought one. No road tax, and as klondike says, running costs are lower. He's bought it through his business, he does a lot of mileage, much of it fairly short distances. There are income tax benefits to going electric if its a company car.
Apart from the high initial cost the availability of fast chargers poses problems on long trips. Doubly so if visiting the boondocks. I think I mentioned the other day and certainly read or heard then that the rate of installing chargers must increase by 500% to have any chance of the 2030 deadline being possible.
My son's electric car is quite impressive and it was one of the cheap ones - only £45k for the version he got. https://www.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/ioniq5
Plus he kept his diesel car for holidays etc. due to the inconvenience or impossibility of charging in the sort of places he goes in the UK.
I like 'only' £45k. My Mondeo hybrid was £31k, and bar sillies like a heated steering wheel (really, what's wrong with gloves?) is top of the range, and I moaned at paying that much, when, had it still been available the petrol only would have been £23k. You can buy an awful lot of petrol and travel an awful lot of miles for that extra £22k and it means he now has to care for two cars. I'm sure he is happy with his decision, but for me it doesn't make an awful lot of economic sense - still - each to their own
Mike
He had a diesel Land Rover Discovery before and they cost nearer £60k.
That was on lease and so is the electric one and the cost is pretty much the same. He also had two cars before - the other one was some little poop off a shovel BMW that isn't made any more as it couldn't meet emissions standards and he swapped that out for the current BMW X2 which is also about the same cost apparently.
The only £45k while true was just a wind up. :grin:
I find it hard to believe what people are prepared to pay for cars..
Surely a reliable vehicle that gets you from A to B doesn't need to cost the earth..
Such a waste of money..
Men's toys Scrumpy, all we want is to get where we're going ! :grin:
Is it still true.. what they used to say.. about men with big motors.. ?
My brother in law who teaches mechanics at college, was telling me some rather frightening things about electric cars. The mechanics working on them need to be very clued up, not a job for people who have always tinkered with their cars would be very dangerous.
Although difficult to explain here, I did get the gist of it, about isolating batteries before working on the car, if involved in a bad accident the car could even be live, wouldn't have one of them as a gift.
I think my son said the batteries produce either 700v or 800v. Best not go dobbing your sticky mitts in there.
There is something else I find to be amusing about the batteries - If you buy anthing with a Li-ion battery in from a phone up the packaging has to have a big warning on it. Royal Mail won't take anything from the public as parcels that has a battery in it. Yet our government are quite happy for folks to put wheels on them and drive them around at 70mph :hmm:
Quote from: Scrumpy on May 31, 2022, 01:24:59 PMI find it hard to believe what people are prepared to pay for cars..
Surely a reliable vehicle that gets you from A to B doesn't need to cost the earth..
Such a waste of money..
Well you definitely wouldn't have liked a look in my garages a few years ago. Actually I did very well from my little collection. Far better than any of my 'Pension Plans' as it turned out!
I think there's a bit of a difference between collectors cars and one that take you to work somehow. :grin:
I have bought new in the past but the amount you lose just by driving off the forecourt is horrible. Modern cars are very reliable so for years now I have always got one a year or so old then driven it until things start going wrong and swapped.
Quote from: Cassandra on May 31, 2022, 03:41:09 PMWell you definitely wouldn't have liked a look in my garages a few years ago. Actually I did very well from my little collection. Far better than any of my 'Pension Plans' as it turned out!
I would have taken a peek in your garage Cassandra. :smiley:
Me too. :evil:
I'd love a go on the snow mobile :yay: :yay:
and me!
Well it was very exciting but we didn't really get the deep stuff it was really made for this winter. The two dogs, (then), pre Doris were a bit wary at first but the little one is always the show off and found a perch on top of a big cube cushion on the passenger seat and was well away. Albert settled for my lap. I was somewhat sad to see them all go, but they belonged to a different time and memory set too, that was sometimes painful to realise, by their very vibrant presentation.
I'd have liked to say goodbye in one hit, but auctions are always a hit and miss affair. In fact they mainly sold by 'chatter' in the market, but only because they'd been seen going through of course by others. Knowing that I left them stored under cover there and over a few weeks they all went and I think everyone was happy. I've kept the Jag, but to be honest when I go out now I really enjoy the little 4 wheel horse drawn carriage, so peaceful, or the fun of the Honda Pioneer utility that came with the place. It's a fun little thing to drive, if a bit drafty!
Cassandra.
Your travel choices sound much more exciting than mine..
A 22 year old banger or Shanks pony .. :smiley:
Cassandra
I love the imagine of you and your canine friends in the horse drawn carriage!
Mike 👍👍👍👍
Does sound a lot more interesting than my options too. Still I may opt for a mobility scooter rather than the car eventually so along with the bike I'll be all electric :smiley: