Electric Cars...

[Farmer Saint]

So with the price of second hand petrol cars increasing, and electric cars plummeting, (2020 iPace for circa £20k, Model 3 £18k, Etron and EQC around £25k) is it now worth it to purchase these cars. We need a "local" car to replace our 150k mile Disco 4, and we also have solar panels, so was thinking about it now the prices have dropped so much. Any EV owners have any interesting insights into this? 

Edited January 26 by Farmer Saint

[Turkish]

i've just bought a BMW 330e touring. Only had it a week but it's fantastic so far. Battery range is officially 40 but realistically is more like 25 this time of year but most of my mileage is round town or the occasional long journey for work or to see family so hybrid is right for me. Takes about 3 hours to charge, which is slower than i thought and costs a couple of quid. Car itself is great, it's the Msport pro model so really nice to drives and looks the part as well.

[Noodles34]

On 26/01/2024 at 17:12, Farmer Saint said:

So with the price of second hand petrol cars increasing, and electric cars plummeting, (2020 iPace for circa £20k, Model 3 £18k, Etron and EQC around £25k) is it now worth it to purchase these cars. We need a "local" car to replace our 150k mile Disco 4, and we also have solar panels, so was thinking about it now the prices have dropped so much. Any EV owners have any interesting insights into this? 

if you have solar panels then its a no brainer, especially if you can stretch to a Powerwall battery as well. 

I have an electric car and it's a pleasure to drive. As well as the fuel savings, granted not as significant as they used to be (though with your panels etc. happy days), people forget the really low maintenance. I think most have regenerative braking, it's amazing. My car has done 62K, they are only 50% worn on the pads and 65% on the discs. They are a b it rusty however, through lack of use. No oil changes, a couple of cabin filters and that's about it. 

Th range is fine is you work with it, just know your limits and plan long journeys  

[Lighthouse]

On 30/01/2024 at 11:58, Turkish said:

i've just bought a BMW 330e touring. Only had it a week but it's fantastic so far. Battery range is officially 40 but realistically is more like 25 this time of year but most of my mileage is round town or the occasional long journey for work or to see family so hybrid is right for me. Takes about 3 hours to charge, which is slower than i thought and costs a couple of quid. Car itself is great, it's the Msport pro model so really nice to drives and looks the part as well.

Is that the PHEV version? It's one of the models we can get through work, would you still say it was decent and any particular optionals you'd say are worth having?

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Is that the PHEV version? It's one of the models we can get through work, would you still say it was decent and any particular optionals you'd say are worth having?

Yes PHEV. I got 2 year old  the 330e M sport pro addition so lots of extras, looks the part nice trim, black alloys privacy glass at the back. was an ex company car so mileage a little higher than average but well looked after. really nice drive, very comfortable 
 

economically it’s great did a 340 mile round trip last week and probably cost about £40 in fuel, my last car was double that. 
 

 

[badgerx16]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68426263

[Lighthouse]

11 hours ago, Turkish said:

Yes PHEV. I got 2 year old  the 330e M sport pro addition so lots of extras, looks the part nice trim, black alloys privacy glass at the back. was an ex company car so mileage a little higher than average but well looked after. really nice drive, very comfortable 
 

economically it’s great did a 340 mile round trip last week and probably cost about £40 in fuel, my last car was double that. 

Cheers. 👍

[Turkish]

27 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Cheers. 👍

by the way I got the estate rather than the saloon, i thought it looked so much nicer plus extra boot space for footballs, golf clubs etc

[Whitey Grandad]

12 hours ago, Turkish said:

Yes PHEV. I got 2 year old  the 330e M sport pro addition so lots of extras, looks the part nice trim, black alloys privacy glass at the back. was an ex company car so mileage a little higher than average but well looked after. really nice drive, very comfortable 
 

economically it’s great did a 340 mile round trip last week and probably cost about £40 in fuel, my last car was double that. 
 

 

Was that on one battery charge?

[Turkish]

33 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Was that on one battery charge?

yes. The official range is about 40 miles, the real range is more like 20, but i did that trip with one charge plus petrol and even though it said the battery was empty coming back it still went to electric when i was at lights, in traffic etc 

[Whitey Grandad]

23 minutes ago, Turkish said:

yes. The official range is about 40 miles, the real range is more like 20, but i did that trip with one charge plus petrol and even though it said the battery was empty coming back it still went to electric when i was at lights, in traffic etc 

Thanks, that’s interesting.

From what I had read about hybrids their consumption figures when not on battery power are not all that impressive.

[Turkish]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Thanks, that’s interesting.

From what I had read about hybrids their consumption figures when not on battery power are not all that impressive.

I've had it 6 weeks and probably put in about £100 worth of petrol, tank currently has about 150 miles left. Saving a fortune in fuel costs, think is costs about £1.50-2 to charge the battery up. 

 

[Lighthouse]

48 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Thanks, that’s interesting.

From what I had read about hybrids their consumption figures when not on battery power are not all that impressive.

I also looked at the Qashqai e-power put was put off for that reason. Even though it's direct electric drive it only does a not too inspiring 45mpg.

 

[Saint in Paradise]

 

[rallyboy]

We had two Genesis models over a couple of weeks and found the whole escapade a massive let down.

The cars are great and drive fantastically, the tech on them is amazing, but without a home charger we ended up paying the same price as petrol, taking ten times as long to fill up, while living with ludicrous planning ahead to get anywhere.

The thought of heading up country and trying to guess whether a charger would be available and how long it would take doesn't fit the way we are used to living our lives, and I'm not sure I want to add hours to journeys so I can drink shit coffee in service stations.

The no home charger bit is clearly the main issue here, but the infrastructure still seems to be no where near where it needs to be for a proper electric revolution.

[badgerx16]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-66866327

"The crews bracing themselves for a rise in electric car fires"

Edited March 30 by badgerx16

[Baird of the land]

I'm assuming all electrics are built with the stupid keyless approach that has caused car thefts to.soar. If so i'll be staying with older 2nd hand petrol cars until i can possibly avoid it.

[badgerx16]

Some interesting points being raised;

 

[Saint in Paradise]

This chap below isn't a fan of EV's or Hydrogen power either but has lots of short videos.

 

Ignore the picture below as this video is about Fires when charging not the idiot with the broken finger.

 

Edited May 15 by Saint in Paradise

[Saint in Paradise]

Lots more anti EV vehicle videos from this chap.

 

 

[Saint in Paradise]

 

[Saint in Paradise]

Another moronic idea from EV fanatics..........when on Earth will they wake up to reality?

 

 

 

 

[Saint in Paradise]

Driving a milk float in the West Country 😂

 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

“This is the driving equivalent of watching England play football”

[Guided Missile]

What happens to a Kia EV6 when you gun it. 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, 60-0 in 0.5 second.

[Whitey Grandad]

Are you OK GM? No airbag or seatbelt burns? 😧

[Saint in Paradise]

Electric cars are a bad enough environment hazard when they catch fire. Toxic clouds of burning chemicals and 100's of gallons

of contaminated water used by fire crews. So just imagine the total disaster that will have been caused by this Tesla truck.

And still people say they are an improvement on normal vehicles???

 

 

[suewhistle]

Did an EV drive into your rear? Not sure I know any EV fanatics but you and more particularly the guy in your videos definitely qualify as an anti-EV fanatic!

This afternoon they paid me to top up the charge in my car (around a third) as there was surplus power in the grid. A couple of weeks ago drove on holiday to Italy in mine, a day there and an overnighter back, same as previously in an ICE and in a cheaper lower range model at that.

As for the Kia, the driver was probably confused because the engine didn't make enough noise..

 

 

[Saint in Paradise]

Watch this video as it contains a report that EV's do catch fire at a higher rate than normal vehicles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFoTcu8N3mg

Start at 3.00 minutes .

 

Oh yes did you know that EV's are so safe that the Houses of Parliament have banned EV's in their underground car park?

Edited August 26 by Saint in Paradise

[iansums]

On 24/03/2024 at 08:46, rallyboy said:

We had two Genesis models over a couple of weeks and found the whole escapade a massive let down.

The cars are great and drive fantastically, the tech on them is amazing, but without a home charger we ended up paying the same price as petrol, taking ten times as long to fill up, while living with ludicrous planning ahead to get anywhere.

The thought of heading up country and trying to guess whether a charger would be available and how long it would take doesn't fit the way we are used to living our lives, and I'm not sure I want to add hours to journeys so I can drink shit coffee in service stations.

The no home charger bit is clearly the main issue here, but the infrastructure still seems to be no where near where it needs to be for a proper electric revolution.

Not sure why anyone would contemplate buying an EV without the ability to charge at home (or work). I've had a Polestar 2 for about 18 months and absolutely love it, by far the best car I've ever had. It's a company car and the overiding reason I went for it was to save money via BIK tax. I'm also very lucky in that I am able to charge at work for free, even though I have to make a financial contribuiton to the lease cost, overall I save approx £330 per month compared with my previous car a Mazda 6. I don't do a high mileage, if I did I'm not sure I would go for an EV due to the range and hassle with public charging. For me though it makes absolute sense and my Mrs also now has an EV, a BMW iX1.

[suewhistle]

On 26/08/2024 at 20:57, Saint in Paradise said:

 a report that EV's do catch fire at a higher rate than normal vehicles.

Nope, data shows that they don't. The Luton airport and Liverpool city centre fires were both caused by diesel Range/Landrovers and the Fremantle Highway car carrier ship was also caused by an ICE and all the BEVs drove off unscathed.

If you ever get caught in a riot and hit by a petrol bomb hope you're in an EV as you'll have a far higher chance of escaping with no fuel lines and tank to easily catch fire. An EV battery has a very strong outer casing to protect it.

In August Norway car sales were 94% BEV, so if I were in an ICE there I'd start to be worried about petrol station closures! Obviously not yet due to the long tail of second hand cars, but there must come a stage where many outlets decide to give up.

 

 

[Saint in Paradise]

Oh dear it looks like a lot of airbags fitted to Chinese cars, expensive cars as well as cheap cars, don't activate during a crash.

So dear readers do you still want to buy one? 😁

 

[badgerx16]

10 hours ago, Saint in Paradise said:

Oh dear it looks like a lot of airbags fitted to Chinese cars, expensive cars as well as cheap cars, don't activate during a crash.

So dear readers do you still want to buy one? 😁

 

I think the problem is with Chinese airbags in general; there have been many news stories from the States and elsewhere of airbags either not deploying or triggering unexpectedly, not just in EVs.

Edited September 27 by badgerx16