Electric or Hybrid cars.

[alta-pete]

Currently (no pun intended) looking very hard at a Jaguar I-pace to run through as a company car.

First impression is that it’s mental money but when it’s all added together (rental/fuel(?)/BIK) it actually works out (I think) the same overall total cost between a £40k BMW vs a £70k ipace.

Come April 2020, company car tax on the BMW is £5500. The I-PACE £700.

Unless a different government gets in and changes the rules of course....

[bennett]

On 11/28/2018 at 11:16, eddiemunster said:

I drive a wee car for commuting to work, was due to replace it and bought a 2015 Renault Zoe for £7k with a monthly battery lease of £50.

Have a charger at home, but rarely use it. The on street chargers are free and should remain so until 2021.

I take a little and often approach to charging, nip in for a coffee before work and top up from 20% to 80% in around half an hour. Just do work emails during that time.

I get around 85 miles to a full charge in summer, which can reduce to as little as 60 in the winter months.  As an older model it doesn't do rapid charging, but can handle a fast charge at 22kW which is still decently quick.

There's also chargers at my local train stations and town centre, so just take the car there to charge whilst I am doing the weekly shop or whatever.

I really like my wee motor, nippy away from traffic lights and good as an urban commuting car.  No road tax and free charging make it very cost effective, but as it only costs around £3 to fully charge at home it's not exactly expensive anyway.

Granted this is the "second car" for the family, my Mrs drives a BMW diesel and so longer journeys are done in that for the time being.

There are 2 years left on the BMW finance and when that's done, I'm hoping technology has improved enough to allow us to go fully electric for both.

Stupid question but if charging in public, can someone come along and unplug you?

 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

3 minutes ago, bennett said:

Stupid question but if charging in public, can someone come along and unplug you?

 

You'd need to have the correct spanner.

[Derry Alli]

6 hours ago, bennett said:

Stupid question but if charging in public, can someone come along and unplug you?

In theory, yes. Most charging points have someone there though (in Dundee anyway). You're only allowed 40minutes on the fast charge points and 3hrs on a normal. Any longer and you're fined.

[eddiemunster]

9 hours ago, bennett said:

Stupid question but if charging in public, can someone come along and unplug you?

 

I've never had this happen to me no. My cable locks into the car when charging and same at the charger. It only releases when I use my card to stop the charging session.

I believe some cars allow you to time an unlock, so someone else can unplug to use the charger when you're done.

[BallochSonsFan]

I'm not convinced that electric cars are viable in the short term for most people. The restricted range, and high costs, are prohibitive and there are issues with recharging times and access to recharge points. Then there's electricity generation.  If we're going to switch to a fleet of 100% electric cars then we'll need to significantly increase generating capacity.

Long term it's probably inevitable. I dont see fuel cell technology proving to be a viable alternative. Right now? Still a no from me, although I'd consider a hybrid that self-charges by recovering energy when driving.