The Car Thread

[Tredman]

PHEVs been great for me, as said before, in day to day use I rarely find the battery down to empty so the car is almost always able to chop and change between power sources for efficiency. Averaging about 63mpg at the moment which is better than a colleague with an equivalent diesel over similar mileage/driving conditions. Generally can get to/from motorways or major roads under hybrid/electric power and then just sit on the engine idling along for the bulk of the journey.

Not found it that accessible to incorporate charging in journeys in my experience unfortunately. Think in April I did about 1500 miles in the week we went up to Skye. Can't remember seeing a charger anywhere we went other than the accommodation halfway there/back on the first/last days so would've had to change plans through the week to find power, or compromised on accommodation. I'm sure it'll get there, it'll have to, but seeing the amount of faulty chargers knocking around already and the queues for the fast chargers whenever I pop into Donington services it's not at a place I'd want to be relying on it just yet.

There's no point in charging a PHEV unless its destination charging, its just too slow.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

That post makes perfect sense to someone with no electric experience and a PHEV would suit a lot of people covering their short trips on electric without the faffing about on longer ones which sound like an absolute ball ache.

I think I’d go loopy planning a journey and getting to a charger to find it’s now occupied/there is a queue/there’s not enough range left to go somewhere else where the same thing might happen again etc etc.

Yes indeed! Getting these fucking EVs out and pushing them with very sexy adverts but we certainly don't have the infrastructure in place to support this runaway success.
I have a mate who is high up in VW and at one of his outlets in North Dublin, they were shifting so many new EVs that they didn't have the capability of charging all the cars they were selling, so they applied and got permission to build their own substation!

 

[MARKakaJIM]

There's no point in charging a PHEV unless its destination charging, its just too slow.

Irrelevant to the point I'm making, it's very rare that I happen across the infrastructure to do so in my day to day life. If I had a full EV then I'd have to go out of my way to find that resource at times.

 

[EpsomWolf]

There's no point in a PHEV unless its destination charging, its just too slow.

Apologies if I’m missing something obvious but most of my journeys would be in the 5/10 mile range, nipping to Screwfix/the gym/etc etc (I do walk/cycle whenever possible) and they’d be covered with a PHEV? I’d then get the advantages mentioned earlier on longer trips.

 

[Kenny]

I have a PHEV.

All my local driving is done in electric mode and charged up at home. Currently can do a trip to Shrewsbury (36 miles round trip) and back and have a few miles left (will drop in winter to doing 90% of that journey in electric mode)

My longer drive, currently down to MK and soon to be up to Leeds is around a 230 miles. I use a mix of hybrid & petrol for the majority of the journey. Normally means the last miles from the M6 to Market Drayton is done in electric mode.

Perfect for me and the savings on fuel is huge and the addition to my electric bill is not even noticed.

 

[EpsomWolf]

I have a PHEV.

All my local driving is done in electric mode and charged up at home. Currently can do a trip to Shrewsbury (36 miles round trip) and back and have a few miles left (will drop in winter to doing 90% of that journey in electric mode)

My longer drive, currently down to MK and soon to be up to Leeds is around a 230 miles. I use a mix of hybrid & petrol for the majority of the journey. Normally means the last miles from the M6 to Market Drayton is done in electric mode.

Perfect for me and the savings on fuel is huge and the addition to my electric bill is not even noticed.

Yeah, I mean I get I’m playing cautious but that makes perfect sense. Tying yourself to the faff of full electric just seems a step too far - unless you’re a mad keen environmentalist or just enjoy that techy/beating the system challenge sort of thing.

Not for me, not for a long while yet I think.

 

[Kenny]

As I mentioned previously on this thread, wife's car is now full electric. So using that as my test and taking it down to MK this afternoon to see how I get on.

New job is giving me a car allowance or I can have a car, but the car has to be electric. So a few months to decide if I want to go down the company car route and have 2 EV's for the household

 

[Tredman]

Apologies if I’m missing something obvious but most of my journeys would be in the 5/10 mile range, nipping to Screwfix/the gym/etc etc (I do walk/cycle whenever possible) and they’d be covered with a PHEV? I’d then get the advantages mentioned earlier on longer trips.

PHEV is fine for short journeys, for longer journeys once the battery is exhausted you are essentially lugging a dead weight.

 

[Kenny]

Did a drive in mine from Devon to MD at Easter. Journey back was in petrol mode only as I didn't bother charging up. Did that journey with 65 mpg, which I am more than happy with.
Presume it helps that it gets some energy returned to the battery from braking and essentially cruising down the hills back to the M5

 

[Johnny75]

Did a drive in mine from Devon to MD at Easter. Journey back was in petrol mode only as I didn't bother charging up. Did that journey with 65 mpg, which I am more than happy with.
Presume it helps that it gets some energy returned to the battery from braking and essentially cruising down the hills back to the M5

That's pretty good at about 10p a mile.

I'm currently running at about 13p a mile for motorway traveling (most of my travel) in a diesel.

Not as cheap as electric but I don't have to watch my speed, hills, plan stops or worry about putting the radio on.

 

[Stan Hullis]

I bought a 2L diesel A3 last week - not done a long run in it yet but have a few journeys this week to eek out as much MPG as possible so that I can make some money back on my fuel allowance

 

[EpsomWolf]

I’m assuming everyone on here going EV has tax advantages or is hedging their bets and covering their arses with fixed-cost fixed-term leasing? Does anyone own their EV?

Very different dynamic if buying as an owner driver. Not sure why anyone would want to take that risk. Going to be very interesting when those forced out of their older cars who can’t afford to go new (lease or otherwise) have to gamble on the secondhand EV market.

Going to be interesting too seeing where the long term car ‘ownership’ lies. Not sure I’m comfortable with car ownership/access to a car moving towards those only able to stay ahead of the curve and casting everyone else adrift but I think that’s where we are heading.

 

[Tredman]

I’m assuming everyone on here going EV has tax advantages or is hedging their bets and covering their arses with fixed-cost fixed-term leasing? Does anyone own their EV?

Very different dynamic if buying as an owner driver. Not sure why anyone would want to take that risk. Going to be very interesting when those forced out of their older cars who can’t afford to go new (lease or otherwise) have to gamble on the secondhand EV market.

Going to be interesting too seeing where the long term car ‘ownership’ lies. Not sure I’m comfortable with car ownership/access to a car moving towards those only able to stay ahead of the curve and casting everyone else adrift but I think that’s where we are heading.

I own mine, got it on a very good deal but thinking of swapping to a company car as its very very cheap.

I get 45p/mile from work currently, if I charge at home its about 2p/mile. Total no-brainer.

 

[Johnny75]

I’m assuming everyone on here going EV has tax advantages or is hedging their bets and covering their arses with fixed-cost fixed-term leasing? Does anyone own their EV?

Very different dynamic if buying as an owner driver. Not sure why anyone would want to take that risk. Going to be very interesting when those forced out of their older cars who can’t afford to go new (lease or otherwise) have to gamble on the secondhand EV market.

Going to be interesting too seeing where the long term car ‘ownership’ lies. Not sure I’m comfortable with car ownership/access to a car moving towards those only able to stay ahead of the curve and casting everyone else adrift but I think that’s where we are heading.

I don't think electric is the answer, it's a short term fix. I think hydrogen is the long term solution, but we'll all be too old/ dead to see it fully working.

 

[Tredman]

I don't think electric is the answer, it's a short term fix. I think hydrogen is the long term solution, but we'll all be too old/ dead to see it fully working.

Everyone will be dead if we wait for Hydrogen in personal vehicles. That ship has sailed.

 

[Johnny75]

Everyone will be dead if we wait for Hydrogen in personal vehicles. That ship has sailed.

I don't think it has, there's some big money being ploughed into this, it'll just take time.

Decent article Here

 

[EpsomWolf]

I own mine, got it on a very good deal but thinking of swapping to a company car as its very very cheap.

I get 45p/mile from work currently, if I charge at home its about 2p/mile. Total no-brainer.

Thanks, good to see that from the other side, so-to-speak.

Residuals must still be the biggest cost factor but I’m guessing those sort of numbers will go a significant way towards mitigating against that.

It’s a very brave person that buys a car at the moment without any assurances of its value when you eventually want to move it on. Trying to protect your asset as much as possible is why I moved from diesel to petrol. In fact, it’s the only reason I moved from diesel to petrol.

 

[Stan Hullis]

I don't view a car in that mindset though - it is just a cost of me being able to work and do my job. I'll run it into the ground and then buy a new one at the end of it.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Thanks, good to see that from the other side, so-to-speak.

Residuals must still be the biggest cost factor but I’m guessing those sort of numbers will go a significant way towards mitigating against that.

It’s a very brave person that buys a car at the moment without any assurances of its value when you eventually want to move it on. Trying to protect your asset as much as possible is why I moved from diesel to petrol. In fact, it’s the only reason I moved from diesel to petrol.

That's another thing I'm having to consider.

The diesel or PHEV options I'm considering I could get something a couple of years old, finance it myself with a personal loan and combination of car allowance/BIK rebate would cover the cost. So as long as the residual value after 5 years covers what I put down as deposit I'm covered, or if it doesn't I'd probably just run the thing into the ground, reliability allowing, if it doesn't as new employer has no restrictions on vehicle age with the allowance.

If I went EV then something used would mean I'd smash the battery warranty in my term of ownership and put me at a fair financial risk. To go new (PCP) and cover off that issue would be too expensive, bigger deposit that would wipe out my savings and monthly costs would eat up fuel cost savings too leaving little scope to rebuild the savings. Then I'd be left without the ability to make the final payment, if I wanted to, at the end of the term and be tied to that brand for the next swap.

Found it quite interesting that the guy in the dealership was quite cagey around the warranty/residuals issues with the brand new EV. Essentially saying he'd have no idea what that car would be worth 4 years down the line with that sort of mileage as they've just not got the historical data to compare it to yet. Also with the speed at which EV technology is developing who's to say the car isn't looking a bit outdated by that point anyway regardless of mileage/condition.

 

[Tredman]

Thanks, good to see that from the other side, so-to-speak.

Residuals must still be the biggest cost factor but I’m guessing those sort of numbers will go a significant way towards mitigating against that.

It’s a very brave person that buys a car at the moment without any assurances of its value when you eventually want to move it on. Trying to protect your asset as much as possible is why I moved from diesel to petrol. In fact, it’s the only reason I moved from diesel to petrol.

I wouldn't buy one brand new as any car has huge depreciation in the first year. Don't know why anyone would tbh