Electric Vehicles EVs

I’ve got some of those old fashioned bikes that run on human power, they serve me well on my current commute (along with a diesel train)

Don't worry I covered both bases.

Only two bases? Aren't UK legal e-bikes really hybrids?

All this chat has me seriously looking at a used Nissan Leaf for the next car as the range is not much less than I get out of the C Max with a full tank (ignoring longer trips as I don't do many of those). 90% of the journeys it does I get less than 200 miles before I have to fill up anyway (maybe 360 for a motorway trip). I don't have a driveway and there are no public chargers <1/4 mile from my house. But, I don't have an unleaded pump at home either.

I don't drive that much, so the saving would be nowhere near the expense to just swap for the sake of it. But when the C Max dies.

This was a reply to @Ludd

As above, the point of the hybrid is that the engine is running at its most efficient and supplemented by the battery rather than having to react instantly to accelerate like an ICE car when you push the pedal.

I get 65mpg in city driving without any particular effort to drive efficiently and similar on the motorway (I could probably do better than that, particularly on the motorway, if I tried) which is better than any ICE equivalent.

The Toyotas also last for years and hundreds of thousands of miles, I assume all the mincab drivers using them has been an excellent real life stress test.

Obviously it depends on your use case but for me you couldn't buy anything electric for £10k which will last the next 10+ years and is capable of doing a 300 mile trip without stopping.

doing a 300 mile trip without stopping

Highway Code rule 91:

plan your journey to take sufficient breaks. A minimum break of at least 15 minutes after every two hours of driving is recommended

Only two bases? Aren't UK legal e-bikes really hybrids?

this and that

This is what I feel like I'm missing in this debate.

When I take an uber in London it drives around most of the time in electric mode. As it drives out on faster A roads to take me home the engine kicks in. To my simple brain this implies that in the most built up areas with the highest population density its producing less polution - which is a good thing.

Or am I totally missing something?

The only question is whether that uber driver would be in a full electric car if hybrids didn’t exist.

I think not. I think he’d be in a diesel.

All this chat has me seriously looking at a used Nissan Leaf for the next car as the range is not much less than I get out of the C Max with a full tank (ignoring longer trips as I don't do many of those). 90% of the journeys it does I get less than 200 miles before I have to fill up anyway (maybe 360 for a motorway trip).

We are a 5-person household + dog and I'm considering ditching the big diesel for a smaller EV, mainly because we're in the fortunate position of living just over a mile away from the in-laws (who are a 4-person, 4-car household....) who have the option of 2 cars which we could borrow if we need to do a really long trip.

Or am I totally missing something?

Yeah full EVs are the best, everything else is shit. Buy a Tesla or nothing.

👍

FWIW. Another Real world case.

We traded our Cactus (ICE) for a Passat GTE (PHEV) a year ago. The Cactus was efficient for an ICE car, low weight and a highly tuned engine but was smallish and the ICE turned out to be fragile (it was guzzling oil).

We have a driveway and solar panels so went looking for PHEV's. An EV would have been nice, but we do not have the funds, do not want to get a loan out and like to have a fuss free long range car with an eye on family visits and holidays.

Anyway, bottom line, we are getting better mpg on the GTE than the Cactus even when we do not charge at all. But we do charge, every day, which brings the average mpg down to about 80 mpg. Work runs are within its EV range and otherwise it's mostly taken out on short runs for which we can't use bicycles (due to weather or the need to haul stuff) .

As an intermediate step the PHEV does a great job in reducing our emmissions at a sustainable price point. Plenty of PHEV's in our neighbourhood getting charged daily by the way.

I can definitely see us getting an EV from the current generation (y/enyaq/id4/ioniq5) as a next car, but the prices need to come down on the second hand market first.

You don't know how fast I'm doing those 300 miles.

True. I'm taking the London centric view so assuming 70mph or less.

My PHEV experience was very similar to that. I got a 330e with work which was initially motivated by the cheap tax, but for the 3 days a week commuting down the M4 and north circular I found it had enough juice to run electric on the urban bits and then run on engine on the motorway. Work had chargers so I could fill the battery up in a day and get the same home. Lifetime mpg was about 65mpg from what I remember, including a few long distance drives.

When the lease on that one finished I went full EV but for me the PHEV was definitely more efficient than the diesel it replaced, with the added bonus of not chucking out particulates in urban areas.

Pondering retirement and thinking about the last car I will ever get to last me out. EV crossed my mind.

Having had an Impreza I looked at the new Subaru Solterra EV, but for £53k maybe not....

A Nissan Leaf on NHS salary sacrifice scheme 3 year inclusive lease with an Ubitricity bollard charger 5 doors down and Lidl rapid charger 500m away.

What could go wrong?

Less pension?

Bear with me I’m new to this EV stuff…..

How fast is the Ubtricity charger and what does it cost?

My local one is 5kwh and 45p off peak 79p on peak (16:00-19:00) per kw with 35p log on fee. So I’d only get 19 miles range per hour charging and peak rate is more expensive than petrol.

Oh me too on the "new to this", that's why I'm asking 🙂

Ubitricity rate seems to be standard across London

Looks like its closed for scotland for VW motors now, oh well.

I had one of those bollards at the end of the road when we lived in SE and it was fine. I’d park up and charge overnight and it was generally available. The only slight frustration was the (ice) car belonging to the house with the charger in front would often park in front of it, but he’d move if asked.

I think it's the same bollard and the same BMW

I think you’re right.

Also, there’s another one outside Manor Gardens with free parking at most times. That was my backup.

When we first got ours it took over 3 months to get a home charger fitted. We don't drive it heavily (no commuting) and survived fine with a combination of lidl, tesco and streetlight charging.
Lidl had fast charging so an hour left there gave a good fill.
One of the Tescos (not very near) had free charging so worth having while doing a big shop.
Streetlight ones are slow but good for an overnight.
Public charging is much more expensive than home charging - and the faster, the more expensive - worth checking around on zapmap to see what options there are nearby. At our use level it worked fine with an occasional bit of planning ahead needed. If you were wanting to charge every couple of day it would be more of a pain.