To be fair, unless I was public sector in a gravy train position I wouldn't personally buy a car based on the ability to charge it at work because that provision could easily disappear in an instant.
£20k - BMW 330e MSport Pro - Suitable?
- Thread starter monkey_boy
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This is true, same could be said about compromising your vehicle choice of a PHEV, when a pure petrol would be a better option. The comments from the OP seem to be all over the place though, as they seems to have no real working knowledge of either a PHEV/BEV, or a charger etc. A comment "They could also put a charge lead under a mat on the pavement from the door to the car, but the council would have a fit if they stuck a permanent wall charger there." I mean if they can run a cable what the heck have the council got to do with putting a charger on their own house, even if rented, that is just confusing. Also cost money saving has been said to be a none issue, so not sure when benefit the PHEV has at all, just seems like a total faff, and hassle.
Yeah, sounds like a good case for going away and having a good think about what they are trying to achieve.
A couple of people at work are interested in getting a PHEV after seeing my one and I'm completely impartial about it. I'm happy to answer their questions but ultimately they need to do their own research and I certainly wouldn't promote owning one, not do I think I'd buy one myself.
Due to my work trips often being quite long my long term average fuel economy is relatively low (64 mpg over the last 4600 miles). I also don't have enough electric range to complete my commute both ways but excluding work trips my fuel economy is around 150 mpg (versus 45 mpg in my previous car) so there can be some decent fuel and emissions savings even if you have to fire up the ICE daily so long as you charge it religiously.
I'm coming at it from a company car perspective though so I make money on my business miles (anything over 42 mpg and I'm money up), save money on my private miles (150 mpg vs 45 mpg) and save on the BIK. Any additional cost (purchase price, depreciation, maintenance, expensive car tax etc.) is picked up by the company. In summary I got it purely for the BIK but it's actually a much better fit for my use than I'd anticipated.
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Soldato
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It did say that to begin with but as I was driving it it went down, rather than adjusted like my electric car does
I have driven others which started off with a lower range (but still higher than the one above), yet quickly adapted as I drove it.
From memory, it was just over half charged with 6 miles of range stated. By the time I did a quick test drive, it was basically “flat” (I know not actually flat, but 0 electric only range). I think the route was about 6-8 miles and I did it mostly on electric only, apart from a couple of nippy getaways.
I did really love the dual purpose of it though.
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So if 4k out of 10k is a commute where only the charging happens on one side, the actual number of miles done with plug-in electric support isn't going to be much. 6k miles otherwise driving a hybrid with unnecessarily large batteries.
You also lose a fair bit of boot space.
320i seems like a much better bet.
You also lose a fair bit of boot space.
320i seems like a much better bet.
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