How come you have hardly used it? Surely home charging is the way you want to go with an EV? I imagine when i ever switch that i'll charge it every night as i do with an iPhone. It sounds fantastic as long as i can eventually find a car which works financially against a big diesel, as well as having the range to comfortably cover 99% of my daily usage. (The other 1% of long trips which people make an issue out of, i can gloss over and deal with).
Electric cars for people with no driveways
- Thread starter welshboy
- Start date
Man of Honour
Mainly destination charging.
I'd just like to thank you @Russinating for being so kind as to share your solution as well as the correspondence with your local authority on the matter. It's extremely encouraging to those otherwise put off or those such as myself who - while not immediately looking to get an EV - have had this on their minds. The haters have also been very amusing.
So this thread blew up? 
It's interesting to see how determined some are to find problems, even resorting to blatantly making stuff up and then doubling down on the fiction because... they need to be right (or something)?
At a fundamental level, keeping EVs charged is easy. Most cars spend most of their time parked. And electricity is available almost everywhere in the UK. So this argument is simply over how to bridge the last foot or two between the electrical cables that already exist, and the car that's sat there doing nothing.
Personally, I think multiple solutions are likely to come together to solve the problem for those without driveways. There are maybe 80 cars on my street. 40-50 of those are parked up at a place of work for several hours per day, several days per week. Another bunch barely go anywhere, and could gain enough electricity for most of their use during the weekly shop at Sainsbury's. The remainder are likely to need on-street solutions (or else will have to rely on expensive rapid charging).
For me, the big disruptor to watch is wireless charging. Listening to the Fully Charged interview with Michael McHale from Momentum Dynamics, they were pushing wireless as a solution for busses (as a first implementation). Currently, electric busses have to be rotated. When charge is low, they return to the depot and a fully charged one leaves. Wireless chargers installed in bus stops would allow the busses to gain small amounts of charge each time they stop, effectively allowing them to run 24/7. If the same priclnciple were applied to passenger cars, it could greatly reduce how often cars need to be plugged in. At present, it might be worth plugging in at Tesco while doing the weekly shop. But what if you're just nipping in to grab some milk? How many short stops like that do we make a week, and how much electricity could be recharged, in total, during those times?
It's interesting to see how determined some are to find problems, even resorting to blatantly making stuff up and then doubling down on the fiction because... they need to be right (or something)?
At a fundamental level, keeping EVs charged is easy. Most cars spend most of their time parked. And electricity is available almost everywhere in the UK. So this argument is simply over how to bridge the last foot or two between the electrical cables that already exist, and the car that's sat there doing nothing.
Personally, I think multiple solutions are likely to come together to solve the problem for those without driveways. There are maybe 80 cars on my street. 40-50 of those are parked up at a place of work for several hours per day, several days per week. Another bunch barely go anywhere, and could gain enough electricity for most of their use during the weekly shop at Sainsbury's. The remainder are likely to need on-street solutions (or else will have to rely on expensive rapid charging).
For me, the big disruptor to watch is wireless charging. Listening to the Fully Charged interview with Michael McHale from Momentum Dynamics, they were pushing wireless as a solution for busses (as a first implementation). Currently, electric busses have to be rotated. When charge is low, they return to the depot and a fully charged one leaves. Wireless chargers installed in bus stops would allow the busses to gain small amounts of charge each time they stop, effectively allowing them to run 24/7. If the same priclnciple were applied to passenger cars, it could greatly reduce how often cars need to be plugged in. At present, it might be worth plugging in at Tesco while doing the weekly shop. But what if you're just nipping in to grab some milk? How many short stops like that do we make a week, and how much electricity could be recharged, in total, during those times?
Soldato
Mainly because I'm able to charge at work (my business) for free. I was going to get a 7kW charger installed there as well but I can do 50%/25kW during my normal working day via a 3-pin which is plenty given you never want to run it below 20% or higher than 80% unless you're doing a trip. I don't usually drive to work though - I cycle - but I'll drive in just for one day if I need to charge ahead of the next day/weekend.
My other half is NHS and she could also charge at work for free if she wanted (it's free to charge, but you need a permit that's £20 extra per month to allow usage, hence why she's not).
I've used my home charger when I've needed a faster charger, or I'm leaving the next morning to go somewhere else etc, or when charging is free or paid-for (I'm on the Octopus Energy Agile tariff). But really for the cost of installing and my proximity to a Tesla Supercharger (<5 miles) I should have just stuck to work, public and destination charging.
Associate
- Joined
- 20 Mar 2014
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- 2,361
My next house will have a drive and then I will buy an EV.
Makes sense
I dont know how the cost of these things work out through a Ltd as you have presumably done. As a private owner that use case certainly would not work out financially due to lack of use! Mileage is what pays back an EV vs tons of fuel duty for a private buyer, so i always assume that people with EVs do mega miles as i do.
Soldato
Makes sense
Yes, I'm actually considering ditching the Zoe and going back to bangernomics, purely because with all the covid malarkey going on, I'm not sure when(if ever) I'll be back in the office (we certainly don't have the space for everyone with social distancing).
Given that switching only made financial sense when I was previously spending £200+/month on petrol commuting, it seems a bit of a waste to be paying £££/month to have a car sitting on the drive which is barely used. In about 6 months I should be at the break even point where it's worth more than I still owe, and by then will have a much better idea of what my commuting situation is, at which point I'm going to have some decisions to make!
You can also have a much(!) nicer car, too. If you disregard fuel economy to some extent.
Soldato
Makes sense
Yeah my incentives weren't miles, it was that we had a diesel that was about to go out of warranty, we live in a planned clean air zone and I work in a planned diesel ban zone. That and the EV incentives - EV grant, 100% FYA, 0% BIK and fuel savings - compounded to make it worth it despite the "low" mileage. That and the car was bought by the business, in effect getting a tax-free pay rise vs buying private (and buying non-EV through a business makes even less financial sense due to the BIK and 0% FYA).
I've posted by calc in the EV thread, but basically 43,990 less grant = 39,490 OTR = 7,503 corp tax saving. Sold my old car private for 7,500, got a brand new Tesla tax-free (first year). My MPG equiv is circa 4,500 as I've spent ~£2.30 to do 2,500 miles. It's a no brainer if you own a business.