EV general discussion

[SKILL]

A couple of thoughts:

Signing a new contract now will not be covered by the energy cap.

MG make good value cars, imagine the touchscreen might be a bit slow, as seems to be their way.

I hadn't really considered it like that but makes sense, I cobbled together a spreadsheet to compare both my existing daily (MX5) and also electricity tariffs, seems as long as I'm charging the EV the Octopus Go tariff (which seems worse than the Intelligent tariff, not worked that one out yet) using the rates off their website/postcode checker it works out ~£20 cheaper than my existing tariff (Ovo standard/cap tariff)

Are the Octopus tariffs fixed for a period?

The touchscreen does seem to come up in reviews, it didn't look that bad really... Obviously going to sort out a test drive, probably gonna do the MG5 whilst I'm there as well as the extra boot space might be nice.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Octopus Go/Intelligent is fixed for a year. It’s cheaper than the cap if you have an EV and your usage fits the profile (E.g. do average miles or more and can charge mostly in the cheap period).

I’d avoid the Ohme charger, it only works through 4G and after a few (3?) years, you have to pay a subscription to use it’s smart features. It’s not the sort of thing you need ann ongoing subscription for or want to be replacing after just a few years. Other chargers are compatible with Intelligent and don’t need a subscription.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Non are as good though - so you get what you pay for and you haven't been able to cite the predicted subscription fee anyway. Going in with your eyes open is what we should be encouraging not statements like the above.

Championing Octopus Intelligent and then saying to avoid one of the few chargers that actually enables that very tarriff? Amazing.

 

[Simon]

So... Electric cars...

As mentioned a bit ago I really hadn't thought I'd be looking at one anytime soon but circumstances have changed a bit so now I'm seriously considering getting one.

It will be through a company so lease seems like the most sensible and fundamentally as cheap as possible sounds good The car that got me started looking seriously was the MG4 and that's still my leading contender really, it seems to tick all the boxes of enough toys/range/performance whilst also being cheap

Saying that with the MG4 I'd likely go at least the extended battery option if not full 'Trophy' spec which adds some 'nice to haves' it seems so not the base spec car. This is largely because I think a real world 200 mile range would be that bit nicer, it's not that important as I'll keep at least one of my ICE cars anyway so can just use that but 200 miles seems to cover my kinda regular worst case if that makes sense.

Are there any other cars worth looking at? Seems mostly that everything else is at least £100 a month more whilst not really giving much benefit?

Also charging/tariffs, this seems to be a slam dunk for Octopus Intelligent, or at least there basic Go tariff, either way nobody else seems close for home charging tariffs?

Any specific leasing companies to look at, not tied to any particular one, kinda tempted by Octopus themselves as might be able to talk to them about getting the Ohme charger for their intelligent tariff as part of the deal... But any particularly good ones?

How much is the MG4. I don’t get the bit about keeping an ICE for longer trips. The main benefit of a EV (for me anyway) is the low running costs so the longer trips are where you really see the benefit of 2p a mile driving Vs 20-40p (no idea what ICE you have ).

Plus if your ICE car isnt worrying you about adding miles and you spending £250-300 a month on a EV (and £1200 for a charger) that’s a lot of fuel to use. Do the maths I would suggest. If you like driving it’s likely a EV won’t give the experience of an ICE either.

I have a 20mpg ICE which i want to keep the miles off and have cheap charging available so it made sense to me to add a EV. But that’s also the long distance car too.

 

[SKILL]

Octopus Go/Intelligent is fixed for a year. It’s cheaper than the cap if you have an EV and your usage fits the profile (E.g. do average miles or more and can charge mostly in the cheap period).

I’d avoid the Ohme charger, it only works through 4G and after a few (3?) years, you have to pay a subscription to use it’s smart features. It’s not the sort of thing you need ann ongoing subscription for or want to be replacing after just a few years. Other chargers are compatible with Intelligent and don’t need a subscription.

Non are as good though - so you get what you pay for and you haven't been able to cite the predicted subscription fee anyway. Going in with your eyes open is what we should be encouraging not statements like the above.

Championing Octopus Intelligent and then saying to avoid one of the few chargers that actually enables that very tarriff? Amazing.

What other chargers support Octopus Intelligent? Need to do the maths but can't see it being anything other than even cheaper still, and given I'll need *a* charger it seems to make sense...

Saying that the Ohme seems fine and apparently can be installed for ~£1k ish or just under (should be a 'simple' installation for me), that seems to be in the ballpark of others but are some particularly cheaper?

How much is the MG4. I don’t get the bit about keeping an ICE for longer trips. The main benefit of a EV (for me anyway) is the low running costs so the longer trips are where you really see the benefit of 2p a mile driving Vs 20-40p (no idea what ICE you have ).

Plus if your ICE car isnt worrying you about adding miles and you spending £250-300 a month on a EV (and £1200 for a charger) that’s a lot of fuel to use. Do the maths I would suggest. If you like driving it’s likely a EV won’t give the experience of an ICE either.

I have a 20mpg ICE which i want to keep the miles off and have cheap charging available so it made sense to me to add a EV. But that’s also the long distance car too.

Not really compared all the leases yet but it seems like ~£350 a month is doable with some sane settings, that is with 9 months upfront first. Similar settings for say a Kia Niro EV is like £470 ish a month. Obviously that stems from the list price (which is also a factor with BIK) starting at £25,995 for the base MG4 and £31,500 (ish) for the top spec Trophy.

I'm not keeping the ICE for long trips as cuh, more that it will be there as an option. I don't actually do long trips often and I'd imagine a real-world 200 miles + ~35-45 mins charging would be fine for me to use EV over ICE, but if it was massively cheaper to get an EV with <200 miles range where I might want to use the ICE instead, does that make sense?

For info my main ICE is an MX5 which I use for trackdays/sprints/hillclimbs so it's not exactly the most refined thing, but also not a 20mpg option, given I could do with a bit more space and I'm now doing more motorway miles etc I think at least a more sensible car makes sense and there's some man maths involved with the EV (I'm self-employed/director of limited company btw, hence the man maths )

 

[Hawk Tuah]

How much is the MG4. I don’t get the bit about keeping an ICE for longer trips. The main benefit of a EV (for me anyway) is the low running costs so the longer trips are where you really see the benefit of 2p a mile driving Vs 20-40p (no idea what ICE you have ).

Plus if your ICE car isnt worrying you about adding miles and you spending £250-300 a month on a EV (and £1200 for a charger) that’s a lot of fuel to use. Do the maths I would suggest. If you like driving it’s likely a EV won’t give the experience of an ICE either.

I have a 20mpg ICE which i want to keep the miles off and have cheap charging available so it made sense to me to add a EV. But that’s also the long distance car too.

Recharging an EV on the motorway is more expensive than using diesel.

Many households have two cars regardless.

 

[Simon]

Recharging an EV on the motorway is more expensive than using diesel.

Many households have two cars regardless

For the total trip it is still cheaper if you do 200miles at 2p a mile then need a fast charge to boost. He doesn’t even have a diesel. An mx5 track car is hardly compatible to a comfy EV on long trips either

Yes well observed, some houses also have one car but rather than Broadbrush a generic respond I’m replying to the poster who wants to go from 1 car to 2 via adding an EV

 

[Simon]

What other chargers support Octopus Intelligent? Need to do the maths but can't see it being anything other than even cheaper still, and given I'll need *a* charger it seems to make sense...

Saying that the Ohme seems fine and apparently can be installed for ~£1k ish or just under (should be a 'simple' installation for me), that seems to be in the ballpark of others but are some particularly cheaper?



Not really compared all the leases yet but it seems like ~£350 a month is doable with some sane settings, that is with 9 months upfront first. Similar settings for say a Kia Niro EV is like £470 ish a month. Obviously that stems from the list price (which is also a factor with BIK) starting at £25,995 for the base MG4 and £31,500 (ish) for the top spec Trophy.

I'm not keeping the ICE for long trips as cuh, more that it will be there as an option. I don't actually do long trips often and I'd imagine a real-world 200 miles + ~35-45 mins charging would be fine for me to use EV over ICE, but if it was massively cheaper to get an EV with <200 miles range where I might want to use the ICE instead, does that make sense?

For info my main ICE is an MX5 which I use for trackdays/sprints/hillclimbs so it's not exactly the most refined thing, but also not a 20mpg option, given I could do with a bit more space and I'm now doing more motorway miles etc I think at least a more sensible car makes sense and there's some man maths involved with the EV (I'm self-employed/director of limited company btw, hence the man maths )

Yes similar why I got mine to go with the M3. I’m pretty pleased with my cupra born but going from a mx5 I guess interior on anything is likely to be a step up

They have got more expensive though. Mine was 34.1k p11d for a V2 where as now they are 38k I think. This is on a SS deal though so lower monthly’s.

Don’t think I could go to a MG interior

 

[Hawk Tuah]

What other chargers support Octopus Intelligent? Need to do the maths but can't see it being anything other than even cheaper still, and given I'll need *a* charger it seems to make sense...

According to Octopus, it's only the Ohme.

Or, a compatible EV - Tesla, Ford, VW, Land Rover or Jaguar.

Intelligent Octopus Go | UK's favourite EV tariff | Octopus Energy

Intelligent Octopus Go is a smart EV tariff that auto-schedules EV charging via the app - so your car’s always ready when you need it, without the hassle.

octopus.energy

 

[SKILL]

Yes similar why I got mine to go with the M3. I’m pretty pleased with my cupra born but going from a mx5 I guess interior on anything is likely to be a step up

They have got more expensive though. Mine was 34.1k p11d for a V2 where as now they are 38k I think. This is on a SS deal though so lower monthly’s.

Don’t think I could go to a MG interior

Yeah, that's my thinking with the interior, I'm sure by any measure the MG isn't amazing but coming from an MX5 I don't think I'm gonna be too bothered

 

[SKILL]

According to Octopus, it's only the Ohme.

Or, a compatible EV - Tesla, Ford, VW, Land Rover or Jaguar.

Intelligent Octopus Go | UK's favourite EV tariff | Octopus Energy

Intelligent Octopus Go is a smart EV tariff that auto-schedules EV charging via the app - so your car’s always ready when you need it, without the hassle.

octopus.energy

That's what I thought tbh...

 

[Deleted User 298457]

FWIW @SKILL I gave up on all the faff and just charge my car on economy 7 with a slow charger. I'll get an outside plug wired and be happy. I don't do enough miles in it (because it can't - 200 mile range) to justify a grand for clever charging and complicated tariffs that scupper all other household night rate appliances.

 

[SKILL]

FWIW @SKILL I gave up on all the faff and just charge my car on economy 7 with a slow charger. I'll get an outside plug wired and be happy. I don't do enough miles in it (because it can't - 200 mile range) to justify a grand for clever charging and complicated tariffs that scupper all other household night rate appliances.

It's certainly an option I think, I'll need the 3-pin cable anyway for when I visit my family so it'd work and fitting an outdoor socket would be easy enough...

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Non are as good though - so you get what you pay for and you haven't been able to cite the predicted subscription fee anyway. Going in with your eyes open is what we should be encouraging not statements like the above.

Championing Octopus Intelligent and then saying to avoid one of the few chargers that actually enables that very tarriff? Amazing.

Bit rude but perhaps I should have said I’m basically allergic to monthly subscriptions designed to bleed you of money over time. A home charger that only works on 4g is one of them. It makes zero sense that it doesn’t support WiFi given how little it costs (particularly compared to a 4G implementation).

Their website is completely transparent on this point, oh wait, no. The only place it’s listed without contacting them to get a quote is buried in their T&C’s.

Spoiler: Their T’s and C’s

8.2. Ongoing GSM connectivity costs are included in the price of any Cable or Wall Charger ordered before 1 March 2020 for the lifetime of the Product. Ongoing GSM connectivity costs for 3 years are included in the price of any Cable or Wall Charger ordered on or after 1 March 2020. Ongoing GSM connectivity costs included in the pricing of any Cable or Wall Charger ordered on or after 1 July 2020 will be indicated on the order pages when you placed your order or will be communicated to you by us or an Ohme partner.

The wording is so vague (‘indicated’) that they could basically charge you what they like come 3 years time. Yeh, no thanks.

The intelligent tariff is great and fortunately, it can tap directly into my cars API, bypassing the charger. I appreciate that isn’t the same for all.

According to Octopus, it's only the Ohme.

Or, a compatible EV - Tesla, Ford, VW, Land Rover or Jaguar.

Intelligent Octopus Go | UK's favourite EV tariff | Octopus Energy

Intelligent Octopus Go is a smart EV tariff that auto-schedules EV charging via the app - so your car’s always ready when you need it, without the hassle.

octopus.energy

My bad, I thought wallbox was also compatible. I guess not.

To be honest, I think I’d just get regular ‘Go’ and scrap intelligent if Ohme was the only option for now, the difference is minimal if all your charging fits into the 4 hour period. Like I say, I dislike unnecessary subscriptions, particularly those that are not made abundantly clear upfront.

I get 4G enabled chargers make sense in some locations, just not for the majority of people who have them bolted onto the side of their house.

Edit: call me cynical but there are a lot of EV start ups out there and the goal of a lot of these companies is to get bought out. Having lots of customers with potential or actual recurring revenue on your books is a good ways to make you very attractive to investors. That doesn’t help me though.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

It’s interesting when you order I guess they don’t you the price either even though T&C suggests they do.

 

[rodenal]

I went and looked at the mg4 last week (as mentioned my Born has been delayed and I wasn't sure whether I thought it was worth the extra per month in our scheme).

I'd say that in terms of interior quality (baring in mind most electric cars actually have what is quite a poor quality interior imo) they aren't particularly far apart - big differences for me are in styling (Born is actually well styled inside, the mg4 fine) and seats, the mg4 seats being nothing like as good as the Borns.

Spec in the mg4 if you go Trophy is slightly better than the v1 I have ordered, rear space slightly worse and boot slightly smaller but when you look at both side by side (had an id3 next to the MG) it's barely noticeable. Decent colours are free on the MG and it's already better value.

Infotainment was much of a muchness for me, neither are brilliant but look nice enough and do what you need really.

Some strange, though not overly important to me omissions on the MG are rain sensing wipers (I really don't get this) and a memory drivers seat

I'm in the process of changing my order now, though if Cupra came back and miraculously found a car I'd still be happy to take it as I don't really believe the lead times that any manufacturer claims at the moment - my decision was mainly down to giving up very little in terms of car for a reasonable saving on a monthly basis. I'm completely motivated by trying to keep to my company car limit as anything more is effectively dead cash for me.

 

[SKILL]

I went and looked at the mg4 last week (as mentioned my Born has been delayed and I wasn't sure whether I thought it was worth the extra per month in our scheme).

I'd say that in terms of interior quality (baring in mind most electric cars actually have what is quite a poor quality interior imo) they aren't particularly far apart - big differences for me are in styling (Born is actually well styled inside, the mg4 fine) and seats, the mg4 seats being nothing like as good as the Borns.

Spec in the mg4 if you go Trophy is slightly better than the v1 I have ordered, rear space slightly worse and boot slightly smaller but when you look at both side by side (had an id3 next to the MG) it's barely noticeable. Decent colours are free on the MG and it's already better value.

Infotainment was much of a muchness for me, neither are brilliant but look nice enough and do what you need really.

Some strange, though not overly important to me omissions on the MG are rain sensing wipers (I really don't get this) and a memory drivers seat

I'm in the process of changing my order now, though if Cupra came back and miraculously found a car I'd still be happy to take it as I don't really believe the lead times that any manufacturer claims at the moment - my decision was mainly down to giving up very little in terms of car for a reasonable saving on a monthly basis. I'm completely motivated by trying to keep to my company car limit as anything more is effectively dead cash for me.

Thanks, I think it was your post that first got me to look at the MG4 tbh. I've now booked a test drive for Thursday at the local dealer so that's sorted, I should probably also look at driving at least a couple of other cars too I guess...

Kinda interesting that you say the interior quality isn't too far different between the two, I would've expected the Cupra to be a step above really. Seats do come up in other reviews tbh but at least that's something easy to check on the test drive

Would you be willing to say who your lease is through/how much it is by any chance?

 

[Kill_Phil]

Thanks, I think it was your post that first got me to look at the MG4 tbh. I've now booked a test drive for Thursday at the local dealer so that's sorted, I should probably also look at driving at least a couple of other cars too I guess...

Kinda interesting that you say the interior quality isn't too far different between the two, I would've expected the Cupra to be a step above really. Seats do come up in other reviews tbh but at least that's something easy to check on the test drive

Would you be willing to say who your lease is through/how much it is by any chance?

May want to check the mgev forum. It's being widely reported they are suffering from some sort of oil leaks. Apparently something to do with the oil breather whatever that is

 

[sandys]

May want to check the mgev forum. It's being widely reported they are suffering from some sort of oil leaks. Apparently something to do with the oil breather whatever that is

Interesting, hopefully just a trivial blowing out of excess, had similar on my Alfa, always concerning when you find a new pool under your new car though.

 

[SKILL]

May want to check the mgev forum. It's being widely reported they are suffering from some sort of oil leaks. Apparently something to do with the oil breather whatever that is

Interesting, hopefully just a trivial blowing out of excess, had similar on my Alfa, always concerning when you find a new pool under your new car though.

I did see some of that, from what I got after skim reading, and I'll check more thoroughly before ordering if necessary, it seemed to be mostly the early models that had the issues and it's been 'fixed'... Obviously could well be wrong.