EV general discussion

ICDP · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:31

I can’t help I’m afraid, but for charging publicly, Tesla is your best bet.

tamzzy · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:31

Diddums said:
What's the average price we'll pay at a public charger per kwh? (my wife can charge at work, but that's being excluded from this for a worst case scenario)

you'll be wanting to use a supercharger, so currently that's 48p/kwh peak and 22p/kwh off peak
just to note that what they charge is energy dispensed, not energy that the battery actually absorbs...so assume 90% efficiency here
so realistically, for actual usable energy, you'd be paying 54p/kwh peak and 25p/kwh off peak

Penfold101 · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:32

Diddums said:
I think mebbe it's time I get serious about this EV malarkey.

Questions (@ICDP you're up )

(apologies, I'll be jpauling a bit here, any input / assistance appreciated):

Current car (2018 Mini Cooper):

18k miles p/a
42mpg
£1.75/l (best case scenario atm)

= £3400 p/a in fuel.

Average servicing costs:
£650 p/a

Insurance:
£300 p/a

Tax:
£200p/a

TCO P/A (not factoring in depreciation): £4550 p/a

Tesla model 3 RWD (Highland):

18k miles p/a
4.78 miles/kWh
price per kwh (tbd)

Servicing
(tbd)

Insurance:
(tbd, checking this evening)

Questions:
What's the average price we'll pay at a public charger per kwh? (my wife can charge at work, but that's being excluded from this for a worst case scenario)
For those of you that lease, what's included (tax, servicing, etc)?

As above, any assistance appreciated! Cheers chaps

Any reason a home charger isn’t a viable option?

tamzzy · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:33

Diddums said:
Servicing
(tbd)

if you're within warranty period, nothing as it's mostly covered
as your vehicle comes out of warranty, the usual recommendation (and also what i did) is to get a cleevely end-of-warranty inspection done so that tesla will replace all the failing components
costs £360 IIRC
otherwise, for "regular" servicing...nothing.

Robbo · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:33

If public charging, you want to supercharge offpeak at a Tesla Supercharger. It depends on location, but it's usually 21-24p per KW. Often after 9pm for example. Worth looking into your local ones in detail, some are owned by EG On The Move and they charge quite a lot more.

Servicing wise there's very little really, the odd optional cabin filter change and that's about it.

Journey · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:34

Diddums said:
Questions:
What's the average price we'll pay at a public charger per kwh? (my wife can charge at work, but that's being excluded from this for a worst case scenario)
For those of you that lease, what's included (tax, servicing, etc)?

Lease, if you are talking personal lease (PCH) then you get nothing unless you pay for a other than VED, and maintenance isn't worth it with a Tesla, you should easily get 20-30k from a set of tyres, so you'd have to calculate the cost of tyres for a full set vs maintenance cost per month.

Diddums · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:47

tamzzy said:
you'll be wanting to use a supercharger, so currently that's 48p/kwh peak and 22p/kwh off peak
just to note that what they charge is energy dispensed, not energy that the battery actually absorbs...so assume 90% efficiency here
so realistically, for actual usable energy, you'd be paying 54p/kwh peak and 25p/kwh off peak

Wonderful, thanks.

Penfold101 said:
Any reason a home charger isn’t a viable option?

We're filthy poors who don't own a house and don't have a place to install a charger.

tamzzy said:
if you're within warranty period, nothing as it's mostly covered
as your vehicle comes out of warranty, the usual recommendation (and also what i did) is to get a cleevely end-of-warranty inspection done so that tesla will replace all the failing components
costs £360 IIRC
otherwise, for "regular" servicing...nothing.

Fantastic.

Robbo said:
If public charging, you want to supercharge offpeak at a Tesla Supercharger. It depends on location, but it's usually 21-24p per KW. Often after 9pm for example. Worth looking into your local ones in detail, some are owned by EG On The Move and they charge quite a lot more.

Servicing wise there's very little really, the odd optional cabin filter change and that's about it.

Lovely, thanks.

Journey said:
Lease, if you are talking personal lease (PCH) then you get nothing unless you pay for a other than VED, and maintenance isn't worth it with a Tesla, you should easily get 20-30k from a set of tyres, so you'd have to calculate the cost of tyres for a full set vs maintenance cost per month.

Great, thanks.

I've updated my post with an average p/kwh of 43p, assuming half peak, half off peak.
ChatGPT reckons £200p/a tax, added that too.
Quick quote is £515 for fully comp all bells & whistles insurance.

So to summarise:

TCO Mini P/A: £4550 - £4750
TCO M3 P/A: £2535 (worst case)

Now to see what I'll get for the Mini, and book a test drive on Saturday.

Cheers chaps!

Penfold101 · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:53

Diddums said:
We're filthy poors who don't own a house and don't have a place to install a charger.

Get out of this thread you peasant.

Diddums · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:54

Penfold101 said:
Get out of this thread you peasant.

And who's gonna do the washing up then huh? You?

tamzzy · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:56

Diddums said:
4.78 miles/kWh

missed this the first time round, i would use an average figure of 4mi/kwh as cold weather and wet affects efficiency.
in summer you'd get 5mi/kwh or thereabouts winter and you're closer to 3.8-4

Diddums · 30 Sep 2026 at 19:59

tamzzy said:
missed this the first time round, i would use an average figure of 4mi/kwh as cold weather and wet affects efficiency.
in summer you'd get 5mi/kwh or thereabouts winter and you're closer to 3.8-4

Cool, thanks. And what about the AliExpress tax?

tamzzy · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:00

Diddums said:
Cool, thanks. And what about the AliExpress tax?

alibaba mods? there's loads :cry:

Penfold101 · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:00

Diddums said:
And who's gonna do the washing up then huh? You?

I buy new plates for every meal, obviously.

Diddums · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:02

Mini valued at £6k at Motorway.

Test drive booked for Saturday.

**** it, might just go for it tbh.

tamzzy · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:03

this is my 2022 model 3 (non-highland)
4.5mi/kwh combined efficiency winter + summer...but i would still use 4mi/kwh for worst-case scenario planning
(when i was doing my man maths i actually used 3.5mi/kwh lol...obvs with hindsight that was a gross error in my financial favour :cry:

)

Diddums · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:05

Penfold101 said:
I buy new plates for every meal, obviously.

They're great for doing skids in the parking lot when you're done too.

Nabinium · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:08

How long are you planning on staying at your current place? Could it be worth approaching your landlord about getting a charger installed?

tamzzy · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:09

i've just done a 450 mile round trip this weekend (can't you tell with the september mileage :cry:

)
charged from home to 100%, EDF says i paid £3-ish, and stopped 3 times for supercharging that cost me £30 in total
so, £33 for 450 miles

robj20 · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:10

arty said:
Just picked mine up today:

I don't even mind the looks to be honest.
Actually thinking it might be the first car I do a lease on.
Id normally save up at least half the cost of a car but our circumstances mean that's not that easy anymore, and a loan for the full amount is costly.

robj20 · 30 Sep 2026 at 20:14

tamzzy said:
i've just done a 450 mile round trip this weekend (can't you tell with the september mileage )
charged from home to 100%, EDF says i paid £3-ish, and stopped 3 times for supercharging that cost me £30 in total
so, £33 for 450 miles

That sounds expensive to be honest. Using those superchargers really wipes out much of the savings.