**EV Owners Thread**

Pretty much. If he just goes to local shows then it’ll be fine. If he does shows more than say 60 miles* away then a PHEV or ICE is probably a better bet.

*Assuming the field doesn’t have a supercharger growing in it. :p
 
Those numbers :eek:

So a caravan knocks about 2/3rds of the range off? Ouch. No wonder my Leaf isn't rated for towing. On the flip side, that's still only about 9.6p per mile in fuel costs :p

I've just done a 250 mile e/w trip to Cornwall in a 24kWh Leaf. The journey there and back was alright. 70mph, 4 charging stops each way. Cornwall is an utter nightmare though. Charging infrastructure looks alright on Zap Map. But then you get there and find out half the rapid chargers are broken, and most of the "fast" chargers are private (belonging to campsites, etc.). At least I know for next time; relying on the infrastructure in Cornwall is not a good idea.
 
Currently looking at ways to save some money for a deposit for my own home

My current car is costing me a lot of money in fuel and tax, and been looking at maybe a face lift Nissan Leaf (2014 ish)

I currently do just under 6000 miles a year (6 miles to work every day, so doing approx 15 miles a day)
Fuel is costing me approx £1000 a year with £240 tax a year

Worked out if i was a to buy a leaf with a "leased" battery id save approx £350-£400 a year (including insurance difference of £50 more on the leaf)

How often would i need to charged the leaf? could i charge it once a week ?
And what about servicing it yearly ? is it the same as an ICE car?

thanks
 
I don't see how you could save any money leasing a battery at £6k miles. Can you post all of your math because I just cant see it. Most people only save money using EV's when they are hammering the mileage, the lower fuel cost offsets the substantially more expensive purchase cost.

Normally the best way to save money when motoring is to just run the car you have now, spending thousands to save hundreds doesn't make any sense when you are trying to save up a cash deposit on a house.

What are you driving now? It looks like you are only getting 35mpg. If you really want to save cash, 6 miles is on the edge of cycling distance assuming there are suitable roads and paths.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I don't see how you could save any money leasing a battery at £6k miles. Can you post all of your math because I just cant see it. Most people only save money using EV's when they are hammering the mileage, the lower fuel cost offsets the substantially more expensive purchase cost.

Normally the best way to save money when motoring is to just run the car you have now, spending thousands to save hundreds doesn't make any sense when you are trying to save up a cash deposit on a house.

What are you driving now? It looks like you are only getting 35mpg. If you really want to save cash, 6 miles is on the edge of cycling distance assuming there are suitable roads and paths.
Click to expand...


e-bike has crossed my mind, but there is no where to secure it at home (main reason) work possibly but not over xmas where the wheels could get nicked or tires let down (happend to a guy at work)

Focus 2009 1.8 . costs approx £1000 a year in fuel, £240 tax tax
Insurance is £250 a year

Leaf is £300 insurance, £70 a month to lease a battery (£850 a year)

£1490 - £1140 = 350
 
ShiWarrior said:
e-bike has crossed my mind, but there is no where to secure it at home (main reason) work possibly but not over xmas where the wheels could get nicked or tires let down (happend to a guy at work)

Focus 2009 1.8 . costs approx £1000 a year in fuel, £240 tax tax
Insurance is £250 a year

Leaf is £300 insurance, £70 a month to lease a battery (£850 a year)

£1490 - £1140 = 350
Click to expand...

Surely you have to include the purchase price of the Leaf as well if the sole goal is to help save for a house deposit?

If you are desperately trying to save money for a house deposit I can't see how buying a much newer car is going to help. The biggest cost of motoring is nearly always depreciation.

Even ignoring the purchase cost / depreciation you are at absolute most going to save yourself less than £30 a month, surely there are far better and easier ways than to change your car.

In 3 years you'll have saved £1000, how much of a deposit (and fees) do you need? £30k? £40k?
 
ShiWarrior said:
thanks for that :)

maybe buy a car with an owned battery would help me better ? even if its an older model ?
Click to expand...

If you want to save money for a house deposit don't buy a new car.

Swapping a fairly simple car (Focus) for an old EV with a battery with lots of usage, it would only take 1 small issue on the car to wipe out years of the savings!
 
You are ignoring the cost to buy the car and the electricity needed to power the car. As I said, spending thousands to have hundreds, makes no sense.

The leaf will achieve anything between 175-370wh/mile, assume an average consumption of around 280wh/mile. Once you allow for a generous 15% charging losses and pre-heating 1000 miles will cost you 2800 KW hours in electric. At around 13p/KWh equates to £360 in electric, that's a lot less than £1k.

But then lets look at purchase prices, you are looking at a minimum of a £2500 premium for a battery owned Leaf over the equivalent Nissan Pulsar (£8.5k vs £6k for a 2014). The Leaf didnt really have many battery leased cars, the majority were owned outright. Battery leasing was more of a Renault Zoe thing (decent car and cheaper than a Leaf). £8.5k was the cheapest 2014 Leaf on the market and was battery owned.

You also need to spend about £500-750 on getting a charger installed in your home, using the included 10A 'granny lead' is painful if you even have a suitable outside socket to use. You'll then likely need to do that again when you have moved.

I'm pretty pro EV (you'll see from my posting history on here) but in your circumstance it doesn't make sense. Saving for your house deposit should be taking precedence over everything, I knocked about in a 14 year old Clio doing over 20k/year, no holidays and spent nothing on anything for years. Buying a new car pretty much goes against the 'saving' part unless the current car is no longer economical to repair and even if that is the case you should be looking at getting at the under £3k market that does the job until your priorities change.
 
Used EVs are in a pricing bubble right now. Unless you do big milage and can work with the limited range, they're really not a good buy.

I could sell my 2014 Leaf for £500 more than I paid for it 18 months ago, despite adding 20k miles to the car. The Zoe is in a similar bubble. When I bought the Leaf, I also considered a 2013 Zoe (battery lease). They were in the £4,500-£5,000 range. Cheapest one on AutoTrader today is £6k.

It's great for existing owners. Not so good for the people who buy at the top of the market.
 
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