Thinking about an ev

[richhead]

My mrs will shortly need a newer car, she had a diesel vw golf, its getting close to 200k miles, having owned it since about 30k, so likes to keep cars a while. so time to think about replacing it.
Im looking at all options, she commutes about 90 miles a day, have off street parking so a home charger could be fitted, her work has a few chargers, but not sure how often they would be free to use, so need to discount them,
Every few weeks a 300 mile return trip is done visiting family where charging wouldnt be possable.
She doesn't want a lease, prefers to own outright, and it would need to be second hand.
She likes her golf, its a five door and about the right size for her.
I know nothing about ev, hence me asking what should i be looking for, of do we just buy a newer diesel golf.
And she likes buttons for heater/radio etc, so no tesla etc.
Budget ideally about 10k but could be more, but obviously prefere not to.

[P675]

You're going to struggle with 10k.

A Tesla would be good for this if you have a supercharger on your 300 mile route. I like buttons as well but I'm finding the screen very snappy and quick compared to other systems I've used like KIA and MG. Many cars have done away with buttons now and the screen replacement is shocking.

You'll need the home charger with that commute for sure. It's always cheaper to charge at home even if it's on-peak.

Edit: surprisingly there's quite a bit of EV for 10k now. Something like this would be good although this one is high mileage http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024082131...

There are EV Corsas, 2008s and MG5s for this price as well which might be alright. Most cars at this price range don't have great range, I wouldn't go with a Leaf, Zoe, 500e for example.

Edited by P675 on Wednesday 28th August 14:18

[richhead]

P675 said:

You're going to struggle with 10k.

A Tesla would be good for this if you have a supercharger on your 300 mile route. I like buttons as well but I'm finding the screen very snappy and quick compared to other systems I've used like KIA and MG. Many cars have done away with buttons now and the screen replacement is shocking.

You'll need the home charger with that commute for sure. It's always cheaper to charge at home even if it's on-peak.

Edit: surprisingly there's quite a bit of EV for 10k now. Something like this would be good although this one is high mileage http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024082131...

There are EV Corsas, 2008s and MG5s for this price as well which might be alright. Most cars at this price range don't have great range, I wouldn't go with a Leaf, Zoe, 500e for example.

Edited by P675 on Wednesday 28th August 14:18

Thanks for that, i thought 10k would be optimistic. Looks like im going to have to raid the savings and help out.
Another option might be spend a few £ on the old car, as its in good shape , apart from its done a few miles, so everything will be past its best. It has no rust.
Its a tough one for people who want to just buy a second hand car atm.

[raspy]

If you need an EV to do 300 mile round trip regularly, and without charging at all, then you'll need an EV that can reliably do 315-320 miles all year round, even in freezing winter temps.

Yeah, you need 315-320 miles because realistically you won't be doing the return trip and arriving with 0% charge, so you need a bit more range than 300 miles.

You need to spend more than £10k to get this kind of EV.

[drgoatboy]

The commute would be easy, almost anything out there apart from early zoe and leaf would do it without problem, just plug it in every night if needs be. Would save a lot on hydrocarbons if that's a daily commute and you get an Ev tarif for electricity.

However 300 miles regularly without any sort of charge, year round. Hmmm... There are some cars out there that will do it but they are pretty new and all very much premium, think £30k+ min. At very best. You would need something that says it can do 350+ as efficiency is massively effected in the winter.
Having said that there will be chargers somewhere along the route. A quick charge can make a big difference but you will have to charge! Again careful of older EV as a lot have only modest charge speeds. 50kw is pretty common and will take an hour to get a decent fill up

[richhead]

Ok Ive been looking on at, it seems options are limited, shes my gf and we dont live together, so im not going to plough 30+k into the deal, she has around 10. Looks like another golf it is.
Thank you all for your help

[richhead]

seems ev isnt ready for the likes of her yet, shame, as would save her some money

[raspy]

I didn't realise that £10k doesn't get you very far in the ICE world.

Autotraders shows 8 year old diesel Golfs for £10k at dealers.

[robbieduncan]

Going EV means embracing charging to a certain degree. Whilst our Model Y LR could just about do 300 miles without charging I’d be scoping out charging stops. I don’t like going below 20% too much. Aiming to arrive home at 0% is not wise!

[Turtle Shed]

Shame you can't (or don't want to) charge on the 300 mile trip. Otherwise there are plenty of options at this point that will do the 90 miles with ease.

[richhead]

Turtle Shed said:

Shame you can't (or don't want to) charge on the 300 mile trip. Otherwise there are plenty of options at this point that will do the 90 miles with ease.

its not me its the oh, and how did you get to 90 miles on a 300 round trip?

[PetrolHeadInRecovery]

robbieduncan said:

Going EV means embracing charging to a certain degree. Whilst our Model Y LR could just about do 300 miles without charging I’d be scoping out charging stops. I don’t like going below 20% too much. Aiming to arrive home at 0% is not wise!

Hear, hear!

Best to check out the exact route and the car options on https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ . For example, Norwich-Corby-Norwich trip (about 215 miles) on a 12k£ 64kWh Kona would require a single charge somewhere along the way:

• 6 minutes if you set off at 100% and are happy to return home with 15% in reserve
• 25 minutes if you set off at 85% and want to play it safe and arrive with 25%

Avoiding a 6 (or 25) minute stop every few weeks wouldn't be worth tens of thousands of £ to me.

In fact, it looks like you could probably make this particular trip on a single charge if you're okay with coming home with 8% left. I'd do a spark-n-dash somewhere along the way. Pick the cheapest charger, or the one that is the nicest one to stop at; you could afford to be picky.

[James6112]

300 miles realistic range @ £10k

It doesn’t exist unfortunately

£20k at a push

High mileage pcp/lease will be extortionate.

[richhead]

Ok you guys have told me what i already thought, an ev isnt right for her use, another diesel golf it is then.

[PetrolHeadInRecovery]

richhead said:

Ok you guys have told me what i already thought, an ev isnt right for her use, another diesel golf it is then.

Sure, but since I have a weakness for back-of-the-envelope calculations:

This would mean paying for 350 gallons of diesel per year (200 working days, 90-mile commute, a bit over 50 mpg -> 2500£) in order to avoid a ~10-minute stop every few weeks and an additional 400£ (worst-case estimate) on the electric bill. 12 long trips per year would add either 72 gallons of diesel (~550£) or 100£ worth of fast charger and less than 50£ worth of household electricity (assuming I got the Octopus rates right).

Ignoring depreciation (since you're changing the car anyway and driving whatever you get until it's worth nothing), you save two hours of charging time per year and pay 1250£ for each.

Of course, with an annual commute mileage of over 20,000, you'd need to fill up at least 30 times(?). This will, of course, cut into the time saved. Assuming a 2-minute fill-up (credit card, no queues & fast pumps?), you'll save an hour per year and pay 2500£ for it (and get some extra carcinogen exposure as a bonus).

I must have made a mistake since the numbers do not make sense...

[QuickQuack]

richhead said:

Turtle Shed said:

Shame you can't (or don't want to) charge on the 300 mile trip. Otherwise there are plenty of options at this point that will do the 90 miles with ease.

its not me its the oh, and how did you get to 90 miles on a 300 round trip?

An EV with a 90 mile range will do the daily commute and get to the halfway point of the 150 mile one-way leg of the 300 mile round trip to be able to charge. An EV with a 200 mile range or less would be more than fine even if she can't use a granny charger at the destination. We live 120 odd miles from my mother-in-law and she manages to visit us with an e500.

[Turtle Shed]

Has she driven an EV?

If not then maybe get her a test drive, ideally for a day to try the commute. She might decide, like many, that an EV is a driving experience she prefers.

Edit to add that in my Leaf I work on 1,000 miles saves £100 in fuel costs, so the fuel savings in a year are going to be around the £2,000 mark (asuming you get onto a cheap EV tariff for electricity).

Edited by Turtle Shed on Thursday 29th August 08:18

[kambites]

I think this bit is your big problem:

OP said:

Every few weeks a 300 mile return trip is done visiting family where charging wouldnt be possable.

If you really mean it wouldn't be possible to charge at any time during the journey, I'm not sure mainstream EVs will ever really be suitable for her. If she was happy to stop for a 30 minute charge en-route in each direction on those long trips there's certainly options, although £10k is pushing it.

As someone said above, you'd definitely want a home charger for that sort of usage, which would add another £1kish to whatever you spent on the car.

[Sheepshanks]

I’ve got a thread running looking for an EV for daughter who does 65 mile commute, plus running around she’s nudging 20K/yr. Doesn’t do any regular long trips but she’s happy to stop if needed.

One solution suggested is there’s a bunch of cars that can be leased at 20K/yr for £300/mth. When you take off the fuel saving, and depreciation (even on an old Golf) it makes the lease car pretty well free, and you get to change the car every 2 or 3 yrs so hopefully should be hassle free.

I’m intrigued to know what job is worth a 90 mile commute but doesn’t pay enough to allow any more than a £10K car budget?

[richhead]

Sheepshanks said:

I’m intrigued to know what job is worth a 90 mile commute but doesn’t pay enough to allow any more than a £10K car budget?

She actually works with end of life children in a hospice , but thats not relevant , its more about how she wants to spend her money, and a car isnt top of the list.