The dirt cheap EV man maths thread

[cptsideways]

So at some point the man maths / shed motoring / almost zero servicing calculations start pointing to EV's becoming financially desirable for the really dull motoring needs.

This is purely on the basis of massive depreciation, mega discounting on new and the need to not go any further than the thing can actually do without being raped by the rapid charging network & putting a spanner in the workings of cheapness.

So post up the dirt cheap finds in the hope I can still fund a second or third V8 Landcruiser/Lotus Seven/Trackday Weapon/Speedboat/Yacht off the back of the savings 😁

[oceanview]

I am not anti EV at all ( i had a VW i.d3 on a months hire a couple years back and thought it was great) but, although most EVs' have massively depreciated, i would still have the expense and hassle of getting a charger installed at home, plus getting a smart meter and changing tariffs etc, etc.
I know they dont in theory have the servicing of ICE cars, they can still have many other issues with their batteries/motors/anciliaries, that your local garaged will want nothing to do with.

I came to the conclusion that i cant be arsed.

That's me but, i am sue i am not alone in this.

Of course, for many others it will be no problem.

I quite like the idea of getting a 20k ish Polestar or Tesla but not with the hassles and potentially it losing half its value or more again in another year or two.

If you're talking an old Leaf or Zoe for 4-5k then not such a big deal (apart from the charging at home) but that could still be worth four fifths of f*ck all in a year or two and nobody will want it.

I think with EVs', its a much more individual circumstance market than ICE.

[samoht]

I agree.

For local trips you may not even need a proper charger and can charge off a three-pin.

The key question is how far do you need to be able to drive, how fast? Once you set your range needs you can find the cheapest options that will suit, taking into account battery deg and temperature.

[OutInTheShed]

At the dirt cheap end, it tends to look like an 'extra car' instead of replacing your current car, so unless you can justify the insurance by doing epic local mileage, it takes a long time to save the e.g. £3k purchase price.

If you can make it 'instead of ' an IC runabout, the maths get a bit easier, but not much.

Of course it depends on the alternative IC runabout not being an utter lemon, which happens if you are unlucky.

If you are really doing lots of stupid short journeys suitable for a wilitng Leaf, maybe you should get a 'lectric bike?

Do your own maths your own way and be happy.

[Hedobot]

For electric shedding and local journeys etc you definitely do not need anything more than a granny charger.

Been surviving on one for 7 months and the world has not ended

[Mark-ri571]

Hedobot said:

For electric shedding and local journeys etc you definitely do not need anything more than a granny charger.

Been surviving on one for 7 months and the world has not ended

+1. Our Mini SE is 2 years old next month and we only charge on 3 pin socket on Octopus IO Go at 7.5ppkwh

[cptsideways]

The primary reason for one is the for the Mrs who's commute is less than a mile, though she does cycle in on nice days. We do live on a very steep hill! In a pretty remote bit of Scotland but 120miles gets us to nearest important places most of the time. This will be a long term run it into the ground prospect.

Budget mid teens for something quite new, or less ideally. This potentially gets into some really quite good cars. Good being things that aren't Stallantis or MG from a reliability point of view. Has to be at least a hatchback as we have dogs to fit in.

Will have a 7kw charger at home shortly.

The i3 is currently top trumps which I like for their reliability & quirkiness.

Gen2 leaf as it's practical and comfy but so so dull (& they all suffer battery Deg unlike others)

Others are the Hyundai/Kia first gen EV which were quite fuel efficient from memory?

Upper budget territory is an early Polestar 2 which I really like (the Android automotive should be standard in every car it's that good).

Hopefully some more depreciation is coming to help

[confused_buyer]

If you are really only usually doing 1-3 miles a day plus a bit of running around a £3k Gen 1 LEAF and a granny charger will be all you need. In fact it will do the job very well, cost peanuts to run and unlike an ICE car will be warm by the time you get it out the drive.

The biggest downside to the more expensive options is although they have depreciated at the moment they are still depreciating. Gen 2 LEAFs for example have lost about 30% of their value since March alone. Polestars not a great deal better. Sure, you'll save on per mile costs but until prices stabilise to more normal "old car" depreciation it will cost you elsewhere. A Polestar 2 doing 100 miles or less a month will be could well cost a fortune per mile and really seems total overkill for that sort of use.

I'd be more tempted by an old LEAF or maybe a Zoe (would choose LEAF personally) which is basically worthless to start with.

[Hedobot]

Definitely get a snotter Leaf or Zoe

Hyundai Ioniq or similar, which you can get nearly new for mid teens would be completely wasted

Edited by Hedobot on Monday 24th June 15:40

[PinkHouse]

confused_buyer said:

If you are really only usually doing 1-3 miles a day plus a bit of running around a £3k Gen 1 LEAF and a granny charger will be all you need. In fact it will do the job very well, cost peanuts to run and unlike an ICE car will be warm by the time you get it out the drive.

The biggest downside to the more expensive options is although they have depreciated at the moment they are still depreciating. Gen 2 LEAFs for example have lost about 30% of their value since March alone. Polestars not a great deal better. Sure, you'll save on per mile costs but until prices stabilise to more normal "old car" depreciation it will cost you elsewhere. A Polestar 2 doing 100 miles or less a month will be could well cost a fortune per mile and really seems total overkill for that sort of use.

I'd be more tempted by an old LEAF or maybe a Zoe (would choose LEAF personally) which is basically worthless to start with.

The cheaper range of Model 3s are getting quite tempting at around £14k or for half the price something like an early E-golf which is also still quite practical

[Hedobot]

Shed eGolf is probably a good shout

[MrBig]

Hedobot said:

Shed eGolf is probably a good shout

Is there such a thing? Mk7 is peak Golf for me (except maybe a mk2) I'd love one as a school/gym/supermarket run hack, but I don't think they are quite into my definition of shed money yet.

I've seen a couple of Leafs for £3.5k but I'd much rather have a Zoe and only pay £2k, but I guess we can't be that far away.

[CivicDuties]

cptsideways said:

The primary reason for one is the for the Mrs who's commute is less than a mile, though she does cycle in on nice days. We do live on a very steep hill! In a pretty remote bit of Scotland but 120miles gets us to nearest important places most of the time. This will be a long term run it into the ground prospect.

Budget mid teens for something quite new, or less ideally. This potentially gets into some really quite good cars. Good being things that aren't Stallantis or MG from a reliability point of view. Has to be at least a hatchback as we have dogs to fit in.

Will have a 7kw charger at home shortly.

The i3 is currently top trumps which I like for their reliability & quirkiness.

Gen2 leaf as it's practical and comfy but so so dull (& they all suffer battery Deg unlike others)

Others are the Hyundai/Kia first gen EV which were quite fuel efficient from memory?

Upper budget territory is an early Polestar 2 which I really like (the Android automotive should be standard in every car it's that good).

Hopefully some more depreciation is coming to help

I think the Hyundai Ioniq 38kwh would be the winner, if you're looking at spending "mid teens", which I take to mean up to about £15k.

[Hedobot]

MrBig said:

Is there such a thing? Mk7 is peak Golf for me (except maybe a mk2) I'd love one as a school/gym/supermarket run hack, but I don't think they are quite into my definition of shed money yet.

I've seen a couple of Leafs for £3.5k but I'd much rather have a Zoe and only pay £2k, but I guess we can't be that far away.

I think half of the OPs budget puts him in eGolf territory. Quite strong money, thought you would be able to get them for bobbins based on other threads here.

[CivicDuties]

Hedobot said:

MrBig said:

Is there such a thing? Mk7 is peak Golf for me (except maybe a mk2) I'd love one as a school/gym/supermarket run hack, but I don't think they are quite into my definition of shed money yet.

I've seen a couple of Leafs for £3.5k but I'd much rather have a Zoe and only pay £2k, but I guess we can't be that far away.

I think half of the OPs budget puts him in eGolf territory. Quite strong money, thought you would be able to get them for bobbins based on other threads here.

The VW badge is artificially keeping their second hand above things like the Leaf, despite the latter being a better EV. I don't think the e-Golf represents such value for money as a used Leaf or Ioniq.

[MrBig]

CivicDuties said:

Hedobot said:

MrBig said:

Is there such a thing? Mk7 is peak Golf for me (except maybe a mk2) I'd love one as a school/gym/supermarket run hack, but I don't think they are quite into my definition of shed money yet.

I've seen a couple of Leafs for £3.5k but I'd much rather have a Zoe and only pay £2k, but I guess we can't be that far away.

I think half of the OPs budget puts him in eGolf territory. Quite strong money, thought you would be able to get them for bobbins based on other threads here.

The VW badge is artificially keeping their second hand above things like the Leaf, despite the latter being a better EV. I don't think the e-Golf represents such value for money as a used Leaf or Ioniq.

Yes, the OP and I have different definitions of 'shed' I think

The e-Golf looks like a regular Golf though, the Leaf IMO looks like something that was drawn up to be in a Jetsons episode and the Golf doesn't have (rightly or wrongly) stories floating around of horrific battery degradation. I don't doubt the Leaf is a good car, but I seriously doubt the wider populous sees it that way.

[cptsideways]

Me personally I'm happy with a shed, the Mrs however wants shiny cuteness, replacing a cute wee Fiat 500 that's too small now we have a pack of dogs

[CivicDuties]

MrBig said:

CivicDuties said:

Hedobot said:

MrBig said:

Is there such a thing? Mk7 is peak Golf for me (except maybe a mk2) I'd love one as a school/gym/supermarket run hack, but I don't think they are quite into my definition of shed money yet.

I've seen a couple of Leafs for £3.5k but I'd much rather have a Zoe and only pay £2k, but I guess we can't be that far away.

I think half of the OPs budget puts him in eGolf territory. Quite strong money, thought you would be able to get them for bobbins based on other threads here.

The VW badge is artificially keeping their second hand above things like the Leaf, despite the latter being a better EV. I don't think the e-Golf represents such value for money as a used Leaf or Ioniq.

Yes, the OP and I have different definitions of 'shed' I think

The e-Golf looks like a regular Golf though, the Leaf IMO looks like something that was drawn up to be in a Jetsons episode and the Golf doesn't have (rightly or wrongly) stories floating around of horrific battery degradation. I don't doubt the Leaf is a good car, but I seriously doubt the wider populous sees it that way.

You're probably right about the populace. I've been driving a Leaf for 7 years, I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of its looks, to me a it's a bit ugly form the front but quite handsome in other aspects. My battery degradation has been minimal. I'm on 42k miles in a 7 year old Leaf, it's lost one of the 12 battery bars (i.e. 8% of its capacity) and still achieves over 100 miles on a charge in summer. Servicing costs have been minimal, maintenance costs have been tyres and screen wash, and on a cheap rate overnight tariff (7p per kwh) 100 miles of fuel costs about £2. My other car, a standard petrol Honda Civic, costs £80 to fill to go 400 miles. There's some maths to chew over right there. About 10% of the fuel costs of the Civic to fuel the Leaf.

Edited by CivicDuties on Monday 24th June 16:05

[confused_buyer]

MrBig said:

Is there such a thing? Mk7 is peak Golf for me (except maybe a mk2) I'd love one as a school/gym/supermarket run hack, but I don't think they are quite into my definition of shed money yet.

I've seen a couple of Leafs for £3.5k but I'd much rather have a Zoe and only pay £2k, but I guess we can't be that far away.

The LEAFs tend to be more reliable than the Zoes and also have better 3rd party repair support (not that they tend to be needed much).

A 2013 on (UK made) LEAF makes a good local runabout for the prices they are available now and have almost depreciated down to their scrap value so you can't really lose very much on them.

If you are spending more and worried about overall costs Tesla is probably the best bet. Yes, they depreciate, but usually less than many alternatives once they get over 3 years old and, like the LEAF, are slowly developing a 3rd party support market due to their numbers.

Who the heck is going to be able to fix a 10 year old Funky Cat cheaply I have no idea.

[Hedobot]

cptsideways said:

Me personally I'm happy with a shed, the Mrs however wants shiny cuteness, replacing a cute wee Fiat 500 that's too small now we have a pack of dogs

I suspect you are going to be better of letting the Mrs choose the car, else it could come back to bite you