EV vs Petrol Car Dilemma

[66HFM]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma, I've never wanted an EV car and have been a petrolhead for a number of years.
We have just moved house to a modern eco house on the south coast, its fitted with a number of solar panels and the previous owners had a Tesla Powerwall 2 fitted - a battery that stores power generated from the solar panels, they've also left their electric car charger point.

We currently have a D5 XC60 and an Octavia VRS (170 diesel...), as I'm working from home now the VRS is only doing short runs and nearly constantly has a DPF light on... We are also restricted by off road parking spaces, with being 500 yards from the sea, we can get two cars off road but the VRS makes it difficult to get past it into the house, due to its length.

Do I bite the bullet and get an EV car, something like a 3 year old Fiat 500e, with the larger battery for circa £13k and utilise the 'free' electricity from the solar panels or again get something similar as in a 10 year old Fiat 500 / Mini Cooper for £2k-£3k.
The free electricity will need to provide a lot of miles to offset the extra £10k spent on the EV...

Head says EV, heart says petrol. Historically I also like to change my cars at least annually, just because I get easily bored and I then see something for sale that I like...

Any thoughts welcome or whether anyone has been in a similar position

[EdMX5]

I would go for the cheap ICE car. Nothing against EVs, but if you change your cars annually, you’ll get quite a hit from EV depreciation. Much less of a hit from an older ICE. You have solar panels and a battery, so will still benefit from low/no cost electricity to power your home, and may even be able to sell some electricity back to the grid.

[CivicDuties]

I'd get a Nissan Leaf for about £5-10k for your local running about/short trips. Absolute no-brainer with the set up you've inherited. Then you can spend your running cost savings on something special and petroly to have alongside it.

[66HFM]

CivicDuties said:

I'd get a Nissan Leaf for about £5-10k for your local running about/short trips. Absolute no-brainer with the set up you've inherited. Then you can spend your running cost savings on something special and petroly to have alongside it.

With 3 kids and an SUV loving wife unfortunately the petrol special car won't happen...

[samoht]

If you can replace both cars I'd get something petrol that's fun to drive plus something electric for short local trips. That way you get to enjoy the ease of electric driving in traffic while maximising the money available to own something fun.


If one car is staying for the other half and only your car is being changed, personally I'd try and get a somewhat fun petrol car I think. I'm a big fan of EVs but not to the point I'd willingly give up having a fun petrol car to drive alongside - that's just me tho.

A petrol car returning 45mpg costs 15p a mile in fuel at £1.50 a litre. If the £13k EV loses £3k in value in a year, and the £3k ICE shed loses £1k, then the £2k difference would equate to 13,300 miles worth of petrol.

[66HFM]

EdMX5 said:

I would go for the cheap ICE car. Nothing against EVs, but if you change your cars annually, you’ll get quite a hit from EV depreciation. Much less of a hit from an older ICE. You have solar panels and a battery, so will still benefit from low/no cost electricity to power your home, and may even be able to sell some electricity back to the grid.

I think if I went for an EV I'd have to change my car buying habits and keep it for a few years... not looking to buy new but to always have an ICE option available.
Appreciate technology moves on so quickly with EVs...

[Discombobulate]

i3. You will be surprised how it wheedles its way in to your heart. We love ours and are both massive petrol heads.

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say go & buy a nice Abarth 500:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202402026...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308211...

Or it's Mito Quadrifoglio cousin:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406241...

155 version:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404178...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304116...

Fiesta ST:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406190...

DS3:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406050...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405189...

[The Dictator]

With the home setup you have inherited, I would certainly be looking into an EV solution.

I love petrol as much as the next person, but the reality of life is that an EV can be a more effective solution for the more mundane motoring we all do.

Spend some time researching your options,(sounds like you have already started) and test drive something in the EV marketplace, you may love or hate it.

Good luck.

[Gastons_Revenge]

EV would be an absolute no brainer as the startup cost of a charging point is already covered, plus there's extra cost savings potential from the solar setup. How many miles are you doing on your local trips? You could spend a lot less than £13K and get an EV already at the bottom of its depreciation curve such as a Nissan Leaf or a Renault Zoe.

[JD]

Everyone always says EV are great for replacing the low mileage car, but they make more sense to replace the car doing the miles.

Why not replace the Volvo with an Audi e-tron or iPace or eqc

[gmaz]

I have solar panels, home battery and an EV, but the solar generation is used to export to the grid rather than charge the EV. Using Octopus Intelligent Go, I can export at 15p/kWh but import at 7.5p/kWh so its better financially to export.

I still would recommend an EV though, as you can "fill the tank" for a couple of quid, or if you go for a larger battery model like an ENiro / Kona, you can get 300 miles for £5.

[CivicDuties]

JD said:

Everyone always says EV are great for replacing the low mileage car, but they make more sense to replace the car doing the miles.

Why not replace the Volvo with an Audi e-tron or iPace or eqc

Not quite from my perspective, what I'm saying is replace the daily short journey car with a small EV. This can mean it's the "high mileage" car. That's how it's worked out in my household, I've got a Leaf for daily short journeys and it does a far higher mileage than my long journey, petrol engined larger estate car. Means I get all the benefits of EV without the downsides of having to use it on my occasional long journeys.

[J77wck]

Rewire the solar batteries to power your house and by a smaller ICE

[John87]

JD said:

Everyone always says EV are great for replacing the low mileage car, but they make more sense to replace the car doing the miles.

Why not replace the Volvo with an Audi e-tron or iPace or eqc

This is how it works in my house. The main car is a Polestar which does the vast majority of the miles. We also have a runabout 10 year old Fiat 500 which the wife uses for the school run on the days I'm working from the office and for any days where we need to be in two different places.

In an ideal world we would replace the 500 with another EV but there aren't enough cheap ones about to make it worthwhile as my wife doesn't like the look of Leafs or Zoe's. That change will likely happen in a few years when current gen EVs drop to sub £5k.

OP, if you go the EV route it may be worth doing some calculations on the solar because with some smart tariffs, you actually get paid more for exporting electricity than you pay for importing during off peak hours. It can be cheaper to export all your solar during the day and then charge the car overnight from the grid.

[Wheel Turned Out]

Your circumstances do lend themselves to an EV, but you clearly don't want one. So you're going to resent whatever you buy, even if it does make sense with your setup. For now, I'd say follow your heart get a sheddy petrol and enjoy yourself a bit. Maybe in a few years an EV will be more appealing for you.

[Pica-Pica]

If I was forced to live in a modern house such as yours OP, I would leap at the chance of an EV.

[66HFM]

Thanks all for your comments and thoughts.
I honestly wouldn't be looking at or even thinking of an EV without the previous home owners having invested heavily in the EV set-up.

I think I just need to take my time and think about it but in the short term I need to sell my VRS as its too large for the 2nd off-road parking we have...
As others have said maybe its time to change both... we've had the XC60 just over a year now so its due a change.... its a 2014 so will be getting back nearly what we paid for it...

I also need to check what Feed in Tariff (FIT) I can get for feeding excess power back into the grid.