My Volkswagen ID.3

[p4cks]

Probably one of the least PH cars you'll see in Readers Cars

My first ever EV:


In summary... it is rather boring but fk me it's cheap to run. No servicing, rear drum brakes and pennies to charge. It cost me £13K and I do 70 miles a day to and from work which costs about £3.25 so in total it costs me annually about £1,500 in 'fuel' - in comparison my old Corolla hybrid cost me £3,500 p.a. I've a wall mounted charger which cost me £1K to have fitted but 6 months in I'm well on my way to break even.

The only modifications I've made is to get the lane departure setting to never come on again and to get LED front bulbs. The lane departure 'assist' is the worst invention I've ever endured on a car and had to get it switched off by someone with VCDS which turned out to be the best £30 I've ever spent.

[GreatGranny]

Next door neighbour has one and he loves it.

Yes boring but ideal for commuting.

[danb79]

Sis in ,aw has one; works from home but has to be onsite at times, all over Lancashire. So it's ideal for that and she charges overnight via their solar panel provision, or at work etc

Goes like stink too! Boring, yes; great car, yes!

[Uncle boshy]

Perfect for your use case and blooming cheap.

You’ll also love defrosting it on a cold morning remotely from inside your house

[p4cks]

First ‘long’ trip today as I go from South Shields to Glasgow.

Says I’ve 181 miles of charge (at 100%)

Wish me luck, will update Sunday

[MrC986]

If you have the opportunity, I'd preheat the car (with it still plugged in/charging) before your journey & hopefully it'll preheat the battery to maximise the range. You will also benefit from some reasonable weather hopefully to stretch the range out

[p4cks]

MrC986 said:

If you have the opportunity, I'd preheat the car (with it still plugged in/charging) before your journey & hopefully it'll preheat the battery to maximise the range. You will also benefit from some reasonable weather hopefully to stretch the range out

That's a good shout, I'll try that next time.

OK so here's how the trip went and my first time public charging.

Charged to 100%


Trip distance


And 15 miles remaining when I got there.


And then charged it at Blink in the Q-Park in Glasgow


Getting there was fine, the only time i started to get worried/pi55ed off was when the charging bays were all full and there was an e-Audi of some sort parked in one of the bays not plugged in and not charging which increased my anxiety levels a little higher. Thankfully the fella in the next bay was leaving and I managed to get hooked up there.

Total 'fuel' cost was about £42 or so for the whole trip which I think is amazing value!

[Countdown]

is that £42 for one-way or return?

Am i right in thinking that the costs of public charging are broadly the same as normal fuel?

[p4cks]

Countdown said:

is that £42 for one-way or return?

Am i right in thinking that the costs of public charging are broadly the same as normal fuel?

£42 was return trip. £37 public charging in Glasgow and about a fiver charging it at my gaff in South Shields

[Countdown]

p4cks said:

£42 was return trip. £37 public charging in Glasgow and about a fiver charging it at my gaff in South Shields

Thanks - back of a fag packet calculations suggest it would have cost you £50 in petrol if you had done 40mpg so still cheaper with EV.

[p4cks]

Aye I’ve learned public charging isn’t cheap!

[paradigital]

£42 for the return trip makes it closer to 52MPG by my calculations.

Which is “fine”.

It does highlight just how much of a financial game changer home charging is though, as that’s around 220MPG for just the outbound trip.

At ~72p/kwh that public charging you used wasn’t at the cheapest end of the public charging spectrum either.