EV's - gave one a go but it's back to ICE for me

[sly fox]

Took the plunge into EV ownership last year ( BMW i4 M50) , and despite it being a great car objectively, it's being replaced with an ICE car within 6 months.

Major benefits - nothing new really - much much cheaper to run (demo car so massive saving on new, car tax, insurance, 'fuel'- saved me almost £400/month overall), it's quiet and very comfy, stunning mid range performance for overtaking etc.
The I4 feels like a car rather than an EV - i commend it for that. Hugely well equpped with gadgets, it's wants for nothing apart from some excitement.

But it's dull as dishwater to drive, and the faff/cost of public charging is just ridiculous. Went to Bicester Heritage for the winter assembly in December, needed to charge up somewhere to get home, and had to go to 4 public chargers before finding one that would work or with available chargers. Succesfull charge was at a Shell garage as well so mega pricey for fast charging (think it was £0.79 or £0.85p/kwh, compared to £0.07 at home via 7kw wallbox charger). Added 90 mins to a 55 min journey home with wasted time and charging. That's not progress.

Losing 20-25% of range over winter was the final straw really. The unpredicability of the range was odd too. Some cold days didn't seem to affect predicted/actual range , others on long motowway drives consumed unusually high amounts of charge. Took the best part of 40 miles for the battery temp status to get to 'norma'l from 'low' some trips.
Short journeys - easily get 260miles from a full charge, longer continuous journeys (in summer) more like 230 before stopping. Averaged 3.2kw consumption in my time with the car, best journey on speed limited motorway 4.1kw.

Dynamic mode regen was good though - for short journeys you could recover a lot of energy back- quite impressive at times. Love the way it regen's upon approaching a junction, a roundabout or just being close to the car in front. Also like the car preheating/defrosting on a winters morning but it 'costs' you about 7 miles range. Also have a VW ID 3 in household, and that has suffered much worse in terms of cold weather performance so a win for BMW there.

So the car i'd score 8/10 - but EV driving and ownership proposition - that's 5/10 at best. Think we are still 1-2 generations of battery tech before it's really a viable option for most folks.

Anyway - new car coming in April and petrolhead status well and truly back on track. Can finally use up those saved Shell V power points!

Edited by sly fox on Friday 17th January 14:23

[anonymous-user]

A shame that

There are a lot of Tesla chargers around that way, a lot cheaper too, available to all.

[stumpage]

This is exactly how I feel about my i4M50.

[sly fox]

James6112 said:

A shame that

There are a lot of Tesla chargers around that way, a lot cheaper too, available to all.

Unfortunately i was heading south on A34 not north on M40.
Tesla chargers were good though - most reliable network i used in terms of availability and speed.

[mikeiow]

If it was only a 55 minute journey home, that suggests perhaps a 2 hour drive round trip…140 miles total, maximum?

How the heck did you need to fill up for that?
Does the BM use AAs for batteries?!!

[SDK]

Fair enough

Checking ZapMap on your phone for an available, close, and cheaper charger isn't for everyone

[AB]

I love my EV but when it goes back in about a year I won't be getting another. Partly because I'm not going to bother getting a car through the business and partly because I'm thinking of going back to one car for everything.

I don't do that many miles, don't really do long journeys anymore so it's quite an expensive thing to not drive very much.

I've never had issues charging though in the past when on longer journeys, maybe that'll get worse as more cars are sold with the number of chargers not really keeping up.

[Chris Peacock]

"it's your fault for buying the wrong car".. is what you'll be told

I've got an EV and I love it, but it's a second car used for commuting and local driving only, I only charge from home. The main family car will be ICE for as long as I can get one. The few times I've attempted to use public chargers and seeing the hassle friends and family have, it's not something that interests me (yet).

[sly fox]

SDK said:

Fair enough

Checking ZapMap on your phone for an available, close, and cheaper charger isn't for everyone

Yep i've got about 20 map/charging apps on my phone. Problem is when you get to the 3rd or 4th one which are 'available' on an app but not working you tend to be desperate for one to actually deliver what is promised rather than searching for the best deal. Sometimes you just want to get home right? Maybe i've been unlucky, but in 30+ years of driving i've never failed to fill up with petrol before...

My driving profile is too erratic for EV ownership full time. Might work from home 4-5 days a week, then do 400 miles at a weekend quite easily without trying.
G/F's ID3 works for her (despite crap range) because she only does 20-40 miles daily then tops up at night. Wouldn't dream of doing a long journey in that.

Anyway <smug mode on> this is what is incoming

[Terminator X]

Chris Peacock said:

"it's your fault for buying the wrong car".. is what you'll be told

I've got an EV and I love it, but it's a second car used for commuting and local driving only, I only charge from home. The main family car will be ICE for as long as I can get one. The few times I've attempted to use public chargers and seeing the hassle friends and family have, it's not something that interests me (yet).

This is why mandating it in will likely never work. The Govt should have either sold the benefits of EV and/or offered some incentives then let the market decide. For some people EV will likely never be the solution yet by 2030/35 they will be forced to drive older and older cars because at that point the only new cars available will be EV. Fookin madness imho.

It will be carnage for the manufactures which we are already seeing 5-10 years before it is even compulsory ...

TX.

[SWoll]

All fair enough OP, and at least you are speaking from actual experience unlike many on here.

The only issue I would take with you post is this

sly fox said:

Think we are still 1-2 generations of battery tech before it's really a viable option for most folks.

It's already viable tech for most I would suggest. Look at average annual mileages/commutes and current battery tech and range would be suitable for 99% of trips for the vast majority of drivers. The primary potential limiting factor is the ability to charge at home rather than the car itself IMHO

[DMC2]

I had an M3 Touring on order, but I made the mistake of jotting down how much it was going to cost me personally to own and then sell it after two years. £36k. Plus the tax I would pay on getting the £36k (roughly £12k).

So on that basis I made the decision to go back to an EV and cancelled the M3. Don't take if it is boring.

Over the next two years an i4 M50 would personally cost me £66 per month.

[phil4]

If you were heading north on the A34, Oxford Redbridge P&R has a load of cheap Tesla, and Fastned chargers. Fastned should be tap to pay.

Each to their own, and where you live, whether you can charge from home, whether you can find chargers when out and about and how often you need to all sawy things one way or another. I've never had a problem, long trips or short... but that's me. Doesn't work for everyone.

[anonymous-user]

DMC2 said:

I had an M3 Touring on order, but I made the mistake of jotting down how much it was going to cost me personally to own and then sell it after two years. £36k. Plus the tax I would pay on getting the £36k (roughly £12k).

So on that basis I made the decision to go back to an EV and cancelled the M3. Don't take if it is boring.

Over the next two years an i4 M50 would personally cost me £66 per month.

Salary sacrifice scheme?!?

[sly fox]

SWoll said:

It's already viable tech for most I would suggest. Look at average annual mileages/commutes and current battery tech and range would be suitable for 99% of trips for the vast majority of drivers. The primary potential limiting factor is the ability to charge at home rather than the car itself IMHO

Yep everyone's situation is different. I have a wallbox charger so that's 95% of my journeys accounted for easily.
It's the other 5% that manifested as being a pain in the @rse or felt like i was being ripped off for fuel. I don't want to extend my travel time by 30-60 mins every time i go down to Cornwall or West Wales because the car cannot get there. And there are plenty of places in those regions with very limited public charging coverage (especially Cornwall). Hotel i regularly go to only has ONE 7kw charge point. Nearest public charger was 3kw and meant leaving the car in a supermarket car park overnight. No thanks. And don't start about Welsh public chargers in the valleys where 7KW is seen as superfast. LOL.

It's also the 'what if' scenarios that screw up EV ownership. Case in point. Girlfriends son was taken ill and she wanted to drive to Suffolk in her ID3 to see him. it only had 50 miles of range at the time when she got the call, and she would have had to charge up twice to get there and once more to get back ( both costly and stressful) when she was already anxious to get there as soon as possible. Those unexpected trips / work callouts do not marry up to planned overnight charging.

The My BMW app was actually very good - i had an G80 M3 previously - and it analysed my previous year of driving to show that i could manage about 95% of my trips without recharging. One of the factors why i swapped intially.

Back to an M3 though- can't wait.

Edited by sly fox on Friday 17th January 11:15

[Zero Fuchs]

SWoll said:

All fair enough OP, and at least you are speaking from actual experience unlike many on here.

The only issue I would take with you post is this

sly fox said:

Think we are still 1-2 generations of battery tech before it's really a viable option for most folks.

It's already viable tech for most I would suggest. Look at average annual mileages/commutes and current battery tech and range would be suitable for 99% of trips for the vast majority of drivers. The primary potential limiting factor is the ability to charge at home rather than the car itself IMHO

Yep, same. Fair play OP but this was the only statement I didn't think rang true. Stats would suggest that a great many could make the transition without any issues whatsoever.

I suspect the vast majority of boomers could instantly make the switch and be much better off. Like my in laws. They've a drive and at this time of year idles a car for 15 minutes to do a 5 minute drive to the shops twice a week. A used buyer might think her mini with low miles would be a gem but it's knackered. Even a mini EV with low range wouldn't be a problem irrespective of how variable the range is.

[sly fox]

mikeiow said:

If it was only a 55 minute journey home, that suggests perhaps a 2 hour drive round trip…140 miles total, maximum?

How the heck did you need to fill up for that?
Does the BM use AAs for batteries?!!

Was not fully charged before setting off. Had been to family in Bucks and couldn't charge overnight as expected as RCD in extension lead had tripped out overnight . Another one of those not ideal situations where EV"s fall down badly.

As stated, the i4 range was fine most of the time. I got to Bicester heritage with about 25 miles range left that morning. Planned on using the fast chargers near Bicester Village/Tesco but they were not working that day. Almost saw the funny side of things where 6 EV owners were on the phone to EV point support centres waiting to get the chargers rebooted to see if it would fix the issue ( it didn't ).

I never failed to do a journey, but did waste time, effort and money on an expensive fast chargers more often than i'd like which soured EV ownership a lot. I

[Tindersticks]

Good to see someone try and if it’s not worked out then your use case isn’t there right now. Can’t argue with an M3 although I expect that’ll be a fair chunk more per month to buy/lease/run which will dwarf those public charging costs.

80p/kwh is about 21p a mile I think? I’d expect about 25mpg mixed from the M3 which is about 23p a mile. Roughly.

[papa3]

I changed my main vehicle to EV last year. I have had access to them for some time, used them for daily commutes and done the odd long run but never lived with one until October. I got rid of a defender commercial and replaced it with an EV6 GT.

My normal day has changed from an 80 mile round trip commute daily to a 10 mile return trip. For 90% of my driving EV is perfect. I made the childish decision of performance over range so a full charge in warm weather is 220 miles (actual). This means a trip to Glasgow now requires a charging stop.

The onboard tech in the Kia is astonishing. I was a huge fan of google integration prior to the EV. Now I solely use the Kia systems. The car knows where you need to charge, the chargers state and capacity and even pre warms the battery whilst en route. In 5,000 miles over the last 3.5 months I have had 2 charging niggles. One was a failed bank of chargers on the M6 and required a short drive to the next rapid. The other was a lack of capacity in Perth, just bad timing.

The option to use Tesla charging has been a huge benefit, they are reliable, reasonably quick and fairly priced. This is not he case of all networks. The downside of Tesla is the rarely contained loathing by Tesla drivers.

Winter massively impacted range as Scotland got a bit chilly. Real world dropped to 160 miles on the coldest days and pre heating could strip 40 miles from the range. The car itself performed well on the grit free roads, AWD was good, stupid wheel/tyre sizes less so.

As a car, it is amazing to drive and is faster than anything I have owned with 4 wheels. It's not as much fun as some of the less fast cars, but it certainly ranks in my top 5.

Given the choice tomorrow of a Disco 4 or my EV6, i'd be back in the oil burner like a shot. It's just easier.

[Zero Fuchs]

I guess with your experience you had ultra cheap fuel costs 95% of the time and paid through the nose 5%.

With the M3 you'll be paying through the nose 100% of the time

Good choice though and suspect it'll be a lot more fun to drive, so is worth the change. I wouldn't be without my EV but can't live without ICE either so know where you're coming from. If I had to live with one car I think I would struggle to choose.

Enjoy!