Would you buy an electric car?

[Vlad]

Don’t tell Greta or David that, you will be flogged in public 😀

[Michael Rolls]

 

[JBR]

Some very convincing arguments there for not investing in an electric car.

It is also very important to consider the validity of the ecology argument.
I can understand some people buying EVs just at the moment, as the government are (in my opinion falsely) overstating their advantages.

I can imagine that if and when this country manages to install a sufficiently large number of nuclear power stations, EVs may become a viable option.  After all, eventually, natural sources of gas and oil (and eventually coal) will run out.  When that happens, inevitably, ICE cars will not be a workable option.  On the other hand, nuclear power (and especially controllable nuclear fusion, should that be possible) would be usable, possibly indefinitely.

[Vlad]

Mmmm 🧐 Good point!

[Dongles]

There's a TV ad that says 'We are ready' for electric vehicles. Maybe that is the case in the SE, I don't know but here in my area, I only know of four charging points. So if five cars need to charge at the same time, one of them is stuffed. No sign of any lamp post type chargers either and what's to stop the little drunken cherubs removing all the chargers down a certain road?

[Vlad]

This is all so depressing 🤯 I need a lie down in a dark room

[Sciatico]

People here with opinions about electric cars should first learn the facts from unbiased sources, not the scare stories put out by the oil lobby.
If you want to slow or medium-fast charge a hatchback size electric car, you can use any normal 13 amp socket and do it during working hours or overnight. This will easily see you through over 100 miles of daily travel. No special charging point required! Non-fast charging is also much better for the battery.

There are ALREADY companies running that recycle the batteries.
Battery tech is advancing and there is already talk of twice the range.

[Charlie.]

Thanks Charlie, that had not crossed my mind…and I suppose the trade in value of your old EV for a new EV will be similarly hit?

Yes… As an electric car gets older it’s battery will hold less power to the point where it may not work at all…..


My car is a Toyota Diesel. It has the Toyota Dcat system which is a very effective system that removes the nasties that usually exit the exhaust. When it’s gasses are tested at MOT time it doesn't register a reading … As the car gets older it looses value like any car that’s what cars do they loose money. My car is 9 years old now. But it’s done little miles (34K) so worth say 50% of its original cost.


If it was an electric vehicle at the same age it would be worth almost nothing. Simply because of the liability of heading potentially for it’s second battery change. Used electric cars are not common yet but take a Nissan Leaf at 7 or 8 years old and it will be worth almost nothing unless it’s had a new battery. With no new battery it’s worth scrap value.


I am now and always have been a car enthusiast. I can do pretty much anything on a car. I even have comprehensive diagnostic kit in my garage, But there is little I can do to electric cars. Everything is throw away. If a motor burns out it’s scrap. We can rebuild petrol and Diesel engines but electric motors and all the control equipment is throw away and replace,


As for pollution well all that’s gone south with the goings on in the world. Several European countries and America are mining and burning coal again so what’s the point. The UK only produced less than 4% of pollution anyway.

[Vlad]

Thanks Charlie, there seems to be more cons than pros to buying an EV, maybe just leasing would be the answer, thoughts?

[JBR]

Yes… As an electric car gets older it’s battery will hold less power to the point where it may not work at all…..

My car is a Toyota Diesel. It has the Toyota Dcat system which is a very effective system that removes the nasties that usually exit the exhaust. When it’s gasses are tested at MOT time it doesn't register a reading

If it was an electric vehicle at the same age it would be worth almost nothing. Simply because of the liability of heading potentially for it’s second battery change. Used electric cars are not common yet but take a Nissan Leaf at 7 or 8 years old and it will be worth almost nothing unless it’s had a new battery. With no new battery it’s worth scrap value.

My last-but-one car was a Skoda diesel.  It ran for years without any trouble and, because it was diesel, it was very efficient.  I'd love to have kept it, or replaced it with another diesel.
Unfortunately, the government became very anti-diesel.  In addition, I was about to retire and there were claims that unless I drove a specified distance regularly, the car would conk out!  I'm not sure I believe all of that, though.

[Charlie.]

On infrastructure well we don’t have any.


It will take a simply huge amount of electricity produce the power to recharge electric cars, Cars used everyday will need charging at the very least every two days. Statistics show most houses have two or more cars…. That’s a chunk of electricity required every day.


My home town of Worcester has several big estates. 4 very large council estates plus about the same in private housing. The council estates mostly don’t have garages. Many have drives to park on but a lot don’t. So where do they plug in ? What about the blocks of flats ? Where do they plug in ?


Take the Warndon Villages which is a private housing development of 5000 houses. If they all plugged in at the same time it would quite simply melt the grid cables because they are now 25 years old and we’re never designed to flow anything like the electricity required. More power requires bigger thicker cables. We just don’t have them ..


The whole lot of it is crackers it really is, Worcester will need all of its aging electricity infrastructure upgrading and or renewing. Pretty much everywhere else in the UK is the same.

[Vlad]

Private ownership of cars seems to be doomed.

[Charlie.]

Thanks Charlie, there seems to be more cons than pros to buying an EV, maybe just leasing would be the answer, thoughts?

Whether we buy lease or PCP the cost of the vehicle plus it’s depreciation will be there in the payments. So while leasing might be the best way of owning an electric car the payments will be higher than a petrol or diesel.


Personally I’ve always bought our cars. I don’t take any kind of finance. If we can’t pay for them we don’t have them 👍👍👍

[Michael Rolls]

I drove past the garage from which I get my petrol. All four pumps were in use so I simply drove on. It wasn't urgent to fill the tank - tomorrow or the next day will do, but had I really needed fuel today, I would have driven round the block for ten minutes or so and the chances of a pump then being available would have been very good - but if these were electric cars and points?

[Mups]

It may work for those that live in nice detached houses with plenty of room for their own charging device on their own property,   but  what about the families who live on streets full  of all terraced houses?

They can hardly have miles of electric cables stretching across pavements outside every house,  so how would they ever manage to run an electric car?
A friend of mine has bought one,  and loves it so much they are getting another one,  but I can't imagine ever wanting one myself.