So looking at all sorts of EV's most seem to have high list prices, so it's going to be lease/PCP or a subscription.

Sadly our company don't run an EV salary sacrifice scheme, so that's out.

 

What do people who have purcased one find is the best way to "own" one?

 

The cars we're looking at need to have an official range of 300 miles and a real range not much less, along with at least 100kW charging, ideally more.

There is some room around that as real world is king. For example, the ipace is only 100kW and 292 miles, but achieves 275 real world... which is more than other 330 mile cars that get 250 real world.

24 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

What do people who have purcased one find is the best way to "own" one?

 

The cars we're looking at need to have an official range of 300 miles and a real range not much less, along with at least 100kW charging, ideally more.

Unfortunately no best way currently.

 

For us, back in 2017, I found the best way was to buy second hand as first-gen EV came off lease. Very cheap EV as poor public perception meant demand wasn't there.

 

Now, second hand is out of the question. So I would only consider a straight out purchase. I'm currently waiting for Berlin built Model Y 7-seater.

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

Unfortunately no best way currently.

 

For us, back in 2017, I found the best way was to buy second hand as first-gen EV came off lease. Very cheap EV as poor public perception meant demand wasn't there.

 

Now, second hand is out of the question. So I would only consider a straight out purchase. I'm currently waiting for Berlin built Model Y 7-seater.

 

My Logic is that I don't intend to dump 40-50k on a car that in 4 years time is likely to be useless in terms of range/charging vs what's available at the time.

I have a feeling that second hand values would be toast if somebody comes out with a 400-500 mile range, super fast charging that actually works and the like.

 

It's a huge risk, which would mean if that was the only way, then it'd be another diesel instead.

I can not see the point of spending 40-50 grand on an EV anytime in the next few years unless there is a saving over driving an ICE  which is via HMRC / Income tax, on congestion charge /parking etc and you are getting reasonably priced charging or free charging.

But then i can never imagine buying a 40-50 grand car unless i could afford one and not care about the cost per year to get about in it.

 

(Mine is leased from Motability and costs less than £63 a week or i would not be driving one now.)

£63 per week = £3276 per year,  over 4 years = £13104

decent spec superb with all the space and comfort   ie 2.0 tdi  SE L trim  through a broker   =  £26k 

and after 4 years car should be worth at least half the £26k  ie £13k   and if car values stay as high as they are at the moment , it may be worth even more.

however you could keep the car for 10 years +   and cost per year comes down every year.

fuel costs will be be more for the diesel superb v electric but it's a small price to pay for the comfort and space  😀

at the moment there's no electric cars the size of a superb for £26k, so for me diesel is still the way to go

a smaller skoda model is gonna be even cheaper if space/ comfort is not a concern

Unfortunately if you want to own a car outright, £30k seems to be minimum to dump on an EV with your kind of requirement.

If you are willing to loosen your requirement a bit, going into EV to satisfy 80% of your motoring needs and keep your current car for the other 20% longer drives. A whole world of second hand Leaf/Zoe becomes excellent purchase.

 

If you can wait 3-5 years for current-gen EV to become common in second hand market, coming off leases. That is the best way to own EV's, let other people take the initial hit of depreciation.

 

5 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

I have a feeling that second hand values would be toast if somebody comes out with a 400-500 mile range, super fast charging that actually works and the like.

 

I feel it would be the other way. There is a supply bottleneck for batteries. Even if they can make 600 miles range that recharges in 5min, today's EV would still demand a price premium over today's fossil fuelled cars that is mass produced. Just look at price of Leaf vs similar mileage Golf.

 

2 minutes ago, 310golfr said:

£63 per week = £3276 per year,  over 4 years = £13104

decent spec superb with all the space and comfort   ie 2.0 tdi  SE L trim  through a broker   =  £26k 

and after 4 years car should be worth at least half the £26k  ie £13k   and if car values stay as high as they are at the moment , it may be worth even more.

however you could keep the car for 10 years +   and cost per year comes down every year.

Over the lifetime of vehicle, EV actually make a huge amount of sense.

£26k for a diesel would get ~55mpg meaning 11p per mile at £1.30 per litre cost + £150 per year service + £500 every 4 years for timing belt + £200 every 40k for DSG oil change => 26k + 16.5k + 2.3k + 1.5k + 0.8k = £47.5k to cover 150k miles over 15 years.

£42k for a Tesla model 3 SR+ will get £2.5p per mile at off-peak leccy prices + £0 service requirement => £42k + £4k = £46k to cover same miles over same years.

 

@310golfr

£63 a week for 3 years plus a little % increase each year. Under £10,000 if no advanced payment.

  I paid £1,700 advance. Now that would be £0 Advance.

There are £35,000 EV's now available from Motability with no advance payment required or very low.

 

No insurance, VED or Servicing to pay. 

I have done 16,000 miles in 14 months and it has cost 2 x £20 for CPS cards & £17 at Instavolt Chargers.

Hand it back at end of lease.      

(16,000 miles @ 45 mpg & £5.70 a gallon would be over £2,000 a year, )

 

Before that i had a SEAT Alhambra 2.0 TDI SCR /DSG that was £32,000 RRP, and Motability paid £24,500 to buy it.

It sold through BCA to Arnold Clark at 3 years old with 44,000 miles for £15,500  and they could not even get that for it during lockdown.

 

PS.

I have a 15 year old Diesel Auto 4x4. 26 mpg.

& an 11 year old Petrol Auto. 40+ mpg.

 

I would like the 9 seater for £1,249 advance payment.

 

Edited 1 November, 20214 yr by roottoot

1 hour ago, roottoot said:

@310golfr

£63 a week for 3 years plus a little % increase each year. Under £10,000 if no advanced payment.

  I paid £1,700 advance. Now that would be £0 Advance.

There are £35,000 EV's now available from Motability with no advance payment required or very low.

 

No insurance, VED or Servicing to pay. 

I have done 16,000 miles in 14 months and it has cost 2 x £20 for CPS cards & £17 at Instavolt Chargers.

Hand it back at end of lease.      

(16,000 miles @ 45 mpg & £5.70 a gallon would be over £2,000 a year, )

 

Before that i had a SEAT Alhambra 2.0 TDI SCR /DSG that was £32,000 RRP, and Motability paid £24,500 to buy it.

It sold through BCA to Arnold Clark at 3 years old with 44,000 miles for £15,500  and they could not even get that for it during lockdown.

 

PS.

I have a 15 year old Diesel Auto 4x4. 26 mpg.

& an 11 year old Petrol Auto. 40+ mpg.

 

I would like the 9 seater for £1,249 advance payment.

 

it's only really the fuel costs that are cheaper with your 2 examples though, and remember for a fair comparison, we need to compare like for like cars ie  small diesel car  v small electric car  . l've mentioned a superb which is not really like for like,  even if it costs slightly more over 3 years, you need to consider space, comfort etc

also the free charging will soon be a thing of the past and leccy prices gonna be rising sharply

 

looks good that vivaro estate, but it's only really a vivaro van with  windaes and a few extra seats  😀

2 hours ago, wyx087 said:

Unfortunately if you want to own a car outright, £30k seems to be minimum to dump on an EV with your kind of requirement.

If you are willing to loosen your requirement a bit, going into EV to satisfy 80% of your motoring needs and keep your current car for the other 20% longer drives. A whole world of second hand Leaf/Zoe becomes excellent purchase.

 

If you can wait 3-5 years for current-gen EV to become common in second hand market, coming off leases. That is the best way to own EV's, let other people take the initial hit of depreciation.

 

 

I feel it would be the other way. There is a supply bottleneck for batteries. Even if they can make 600 miles range that recharges in 5min, today's EV would still demand a price premium over today's fossil fuelled cars that is mass produced. Just look at price of Leaf vs similar mileage Golf.

 

Over the lifetime of vehicle, EV actually make a huge amount of sense.

£26k for a diesel would get ~55mpg meaning 11p per mile at £1.30 per litre cost + £150 per year service + £500 every 4 years for timing belt + £200 every 40k for DSG oil change => 26k + 16.5k + 2.3k + 1.5k + 0.8k = £47.5k to cover 150k miles over 15 years.

£42k for a Tesla model 3 SR+ will get £2.5p per mile at off-peak leccy prices + £0 service requirement => £42k + £4k = £46k to cover same miles over same years.

 

i think the tesla 3 should be compared with the octavia which is slightly cheaper new than the superb, plus i'd be diy  servicing, so only  have the cost of materials

plus £42k outlay v say £24k is a lot of ££££ difference most people wont have that sort of money or be willing to part with that much

 

Edited 1 November, 20214 yr by 310golfr

23 minutes ago, 310golfr said:

it's only really a vivaro van with  windaes

Exactly; you'll look like a van or taxi driver all the time you have it.

7 hours ago, 310golfr said:

it's only really the fuel costs that are cheaper with your 2 examples though, and remember for a fair comparison, we need to compare like for like cars ie  small diesel car  v small electric car  . l've mentioned a superb which is not really like for like,  even if it costs slightly more over 3 years, you need to consider space, comfort etc

also the free charging will soon be a thing of the past and leccy prices gonna be rising sharply

 

looks good that vivaro estate, but it's only really a vivaro van with  windaes and a few extra seats  😀

 

Electricity cannot get too expensive as every single person in the UK is a user, and businesses, so the pressure from 67m people will keep electricity prices under control and of course EV users can set their charging systems to charge on the early day cheap rates ie 5p a kWh so my 14 kWh I charged last night cost me 70 pence and I added 70 miles of range to the car ie 1p per mile driven on energy costs.

 

I pay £280 a month for the PCP, only 6k miles per year and wish I had gone for more miles per year as fuel price hike and shortage hit a week after I bought it.  I get a nearly £600 a month car allowance so can more than cover the PCP and running cost and can save a few thousands to but the car in 4 years time.

 

I can charge for free at my Heathrow office on 11 kWh AC 3 phase chargers which my logistics company do not charge on to me.  We Carbon rate everything we do and our customers expect data on this.  Glad to see DPD who my son works for heading up the conversion to use of EV vans.  Good to see French companies quickly adopting.....

https://www.fleeteurope.com/en/new-energies/europe/features/how-dpd-adopting-evs-electrifying-speed?a=JMA06&t[0]=DPD&t[1]=Electric LCV&t[2]=Last Mile&t[3]=Oxford&t[4]=Maxus&curl=1

 

“Last year we only had 149 electric vehicles [in the UK]. Today we have 1,031, and we’ll have 1,700 by the end of the year,” said Craughan. “As a business have not ordered one final mile diesel vehicle this year and we hope not to. Electric is the way forward for DPD, that is our strategy.”

 

Edited 2 November, 20214 yr by lol-lol

@310golfrPersonally for travelling without carrying much i am a Fabia fanboy and cars that size like the Polo was not a class above like a Golf.

Space of an interior does not matter for sad lonely people just wanting to travel cheaply and park easily & comfort is the seat and steering wheel and maybe both heated & enough bum, foot and elbow room.

If carrying people or goods that is a different matter.

Lots of medium to big cars do not have much room around the arse, feet or elbows with intrusive sills, centre storage boxes,

you get to know what suits you over the years by driving and owning different vehicles and driving what you like and not what you think impresses others.

 

Many EV drivers have no wish to drive a Tesla, or for that an Octavia, & the thing about not having something Superb Hatch or Estate size is exactly why some drive something not the size of a Superb. 

Not many big Cars are available from Motability this year other than Skoda Superbs.

 

@KenONeill Nothing in Glasgow or much of Scotland says 'Taxi / Private Hire Car / Airport Transport, Fast Food delivery, (Old Octavia)  Organised Crime money laundering than a Skoda Rapid, Octavia or Superb.

@310golfrHas a VW Caddy which is just a Caddy Life that never got the windows and back seats to look like a Taxi or WAV so stayed a Caddy.

I have a Shogun Van that never got the rear seats and the windows are blanked so looks like a Shogun Commercial because it is.

Edited 2 November, 20214 yr by roottoot

10 hours ago, 310golfr said:

i think the tesla 3 should be compared with the octavia which is slightly cheaper new than the superb, plus i'd be diy  servicing, so only  have the cost of materials

plus £42k outlay v say £24k is a lot of ££££ difference most people wont have that sort of money or be willing to part with that much

 

All that matter is the total cost of ownership, which is cheaper on EV. 

If you divide the cost of vehicle down to monthly costs there is no difference in cost. 

eg. I have money in the bank/shares, the cost of car purchase essentially means how much additional money I put away each month to replenish money spent. End of the month, despite EV being more expensive to purchase, it is cheaper to own. 

 

Also, Skoda Octavia SE-L trim starts at £25.8k. Broker prices are prices to get you to phone up. 

If you really want comparable car, SE-L doesn't have auto-steer or leather-like seats or giant infotainment screen or built-in google maps for nav or app climate control. 

26 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

total cost of ownership, which is cheaper on EV

I've seen that argument before, and it presumed that the retained value of the EV was much higher, that fuel duty would not be charged on electricity, and ignored any cost of financing the deposit.

1 minute ago, KenONeill said:

I've seen that argument before, and it presumed that the retained value of the EV was much higher, that fuel duty would not be charged on electricity, and ignored any cost of financing the deposit.

Retained value of EV will always be higher. See my earlier post. 

But in my above worked example, it is assumed both cars are kept for 15 years 150k miles with zero resale value afterwards. 

 

Fuel duty would never change for home charging, it is impossible to implement and enforce. This should be over 80% of how most people will charge anyway. 

I can see rapid charging being heavily taxed. But it wouldn't change the calculation much because above line. 

I can also see mileage based tax, but this would apply across the all cars. There is no way any government would only apply this to EV's in today's climate (pun intended)  

 

Cost of financing and deposit = vehicle cost? 

Of course, higher finance amount will mean higher interest payment. So it is understandable some people are put off by higher initial cost.

But at the same time, I see MG5 estate EV is only asking from £199 per month in my company's salary sacrifice lease scheme while Octavia estate is from £216....... 

 

 

So back on topic, perhaps leasing an EV makes financial sense for OP as lease companies build in the retained value thus offer more comparative rates? 

18 hours ago, roottoot said:

I can not see the point of spending 40-50 grand on an EV anytime in the next few years unless there is a saving over driving an ICE  which is via HMRC / Income tax, on congestion charge /parking etc and you are getting reasonably priced charging or free charging.

But then i can never imagine buying a 40-50 grand car unless i could afford one and not care about the cost per year to get about in it.

 

(Mine is leased from Motability and costs less than £63 a week or i would not be driving one now.)

 

Just to clarify here, when I say "buy", i'm not talking outright, but leased/PCP etc for 2-4 years.

Yes i understand that.

They are either right for you financially or not.

Outright purchase is really a big step and maybe one too early now as said in the opening post.

Renting can make sense if it works financially.

 

@KenONeill

Interest Free Loans and Grants can help lots of individuals and businesses get and run EV's. 

This has happened for a few years now in Scotland.

There are Briskoda members that have taken advantage of these. 

 

Other parts of the UK have these as well and maybe in the near future they will be across the whole of the UK. 

 

Business users that now use / drive EV's know what the finances of it is and are often sharing the savings to them or their business while at charging hubs or just in conversations anyplace.

Plenty drive EV cars that are as nice as the ICE vehicles they had usually driven in the past or even nicer while spending less.

https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/find-funding-grants-and-loans/electric-vehicle-loans/

 

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/grants-and-loans/electric-vehicle-loan/

 

 

 

 

Edited 2 November, 20214 yr by roottoot

13 hours ago, wyx087 said:

Unfortunately if you want to own a car outright, £30k seems to be minimum to dump on an EV with your kind of requirement.

If you are willing to loosen your requirement a bit, going into EV to satisfy 80% of your motoring needs and keep your current car for the other 20% longer drives. A whole world of second hand Leaf/Zoe becomes excellent purchase.

 

Tried that, and if the other half can cope with the horrible touchscreen interfaces VW have, with a real world winter range of 250 miles, then she'll have it and I'll have a diesel as I do the longer journeys. That 250 miles is for a real world visit to families, with almost no charging bar a 3 pin plug, so it's her condition. Sadly the VW user interfaces from the mk8/ID3 platform are truely toxic as she is complaining about it a lot.

 

At that point she will get a small diesel estate and I'll end up in electric. Luckily my longer routes tend to involve a good amount of motorway, so I can start nearly full, DC charge either at the end of the motorway up to 80% or at the destination, then go from there. Still I'd need a real 250 miles to make it viable too.

 

A second hand leaf/zoe is tempting and the range on the newer zoe is not too bad, albeit not quite in the stated range.

It's a tough one to try and balance right now.

 

13 hours ago, wyx087 said:

 

If you can wait 3-5 years for current-gen EV to become common in second hand market, coming off leases. That is the best way to own EV's, let other people take the initial hit of depreciation.

 

I imagine that's why the lease and care deals are what most dealers are pushing for EV. Pay lots per months and we have a nice care to sell in 3-5 years.
Sadly one of the cars is over 15 years old, so there's no chance on that one. This last MOT was expensive and wouldn't have been done had the second hand value of cars not been so high. As it was a banger of unknown standing was more than the repair bill.

 

13 hours ago, wyx087 said:

I feel it would be the other way. There is a supply bottleneck for batteries. Even if they can make 600 miles range that recharges in 5min, today's EV would still demand a price premium over today's fossil fuelled cars that is mass produced. Just look at price of Leaf vs similar mileage Golf.

 

You really think so? I'm not convinced, but then I was lucky enough to have a previous diesel on PCP not outright so didn't get exposed as badly as I could have to the diesel price drop caused by dieselgate.

 

13 hours ago, wyx087 said:

 

Over the lifetime of vehicle, EV actually make a huge amount of sense.

£26k for a diesel would get ~55mpg meaning 11p per mile at £1.30 per litre cost + £150 per year service + £500 every 4 years for timing belt + £200 every 40k for DSG oil change => 26k + 16.5k + 2.3k + 1.5k + 0.8k = £47.5k to cover 150k miles over 15 years.

£42k for a Tesla model 3 SR+ will get £2.5p per mile at off-peak leccy prices + £0 service requirement => £42k + £4k = £46k to cover same miles over same years.

 

 

The sums I've been working on are over 5 years, but the maths on the leccy make sense.
However how to finance the substantially higher purchase price when we've already got to factor in 3 phase/solar and batteries to manage it is the main issue. (Our peak load is already pushing up against the 100A before heat pumps/EV/etc).

 

What I will say is servicing is not zero, as you've got coolant changes (battery cooling circuits I believe) and some other items are inexplainably more expensive for an electric car.

3 hours ago, roottoot said:

@310golfrPersonally for travelling without carrying much i am a Fabia fanboy and cars that size like the Polo was not a class above like a Golf.

Space of an interior does not matter for sad lonely people just wanting to travel cheaply and park easily & comfort is the seat and steering wheel and maybe both heated & enough bum, foot and elbow room.

If carrying people or goods that is a different matter.

Lots of medium to big cars do not have much room around the arse, feet or elbows with intrusive sills, centre storage boxes,

you get to know what suits you over the years by driving and owning different vehicles and driving what you like and not what you think impresses others.

 

Many EV drivers have no wish to drive a Tesla, or for that an Octavia, & the thing about not having something Superb Hatch or Estate size is exactly why some drive something not the size of a Superb. 

Not many big Cars are available from Motability this year other than Skoda Superbs.

 

@KenONeill Nothing in Glasgow or much of Scotland says 'Taxi / Private Hire Car / Airport Transport, Fast Food delivery, (Old Octavia)  Organised Crime money laundering than a Skoda Rapid, Octavia or Superb.

@310golfrHas a VW Caddy which is just a Caddy Life that never got the windows and back seats to look like a Taxi or WAV so stayed a Caddy.

I have a Shogun Van that never got the rear seats and the windows are blanked so looks like a Shogun Commercial because it is.

 

I agree about the space/size not being an issue.

 

Having sat in a golf and an ID3 back to back, even though they're almost identical in external length/width, the ID.3 has much more interior space.
This is mostly down to the lack of bonnet length vs the golf as it doesn't need to hide an engine under there.

 

I'd say an ID3 has at least as much room as a golf and you could probably compare to vehicles half a class up, rather than a class down.

Servicing is limited to @ 2 years / 18,500 miles with VW Group Skoda & Inspection Services.

Brakes and Coolant and Tyres, wipers etc are consumables but then leasing might mean a minimal spend.

 

'Subscriptions setups' are changing the whole lease thing. 

27 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

Retained value of EV will always be higher. See my earlier post. 

But in my above worked example, it is assumed both cars are kept for 15 years 150k miles with zero resale value afterwards. 

 

Again if battery tech changes, then actually the old batteries become a disposal cost, not an asset.
I'm not confident enough things won't change enough in 5 years, that the current batteries/cars will be worth more.
Like options on a new car, they make make it more desirable vs a 5 year old petrol/diesel, but doesn't necessarily mean it'll get 50% of initial value @ 3 years.

 

27 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

 

Fuel duty would never change for home charging, it is impossible to implement and enforce. This should be over 80% of how most people will charge anyway. 

I can see rapid charging being heavily taxed. But it wouldn't change the calculation much because above line. 

I can also see mileage based tax, but this would apply across the all cars. There is no way any government would only apply this to EV's in today's climate (pun intended)  

 

Fuel duty on home charging is relatively easy to do, as all new chargers at home are mandated to be smart chargers if you want the grant.
So all you do is ask the smart charger how much went into the car and add that the the electric bill. 
If it can't talk to the government approved servers at the energy provider, then it can't charge. 

Not really hard to do.

Mileage based car tax, I can see. Rapid charging being heavily taxed, less so, because then you get people hanging onto older diesels to do the 600 mile round trips.

 

 

27 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

 

Cost of financing and deposit = vehicle cost? 

Of course, higher finance amount will mean higher interest payment. So it is understandable some people are put off by higher initial cost.

But at the same time, I see MG5 estate EV is only asking from £199 per month in my company's salary sacrifice lease scheme while Octavia estate is from £216....... 

 

 

So back on topic, perhaps leasing an EV makes financial sense for OP as lease companies build in the retained value thus offer more comparative rates? 

 

Long and short, so far it seems that the lease and care or even subscriptions are the models that make sense.

 

3 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

However how to finance the substantially higher purchase price when we've already got to factor in 3 phase/solar and batteries to manage it is the main issue. (Our peak load is already pushing up against the 100A before heat pumps/EV/etc).

 

What I will say is servicing is not zero, as you've got coolant changes (battery cooling circuits I believe) and some other items are inexplainably more expensive for an electric car.

The beauty of battery (and heat pump where your house/water tank is your energy storage) is that it should never need to operate during peak time. 

 

Tesla says servicing is "not required", then goes to list a few recommended items. So it's not zero but it can be zero. 

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/support/car-maintenance

Whereas if you don't service an ICE car, not only engine problems, there's also no more warranty cover. 

 

2 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Again if battery tech changes, then actually the old batteries become a disposal cost, not an asset.
I'm not confident enough things won't change enough in 5 years, that the current batteries/cars will be worth more.
Like options on a new car, they make make it more desirable vs a 5 year old petrol/diesel, but doesn't necessarily mean it'll get 50% of initial value @ 3 years.

Unlike petrol/diesel engine, an old EV battery is still viable to be re-used as stationary storage. There will not be enough battery production in the next 30+ years, re-used battery will be normal. 

The same generational leap has already happened with today's 300 miles 100kW charging EV vs first generation 90 miles 50kW charging Leaf. But as I pointed out, Leaf residual values are holding better than similar condition Focus/Golf. 

 

2 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Fuel duty on home charging is relatively easy to do, as all new chargers at home are mandated to be smart chargers if you want the grant.
So all you do is ask the smart charger how much went into the car and add that the the electric bill. 
If it can't talk to the government approved servers at the energy provider, then it can't charge. 

It is easy to buy a 3-pin "granny" charger and plug into an unmetered external 3-pin. It is also super easy to get a 32 amp commando socket installed and buy matching portable charger to charge the car at 7kW. 

I live in a close, how the car is connected is not visible from the closed road, how can such restrictions on home charging be enforced? 

9 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

The beauty of battery (and heat pump where your house/water tank is your energy storage) is that it should never need to operate during peak time. 

 

So a heat pump opperates constantly. I get what you're saying about keeping heat into the system, but as we already have a pull close to 100A single phase, then it isn't about just that.

I will either need to put in 3 phase (Bonus of 11/22kW charging) or add a battery/panels. Both cost significant sums up front so when added to the higher price of the car makes it harder to self finance. 

 

9 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

 

Tesla says servicing is "not required", then goes to list a few recommended items. So it's not zero but it can be zero. 

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/support/car-maintenance

Whereas if you don't service an ICE car, not only engine problems, there's also no more warranty cover. 

 

Unlike petrol/diesel engine, an old EV battery is still viable to be re-used as stationary storage. There will not be enough battery production in the next 30+ years, re-used battery will be normal. 

The same generational leap has already happened with today's 300 miles 100kW charging EV vs first generation 90 miles 50kW charging Leaf. But as I pointed out, Leaf residual values are holding better than similar condition Focus/Golf. 

 

With this, it's all down to personal opinion and risk aversion. I may be right, you may be right, neither of us may be right.

 

Servicing wise of course it's lower on an EV, but then you still need to do brake pads, the coolant ciricuit and the usual gubbins.
What I find odd is that as may garages won't touch EVs, you find the cost to do things for EVs on the network appears (admitedly only from what I've read) to be substantially higher than non-EV cars.
 

 

9 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

 

It is easy to buy a 3-pin "granny" charger and plug into an unmetered external 3-pin. It is also super easy to get a 32 amp commando socket installed and buy matching portable charger to charge the car at 7kW. 

I live in a close, how the car is connected is not visible from the closed road, how can such restrictions on home charging be enforced? 

 

Well you combine the charge data with the MOT data and if the car has done substantially more miles than logged against it it's a fine and you need to prove you don't owe the tax.
Where there's a will theres a way... plus arguing with HMRC is rarely a good idea for an individual.

 

Not saying it will happen, just that it's not hard to see how it could happen.

Many places do not Service or Repair EV's because they have not got the trained & qualified staff.

These are being trained now and Motor Groups have tied up with Colleges and Training Establishments and have apprentices and technicians.

 

There are regular mechanics, fitters, diy'ers that will change brake pads, discs, filters, wipers, tyres and even oil whee required.

The UK is not some 3rd world country and there are thousands of EV cars on the roads and many doing high mileages and being serviced and maintained.

 

People will leave the dealership networks to work for Independents or themselves and maybe as Mobile EV mechanics because doing basic service and maintenance is not rocket science.

The High Voltage stuff is another matter and collecting cars on a trailer and taking them in for maintenance or repair is common.

 

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57056960

 

https://www.lookers.co.uk/renault/servicing-and-parts/ev

 

https://www.motortradenews.com/aftermarket-and-workshop/ev-servicing-heads-new-suite-of-vw-plans