electric cars

[gov]

followed a Kia Soul EV - nice looking little car - went on tinternet to see what they cost .....£37500 !!!

this changing to electric cars by 2030 is an absolute joke !

besides the cost ( who but the wealthy could afford £40k for a small car ) the maximum range for this small car is 245 miles ( probably measured at an optimum 30 mph - in the real world this would be realistically halved

Supposedly helping the environment but what about the eventual disposal of all these cars' electric batteries ! the practicalities of where to charge them and the time it takes to charge !

what happens when electric cars get in to a motorway jam and all the cars run out of power ?

Ill conceived and not thought through - no change there then

[Pondrew]

this changing to electric cars by 2030 is an absolute joke !

besides the cost ( who but the wealthy could afford £40k for a small car )

Everybody can. A massive majority of new cars are either leased or PCP (same thing in reality). You don't have to be rich to have expensive cars anymore. That's why every other car on the council estate is a Range Rover.
I have a £25k new car on the drive, costs me £115.00 plus VAT a month including road tax for three years, then just hand it back and get another one.

Electric car, though, no thanks.

[gov]

yes I can see PCP and Lease is the way most buyers seem to go these days but doesn't address all the practicalities that arise when you own an EV

[griffnut]

More to the point, what happens to the National Grid when the 32 + million electric cars/lorries/vans/buses that all need to recharge - oh dear, all the lights go out!
Another issue, what are we going to do with all of those expensive dead battery packs?

[Nanu]

My neighbour has a new Jaguar ipace. Lovely looking machine and not cheap. Didn't look very good however when he pulled off the drive and everything went dead. He has stuck halfway across the road and couldn't move. Called Jaguar dealership who in turn called out the AA who put it on a low-loader and shipped it back the the garage. Something wrong with the computer and the battery not charging, so when it went dead everything shut down and it couldn't be shifted. Wonder what would have happened if that had occurred in the middle lane of a smart motorway?

[TitanTim]

Unsure how you can get a 25k car on a PCP for just over 100 quid a month without some kind of reasonable deposit? My little Hyundai i10 was £115 a month over 48 months with a 2k deposit.

I'm assuming with time the cost of electric cars will drop but yes I can't see the affordability at the moment when buying new plus who wants to spend over 30k for a small hatch even it is on a PCP.

I did look at electric when I bought the Hyundai Kona but the model I was looking at which was the Ultimate was 37k, the dealer did me a deal on an unregistered petrol equivalent model with 5k off for 20k with has the 3cyl turbo which still does decent mpg, so why bother spending 17k more

Tim.

[greggy50]

I run a Polestar 2 as my daily driver and to be honest as an all rounder its the best car I have ever driven as a daily driver.

It costs about £4 to do 200 miles, it is as quick in a straight line as a Ferrari from a few years ago and has been completely reliable and has the best interior tech I have ever used.

At £48k it was expensive but even a decent spec 320d M Sport these days is £40k+ and the Polestar comes loaded as standard.

Mine is a company car so the BIK is 1% which also saves me a fortune over a diesel.

I will not be going back to ICE for a daily driver but will keep one for a weekend toy.

In terms of real world range the Huyundais and Kias get very very close to the claimed range in the real world to be honest and so do Teslas.

My Polestar claims about 290 and I get around 210 but have a heavy right foot. In terms of the charging network its not as bad as people think and is rapidly improving.

[Ole gits rule]

I was looking for one as a company car before I got canned and the Hyundai or Kia were the best bet mileage wise for the money but I just could not drive one.

I went to test a 330e and that as a hybrid was £41k at base Msport spec, add a few luxuries and it was £46k without even picking the pen up for more a minute to tick a few option.

The biggest issue for most company drivers is that they get set a limit on P11D value or monthly spend and one never matches the other - I could spend £450 per month but my P11D limit was £35k and not much available at £35k that I would drive.

The cost needs to drop drastically for people to be able to afford to switch to electric - PCP on a 208 electric is over £400 a month with a £3k deposit and they try to sell it based on overall cost of ownership, petrol one is £275 and £100 in fuel so still not making sense to me right now.

Hybrid will be the way to go from 2030 until a real solution is available

[Pondrew]

Unsure how you can get a 25k car on a PCP for just over 100 quid a month without some kind of reasonable deposit? My little Hyundai i10 was £115 a month over 48 months with a 2k deposit.

By shopping around and waiting until the best deals come up. It's a lease not PCP. 6 months plus 35.

[TitanTim]

Unsure how you can get a 25k car on a PCP for just over 100 quid a month without some kind of reasonable deposit? My little Hyundai i10 was £115 a month over 48 months with a 2k deposit.

By shopping around and waiting until the best deals come up. It's a lease not PCP. 6 months plus 35.

Ahh ok, lease would make sense

Tim.

[TitanTim]

I was looking for one as a company car before I got canned and the Hyundai or Kia were the best bet mileage wise for the money but I just could not drive one.

How come? They don't have the badge but to be honest as an A to B car I find the Hyundai brilliant, its quite surprising how the build, fit and finish is on par with the Germans. It doesn't have the squishy plastics and that but the equipment levels for more than make up for it, I find some of BMWs options are daylight robbery

Tim.

[Ole gits rule]

I was looking for one as a company car before I got canned and the Hyundai or Kia were the best bet mileage wise for the money but I just could not drive one.

How come? They don't have the badge but to be honest as an A to B car I find the Hyundai brilliant, its quite surprising how the build, fit and finish is on par with the Germans. It doesn't have the squishy plastics and the badge but the equipment levels for me more than make up for it, I find some of BMWs options are daylight robbery

Tim.

Tim, I just don't like the look of them unfortunately, I had an IX35 as a company car so its not badge snobbery, just not keen on them as a small SUV, I agree the spec is incredible for the money though, I actually quite like the X-ceed and the new EV6 though

All German manufacturers suffer from over valuing their options, their pricing is crazy and I would rather buy a nearly new one with options fitted.

[TitanTim]

I was looking for one as a company car before I got canned and the Hyundai or Kia were the best bet mileage wise for the money but I just could not drive one.

How come? They don't have the badge but to be honest as an A to B car I find the Hyundai brilliant, its quite surprising how the build, fit and finish is on par with the Germans. It doesn't have the squishy plastics and the badge but the equipment levels for me more than make up for it, I find some of BMWs options are daylight robbery

Tim.

Tim, I just don't like the look of them unfortunately, I had an IX35 as a company car so its not badge snobbery, just not keen on them as a small SUV, I agree the spec is incredible for the money though, I actually quite like the X-ceed and the new EV6 though

All German manufacturers suffer from over valuing their options, their pricing is crazy and I would rather buy a nearly new one with options fitted.

Can understand on the looks, they are all pretty much of a muchness, I've had a couple Hyundai's the past few years but alot of sticking with the brand at the moment is until recently the franchise was family owned so alot of staff have been there for 10/20 years and just seem to go the exra mile with everything.

My local BMW dealer the staff turn around is so high you never form that long term relationship, thnk when I ordered my M140i I ended up dealing with 3 seperate sales people from ordering to delivery.

Tim.

[Ole gits rule]

Tim, I just don't like the look of them unfortunately, I had an IX35 as a company car so its not badge snobbery, just not keen on them as a small SUV, I agree the spec is incredible for the money though, I actually quite like the X-ceed and the new EV6 though

All German manufacturers suffer from over valuing their options, their pricing is crazy and I would rather buy a nearly new one with options fitted.
[/quote]

Can understand on the looks, they are all pretty much of a muchness, I've had a couple Hyundai's the past few years but alot of sticking with the brand at the moment is until recently the franchise was family owned so alot of staff have been there for 10/20 years and just seem to go the exra mile with everything.

My local BMW dealer the staff turn around is so high you never form that long term relationship, thnk when I ordered my M140i I ended up dealing with 3 seperate sales people from ordering to delivery.

Tim.
[/quote]

My mate has had two Nero's as company cars, he just wants the P11D saving - I would rather lose a hundred quid a month and drive something I like.

We have the same - her indoors is used to PSA group cars and we have used the same guy a few times and he actually came from Sytner but went back there for some reason last year.

Her last three cars have been either DS or Pug and we stick with them as we get decent service / deals despite trying other branches.

Sytner Newport are always changing their staff - seems to be different people all the time, not certain if they are moving branch or brands within the group

[Gwest44]

I run a Tesla Model 3 as my daily and as greggy50 says the BIK is only 1% so it's an absolute no brainer. As a result most company car drivers are moving to full electric cars having previously gone down the hybrid route. Would I put my own money in to one definately not - to many doubts regarding battery life and resale values. Having said that it's a lovely car to drive, the technology is great and off the line performance is 2nd to none - just glad its not my money. Be interesting to see how heavy handed the government gets with trying to force drivers to convert - the tax on a Z4M has increased to £600 this year so who knows what it will be in a few years time. I'll be watching what they do closely and have decided to retain my Z3 in the hope they don't hammer the tax rate on older cars registered before March 2001 - that said it's still currently £280 per year