After the hugely popular Electric Vehicle online Event, we would like to share the Q&A captured.
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Q: Monthly Payments?
A:Under £300pm dependant on deposit.
Q: Tax and insurance
A: Insurance wasn’t much difference – about £10 per month – no tax
Q & A: Incentives from Government have recently been reduced but dealers may give discount for an incentive.
Q: BW – How do they compare to reality following controversy?
A: 220 on Full charge – but not supposed to keep at full charge. When on 80% charge I get 180 miles on the screen but in reality think I could get 150 miles as so far I’ve been driving in winter using heating etc. Watch instruction video so you drive on best settings – eg Eco mode.
Real world varies on how you drive and what mode you are in.
Opinion: Bought a Nissan Leaf £10k to replace a gas guzzler that refused to die. Live on Shirburn Street and either use public charging or run cable across the road. It could be better but it’s doable. It’s like planning a journey in the 70’s and it’s a slower pace of life. Chill in the car while you charge for a bit. You don’t have to buy a brand new car and it doesn’t need to have a long range.
Anthony: Try Auto trader for second hand cars. These will increase coming on stream
Q: We tend to beat ourselves up about greenhouse emissions. Look at China and USA and they come up with 16 mgt as opposed to ours at about 5t per person.
What are the other countries doing? Is it vital that we lead?
A: Nearly half of renewable being installed are in China so they are at the forefront of the transition. There is also an issue with the data – a lot of our emissions are not included in the figures. Stuff we are buying has a huge impact in other parts of the world. We have a responsibility to lead as per capita our figures are much higher. Lots of countries are trying to use more renewable and other tiny countries are being worse hit by Climate Change. Let’s not wait for everyone... let everyone do their best.
Q: What is the lifespan of the battery and what is the cost of a new battery?
A: A Youtube Channel Fully Charged with presentations about EVs Showed a garage doing battery swaps.£ 8K for a swap. Manufacturing cost about 4k but prices will continue to come down but people are unlikely to need to buy new batteries – they will buy a car that suits their needs.
Q: If I was to get a second hand car I may need to get a battery?
A: you need to think what is the realistic range of that vehicle and is it suitable for your requirements. Figure out what range will be comfortable for you? You may need to hire a car for longer journeys.
When viewing a second car ask that it is fully charged up and look at the screen for how many bars of charge are there. Remember you may not get exactly that range but is it in a comfortable range for your purposes.
Q: Why did you reject the Nissan Leaf Niki?
A The Nissan Leaf had a good track record but it’s a personal choice. The Regen mode on the Leaf is reputedly good. But going back to a Nissan is not what I was interested in at the time.
Anthony added that he’s got a leaf because he’s taking part in some trials in two way charging. Grid to car and car battery back to grid. That’s why he’s got a Leaf because it’s one of the few vehicles that will do that.
A website called EVdatabase has every EV on the market so you can make comparisons.
Q; Did you consider leasing rather than purchasing?
A: Yes I did even though there was a good offer as an NHS key worker but there was a lot of bureaucracy involved that put me off. I probably should have done more research.
Elaine – I leased my EV wasn’t sure what my usage would be and am very happy with it.
Q: how does lease and Hire purchase differ?
A: Hire purchase tends to be tied in with purchasing the car or upgrading at the end of the period whereas leasing is not tied in to purchasing the vehicle at the end of the term and tends to therefore be less expensive.
Q & A: Dave Parkes of the Social asks if anyone may be interested in fast EV charging. If they are then please contact Dave at the Social.
Q: I have been looking for a vehicle to gird ‘connector’ - and use our e cars to power our home - but can’t find a mature technology - are they now around?
A: look at this Octopus EV Powerloop (may not include this area) You lease a vehicle from them and they install the v2g system for you. Chaddamo enables two way charging but DCS does not. Eventually it is hoped that the systems will be standardised to enable two way charging hopefully by about 2025. Until then it will be niche unless you have a Nissan.
Q: Electric buses have been mentioned what is the chance of other large vehicles/HGVs being electrified?
A: There is the Tesla Semi, a huge vehicle, which will probably have a megawatt charger or similar. The fuel costs will pay themselves back in a very short time as well as having much reduced Carbon emissions. Fuel bills are so massive that gradually the size of E-vans etc are getting bigger and bigger.
Q: How feasible would it be for the Social to be used by an e-car club?
A: Could have one spot in a car park or the club – certainly something we could look at.
Close of Event.
Useful and Interesting Ref:
Fully Charged Show : - https://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow
Octopus EV Powerloop - https://www.octopusev.com/powerloop