Going electric

I'm in the same boat as spartacus. Not new, but a year/ 18 months old. I'm only driving the others to compare if i'm honest. The I3 is really the only one I see as standing out. Maybe a b-class e-merc, but again same looking as a regular car.

Modern cars are, i'm afraid, just boring.

Chris
 
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I did a quick looksie on Car-wow and all 5 dealers that came back to me were doing a PCP deal on a new for 1.3%, Which I thought was pretty good at the time. And 1500 quid off the asking price excluding the grant. So in total my 38+K specced i3 came in at 32500.
 
Wrong! You're confusing the 52 free charges with the £40 discount. It's the latter that gives you "1000 free miles", not the 52 free charges:

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/at-home-and-on-the-road

RAB

Cheers for the clarification but he is still paying for his energy to charge his car no matter how little.
So it is not free.
It still stands that he is also unlikely to be getting his full quota of energy his is paying for in his 'free' charging so again the charging rate will be less and again not 'free'.

Just wanted to clarify that he is paying for his energy becuase it sounded too good to be true.
Sounded like man math at work,
;-)
 
Cheers for the clarification but he is still paying for his energy to charge his car no matter how little.
So it is not free.
It still stands that he is also unlikely to be getting his full quota of energy his is paying for in his 'free' charging so again the charging rate will be less and again not 'free'.

Just wanted to clarify that he is paying for his energy becuase it sounded too good to be true.
Sounded like man math at work,
;-)
There is no "man maths" involved.

The genuine maths is as follows.

The car has a true range of 120 miles. (Fact)

One free charge is 30 minutes (now changed to 45 minutes in the last few days due to a change in approach by Ecotricity)
30 minutes adds 80 miles (fact)
I would never charge the car if there was more than 40 miles range left. (Fact)
so I had a full charge of 80 miles every time (fact)
52 multiplied by 80 miles is 4160 miles (fact)
i got the car 10 months ago and I have clocked up 4050 miles. (Fact)
That is approximately 44 weeks (fact)
44 weeks multiplied by 80 miles is 3520 miles
leaving 530 "paid miles")
On rare occasions I have charged the car overnight to get that 530 miles by choice. (Fact)
According to my smart meter that cost me a maximum of £2.94 for a full charge from zero to 120 miles
(I pay around 7p per KWH on economy 7 and I have a 7kw charger and it takes around 6 hours for a charge)
The 530 paid miles is just a tad over 4 charges (fact)
So 4,050 miles has cost me just over £13. (Fact)
so I think I am entitled to say that it has been "free" to run since £13 of fuel (even in an A2) would get me around 180 miles.
If we are being pedantic it is of course technically NOT free.
But I think that I am entitled to class 4,050 miles for £13 as basically free, especially since I only paid for charges if I wanted to. I didn't have to!

Remember that my basic point was merely that the car was effectively free to run.

i think the above shows that I was not lying or using "man maths"

You were in fact wrong in your assumption that I did not get my full charge every time.
All of my free charges were adding at least 80 miles and I used 80 miles in my calculations above.
My range is 120 miles (at least) and I never charged the car if there was more than around 20 miles range left (fact rather than assumption)


Steve B
 
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So your saying not only do you get your 'free' energy for your car and your car does not pollute anything.

Your definitely a glasses more than half full (and nearly always never empties) kind of guy. ;-)

I wish I was that super positive.

When looking at Ecotricitys energy cost (when I was shopping around for energy) they were the most expensive. Also the so called electric car discount of £40 did not make any dent in the overall price of energy at the end of the year as it was in fact more by £334 for my energy needs.
So to me it was not worth it and certainly not free I went with First Utilty and got a rate of 9p per kwh with a standing charge of 12p, Ecotricity was no where near to that.

For your minimal charging needs it may work but 4000 miles, dude your barely driving the car!?

I've driven to Sweden in our Nissan Leaf (yes it is ugly and looks like a squashed hamster and I hate that it does not look like and Audi A2) and lived there for 10 months and then drove back. So I have seen what energy prices are across Europe too for cars.

To me Ecotricity are still expensive for what energy they claim to offer or what your are actually getting when charging up even if you do a comparison checker online.
So again your energy for your car is not free.

Here are some stats from our car compared to the A2 I bought and then stupidly sold.

IMG_4615.jpg IMG_4616.jpg

I theoretically paid £448.97p for the 23,000 miles I've done in it at the base rate of 9p per kwh which I was getting at home via First Utility.
I also adjusted the actual cost of the energy when it was not at home charging at 9p per kwh, though this was not easy as some companys (EH) did not ever tell you how much the cost was before initiating the charge.
I too got a discount on energy by living in Bedfordshire, whereby all of the chargers here are offered for free (though I am paying for that energy as I pay Council Tax) so I left the rate for this at 9p per kwh to see what I would have paid if I was paying for it. So for some of that £448.97 I have, but have not, paid all of it.
The other chargers in France, Netherlands, Belgian, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway varied wildly in prices. Though none of which had the Ecotricity (at the time) charging costs delivered in 30 minutes for £6 (which they have now changed to 17p per kwh which is still expensive in comparison to Sweden and EON) so Ecotricity at the time were charging (in some cases dependant on how full or not your car was) up to 70p per kwh for energy as the car charging delivery rates lower the fuller the car is.

So even with my best intentions of getting 'free' energy wherever I could and for 10 months someone else paying for our energy I have not ever been able to claim my car was free to run so I have no idea how you can. But then you did say you have only driven it for 4000 miles so far so can see you are not really going anywhere in it so your costs would be low, but still not free. But I am not as super positive as you and Scottish so always look at things like the glass is less than half empty.

On another note, I still think the i3 could have had 4 real doors, been more comfortable and practical and still kept it's A2 looks, had it not been for the BMW 'waste gate' recall and the carbon monoxide poisoning in my wifes Mini I may have liked BMW more. But I don't so I am biased.


Because I have Ecotricity for my home electricity they give me 52 free fast charges at their service stations and I have a local one.

I get a minimum of 80 miles of chargeeach time (my i3 has the extended range batteries and so if I have 40 miles left on the range I get it to 120 on the free charges)

I have only done 4,000 miles over the ten months I had the car.

If I ever need to charge at home I have economy 7 and so the overnight cost is very low anyway.

My home bills have not increased since I had the car and it really does mean that it is free to run.

I am talking facts not assumptions.

Yes our home electricity charges are above average but to me it ios worth it to ensure that there is ZERO pollution caused by my driving (I am no eco nut, but it is something I like)

Steve B
 
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So you have changed your quote from free to effectively free.

Thank you. It was not free. Welcome to my world.

A hollow victory but I'll take it. ;-)

There was man math involved as you did have to pay for even the smallest amount of energy but still claimed it was free. I do that when I don't want my wife to know stuff I've bought so apply man math.

But then as you have barely driven the car, the payments (assumption) for it will be more than any energy you have saved so theoretically your still burning money for a car you barely drive so technically not free and more man math.

No worries.

To recap. I don't like the BMW i3 and you feel everything is effectively free. Lets move on.

There is no "man maths" involved.

The genuine maths is as follows.

The car has a true range of 120 miles. (Fact)

One free charge is 30 minutes (now changed to 45 minutes in the last few days due to a change in approach by Ecotricity)
30 minutes adds 80 miles (fact)
I would never charge the car if there was more than 40 miles range left. (Fact)
so I had a full charge of 80 miles every time (fact)
52 multiplied by 80 miles is 4160 miles (fact)
i got the car 10 months ago and I have clocked up 4050 miles. (Fact)
That is approximately 44 weeks (fact)
44 weeks multiplied by 80 miles is 3520 miles
leaving 530 "paid miles")
On rare occasions I have charged the car overnight to get that 530 miles by choice. (Fact)
According to my smart meter that cost me a maximum of £2.94 for a full charge from zero to 120 miles
(I pay around 7p per KWH on economy 7 and I have a 7kw charger and it takes around 6 hours for a charge)
The 530 paid miles is just a tad over 4 charges (fact)
So 4,050 miles has cost me just over £13. (Fact)
so I think I am entitled to say that it has been "free" to run since £13 of fuel (even in an A2) would get me around 180 miles.
If we are being pedantic it is of course technically NOT free.
But I think that I am entitled to class 4,050 miles for £13 as basically free, especially since I only paid for charges if I wanted to. I didn't have to!

Remember that my basic point was merely that the car was effectively free to run.

i think the above shows that I was not lying or using "man maths"

You were in fact wrong in your assumption that I did not get my full charge every time.
All of my free charges were adding at least 80 miles and I used 80 miles in my calculations above.
My range is 120 miles (at least) and I never charged the car if there was more than around 20 miles range left (fact rather than assumption)


Steve B
 
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I agree with you 100% that Ecotricity are a very expensive option for home electricity.

But that was my choice. It does not impact the cost of running the car though. 7p per KWH if I wanted to pay to charge and free when I didn't want to pay.
But home electricity is very dear. But we live in a one bedroom flat and so our home bills are tiny anyway. £60 a month so not a huge extra cost to go green.

Why do you mention pollution?
We all know that all cars cause pollution when being made but I was causing no pollution by driving the car (unless you are being pedantic again)

i do enjoy joy friendly debates like this, I hope you are seeing it in the same way?

Steve B
 
As for me barely driving the i3?

Blame that on the A2 !!!!!!

We would still often often use my wife's A2 Tdi out of choice, rather than the i3 Not because the i3 was bad in any way (apart from the dreadful stupid doors) it was just that the A2 is such a great car to drive and park etc.
So we used to use that and keep the mileage down on the i3.


Steve B
 
Deffo. Agree. I am taking it in the friendly banter way too. No offence intended.
I live in the land of pedantic. :)

I agree with you 100% that Ecotricity are a very expensive option for home electricity.

But that was my choice. It does not impact the cost of running the car though. 7p per KWH if I wanted to pay to charge and free when I didn't want to pay.
But home electricity is very dear. But we live in a one bedroom flat and so our home bills are tiny anyway. £60 a month so not a huge extra cost to go green.

Why do you mention pollution?
We all know that all cars cause pollution when being made but I was causing no pollution by driving the car (unless you are being pedantic again)

i do enjoy joy friendly debates like this, I hope you are seeing it in the same way?

Steve B
 
As for me barely driving the i3?

Blame that on the A2 !!!!!!

We would still often often use my wife's A2 Tdi out of choice, rather than the i3 Not because the i3 was bad in any way (apart from the dreadful stupid doors) it was just that the A2 is such a great car to drive and park etc.
So we used to use that and keep the mileage down on the i3.


Steve B

I just wish the BMW i3 was more than it actually is and compared it to the A2 I was losing. It will never compare, in my eyes, to the A2 until it has 4 real doors and a boot space to match and can do 400 real miles to a full charge.

Having now had a Nissan Leaf 24kw 6.6 charger with it's 80-106 mile range I can safely say that buying that car was a mistake when driving in Sweden if you needed to go shopping (40 minutes to the nearest Lidl) come back home then go out again in 20 minutes when your only option is a super slow 3kwh charging rate. It just was not practical to have only one short range car. Now we are back in the UK, everything is peachy.
I'm not paying for energy, chargers, for the most part (though most of them are now being blocked by commuters) are free and plentiful in Bedfordshire.

But I'm heading off to France for 10 months (maybe longer then hopefully back to Sweden) so the Nissan has to go as I can't face driving the squashed Hamster anymore.
It would be nice to get in a car without having to check your smart phone prior, during and at the point of destination for charge points, or have the associated arguments with your dear co Pilot when the fecking charge point is not there, vandalised, or some **** in an ICE car has blocked it. Or having to check the rate of charge and make the adjustments to your destination as your 20 mile safety range will not get you to where you need to go, thus adding to your journey time and insanity.

I will miss the connectivity and being able to warm the car from my smart phone on cold days though, and those amazing comfy seats and sedate ride and every so often shoving the car in D mode and beating a boy racer off the line like something out of fast and furious. In my mind I was being Vin Diesel.
 
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Deffo. Agree. I am taking it in the friendly banter way too. No offence intended.
I live in the land of pedantic. :)

I am really happy about that, nice one!!!!!

no offence taken at all and definitely none meant on my part.

Cool

Steve B
 
My friend with the Tesla model S has recently changed his car (for similar). A private sale, under 80,000 miles on the clock. He tells me the residual value was roughly 65% of the new price, and that in four years it hasn’t had any servicing costs ... it hasn’t had a service! Just four new tyres and an MoT. Pretty impressive figures for those with enough money to buy a Tesla in the first place.
Andrew
 
My friend with the Tesla model S has recently changed his car (for similar). A private sale, under 80,000 miles on the clock. He tells me the residual value was roughly 65% of the new price, and that in four years it hasn’t had any servicing costs ... it hasn’t had a service! Just four new tyres and an MoT. Pretty impressive figures for those with enough money to buy a Tesla in the first place.
Andrew
No servicing in four years? I know this is probably the 'recommended' service period, but I'd be a bit nervous going that long.

With regard to running costs, the Model S is around £75k new, so residual value after 4 years @ 65% is around £50k, a depreciation of £6k/year over 4 years. This would buy a lot of A2s!

I suppose if you can afford to sink £75k into the car initially then paying £6k a year 'all-in' costs for running it would not be considered unreasonable.
 
Evening. I’ve recently been looking at eventual replacement options for my Audi A2 as the E-Tron and upcoming E Tron Q4 options from Audi look too expensive or just a little underwhelming design wise for the money being laid dow compared to the A2. I’d still love to see a viable A2 successor from Audi, and there was a cool looking concept variant in the shape of the Audi AI:ME, but it doesn’t seem close to market any time soon. :(

I recently researched the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and really like the slightly retro pixel design on the lights and the angles on the shape of the car.



The Nissan Ariya also looks a potentially attractive option as does the slightly plainer looking VW iD.4






Apparently KIA are also about to announce the EV6 which doesn’t look too bad either considering their models to date have looked a bit derivative and plain.

I’ve never been a big fan of Hyundai or Nissan design in terms of the exterior shape of their vehicles, but both the Ioniq 5 and Ariya look a lot better than the average overdesigned blocky Transformer silhouette of many recent mini SUV models.

I’d be interested to hear what people thought of the AI:ME and these close to market models above, is anyone also considering making the switch?

Have a good evening. Al
 

First car charger powered purely by the tide is in Yell, Shetland.


That's very cool @LK79 - and something the UK has plenty of access to given it's costal towns.

The Ioniq 5 has an all solar roof option that would be great in sunnier European countries but might be a bit limited in the UK.
 
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