Electric or hybrid cars

Location
East Mids
Anyone got one? My local garage has indicated that my Peugeot diesel engine is starting to give up the ghost so starting to look at my options. I no longer do a high mileage (now less than about 8,000 miles per annum, mainly journeys of less than 30 miles) and with the tide turning against diesel, combined with short travel distances, will not go down that route again. I live close to town and not miles up country lanes and could recharge almost for free at home using the wind turbine with strategic timing. Would still have OH's diesel for longer journeys. I only need a little runabout not a family saloon. I am aware that if I buy s/h then sometimes replacing the battery can cost more than the car is worth - although not on all models.

Comments? issues? Experiences?
 
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Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
dont how true it may be but Ive been told that with pure electric cars ,the batteries are only good for for five years and the cost of disposal is mind boggling .
Dont see many hybrids or electric round here ,,charging points are very few and far between
 

joe soapy

Member
Location
devon
People i have spoken to have all been pleased with the vehicle, however, the economics just do not stack up for low mileage use
Cost ov either ownership or rental charge for batteries far exceeds the cost of fuel.. Get a low emission tax free car is far the cheapest
motoring
 

franklin

New Member
I have a Leaf, or rather Mrs Static does. We do about 16,000 miles plus a year in it. My total cost to buy, service, charge and insure to 100,000 miles works out at 2/3 the price of a comparable diesel or pertol vehicle. Even recharging with electric from a three-pin plug is not expensive. No battery issues, and I believe most are warranted now. If it is worth nothing when it has done the 100k, it will still have been cheaper than my Kia Picanto.

Nissan have also been very helpful - they really want these machines, or the idea of an electric car, to succeed. They often get in touch to see how things are going; if we need a car for long journeys then we can "swap" it for a week at the dealer for a conventional fuelled car; they were happy to lend us one for a weekend so we could try it out.

Comfortable and quiet. Quick-ish as its all torque. And ex-demo we got a fully specced one for very little money.
 
Location
East Mids
People i have spoken to have all been pleased with the vehicle, however, the economics just do not stack up for low mileage use
Cost ov either ownership or rental charge for batteries far exceeds the cost of fuel.. Get a low emission tax free car is far the cheapest
motoring
tax free disappearing pretty soon
 

Mursal

Member
I'd get a second opinion on your Peugeot ...........
Peugeot dealer here usually goes down the "head gasket gone" route ball park repair 2k, so cheaper to change?
Not saying you are in the same boat, but worth asking someone else, maybe another small independent for an estimate on repair after they have looked at it, for you?
If you have it in the head to change go new if electric or hybrid. They are about to go up in price (tax) with you, or is it just road tax for anything registered after April 1st? See what the manufacturers are offering, in terms of battery rental (Nissan/Renault) buy back at the end of the term or straight leasing.
5k for a battery module, so be careful, unlike the head gasket, you cant go to someone else. The main dealer (small independents will not carryout high voltage work) will have you cornered if they say it needs a battery module and the cars out of warranty.

Toyota have the petrol/electric hybrid well ironed out at this stage, but expensive and secondhand value was or still is, non existent. Recalls the length of your arm. Toyota Ireland no longer notifies customers of recalls, they just do the list when in for regular service.

If you fancy one and can afford the risk, fill your boots.
On a budget, consider a small petrol ..........

ef2f2fcefbfeea4e9babf21ff1b44e6b.jpg
 

Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
I can see in the near future that the govenment will have a hidden adgenda to fail older deisels at mot time even if theres nothing wrong with it just to get them of the road ,or if a diesel engine needs major repairs ,garages will have the authority to declare it uneconomical to fix .
The days of the deisel for the everyday driver will soon be at an end
 

Mursal

Member
Not sure what they will do .............
Something will have to be done, but 70% of new cars sold here last year were diesel.
We just love them ........
 
One of my very best friends Has been running a bmw i3 for 3 years now. Admittily I is a company car, but he loves it and has convinced me too.
Its running costs are astonishing. His previous diesel exec car was costing £68 in fuel a week, compaired to £2.80 in electric. There is no servicing to do.
And being a company car, it is very very tax efficient for him.
The battery's don't die at 5 years, they just pass their optimum and so the available range will slowly decline. Its nothing to worry about.
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
Pure electric is the way to go. Hybrid might allay range anxiety, but at the expense of the complication and servicing of an internal combustion engine, and the complexity of combining both drive systems. Pure electric is just so simple, hardly any moving parts, and with regen braking virtually no brake wear.

Both Leaf and Tesla have 8 year warranty on batteries. If you generate your own electric, its really cheap to run, and over the lifetime of the car total costs are much less than diesel. Servicing costs very low. Once you have driven a pure electric, anything else seems so 20th century.

Look at the new big battery Zoe, but avoid leasing the battery as it works out expensive in the long run.

An entertaining way of finding out more is to look at Fully Charged on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow
Its Robert Llewellyn of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge fame.

If you test drive a Tesla, be prepared to mortgage the farm to buy one because you will want one!

Before we bought the Leaf we calculated total costs over the 8 year battery warranty period, and giving zero value to the car at 8 years it was still cheaper than running our 7 year old diesel Corsa.

At the end of battery life they can be recycled, low cost. Beware of the scare stories in the press from the fossil fuel lobby.
 
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franklin

New Member
Some other advantages to electric car is that many cities offer free parking while you charge. Might be negligable for those dashing in to Tesco, but it would otherwise cost me about £12 when I park in York for the day.

Before we bought the Leaf we calculated total costs over the 8 year battery warranty period, and giving zero value to the car at 8 years it was still cheaper than running our 7 year old diesel Corsa.

Yes, we have worked on the idea of the car being worth nil at the end of its life, so anything for the part ex is a bonus. I got new, used, or very old conventional fuelled cars coming out at about 33p per mile fully costed, while my Leaf is looking more like 24p depending where I charge.
 
Location
East Mids
I'd get a second opinion on your Peugeot ...........
Peugeot dealer here usually goes down the "head gasket gone" route ball park repair 2k, so cheaper to change?
Not saying you are in the same boat, but worth asking someone else, maybe another small independent for an estimate on repair after they have looked at it, for you?
If you have it in the head to change go new if electric or hybrid. They are about to go up in price (tax) with you, or is it just road tax for anything registered after April 1st? See what the manufacturers are offering, in terms of battery rental (Nissan/Renault) buy back at the end of the term or straight leasing.
5k for a battery module, so be careful, unlike the head gasket, you cant go to someone else. The main dealer (small independents will not carryout high voltage work) will have you cornered if they say it needs a battery module and the cars out of warranty.

Toyota have the petrol/electric hybrid well ironed out at this stage, but expensive and secondhand value was or still is, non existent. Recalls the length of your arm. Toyota Ireland no longer notifies customers of recalls, they just do the list when in for regular service.

If you fancy one and can afford the risk, fill your boots.
On a budget, consider a small petrol ..........

ef2f2fcefbfeea4e9babf21ff1b44e6b.jpg
I use an small but v competent (MOT centre) independent garage that I have been with for 20 years and they have done a brilliant job of balancing my desire to run a car into the ground with practical advice about what is worth doing. I trust their advice and would recommend them to anyone. They spent half a day tinkering with it for no charge. It is close to the edge for 2 new tyres but they didn't fit them (to save my money) until they had come to a conclusion about the reason for sluggish start (and as the tyres are still just legal, I won't bother to change now). Basically v slow to pick up when starting, esp when cold, smoky, and runs unevenly for first couple of minutes. Have ruled out injectors, glow plugs and anything else they could think of and think it is a compression issue. Although it has only done 130k which is not much for a diesel it is not doing long journeys like I used to which is probably taking its toll. So it's drivable but I will look to change it before MOT in the autumn (and before spending on new tyres!) It is only worth scrap as a lot of the bodywork was scratched when a shed roof fell in on it after heavy snow a few years ago. It's 13 years old.
Thanks for the advice re: alternatives (y)
 
If you test drive a Tesla, be prepared to mortgage the farm to buy one because you will want one!
Yeh I test drove a model S about 3 years ago when they first were announced in the UK. Impressive drive but the interior (quality) was a let down. I'm a fussy bugger, but if they want 80 odd grand it better be up to RS Audi quality, which it wasn't. They might have improved them since, I think it was early days in the production cycle.
 

Daniel

Member
Got a golf GTE, fast, frugal, really pleased with it. Wife's daily commute is only 16 miles so it makes sense. If she commuted further the battery would run flat so a diesel would make more sense.

A Tesla is a luxury car surely, not an economic choice!
 

ACEngineering

Member
Location
Oxon
dont how true it may be but Ive been told that with pure electric cars ,the batteries are only good for for five years and the cost of disposal is mind boggling .
Dont see many hybrids or electric round here ,,charging points are very few and far between

Why would disposel be expensive? Batteries are around £400 to £500 per ton scrap?
 

Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
Got a guy round the corner with a Tesla ,he was saying the disposal of the battery or cells what ever they are is expensive because of what they are made of ,just going on what he said
 

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