Looking to switch to EV

[okohll]

Thanks all for your advice really appreciate them, I think I’m gonna have to rethink it over from what your saying, I mean my current car isn’t exactly old it’s 2023 plate with 6.2k on the clock but really did want to go for an EV but your probably right with my setup living in a terraced street in the valleys, so it might not be the right time for me to make the switch as of yet. I checked with my council and their not doing anything as of yet and I even read the below on their website I’ll paste it so don’t even think I could put a cable from the house ?

From council website:
In the interests of highway safety and in respect of future maintenance, the Highway Authority are not able to permit the trailing of cables, even with the use of an overlay or recessed grid across a public highway or footpath, or the channelling of cables under the footpath. This is due to public liability issues, including the risk of trip hazards and more complex electrical safety issues at the point of use.

That's a shame from the council. I agree with above, worth at least complaining etc. so they know there are people who want it.

For what it's worth, I would go with what you want to drive (EV). If you're doing really low mileage then the cost of fuel either way isn't going to be much of an issue surely - petrol or electricity. And though it might not be less, it's not going to be more, even if you use the most expensive chargers. Personally I'd probably go for a second hand EV with a smaller battery so relatively cheap, though of course whether people want to by new or second hand is their own decision.

 

[Bam Bam]

Thanks all for your advice really appreciate them, I think I’m gonna have to rethink it over from what your saying, I mean my current car isn’t exactly old it’s 2023 plate with 6.2k on the clock but really did want to go for an EV but your probably right with my setup living in a terraced street in the valleys, so it might not be the right time for me to make the switch as of yet. I checked with my council and their not doing anything as of yet and I even read the below on their website I’ll paste it so don’t even think I could put a cable from the house ?

From council website:
In the interests of highway safety and in respect of future maintenance, the Highway Authority are not able to permit the trailing of cables, even with the use of an overlay or recessed grid across a public highway or footpath, or the channelling of cables under the footpath. This is due to public liability issues, including the risk of trip hazards and more complex electrical safety issues at the point of use.

That is really disappointing from your council.

I googled that and several councils have got that text on their websites so it must have been copied from somewhere.

Lamppost charging?
I mentioned lamppost charging and I don't think their statement would rule this out. My friends have a lamppost charger outside their house which costs 30p per KhW so that is similar to the domestic electricity price. Certainly cheaper than petrol!

You should definitely get on to the council to update their guidance and to provide lamppost chargers as other councils do. Particularly so if they aren't going to allow gullies and cables from houses (which I would have thought would be good on a steep hill to redirect water, but then what do I know?).

 

[fshuk1]

Ladies and gentlemen, the "killer app" ( Killer application - Wikipedia) for greater uptake of electric vehicles is HOME CHARGING for those who do not have off street parking. DO NOT let the council say they are converting pissy number of lamp post. In any road there are like 300 cars and three lampposts (count them in your own road). No sane person should reply on that. As a business strategy it is totally unacceptable. Councils must allow people to charge from their premises across the pavement . There are perfect reasonable solution. The main reason is that the councils want the easiest route in life. DO NOT ALLOW that. Demand a solution and hold them accountable until they provide one.

 

[mystreet]

Council waffle

 

[fshuk1]

Council waffl

Awful council. Please get involved and change this non-plan

 

[bedsev]

I'm actually chosing not to have a home charger even though I could (not going to go into why). So I'm going to just use the local Tesco which is 10 minutes walk away and has a 50kW charger @ 62p/kWh. I'll probably only charge every 2 weeks or so, unless I'm going on a trip. I'm not getting an EV for fuel savings, but not paying out £800 for a home charger is a bit of a credit in the 62p per kWh charging bank. I also have a Tesla 350kW supercharger station about 15 minutes drive from me and it has a 24 hour Maccys, so I can see myself going down there at midnight to get a charge up and burger.

14 sleeps until X-day

 

[siteguru]

£800 will buy you 1,290 kWh from that charger, which is almost 21x 0-100% charges; or more than 29x 10-80% charges (which are more realistic).

Using the Tesla supercharger will probably be cheaper ... of course you'd need to also factor in the cost of the burger meals.

 

[bedsev]

You'd need to also factor in the cost of the burger meals.

Ha ha, this is true, but with points I may get a free big Mac every 6 charges or so

(checked and the supercharger is only 42p from 8pm to 4pm, so that's a decent saving, but I may also become a member which I think is about 10p off that, so 32p/kWh)

 

[Kithmo]

I suspect many councils are made up of more EV haters that EV lovers.

 

[Bam Bam]

Ladies and gentlemen, the "killer app" ( Killer application - Wikipedia) for greater uptake of electric vehicles is HOME CHARGING for those who do not have off street parking. DO NOT let the council say they are converting pissy number of lamp post. In any road there are like 300 cars and three lampposts (count them in your own road). No sane person should reply on that. As a business strategy it is totally unacceptable. Councils must allow people to charge from their premises across the pavement . There are perfect reasonable solution. The main reason is that the councils want the easiest route in life. DO NOT ALLOW that. Demand a solution and hold them accountable until they provide one.

I agree the gullies seem to be a good option.

But I'm still a fan of lamppost charging.

It means that visitors to the area could use them as well. Plus if you are low milage you might only have to top up once a week, so others can use them on other days.

As I mentioned, Reading seems to have installed lamppost chargers and is now allowing people to install gullies so you've got both on some roads.

 

[SteveM]

I've had my MG4 for ~15months and am very happy. As others have said, an EV is likely to be much better at short journeys than an ICE car. I have the luxury of a home charger, which gives me maximum convenience and lowest cost, but for the the first few months I used the Granny charger that came with the car. It was fine. (Just in case you want to make a point with the council by running a suitably protected mains cable across the pavement for the occoasional night! Would they bother to take action; it would make them look bad.) The reason for sticking my oar in is that some have referred to "expensive" charge rates. If you went to a rapid charger for 20 minutes every few weeks it is true the cost per kWh would be relatively higher, but I doubt that it would be as expensive as the fuel for an ICE car making short journeys.

 

[extendedrangeMG4]

I wouldn’t currently own an EV if I couldn’t charge at home but I do 200 miles per week. If I only did 40 miles in my current extended range MG4 I would probably only charge it once every 5 weeks if I had no home charging so maybe that would be ok. However I would only use a rapid charger if I was using public charging and I despise paying 10x what it costs me to charge at home so you need to factor that in. Works out more expensive than petrol per mile in my experience.

 

[Caramaddy]

The economics are straightforward, if you are buying a car. You know how much you are prepared to spend - for example if your budget is £14,000 then YOU decide what car you wish to buy. You can buy a Rolls Royce for that sort of money - I would not advise that as the running costs will be huge. However, if you bought an EV, I almost guarantee you would not look back!

 

[fshuk1]

Councils will react to residents. Start collecting signatures. Start writing to the Councillors. All councils MUST have a NET ZERO plan for reducing their carbon footprint. It is completely unacceptable for them to say only the rich with off street parking can have EVs. Become an activist. If you don't the councils will never change. They are by and large useless and need to be forced. 1/3 of the country's carbon footprint is from vehicles. It is the easiest thing to tackle because electric cars are far superior to ICE cars anyway. Any concern for safety of cars is also reduced dramatically as EVs are computers on wheels and will stop from hitting pedestrians faster than humans.

Someone asked for this

 

[Tr380r67]

To keep costs realistic you really do need some form of home charging. The public network is by far too expensive.

 

[Rolfe]

Still cheaper than petrol though.

 

[bedsev]

To keep costs realistic you really do need some form of home charging. The public network is by far too expensive.

As a Tesla member I can get 32p which is much cheaper than petrol

 

[DevonMG4]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked so many times but as most of you already own an MG4 I thought it’s best to ask owners as opposed to the salesman at our local MG dealership.

I’ve always looked to making the switch to EV I don’t use my current car a lot (Hyundai Bayon mild hybrid) so I’d be considered as a low user is this ok for an EV? Or does it need to be driven regularly for the battery? (Sorry if
I sound stupid ?)

I also live in a terraced street so no option to
Charge at home but I could charge up at nearby public points would this be sufficient?

In terms of car usage I probably average around 30-40 miles per week mega low!

Thanks all

Install yourself a copy of ZapMap if you haven't already and look at the slow chargers close to you, a 30 second browse shows me they exist in Cardiff anywhere between 27 & 60p. IMO 27p is good whilst 60p is pants and about the price of petrol. I see there is one open to all Tesla supercharger at 41p for non members. So there are loads of options, just depends if any good ones are in easy walking distance, or indeed a drive in the case of the Tesla. From what you say you'll only be charging every 3 weeks or so.

If someone gave me a horse tomorrow I'd have terrible hay anxiety, I wouldn't know where to buy the horse's food, but then I've never owned a horse before! And so it is with EVs, research your charging options, locations and prices. Slow, leave it overnight, fast, can you do something else nearby for 30 minutes.

One of my daughters lives in a flat in west London, I never fret staying there, I charge overnight with an on street post for 45p, another lives in Cheltenham in a terrace so no off street parking, each time I visit I find another slow charging option - I don't want fast, I want to leave it overnight. I can now charge at a nearby school for 25p.

Charging will be a mystery because you haven't done it before, take your time to look into, home owners with their own wall box will often let you charge at favourable rates. Forget the big flashy rapids unless you are going a distance, Tesla being the exception of course because it's so cheap.

Good luck