Electric cars

ThirdLeg said:
Company car tax implications seem as good a reason as any to get one
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Yeah if you have a company car the savings are even better. Honestly I know there is naysayers on here but the savings in running costs are tangible. I have a fairly expensive charging routine because I have no home charging and tend to use fast chargers so I’m not hanging around and I’m still saving a tonne in fuel
 
So a nice programme on ITV... Multiple garages will not touch an electric car for servicing and repair due to lack of equipment and training. Significant investment would be required.

Problems also arise with broken chargers.. Particularly when a journey has been planned around them and that comes from the AA.

I'm also guessing small-town can't find a car to suit me.
 
ThirdLeg said:
Company car tax implications seem as good a reason as any to get one
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That was my number one reason, the second was 1% finance, and 3rd was the savings on tax, fuel and depreciation.

Moved from having a personal car, claiming back mileage and having a mess on with tax, to putting it through the business, no BIK, less tax impact and also can probably write it off against profits to lighten the corporation tax load too. Company can pay tyres and maintenance now too, and get the VAT back on those, and could possibly have even claimed half the VAT back on the car seeing as I work from home (but that's a grey area).
 
ChrisTheRed said:
So a nice programme on ITV... Multiple garages will not touch an electric car for servicing and repair due to lack of equipment and training. Significant investment would be required.

Problems also arise with broken chargers.. Particularly when a journey has been planned around them and that comes from the AA.

I'm also guessing small-town can't find a car to suit me.
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Not a problem for me, only tend to have cars 0-3 years old, most are still under Warranty. The servicing on my electric car is cheaper than the servicing on a car for half the value, as there's less to "service".

What car do you drive now, what did you pay for it, how did you pay for it and how long would you typically have it?
 
The costs are coming down quickly and Tesla have talked about putting a £25k car on the market, which will open it up to a much wider audience. It’s still a bit early for most people though, due to the up front cost of the cars but the acceleration you can get out of them is ridiculous.

The new Model S has over 1100 horsepower and does 0-60 in under 2 seconds with over 500 miles of range. That’s insane performance even at the £130k price.
 
Andy_W said:
That was my number one reason, the second was 1% finance, and 3rd was the savings on tax, fuel and depreciation.

Moved from having a personal car, claiming back mileage and having a mess on with tax, to putting it through the business, no BIK, less tax impact and also can probably write it off against profits to lighten the corporation tax load too. Company can pay tyres and maintenance now too, and get the VAT back on those, and could possibly have even claimed half the VAT back on the car seeing as I work from home (but that's a grey area).
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As I company car it’s a no brainer. But there are still huge savings getting a private EV too
 
I’m watching this ITV programme about electric cars that’s on now. Plenty of people charging their cars from a cable on their drives. The question is, if you live, say In house without a drive how do you charge your electric car from home? No drive, cable trailing across the pavement ? Sounds as if it’s easily tampered with. Do you just not charge your car from home?
 
Andy_W said:
Not a problem for me, only tend to have cars 0-3 years old, most are still under Warranty. The servicing on my electric car is cheaper than the servicing on a car for half the value, as there's less to "service".

What car do you drive now, what did you pay for it, how did you pay for it and how long would you typically have it?
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Well it's nice for those that can afford brand new cars thenisnt it.

Do you realise how that makes you appear? 🤔

I currently drive a 11 year old VW and I paid £19k 8 years ago.
 
SmallTown said:
As I company car it’s a no brainer. But there are still huge savings getting a private EV too
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Definitely, 3 of my mates are private and all of them said they massively overestimated total costs of an EV, along with how much they would need to use public chargers. Each of them said they would never go back to normal fuel.
 
ChrisTheRed said:
Well it's nice for those that can afford brand new cars thenisnt it.

Do you realise how that makes you appear? 🤔

I currently drive a 11 year old VW and I paid £19k 8 years ago.
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I'm not bothered, as the age of the car is irrelevant, it's the numbers and what you're getting for those numbers.

A 40k new car (like a tesla model 3) can work out cheaper than a 19k car over total ownership, that's the point, and you're driving a 40k car, not an 18k car.

The most expensive car (total cost of ownership/ months) I've had in the last 10 years is a new corsa, which was sub 20k and also the worst car I've had out of about 5 cars (and by far the cheapest ticket price).
 
Foggysfplandiet3 said:
I’m watching this ITV programme about electric cars that’s on now. Plenty of people charging their cars from a cable on their drives. The question is, if you live, say In house without a drive how do you charge your electric car from home? No drive, cable trailing across the pavement ? Sounds as if it’s easily tampered with. Do you just not charge your car from home?
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That's one of the big problems. Personally, I would lift the flags, run a cable beneath them and hide the connector, or put the cable under a rubber mat or walkboard.

I suppose you could even speak to the council about a solution, this is a problem that's going to need a solution, that's for sure.
 
Andy_W said:
I'm not bothered, as the age of the car is irrelevant, it's the numbers and what you're getting for those numbers.

A 40k new car (like a tesla model 3) can work out cheaper than a 19k car over total ownership, that's the point, and you're driving a 40k car, not an 18k car.

The most expensive car (total cost of ownership/ months) I've had in the last 10 years is a new corsa, which was sub 20k and also the worst car I've had out of about 5 cars.
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I couldn't have afforded the £40k car... Hence me buying it for £19k... Before I had a house.

I now have a house and associated bills so realistically £40k is pipedream stuff and I'm certainly not going to tie myself into £300+ a month for one as I do still need to eat.

If you can afford brand new £40k cars then happy days but the vast majority of the population can't. You're clearly in the wealthy percentage on that front.

The cheapest car I had was Corsa and was also the cheapest to run and got me my money back.
 
Foggysfplandiet3 said:
I’m watching this ITV programme about electric cars that’s on now. Plenty of people charging their cars from a cable on their drives. The question is, if you live, say In house without a drive how do you charge your electric car from home? No drive, cable trailing across the pavement ? Sounds as if it’s easily tampered with. Do you just not charge your car from home?
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I’ve seen people put it across the pavement and cover with a board. To be honest I just wouldn’t bother. As I’ve pointed out I don’t have home charging and get on just fine
 
Andy_W said:
That's one of the big problems. Personally, I would lift the flags, run a cable beneath them and hide the connector, or put the cable under a rubber mat or walkboard.

I suppose you could even speak to the council about a solution, this is a problem that's going to need a solution, that's for sure.
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It doesn’t necessarily. Not if public charging is available. Look the thing about home charging is it’s a game changer. Even cheaper charging and you’ll hardly ever charge anywhere else. If you don’t have home charging though, it’s no different to what you do now, you have to take it to a dedicated place to charge
 
SmallTown said:
It doesn’t necessarily. Not if public charging is available. Look the thing about home charging is it’s a game changer. Even cheaper charging and you’ll hardly ever charge anywhere else. If you don’t have home charging though, it’s no different to what you do now, you have to take it to a dedicated place to charge
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Apart from instead of roughly 3 minutes you have to allow at least half an hour if not more.
 
ChrisTheRed said:
I couldn't have afforded the £40k car... Hence me buying it for £19k... Before I had a house.

I now have a house and associated bills so realistically £40k is pipedream stuff and I'm certainly not going to tie myself into £300+ a month for one as I do still need to eat.

If you can afford brand new £40k cars then happy days but the vast majority of the population can't. You're clearly in the wealthy percentage on that front.

The cheapest car I had was Corsa and was also the cheapest to run and got me my money back.
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Ok think about it this way, you can get a Model 3 a year old, for 35k, If you're saving £100 a month on fuel, £30 on tax, £20 on servicing that's £1800 a year, over 8 years it's saved the 15k "extra" it's cost, very roughly.

Either way you're paying for your 19k car, plus that extra £150 month, or you just pay for the 35k car. It's the same thing or can be very similar. True, it may not look this way for finance or a loan, but either way, £200 + £150 = £350 just like £350 = £350.

The point is there is more fixed cost (a lot more), but the variable costs come down massively, especially if you do the miles.
 
Andy_W said:
Ok think about it this way, you can get a Model 3 a year old, for 35k, If you're saving £100 a month on fuel, £30 on tax, £20 on servicing that's £1800 a year, over 8 years it's saved the 15k "extra" it's cost, very roughly.

Either way you're paying for your 19k car, plus that extra £150 month, or you just pay for the 35k car. It's the same thing or can be very similar. True, it may not look this way for finance or a loan, but either way, £200 + £150 = £350 just like £350 = £350.

The point is there is more fixed cost (a lot more), but the variable costs come down massively, especially if you do the miles.
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Yes but those costs are spread throughout a year and you don't have to pay it all when you buy a car for £18k. So that's a huge difference.

I know exactly what you're saying and if we all had loads of money then happy days. But we don't.
 
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