Genuine question for EV owners

Billy69_uk

Billy69_uk

Well-known member
With the current rising energy prices and the growing energy instability caused by the mad monk Putin threatening to turn off the Russian gas pipeline,

do you feel less comfortable with running an electric car? and at what energy prices and availability etc does it become less attractive?

This is not a wind up. My current company car ( a plug in hybrid) is now over 2 years old, so I am starting to think about its replacement.
There are several decent EV's on the list (Audi e-tron, Merc EQC, Polestar, Tesla 3) that do look tempting, especially with the low BIK, or I can take the cash alternative and opt out and buy something with 4 doors and less than 6 years old.
 
Isn't it as likely that conventional fuel prices will rise in line with electricity and make the costs of running a vehicle more expensive regardless. Unless you can find a way to generate your own electricity via wind and/or solar of course.
 
I've just done the maths on this because my fixed price energy bill was ending. It works out that filling a car that gets 60mpg is about the same as my EV (BMW iX3) at £1.45 per litre of petrol.

10 pence per mile for my EV at 28.34p (new price cap) per kWh. 11ppm for 60mpg car at £1.45 per litre.

It was costing me 6ppm on my existing fixed deal.
 
No, but probably because I get free charging at home and work! I think the issue is we HAVE to go electric, we simply can't keep on burning stuff.

The ToC is still lower than an ICE. and that's what matter ultimately.

It's going to have to be a case for homeowners that they need to start generating their own electricity to charge eventually.
 
I was talking to someone yesterday and he said his neighbour needs to run the oven when charging his car, otherwise the current drops to a trickle and it only does a 5 mile charge overnight

So he's paying for electric and gas at the same time... very energy efficient
 
Billy69_uk said:
With the current rising energy prices and the growing energy instability caused by the mad monk Putin threatening to turn off the Russian gas pipeline,

do you feel less comfortable with running an electric car? and at what energy prices and availability etc does it become less attractive?

This is not a wind up. My current company car ( a plug in hybrid) is now over 2 years old, so I am starting to think about its replacement.
There are several decent EV's on the list (Audi e-tron, Merc EQC, Polestar, Tesla 3) that do look tempting, especially with the low BIK, or I can take the cash alternative and opt out and buy something with 4 doors and less than 6 years old.
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No, I feel safer, far safer.

The price of the barrel is flying up, and has already risen 50% in two years, which will further drive up fuel prices, as will the price of Gas (which we all know has rocketed). Electric will come down, maybe not soon but it won't blow up like Gas, Oil, Petrol etc.

Electric would need to rise 3x more than petrol to even make me even think about needing to compare it.

For a company car, the tax benefits are ludicrous, those alone will destroy any alternatives, no matter what happens with energy prices.
 
DrummerMan said:
I was talking to someone yesterday and he said his neighbour needs to run the oven when charging his car, otherwise the current drops to a trickle and it only does a 5 mile charge overnight

So he's paying for electric and gas at the same time... very energy efficient
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That makes zero sense, and sounds like it's nothing to do with his EV. He probably needs to speak to an electrician or needs to get a better grasp of what's going on.

Plug EV chargers are around 2kW, and wall chargers 7-11kW, so they don't charge all that quick at home, especially if you have a big battery, but I've never once had to wait for mine to charge at home before going anywhere, as nobody really drives 200miles gets home and then want's to go and drive another 200.
 
I
DrummerMan said:
I was talking to someone yesterday and he said his neighbour needs to run the oven when charging his car, otherwise the current drops to a trickle and it only does a 5 mile charge overnight

So he's paying for electric and gas at the same time... very energy efficient
Click to expand...
I was talking to a guy who accidently drove his EV in the rain yesterday. He's had to remove the sim card and put it in a huge bag of rice
 
I have an EV, I will go back to a petrol asap. I simply don't like it.

As for tax benefit it's another one where the govt confuse things. If a car costs say £30,000, the benefit should be 20% of it regardless of fuel type. If the car costs £100,000 your tax is £40,000. I have had company cars for over 35 years it's too good to be true.

You can take the cash alternative and pay your tax on that and still gain on the ppm.
 
Same_as_before said:
I have an EV, I will go back to a petrol asap. I simply don't like it.

As for tax benefit it's another one where the govt confuse things. If a car costs say £30,000, the benefit should be 20% of it regardless of fuel type. If the car costs £100,000 your tax is £40,000. I have had company cars for over 35 years it's too good to be true.

You can take the cash alternative and pay your tax on that and still gain on the ppm.
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Why should it be regardless of fuel type? If the whole point of the benefit is to get people to ditch fossil fuel cars?
 
A mate of mine, just bought a new house, installed solar panels and bought an Ipace.
He is laughing at the moment, negligible electric costs and sells back to the grid, charges his car for free.
When the grid allows him to sell back to the grid from his car, he will be able to make money by getting his charging done at the right time. He has retired and so his car is at home during the daytime.
 
Boro in Devon said:
A mate of mine, just bought a new house, installed solar panels and bought an Ipace.
He is laughing at the moment, negligible electric costs and sells back to the grid, charges his car for free.
When the grid allows him to sell back to the grid from his car, he will be able to make money by getting his charging done at the right time. He has retired and so his car is at home during the daytime.
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Seems like he's onto a winner there.
If I had the wherewithal to do the same then I'd be all over the new VW ID Buzz.
 
Same_as_before said:
I have an EV, I will go back to a petrol asap. I simply don't like it.

As for tax benefit it's another one where the govt confuse things. If a car costs say £30,000, the benefit should be 20% of it regardless of fuel type. If the car costs £100,000 your tax is £40,000. I have had company cars for over 35 years it's too good to be true.

You can take the cash alternative and pay your tax on that and still gain on the ppm.
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After tax, I think I would come out with about £500 a month to buy and run a car. Business mileage and fuel is reimbursed, but post-covid, I dont expect to cover anywhere near the 20k+ miles a year I was covering pre-covid, so depreciation of an asset I own is no longer a huge factor.

The current front runner in my ideas factory (tip of the hat to train guy) is to buy a 6 month old Golf GTI and finance it for 5 years. I then have something worth probably £20k ish to use as a deposit for the next car, and either trade up, or get a similar replacement and pocket the monthly difference.
 
Same_as_before said:
I have an EV, I will go back to a petrol asap. I simply don't like it.

As for tax benefit it's another one where the govt confuse things. If a car costs say £30,000, the benefit should be 20% of it regardless of fuel type. If the car costs £100,000 your tax is £40,000. I have had company cars for over 35 years it's too good to be true.

You can take the cash alternative and pay your tax on that and still gain on the ppm.
Click to expand...
What EV do you have and what don't you like? What was your alternative, as an ICE company car really isn't comparable.

With a company car there's only 1% BIK with EV's, and the BIK charged on company cars is ludicrous, i.e 34% for a 145g petrol, a 200g petrol (which it would need to be to match mine) would be even higher. There's also Employers BIK on ICE car value which is about 14%.

Here's an example I found:
1645537763224.png
Then there's the over 40k tax, which EV's are exempt from, as well as VED, and emissions charges and some tolls etc, also EV's are 100% tax deductible, ICE cars aren't.

Anyone who gets an ICE company car either has a screw loose, or their finance director is clueless.
 
TBF to same as before, I also have an EV I don't like.

I wouldn't dream of going back to an ICE though, just better and better EV are coming out all the time
 
I have my EV through a salary sacrifice scheme and it cost a lot less than an ICE with the same or more mod cons. Included in the cost is servicing, tyres, breakdown assistance and full insurance for up to 4 people. I keep it for 3 years and then replace it. We are fixed fuel until June 2023 so at the moment I won't see my costs go up.
 
Andy_W said:
What EV do you have and what don't you like? What was your alternative, as an ICE company car really isn't comparable.

With a company car there's only 1% BIK with EV's, and the BIK charged on company cars is ludicrous, i.e 34% for a 145g petrol, a 200g petrol (which it would need to be to match mine) would be even higher. There's also Employers BIK on ICE car value which is about 14%.

Here's an example I found:
View attachment 34296
Then there's the over 40k tax, which EV's are exempt from, as well as VED, and emissions charges and some tolls etc, also EV's are 100% tax deductible, ICE cars aren't.

Anyone who gets an ICE company car either has a screw loose, or their finance director is clueless.
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I completely agree with your post. My opinion is that the vehicle is a benefit with or without EV. A lad who works on Olifines 6 will never get that benefit. COVID threads on here proved that cars are not a tool anymore, a lot managed to work from home. Therefore accept it's a benefit and pay the tax on it equally.

As for the type of car it's irrelevant, I just don't like them. A few months ago we decorated the front room, again. After a few weeks my good lady told me she didn't like it, we did it again. It was perfectly fine, as is an EV, I am not equating the two, apart from they are emotional decisions without real logic.
 
Same_as_before said:
I completely agree with your post. My opinion is that the vehicle is a benefit with or without EV. A lad who works on Olifines 6 will never get that benefit. COVID threads on here proved that cars are not a tool anymore, a lot managed to work from home. Therefore accept it's a benefit and pay the tax on it equally.

As for the type of car it's irrelevant, I just don't like them. A few months ago we decorated the front room, again. After a few weeks my good lady told me she didn't like it, we did it again. It was perfectly fine, as is an EV, I am not equating the two, apart from they are emotional decisions without real logic.
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Just curious but what don't you like about them: To all intents and purposes my current car is absolutely no different to the last two cars I've owned (apart from the door falling off) and just see EVs as vehicles now. I don't understand the blanket dislike of all EV: A Honda e as as different to a Kie EV6 is as different to a tesla model x is as different to a Porsche Taycan is as different to a Renault Zoe or Mercedes EQV or Rimac Nivera. A blanket dislike of all types of a single fuelled vehicle when they are so disparate makes no sense.

Also I think you're misunderstanding why we have government grants and tax breaks for EV. It's to encourage people to buy them when ICE still have so many sales. That's why the breaks are there
 
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