corsechris Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I'm not too fussed about the environmental claims and the such. When an electric car makes financial sense, I'll happily take the plunge. Most of my commuting is around town in a 12mpg Land Rover so I'm not too far off. I'd imagine I'm the exception to the rule in it being close to making financial sense though. Not alone there Dommo. We run a V6 Alfa and a 5.7 V8 Jeep (on LPG), short journeys almost exclusively, so electric would work for us at one level. The level it doesn't work for us is the initial purchase and any of these £70 a month battery rental deals - we don't do £70 a month in fuel even with the cars we run and I couldn't afford or bring myself to stump up anything like the asking price of any new car. Insurances and RFL particularly would be a saving, but not enough to cover the change I don't think. I have fitted coolant pre-heaters to both cars to mitigate some of the worst of the short journey syndrome and typically, we get about 23mpg out of both vehicles (the Jeep mpg is a petrol cost-equivalent number IYSWIM, LPG being around 70ppl, reality is about 14mpg) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I'll have to investigate these coolant pre-heaters! The Twizy is the only one that's nearly made financial sense - £250 a month inclusive rental against £300 a month on petrol. Not quite enough of a difference to make it a sure thing, and now I'm moving house I won't have to do the school run so that's £100 a month of petrol gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistonbroke Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Can't see what all the fuss is about , my Milkman has been driving one for yonks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M444TTB Posted December 10, 2013 Author Share Posted December 10, 2013 I'd never put my own money into one. If worked offered a BMW i3 via the company car scheme I'd be all over it though. Particularly if I could charge it for free at work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Edden Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 What happens to the range of these things on mornings like the ones we have had in Staffordshire recently? I quite fancy the Leaf (mainly cos of the tax benefits to the business) - but with the back screen on, mirrors on demist and heater on full blast - will it get me to the office and back with a bit of running around in the middle?? Just raised a question - how does the heater work in an all electric car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Paul, you get a couple of twin bar heater which you can put where you need them. I don't understand the electric car thing. I've seen it said that they reduce CO emissions. But they don't they just move them from one place to another. OK, so it moves it away from populated areas to sparsely populated areas where power stations are, but it does not eliminate them. With the emissions of modern petrol engined cars being so low I would suspect the total CO produced by electric cars is higher. But, I'm not surprised, as soon a subsidies are about the marketing will spin it to be favourable to the whole world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cast iron Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Paul you set a timer to come on when its hooked up, pre heats the car If you fancy a leaf - drop me a line - mates rates may be avaialable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User0083 Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 All very interesting points... The only time I drive is if it's too far to walk. Back home I walk to the beach and back (6miles each way), here I walk the 4 miles to work, I walk to get most of the shopping (as I use local shops on a daily basis) and I walk Mrs C to and from work (3 miles each way)... So on average I walk 12-16 miles a day. Why I had as only car. SO most journey's in my car are Birmingham to Devon, Birmingham to Dorset, Birmingham to Cornwall or Birmingham to Newcastle. If I had a leaf (for example) would I have a trailer and a second one to do a 200 mile journey... Or would I need to book a hotel at Bristol when I go home? The lady across the road ONLY uses her car to go to/from work and it's a 2010 Merc SLK, with 9,000 miles. She works 1/4 mile closer to her house than I do. Almost every day I walk past her in the morning... Sat in traffic. So going electrics would be financially beneficial. However... She drives a Merc to/from work solely for the badge and image. So... Electric??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M444TTB Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 Not sure I follow the last point? Idiots that buy badge over substance will be all over the likes of the i3 if they are open to an electric car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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