Excellent video Dave , i got the Kia Niro brand new roughly 6 weeks ago, i have never had a electric car in my life and i live in a typical terrace house two up two down, no chance of a home charger. i love the car no charging from home never stopped me and i can honestly say i am converted i will stay with electric cars they are brilliant .
What is the infrastructure like where you live? Can you charge at work? Do you use your vehicle much? Do you have a long daily commute? What type of vehicle do you have and what did it cost you roughly if you don't mind me asking, I'm sorry to appear nosey, I am trying to assess costs of buying a vehicle, cost of charging, I have no idea, this involves things I have never dealt with, credit cards, technology etc admittedly I can't afford to buy an electric vehicle, not even a used vehicle, but if I live much longer, I may be forced into the situation of owning an electric vehicle, as someone who pays for everything with cash, never had credit, uses a mobile phone to make phone calls, i don't understand this at all
@@andrewgage6942 I live in a typical 2 bed terraced house,a home charger cannot be fitted because the lead would have to run along the pavement which is illegal in the UK, if you have a drive you can have a home charger fitted then you won't need to use a public charger, but if you don't and a public charger would be your only option like me, sadly you would need a credit or debit card and a smart phone because thempublic chargers require you to use a app on your phone, so if you don't use bank cards you can't use a public charger sadly,so if that's the case your probably better sticking with petrol or diesel cars , I hope this helps .
@@simonmiddleton2990 thank you for taking the time to respond, apart from the price of an electric vehicle, I am not considered credit worthy as even though I own my own property, my own car and bike, as an individual, I don't have a phone contract, I pre pay my electricity and water bills, I pay my council tax outright (by cheque), I, as an individual have never borrowed from anyone including my own family, so I am not seen as being credit worthy and the banks won't issue me with a card of any description, as for mobile phones, I have an old Nokia, I only know how to make and receive calls, I don't understand these other things you can do with phones
Can you explain to a non- EV owner what happens when you turn up and there is a queue to charge ? What is the protocol, how do/should people behave ? Etc. I can see this situation leading to arguments at peak times.
Honestly mate they are everywhere, despite what youtube ICE heads would want you to believe it is dead easy... this is what you do. You open your app, the map apps show you which ones are empty nearby. You can guess what you do next. The problem certain videos spin is this, they take their cars on a long run and then head for a certain manufacturer of charger, and they do it at peak times, no one does that on long runs.. all people are bothered about on long runs is getting charge in from anywhere. Now, I own a leaf. Technically, I should have a problem finding a charger because the leaf uses a Japanese connector. But I don't ever have a problem, because although the percentage of leaf chargers is lower all the time, there is still new "multi format" chargers opening every week. And... this is the important bit, remember in the video how we get two sockets on the cars. Well the AC one is universal, even on the leaf, although on the leaf it only gives us about 26 miles per hour from charging. In saying all this, I would say that if you can not charge from home with at least a 3 pin plug adapter, then you probably do not want to buy a leaf. But if you can, then you might. Today I was doing a 200 mile journey, stopped my car when I had 25% left and checked the app ( I used waze because it was already open ) ... there was a charger 1 mile from where I was. They are literally everywhere.
Useful video Dave. Yes, there are *still* people out there who believe you *have* to charge an EV every day. And that it costs a fortune, even if you charge at home..... Many don't appear to even know about off-peak tariffs, or what they offer. I had a heated discussion with one bloke, who argued the toss about me getting my electricity for 7.5p per kwh on my off-peak tariff. He declared that as "impossible" because electricity costs over 30p per kwh.... He also said it was "unfair" that EV owners should get cheaper electricity, and that he intended to try and do something about it. I suggested he got an EV, then he could also take advantage of off-peak rates, and that EV ownership was in no way exlusive. Even he could have one..... He was fuming by then...There's no pleasing some folk.... I didn't dare mention the free charging at my local Sainsburys, as I think he'd have suffered a coronary.......
It's all the technical stuff and credit cards and how to use the technology and stuff like that I don't understand, if you get cheaper tariffs, I can't argue with you, you know what you're getting, I work nights so I probably couldn't get cheaper tariffs, or they wouldn't be useful to me, I couldn't charge from home anyway, I don't have access, I had often thought about an electric vehicle, but the infrastructure in the area where I live is more or less non existent, and the price of even used electric vehicles is way out of my reach as a working class person with no credit record
We live in a Victorian terrace without offroad parking. Our county council has now started a 6 month frial of "across pavement" charging and we are now doing this. The result is that for our 5,000 miles a year we will be charging on cheap rate overnight juice for at least 4,000 of those miles and probably more. We bought a car with a real world winter range of 200 miles enabling us to make our longest regular journey of 180 miles round trip without needing to worry. We also knwo of three rapid charge sites en route if we somehow need to add a splash whilst taking a slash! It's really not a problem charging and we are enjoying 3 pence per mile fuel whilst motoring.
I’ve been running an MG4 for six months now have have been surprised how easy it is. We don’t have off-road parking/home-charging and so we use the lamppost chargers typ. once a fortnight overnight (normally every other Friday or Saturday night) and I’m loving the fact that I’m paying around 30% of what my Nissan Qashqai cost in petrol. Range is brilliant - we can just do a round-trip from London to Somerset on a 100% but we typically top-up when there. Owning an EV is so much more pleasant/cheap than an ICE car and I’d never go back.
Us EV drivers all know this through experience. But, it's a good clear guide for the many ice drivers who are influenced by the UK's bad media. I suspect if oil keeps rising that EV's will become quickly desirable again.
There are slight indications of the residual values of EV's beginning to creep back up once more..... There is basically only one way the cost of crude oil, petrol and diesel will go, and that's upwards. It is never suddenly going to become a bargain priced fuel. Even once sales volumes of petrol and diesel drop to levels where it hurts profits, the cost will simply rise - with the oil companies then claiming/declaring it has become a niche product, and these cost more to produce and market. You just see if I'm right...... ULEZ schemes will also undoubtedly play a part too, with many older cars becoming unviable to own.
@@JohnRance-f1c And yet an EV is still more efficient to use over an ICE car as electricity doesn't need to be hauled around using big trucks to be delivered to multiple petrol stations. Electricity is made via solar, wind, hydro or fossil fuels then with minimal additional cost passes through wires to the vehicle.
@user-bx1ju2tn7x perhaps. Though there are efficiencies gained if burned centrally over individually burning fossil fuels in vehicles. I'd rather our oil use to be centralised maximising its energy capture than have it shipped and tankered (using oil) nationwide, pumped (using electricity, which used oil to be generated) and burned (using the oil). Still use oil, it makes sense to do so, but use it sensibly.
In Australia our local electricity supplier just introduced an overnight EV tariff with a 6 hour window. It's 8 cents per kWh Australian (4p/kWh or 5 cents US). In over a year of EV ownership I have charged only 4 times at a public charger - every time for convenience while shopping at Ikea as it was a cheaper rate than my home rate. Six months ago our shopping centre installed 4 Tesla branded wall chargers (I own an Atto 3 and only get 5.3kWh versus Teslas at about 11kWh) and I have not needed to pay a cent for charging my EV since then. All your points were spot on for the "average" car owner. That said I have done several return trips over 350km without charging on the journey, and each time topped up at home over several nights. My car's LFP battery is fine being 100% charged on every occasion, so that is helpful.
Another great blog Dave! I am lucky enough to be able to charge my car in my drive on an outside 13 amp plug in Granny cable, we are pensioners, so an EV is ideal for us! I have had my EV since 2021 and have only done 10.000 miles! But having an EV has its hidden costs - Like servicing, which can cost over £200 for an hours service! Then tyres are dearer than combustion engine vehicles!
I don't let my car get to half before I fill up again, I had a bad experience when I was younger, now I run my car full to full, I fill up every week after my last shift at work
Great guide for those about to switch to an EV or someone very new to EV driving. I had a great charging experience myself in London yesterday outside Lords cricket ground. We were considering going by train and tube but that was going to cost 2 of us in excess of £40. Instead I took the car, there are EV bays right outside making the journey a lot quicker and we could charge for 4 hours before overstay penalties. That was perfect for us to to do our Lord's experience and added 28kWh of energy costing £16.80.
Very good video. 3-pin 13Amp sockets used for regular EV charging should be designed and tested for EV and this is denoted by letters EV on rear of socket. These sockets are tested for prolonged high current draw and using inductive load to simulate a car charger.
Top video. Good tip on destination chargers. Just back from a weekend in Wales. The hotel had free charging so saved myself £73 as I was expecting to have to use expensive DC chargers. I don’t know of any hotels that provide free petrol and diesel.
Great video Dave, shows and explains the simplicity! I still do over 90% of charging at home, waking up to a battery full (well 80%) most of the time and 100% for those times I will be doing a long journey. Off peak rates, especially Octopus Intelligent are superb giving me plenty of energy for my Kia E-Niro.
If I had access to home charging and could afford an electric vehicle, I would definitely have one, it's public charging, credit cards etc I don't understand
@@andrewgage6942 EV's with over 200 mile range are now available 2nd hand and batteries are lasting better than expected 5 years ago. If you had a local charger you could easily visit when grabbing a coffee or doing some shopping it would be worth looking at having a monthly membership for that charging company as that can reduce prices and still make considerable savings over petrol. Credit cards can now be used on a large number of chargers without having to set up any accounts, but you will save money by having accounts with the charging companies. When I first got my EV, I purposefully visited a rapid charger to see what I needed to do and since at was at a fast food place I grabbed a bit of food after plugging in. There are also many videos of people showing how to use chargers. I promise that it isn't that scary!!
Absolutely it certainly is and I never doubt that. But with Tesla supercharger at 35p that makes 9p per mile, about half that of an ice car doing 40mpg. Still worth it never charging at home
Dave can I add an important point which you missed off about the plug socket. When you open a lot of non-Tesla EV’s the DC part of the socket (the 2 pin section at the bottom) is usually covered with a flap/insert (which you have to remove) making it look like a standard wall socket charger plug. I see many people scratching their heads first time they arrive at a public charger as the plug and socket don’t look the same. Also, as an EV Van driver (40,000 miles a year) to give people confidence on just how far an EV will travel, today I have done a 450 mile round trip. If I can do it in a 150-170 mile range anyone can do it in a high mileage range car. Charging usually takes 30 to 40 minutes a time which is enough to get out, take a comfort break and get a coffee then I’m back on the road. Don’t believe the anti EV stuff on social media.
Good point but mine is definitely missing the bottom two and no flap, hence I do need an adapter on my early Model S. but great points about long distance, it’s never as much hassle as the cynics make out thanks for your comments
We live in the USA and drive about 50k miles per year. We just purchased the Kia EV9, and it seems I didn't fully understand what i was getting myself into.🤦♀️ Under 10k per year sounds like a dream. Fortunately, my husband is a professor and has access to free EV charging at the university provided that the stations are vacant and in good working order.
Got myself an EQC400. Got it today and as expected the range is SHOCKINGG but it’s almost worse now that I have it. Range anxiety already and not been anywhere 200 miles a week with 190 range on the car but it crazy watching it drop
Fancy hand stitching on the seats is great for quality but a much more efficient EV with a sensible real world range is far more important to me. You pays your money and makes your choice.
Hi Dave. Thanks for another insightful video. As a member of the EV choir myself, I find that I agree on all points except for some of what you said about the Nissan Leaf. I agree that Chademo is going away over the long term, so in terms of buying a brand-new Nissan Leaf I would agree that you should perhaps reconsider your choices. But, that is for brand-new cars. Not all of us are able to (or want to) buy brand-new, and thankfully the second-hand market is developing quite nicely. It is in this market that looking at a Nissan Leaf makes a lot of sense, because you can pick up an excellent used example from circa 2014 or newer for a bargain. Yes, battery degradation is an issue you have to factor into your decision-process when you select which car to buy, but in my opinion too much negative hype is given to this. My 2014 Leaf still has 74% battery capacity left, which is good enough for 90% of my journeys - I typically charge overnight to max 80%, and that gives me enough charge for 2 days of commuting. The other 10% (the odd long journey or holiday trips) we either use my wife's Hyundai i30, or rent a car. So, for 90% of what I actually drive I have a car with lovely heated leather seats, 360 degree cameras (albeit not in the same class as Tesla), heated steering wheel, heat-pump and excellent climate control. Price: around £5k. Bargain! 🙂 Charging at home happens using my granny cable because my little 24kWh battery fills up quick enough, and since I bought the car almost 2 years ago I haven't even spent as much on electricity as I would have had to pay for a fast home charger installation. Therefore it did not yet make financial sense to do so, so rediculously cheap it is to operate this old Leaf. In addition to granny charging I can use L2 chargers with my L2 to L1 cable, and even use tethered L2 chargers with an L2 to L1 adapter. I only really use Chademo chargers if I need to go further than what a single charge can support, and also if time is of the essence. So, older cars like Leafs and the slower-charging Zoë models have a real role to play in short to medium journeys - but the undeserved bad press of "battery degradation" and "leased battery" creates confusion and drive people away from EVs in general. I would argue that this is the most critical area (inner-city driving) where we need people to get out of dino-juice guzzling polluters and into clean electric cars (even old ones like the G-wizz if you're up for an adventure) for the sake of our health. Please consider doing a video taking on the "shallow end" of EV motoring, because in my opinion that is where a lot of EV value-building is still locked up. After all, not all journeys are longer than 20 miles. Cheers, Jan.
Thanks for your comments. I agree with most of what you say, they are great cars but I already visit many chargers with no Chademo at all, so for a beginner it’s a harsh learning curve unless they only charge at home, then no problem. With far too few used EVs on the market, the new sales are in the majority. This will change and prices will drop, it’s just early stages. I look back 4 years to when I got my Model S (used) it didn’t even have CCS charging, just superchargers and type 2. It will be dramatically different in another 4 years
We’re EV newbies and fortunate enough to have off street home charging. The 200 miles in 15 minutes you quote I assume is on a DC rapid public charger. Whilst convenient there’s are very expensive and work out more than running and ICE car. In my opinion the value of an EV depends on how you use it, the typical length of your journeys and access to home charging.
True. Rapid chargers are for road trips and longer distance. Home charging with a cheap overnight tariff is the ideal for the bulk of your charging. Overnight the time it takes doesn’t matter, for charging on the road speed is usually better.
That's a big consideration of mine, I have a daily commute of 60 miles round trip consisting of 80% motorway driving, I don't have access to off road parking/home charging, I also don't have a bank or credit card and I don't understand technology, another UA-cam user called me a cabbage for not having a bank or credit card and not understanding technology, apparently you plug your vehicle in to the charger, tap the charger with your card, pay your parking fees, display your ticket and the car is charging, whilst in Cardiff learning how to use a computer I have seen people getting parking tickets whilst "tapping the machine with their card" as the charger isn't working, I asked them how they knew if the charger was working they replied "f*** off"
Thanks again Dave. Very useful video. I'm new to EV's, but have found i prefer to charge/top up each night (at home). I just like having a 80% tank just in case. It only takes a few seconds to plug in and charging starts straight away. We are waiting to swap to EDF's EV tariff, so we will then set a delayed charge. I've noticed a big divide between ICE and EV lovers. I'm just not sure why. I feel like i've just walked into an argument etc. I have both and understand both have limitations. For our EV, ICE cars cannot refuel faster as we haven't needed to use a public charger (and no need to drive to a fuel station either). Longer runs will require this, but i accept it as part of the pluses and minuses. Next gen batteries will swing the pendulum towards EV's big time.
Welcome to the EV club and a healthy dose of reality. No car is ideal, some are much closer than others and most will look very different in the furture
The only problem with the Leaf is the Chademo as the rapid chargers manufactures are slowly phasing them out, with the slower charging you would have no problem as you have your own cable.
True and the Leaf is a good car, but for a novice thinking of their first EV the current and future charging structure is a complication they can do without
Hi Dave, some very good advice but when showing the tesla supercharger in most cases they currently or only available for tesla owners. And it is worth mentioning it’s not a good idea to constantly keeping the battery at a high state of charge to prevent early battery degradation. I do believe if you have no way of charging at home or at a work place it is really difficult to run an Ev depending on we’re you live in the country and it’s not a good idea to be constantly using rapid chargers if you plan on keeping the car a good number of years plus it’s dam expensive to be running a car of the back of rapid chargers. Unless it’s a tesla. But I do agree with you charge once a week or 10 days as I do. Keep up with what you do it keeps us informed with what’s going on with the charging infrastructure. The only thing I will comment on is tariffs you have to way up how much charging you do because yes you get cheaper overnight price but pay quite a bit more for the daytime rate. For me there was no advantage when charging once every 10 days so I simply pay a single tariff rate and as such can charge when I won’t
Yes Stephen look at the over all package. I get 9pm to 7am off peak weekdays plus all day Saturday and Sunday my peak rate is 40p off peak is 11p and my annual split usage is 85% off peak 15% peak that averages out at a nett 15p over the entire year. That’s much cheaper than if I chose a 5p off peak but only got about 5 hours a night and my peak was 30p. I often need 8-9 hours charging two or three times a week
Plus my home/ supercharger split is 70% home 30% superchargers so my average cost is 23p per kWh over the last 12 months, equates to 8p per mile. I’m happy with that
With regard to split tariffs, don't ignore the fact that you can add a home storage battery even without solar. Then charge that up during cheap rate and run the house during the day from that. I almost never touch the higher day rate but everyone needs to do their own sums as there's obviously a cost for the battery but it does enable more flexible tariff options.
Overnight I charge between 80 and 100 miles on a standard plug. One day I will get a dedicated charger fitted. Meanwhile I charge one to two nights a week. On standard rates I am getting the equivalent of 115 mpg on an suv.
A good video Dave but you did rather gloss over the public charger payment debacle, sometimes it's not possible to download an app or it takes a long time due to a poor mobile signal, also there are still many older chargers out there that don't accept contactless payments, or if they do they only accept an RFID card (not debit/credit). Then for those that DO accept contactless, quite often they will take a pre-authorisation of £40 or so, and I have heard stories of the charge then failing and it taking days for the money to be released, that is money that some people rely on to feed their family. I just came across a couple on Saturday who were having a nightmare because the Geniepoint charger they were trying to use did not work on CCS, so they were charging via the type 2 socket - they had been there for over 4 hours! They could have maybe tried a different charger but options were limited where they were. So while you paint a positive image of public charging, the reality, away from the motorway network, is still rather different I'd say. Unfortunately, this couple are now going to tell all their friends what a nightmare they've had and further spread the negative narrative that the MSM also seem to like pushing.
If you have a house with a drive then charging at home is trivial - install a charger. That's it. I think if someone has on-street parking then they have a very legitimate reason not to own an EV. This is up to councils to sort out - roll out street chargers and offer some kind of reduced rate for nearby residents. Or some way for residents to safely and securely run a charger from their house to the car without posing a hazard to pedestrians. In addition, they need to boost planning laws so that all new car parks and significant building works require new charge points so eventually there are points where people tend to park their cars - offices, parks, supermarkets, on street, venues etc.
Many councils now allow properly designed cable trays across pavements and channelled trays cut into the pavements are quick, easy and cheap and opens up ridiculous cheap off peak rates, have a look into it, like Vevor cable protectors
There are numerous ways to get into EV ownership at reasonable cost now. I saw a regular UA-camr buy a 2016 Renault Zoe with 35k miles on it, for £4400 a few weeks back. Nice condition too.... With the right off-peak tariff, you'd have motoring at a cost of around 1.5p (or less) per mile......... It would cost more to use a bus.
The downside to the Leaf is that they use the Chademo charger that virtually no one else uses. That’s why our first EV is a second hand 2019 VW eGolf, which cost us £14,000. The range is not great (real world range about 100 miles) but it only gets used for commuting, shopping, visiting friends and family and it uses the same charger as nearly all other EVs. And, IMHO, it’s much nicer and more user friendly inside than the VW ID3.
Am a retired bus driver, and have had a Leaf since 2012. For my wife and I it is perfect, as we only use it as Dave says for shopping and short trips in the area. I also live in a second story flat and run an extension cord to my garage. It is also a council flat, so have no access, or interest from my council to wire one in. Plug in over night at 12p KWh and in the morning its full. 4 hours at 12p. Wow cheap.
Great video and thank you for sharing. The battery tech is still not there yet. The cost of an EV battery power pack is very expensive when the car is out of manufacturers warranty. There is still the battery memory problem which as we all know from other battery products that we all own the battery charges to 100% but as the battery pack ages the 100% charge depletes very quickly. This is a problem for the second hand electric car market, and so I’m sorry I will not be purchasing an electric vehicle.
Hmmm. You have glossed over the stupidity of apps and rfid cards. Imagine the outrage if every filling station group decided that all customers need to to use apps and / or rfid cards to pay? All public chargers should be contactless, end of. On top of this there should not be price discounts for membersbips. All this says to me is that the occasional users are being price gouged. And yes, we are ev owners.
Or just buy a Tesla and charge at 35p = 9p per mile. Just look at home charging as an incredible bonus. A Tesla always supercharging is half the price of petrol and diesel
There is a distinction between public charging and the membership style parking you refer to that used to be commonplace. Those schemes have all but disappeared because they are now competing with the contactless versions you refer to. My Tesla will show me any public charger not just Tesla but will not show me ones that are membership based.
Thank for the updated video, if you touch on charging again can you touch base on possible New EV owners doing research on the Charging curve for cars . Many a day I read comments on people saying that the chargers not working properly when it’s may not be the case and there trying too get a charge out of a 22KW post and only get 3.5KW . Because there car and Cable are not designed for 22KW AC or even the same comments about DC chargers!. Just a Thought.
@@davetakesiton Morning. Even though I do not have a EV myself I on occasion have the use of my Son’s and so the pleather of Apps and Swipe cards are on my phone and Tablet ( and wallet !). Plus I made sure I down loaded the User manual for it too so that makes comfortable reading , rather than the rush to find something at the last minute. I think that App wise ZapMap has started to get better over time , ChargeFinder, ABRP, are a useful as a cross reference tool as well . I don’t get too do long Journeys with my sons car but we do go on “ long “ runs together to Fairford or Bovington / Isle of Wight. I have the cards and Apps so that if we share the driving we also share the fuel cost. Richard.c
No doubt that will be the electric vehicle that caused the Luton Airport catastrophe, the other day, bumping up the prices… oops actually that was a diesel wasn’t it? Just price gouging as usual from a for profit financial institution. The same thing happened in America with Tesla’s, so Tesla just brought out their own insurance.
I think it is a general insurance problem that any recent car has far more expensive parts, so crash damage is more expensive to repair and as a lot of the parts are still more difficult to source, it takes longer, so higher storage costs and a replacement car for longer, so the cost goes up. Therefore insurance costs go up to cover this. My renewal doubled the cost, so I searched around and found a company that barely changed my cover and offered it for similar to what was paid the previous year.
EV range is a class issue Dave. For people who either can't get credit or can't afford the repayments because of job insecurity for example, buying cheap is the only option. Look at the range of EVs at £5k: around 100 miles range for A roads and maybe 50 miles for motorways. Then look at where they live, and if there are charging hubs in that town. In some northern towns there are just a few rapid chargers, and if they fail you're reliant upon AC charging.
Where I live there's just one working charge point in the town, there's a few other chargers, but they aren't connected to the grid. My daily commute is 60 miles round trip, I don't have access to off road parking so no home charging, the car park where the only working charge point is charges £5 an hour parking on top of the charging cost, it closes at 9pm, I work nights anyway, no charge point at work, only one other charge point in the town on the next motorway junction, don't know whether it's connected to the grid or not
Nice video Dave 👍 I used a Tesla Supercharger for the first time yesterday. So easy to use, and watched the charging progress via the app, sitting inside a coffee shop enjoying a Latte. You can't do that in a petrol station 😂 Perhaps a video on the different type of home EV chargers there are might be worth it. Hope you're well (Keith).
Of course, you can do the same with an ICE vehicle. Fill up the tank..., park the car, and go for a drink. Not all gas stations have a coffee shop, but that's not a problem. When you're done, you can drive to any coffee shop. Now, if you want to continue the trip immediately or not, it is (your) the driver's decision. Comment that this is not possible with ICE vehicle is false. Why wouldn't it be possible? If you want to stop for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour... no one will stop you, it's your decision if you want to stop for a while. I'm not here to argue which one is better, just that you can stop for a while with an ICE vehicle as well. It's the driver's decision... Have a nice day 🥂
You pay VAT on electricity at home, admitted only 5%, you paid VAT for petrol and diesel, plus fuel duty. Why so strange to pay VAT on fuel from a public charger?
Good video. But you kept referring to charging your battery to 'full' while you and I know that charging to 100% (full) is not ideal in 'most' cases (planning a long journey is the only time 100% is ideal and obviously certain battery chemistries/types like a 100% charge regularly). Perhaps could have done with dealing with that earlier on/changing the language - a dummy will always charge to full/100% using your guide if they don't listen to the near end. 😉
not quite true. The overwhelming majority of cars now being sold have LFP batteries and they can and usually should be charged to 100%. Their handbooks and on screen guides all say plug in every day and charge to 100%. For them the only time they shouldn't is on a road trip, where charging to 70-80% is better, even for LFP batteries.
Hello Dave, 27 months ago I bought a Leaf Plus and was somewhat surprised to hear your advice not to buy one, I have not seen any removal of Chademo sockets on my limited travels, but wonder if Nissan will produce an adapter before too long. I charge at home from a Wallbox unit. keep your ear to the ground for the nice Leaf users please?
I did not say don't buy one, I suggested to potential EV buyers who have no knowledge of charging that this is not the best car to start with and I stick by that. There are staggeringly less Chademo chargers today than CCS2 and Chademo is being phased out and Nissan is no longer installing chademo sockets in their cars. Nice cars, they started the EV revolution way back and still have a value today. I still believe not the best choice for someone who has never driven or owned an EV. BTW new video launching shortly on the used EV market and that will probably be dominated by Leafs.
@@davetakesiton Well if I could turn the clock back I might have chosen a different EV but I got my Leaf for £28.5k when the alternatives were rather more expensive.
@@davetakesiton Hello Dave. Thanks for your clarification. I honestly haven’t found a problem finding Chademo cabinets so far. Anyway I rarely use rapid chargfers. My Leaf is a great car anyway. I am a happy.owner. Keep the good work. AW.
I’m not opposed to an ev however just not achievable for myself yet, cars are simply too expensive to purchase at the moment. Never spent more than £3000 for a car, maybe by the time I replace my current car Evs will be more accessible
All those electric vehicles, which were new three years ago and rolling of their leases, you will see a lot of vehicles in the market and prices will drop even further than they already have. I am not sure if they will get as low as your budget, but fingers crossed.
If you spend maximum £3k on a replacement car then it may be some time as you will be looking at 10 year old cars and there are not many 10 year old EVs on the market. 5 or 6 years time there will be a lot more choice available and the cost to buy should be down to that sort of price by then.
not for me. Not for the vast majority of motorists. The budget downgraded PHEVs and will in future treat them like ICE for taxation purposes, because they are not good for most people.
@@davetakesiton But the equivalent amount of pollution in its manufacturing to the total pollution from a petrol car in its first 20 year plus the fuel pollution comes every time you charge it as 75% of electricity comes from none green energy so a ev's pollution is in reality at the plug and not a tailpipe, but it is just the same plus it is using more energy to drag around a one ton battery causing more real pollution.
@@Beaware699Only 40% of UK electricity was produced by gas or coal fired power stations in 2022, and approximately 48% produced by wind, solar, nuclear and hydro, with the rest by biomass, storage and imports. The % of wind and solar serving the national grid is growing all the time. The other point is that tailpipe emissions causing the most concern on air quality for human health reasons are mainly in towns and cities whereas power stations are usually in more remote locations so a lower impact on air quality for the majority of people.
@@johnharvey1786 Sorry but in 2022 only 12% of the electricity produced in the UK was derived from genuine green clean energy. And as for expanding the charging network to allow for a greater amount of charging, the grid in many areas is at maximum capacity as it is some areas are already having to look at limiting charging at times and are carrying out looking into rotation of charging between areas for a to be decided number of hours at a time.
I drive 60 miles a day, 80% of which is motorway driving, I am one who can't charge at home, there's one working charger in the town where I live, one in the next town up, that takes me to work, on one of your previous videos, you mentioned that if your vehicle covers more than 60mpg, it's cheaper to run than the average electric vehicle, the other major issue I have, another UA-cam user told me that I'm a cabbage because I have never had any form of bank card or credit card, again, I work nights, credit card, infrastructure and the price of electric vehicles, at present, I couldn't afford one, (I don't use a technical phone and I have always paid for everything with cash), I don't understand technology I will be honest, being an ugly old fart, I don't have anyone to ask when I don't know what to do. Unfortunately, everyone seems to think that we all understand technology and use credit cards, you have used many examples that the average working class people can't afford, hotels, (even holidays), being able to afford to go out for a meal or the cinema, the company I work for refused to install charge points, the only supermarket that has charge points, they still haven't been connected to the grid, the local garage (only local garage) that has electric charge points, again, still haven't been connected to the grid, as a paranoid person, I never let my car run below half a tank of fuel, I fill it up every week even though I could do over two weeks worth of driving before refuelling, I'm not picking holes, but hardly anything you mentioned matches up to myself as I would consider myself an average working class person, where I work, the average daily commute for at least 90% of us working in the same area is around 40-60 miles round trip, for many others it's more. As one other UA-cam user called me a cabbage, I will stick with being a cabbage becau bse, although I am definitely not anti electric vehicles, as I previously mentioned, price, infrastructure and payment methods put me off, and yes, being older I am thick as 5h1t when it comes to technology, I have never been taught and I'm old, but when I have seen the odd charger, they aren't clearly shown, it's just by chance I may see them as I'm driving in the early hours of the day, some large car parks, one inparticular just outside of Bridge north springs to mind, 220 parking spaces, one charger (I only noticed this because I was stopped at a set of temporary traffic lights), I don't even know if it is connected to the grid, there was no sign to say that it was there, no price tariff, just a lone charger, now, as a cabbage, I am going to ask a simple question, where do you find the price of charging? Are the prices regulated in any way? Fuel stations display their prices clearly for everyone to see, do they have to show a price on the charger? You are probably agreeing with the other UA-camr who says that I'm a cabbage, I don't have a problem with that, but as someone who doesn't understand technology, doesn't know how to use a technical phone, doesn't know what ap is, electric vehicles are a very complicated area, my friend who is writing this for me is off back to Japan on Monday, time difference, working routines, I can't just pick up the phone, my neighbours are all older than me, don't use cards or computers, they weren't around when we were young, the issue I find with not just electric vehicles, but clean air taxes, just about everything these days, it's assumed that everyone has a computer and credit card and knows how this all works, sadly we don't, we are the left outs, the cabbages, I know that the government wants us dead and COVID didn't do the trick, but can't they just kill us off or wait a bit longer for the generations that understand these things? I have so many more questions regarding electric vehicles and charging, but you will either think I'm taking the p155, or you'll just ignore me because you think I'm beyond thick
I know of nobody, I repeat nobody who doesn't use tech. Even ex bankrupts are legally entitled to a bank account and contactless debit card. I rather think from the length of your reply that either you expect a special consideration for all industries to cater especially for you and the very few others like you, or, I suspect the real truth is you are just looking for excuses not to go full EV. If that is there case just own up and never buy an EV. The industry will not miss you. Also please stop trying to put us EV drivers off, we will definitely not miss your lies and false info.
@davetakesiton I have nothing against electric vehicles, I have never tried to put down electric vehicles, I'm sorry you think that way, I would love you to visit the street where I live, my neighbours in their 80's and 90's, who don't use technology, when you consider that we are supposed to be cleaning up our planet, another UA-cam electric vehicle evangelist called me a "cabbage" because I still use my 20+ year old Nokia phone which literally makes phone calls, a phone I charge once or twice a week, but yes, because you don't know of anyone who doesn't use technology, does that mean that everyone uses technology apart from me? If so, I am the odd one out on the planet, especially as I have never been taught anything, my use on here is self taught, you're obviously younger than me because, when I left school and college, they never had computers, I remember speaking to a professor back in the 1980's who said that he didn't think computers would ever take off because they're too expensive, there will only need to be a handful of computers throughout the world, and he also called credit cards a passing phase as they were causing too much debt. You mentioned cards, without a credit trail, you can't get a credit card, I have a bank account, I can't get loans so I could never afford an electric vehicle, I couldn't afford the cheapest internal combustion engined vehicle, I have to pay with cash, I have always used cash, I don't like debt, if I haven't got it in my pocket, I can't spend it, so, as I have mentioned in the past, vehicles are too expensive full stop. I have criticised the electric vehicle infrastructure I'm not denying that, in the town where I live, there's charge points, but they're not connected to the grid, the only charge point working is in a local car park which is expensive just to park there, I live in the centre of town, I'm not as privileged as you, I haven't got a driveway, I can't afford the luxury of a home with parking, the government are pushing everyone to go electric and they haven't catered for the fact that many of us can't even park near our homes, so I am critical of that side of things, again I apologise for speaking up about things like that I apologise for offending you and everyone who watches your channel, I will stay away from your channel, again, sorry to you and everyone else I have offended
Not a hope in hell I would buy an EV without being able to charge at home. I would not want to pay the high charging costs. 69 pence as opposed to 7.5 pence at home. May as well stick to petrol its cheaper and more convenient. I charge with a three pin plug, on the lowest possible speed. This way I can get the electric for the whole house from around 7:30 pm to 5:30 am. at 7.5 p Washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, and I even use electric heaters, all night. My combine gas and electric bill has gone from 360 pounds per month to 118 pounds per month and that's including charging my car. You can't do this with public charging. Public charging costs are way more than running a petrol or diesel car.
@@djtaylorutube Economy 7? I'm guessing...... My Octopus tariff is 7.5p per kwh, but that's from 11.30pm until 5.30am. Daytime rate is now within a penny or two of the daytime norm of around 35p per kwh....
But you can reduce public charging costs by subscribing to the charge network you use. My local public charge network's price on a subscription is 38p per kwh......which is a fair bit less than the 69p per kwh you mentioned....
@@Brian-om2hh Well not from 7.30pm :) My economy 7 is the 7 hours, currently from 2:55am to 9:55am and in winter time drops back an hour. That's why I was curious about a 7.5p rate across such a wide period.
Excellent video Dave , i got the Kia Niro brand new roughly 6 weeks ago, i have never had a electric car in my life and i live in a typical terrace house two up two down, no chance of a home charger. i love the car no charging from home never stopped me and i can honestly say i am converted i will stay with electric cars they are brilliant .
Great to hear the more the merrier
What is the infrastructure like where you live? Can you charge at work? Do you use your vehicle much? Do you have a long daily commute? What type of vehicle do you have and what did it cost you roughly if you don't mind me asking, I'm sorry to appear nosey, I am trying to assess costs of buying a vehicle, cost of charging, I have no idea, this involves things I have never dealt with, credit cards, technology etc admittedly I can't afford to buy an electric vehicle, not even a used vehicle, but if I live much longer, I may be forced into the situation of owning an electric vehicle, as someone who pays for everything with cash, never had credit, uses a mobile phone to make phone calls, i don't understand this at all
@@andrewgage6942 I live in a typical 2 bed terraced house,a home charger cannot be fitted because the lead would have to run along the pavement which is illegal in the UK, if you have a drive you can have a home charger fitted then you won't need to use a public charger, but if you don't and a public charger would be your only option like me, sadly you would need a credit or debit card and a smart phone because thempublic chargers require you to use a app on your phone, so if you don't use bank cards you can't use a public charger sadly,so if that's the case your probably better sticking with petrol or diesel cars , I hope this helps .
@@simonmiddleton2990 thank you for taking the time to respond, apart from the price of an electric vehicle, I am not considered credit worthy as even though I own my own property, my own car and bike, as an individual, I don't have a phone contract, I pre pay my electricity and water bills, I pay my council tax outright (by cheque), I, as an individual have never borrowed from anyone including my own family, so I am not seen as being credit worthy and the banks won't issue me with a card of any description, as for mobile phones, I have an old Nokia, I only know how to make and receive calls, I don't understand these other things you can do with phones
Can you explain to a non- EV owner what happens when you turn up and there is a queue to charge ? What is the protocol, how do/should people behave ? Etc. I can see this situation leading to arguments at peak times.
Honestly mate they are everywhere, despite what youtube ICE heads would want you to believe it is dead easy... this is what you do. You open your app, the map apps show you which ones are empty nearby. You can guess what you do next. The problem certain videos spin is this, they take their cars on a long run and then head for a certain manufacturer of charger, and they do it at peak times, no one does that on long runs.. all people are bothered about on long runs is getting charge in from anywhere. Now, I own a leaf. Technically, I should have a problem finding a charger because the leaf uses a Japanese connector. But I don't ever have a problem, because although the percentage of leaf chargers is lower all the time, there is still new "multi format" chargers opening every week. And... this is the important bit, remember in the video how we get two sockets on the cars. Well the AC one is universal, even on the leaf, although on the leaf it only gives us about 26 miles per hour from charging. In saying all this, I would say that if you can not charge from home with at least a 3 pin plug adapter, then you probably do not want to buy a leaf. But if you can, then you might. Today I was doing a 200 mile journey, stopped my car when I had 25% left and checked the app ( I used waze because it was already open ) ... there was a charger 1 mile from where I was. They are literally everywhere.
Que up and wait
Useful video Dave. Yes, there are *still* people out there who believe you *have* to charge an EV every day. And that it costs a fortune, even if you charge at home..... Many don't appear to even know about off-peak tariffs, or what they offer. I had a heated discussion with one bloke, who argued the toss about me getting my electricity for 7.5p per kwh on my off-peak tariff. He declared that as "impossible" because electricity costs over 30p per kwh.... He also said it was "unfair" that EV owners should get cheaper electricity, and that he intended to try and do something about it. I suggested he got an EV, then he could also take advantage of off-peak rates, and that EV ownership was in no way exlusive. Even he could have one..... He was fuming by then...There's no pleasing some folk.... I didn't dare mention the free charging at my local Sainsburys, as I think he'd have suffered a coronary.......
Yes Brian I’ve almost given up trying to convert the doom merchants, at present a losing battle but we’ll get there eventually
It's all the technical stuff and credit cards and how to use the technology and stuff like that I don't understand, if you get cheaper tariffs, I can't argue with you, you know what you're getting, I work nights so I probably couldn't get cheaper tariffs, or they wouldn't be useful to me, I couldn't charge from home anyway, I don't have access, I had often thought about an electric vehicle, but the infrastructure in the area where I live is more or less non existent, and the price of even used electric vehicles is way out of my reach as a working class person with no credit record
We live in a Victorian terrace without offroad parking. Our county council has now started a 6 month frial of "across pavement" charging and we are now doing this. The result is that for our 5,000 miles a year we will be charging on cheap rate overnight juice for at least 4,000 of those miles and probably more.
We bought a car with a real world winter range of 200 miles enabling us to make our longest regular journey of 180 miles round trip without needing to worry. We also knwo of three rapid charge sites en route if we somehow need to add a splash whilst taking a slash!
It's really not a problem charging and we are enjoying 3 pence per mile fuel whilst motoring.
Great story and totally at odds with the doom merchants, enjoy you EV
I’ve been running an MG4 for six months now have have been surprised how easy it is. We don’t have off-road parking/home-charging and so we use the lamppost chargers typ. once a fortnight overnight (normally every other Friday or Saturday night) and I’m loving the fact that I’m paying around 30% of what my Nissan Qashqai cost in petrol.
Range is brilliant - we can just do a round-trip from London to Somerset on a 100% but we typically top-up when there. Owning an EV is so much more pleasant/cheap than an ICE car and I’d never go back.
Great to hear another happy EV motorist wonder how long the doom brigade can hold out
My sister lives in Worthing, they have lamppost chargers there too, sadly only one working charge point in the town where I live
Us EV drivers all know this through experience. But, it's a good clear guide for the many ice drivers who are influenced by the UK's bad media. I suspect if oil keeps rising that EV's will become quickly desirable again.
There are slight indications of the residual values of EV's beginning to creep back up once more..... There is basically only one way the cost of crude oil, petrol and diesel will go, and that's upwards. It is never suddenly going to become a bargain priced fuel. Even once sales volumes of petrol and diesel drop to levels where it hurts profits, the cost will simply rise - with the oil companies then claiming/declaring it has become a niche product, and these cost more to produce and market. You just see if I'm right...... ULEZ schemes will also undoubtedly play a part too, with many older cars becoming unviable to own.
and where does most electricity come from??? oil !!!
@@JohnRance-f1c And yet an EV is still more efficient to use over an ICE car as electricity doesn't need to be hauled around using big trucks to be delivered to multiple petrol stations. Electricity is made via solar, wind, hydro or fossil fuels then with minimal additional cost passes through wires to the vehicle.
I'm just put off by the cost of buying a vehicle and the technology as an older person
@user-bx1ju2tn7x perhaps. Though there are efficiencies gained if burned centrally over individually burning fossil fuels in vehicles.
I'd rather our oil use to be centralised maximising its energy capture than have it shipped and tankered (using oil) nationwide, pumped (using electricity, which used oil to be generated) and burned (using the oil).
Still use oil, it makes sense to do so, but use it sensibly.
In Australia our local electricity supplier just introduced an overnight EV tariff with a 6 hour window. It's 8 cents per kWh Australian (4p/kWh or 5 cents US).
In over a year of EV ownership I have charged only 4 times at a public charger - every time for convenience while shopping at Ikea as it was a cheaper rate than my home rate. Six months ago our shopping centre installed 4 Tesla branded wall chargers (I own an Atto 3 and only get 5.3kWh versus Teslas at about 11kWh) and I have not needed to pay a cent for charging my EV since then.
All your points were spot on for the "average" car owner. That said I have done several return trips over 350km without charging on the journey, and each time topped up at home over several nights. My car's LFP battery is fine being 100% charged on every occasion, so that is helpful.
Another great blog Dave! I am lucky enough to be able to charge my car in my drive on an outside 13 amp plug in Granny cable, we are pensioners, so an EV is ideal for us! I have had my EV since 2021 and have only done 10.000 miles! But having an EV has its hidden costs - Like servicing, which can cost over £200 for an hours service! Then tyres are dearer than combustion engine vehicles!
I always filled my car to full when it got to a quarter.
I don't let my car get to half before I fill up again, I had a bad experience when I was younger, now I run my car full to full, I fill up every week after my last shift at work
Great guide for those about to switch to an EV or someone very new to EV driving.
I had a great charging experience myself in London yesterday outside Lords cricket ground.
We were considering going by train and tube but that was going to cost 2 of us in excess of £40. Instead I took the car, there are EV bays right outside making the journey a lot quicker and we could charge for 4 hours before overstay penalties.
That was perfect for us to to do our Lord's experience and added 28kWh of energy costing £16.80.
Just get all the ICE cars off the road and the traffic disappears for us EV drivers, heaven
Very good video. 3-pin 13Amp sockets used for regular EV charging should be designed and tested for EV and this is denoted by letters EV on rear of socket. These sockets are tested for prolonged high current draw and using inductive load to simulate a car charger.
Top video. Good tip on destination chargers. Just back from a weekend in Wales. The hotel had free charging so saved myself £73 as I was expecting to have to use expensive DC chargers. I don’t know of any hotels that provide free petrol and diesel.
Glad to be of help, use free chargers whenever you can, every little helps
Great video Dave, shows and explains the simplicity! I still do over 90% of charging at home, waking up to a battery full (well 80%) most of the time and 100% for those times I will be doing a long journey. Off peak rates, especially Octopus Intelligent are superb giving me plenty of energy for my Kia E-Niro.
Great how we find a way that works for us so we can just enjoy our fabulous cars
If I had access to home charging and could afford an electric vehicle, I would definitely have one, it's public charging, credit cards etc I don't understand
@@andrewgage6942 EV's with over 200 mile range are now available 2nd hand and batteries are lasting better than expected 5 years ago. If you had a local charger you could easily visit when grabbing a coffee or doing some shopping it would be worth looking at having a monthly membership for that charging company as that can reduce prices and still make considerable savings over petrol.
Credit cards can now be used on a large number of chargers without having to set up any accounts, but you will save money by having accounts with the charging companies.
When I first got my EV, I purposefully visited a rapid charger to see what I needed to do and since at was at a fast food place I grabbed a bit of food after plugging in.
There are also many videos of people showing how to use chargers.
I promise that it isn't that scary!!
Excellent video Dave 🎉I receive my Volvo EX30 in a weeks time🎉so its all new to me 😮I have my home charger ready hypervolt 🎉#cantwait
great car, Ian, and well done for being prepared. Enjoy your new driving experience
Cheers Dave 🎉
Got my brand new MG4 this week and i am converted. Apart from the sound which i love... the charging seems easy and will be getting a home charger.
Your data is absolutely correct. However, it is still the case that charging at home, particularly if you have solarpv panels, if much cheaper.
Absolutely it certainly is and I never doubt that. But with Tesla supercharger at 35p that makes 9p per mile, about half that of an ice car doing 40mpg. Still worth it never charging at home
Dave can I add an important point which you missed off about the plug socket. When you open a lot of non-Tesla EV’s the DC part of the socket (the 2 pin section at the bottom) is usually covered with a flap/insert (which you have to remove) making it look like a standard wall socket charger plug.
I see many people scratching their heads first time they arrive at a public charger as the plug and socket don’t look the same.
Also, as an EV Van driver (40,000 miles a year) to give people confidence on just how far an EV will travel, today I have done a 450 mile round trip. If I can do it in a 150-170 mile range anyone can do it in a high mileage range car. Charging usually takes 30 to 40 minutes a time which is enough to get out, take a comfort break and get a coffee then I’m back on the road.
Don’t believe the anti EV stuff on social media.
Good point but mine is definitely missing the bottom two and no flap, hence I do need an adapter on my early Model S. but great points about long distance, it’s never as much hassle as the cynics make out thanks for your comments
For many people the charging infrastructure is a pain .It will take time to get used to all this and it will happen.
these vids are excellent ! just bought a tesla and this content is gold !
Glad to help Wellcome to the EV club
We live in the USA and drive about 50k miles per year. We just purchased the Kia EV9, and it seems I didn't fully understand what i was getting myself into.🤦♀️ Under 10k per year sounds like a dream. Fortunately, my husband is a professor and has access to free EV charging at the university provided that the stations are vacant and in good working order.
Got myself an EQC400. Got it today and as expected the range is SHOCKINGG but it’s almost worse now that I have it.
Range anxiety already and not been anywhere
200 miles a week with 190 range on the car but it crazy watching it drop
Fancy hand stitching on the seats is great for quality but a much more efficient EV with a sensible real world range is far more important to me. You pays your money and makes your choice.
Hi Dave, how about an 'idiots' guide to how to use the likes of zap map. May be just me but I found it difficult.
Hi Dave. Thanks for another insightful video. As a member of the EV choir myself, I find that I agree on all points except for some of what you said about the Nissan Leaf. I agree that Chademo is going away over the long term, so in terms of buying a brand-new Nissan Leaf I would agree that you should perhaps reconsider your choices.
But, that is for brand-new cars. Not all of us are able to (or want to) buy brand-new, and thankfully the second-hand market is developing quite nicely. It is in this market that looking at a Nissan Leaf makes a lot of sense, because you can pick up an excellent used example from circa 2014 or newer for a bargain. Yes, battery degradation is an issue you have to factor into your decision-process when you select which car to buy, but in my opinion too much negative hype is given to this. My 2014 Leaf still has 74% battery capacity left, which is good enough for 90% of my journeys - I typically charge overnight to max 80%, and that gives me enough charge for 2 days of commuting. The other 10% (the odd long journey or holiday trips) we either use my wife's Hyundai i30, or rent a car. So, for 90% of what I actually drive I have a car with lovely heated leather seats, 360 degree cameras (albeit not in the same class as Tesla), heated steering wheel, heat-pump and excellent climate control. Price: around £5k. Bargain! 🙂
Charging at home happens using my granny cable because my little 24kWh battery fills up quick enough, and since I bought the car almost 2 years ago I haven't even spent as much on electricity as I would have had to pay for a fast home charger installation. Therefore it did not yet make financial sense to do so, so rediculously cheap it is to operate this old Leaf. In addition to granny charging I can use L2 chargers with my L2 to L1 cable, and even use tethered L2 chargers with an L2 to L1 adapter. I only really use Chademo chargers if I need to go further than what a single charge can support, and also if time is of the essence. So, older cars like Leafs and the slower-charging Zoë models have a real role to play in short to medium journeys - but the undeserved bad press of "battery degradation" and "leased battery" creates confusion and drive people away from EVs in general. I would argue that this is the most critical area (inner-city driving) where we need people to get out of dino-juice guzzling polluters and into clean electric cars (even old ones like the G-wizz if you're up for an adventure) for the sake of our health. Please consider doing a video taking on the "shallow end" of EV motoring, because in my opinion that is where a lot of EV value-building is still locked up. After all, not all journeys are longer than 20 miles. Cheers, Jan.
Thanks for your comments. I agree with most of what you say, they are great cars but I already visit many chargers with no Chademo at all, so for a beginner it’s a harsh learning curve unless they only charge at home, then no problem. With far too few used EVs on the market, the new sales are in the majority. This will change and prices will drop, it’s just early stages. I look back 4 years to when I got my Model S (used) it didn’t even have CCS charging, just superchargers and type 2. It will be dramatically different in another 4 years
We’re EV newbies and fortunate enough to have off street home charging. The 200 miles in 15 minutes you quote I assume is on a DC rapid public charger. Whilst convenient there’s are very expensive and work out more than running and ICE car. In my opinion the value of an EV depends on how you use it, the typical length of your journeys and access to home charging.
True. Rapid chargers are for road trips and longer distance. Home charging with a cheap overnight tariff is the ideal for the bulk of your charging. Overnight the time it takes doesn’t matter, for charging on the road speed is usually better.
That's a big consideration of mine, I have a daily commute of 60 miles round trip consisting of 80% motorway driving, I don't have access to off road parking/home charging, I also don't have a bank or credit card and I don't understand technology, another UA-cam user called me a cabbage for not having a bank or credit card and not understanding technology, apparently you plug your vehicle in to the charger, tap the charger with your card, pay your parking fees, display your ticket and the car is charging, whilst in Cardiff learning how to use a computer I have seen people getting parking tickets whilst "tapping the machine with their card" as the charger isn't working, I asked them how they knew if the charger was working they replied "f*** off"
Thanks again Dave. Very useful video. I'm new to EV's, but have found i prefer to charge/top up each night (at home). I just like having a 80% tank just in case. It only takes a few seconds to plug in and charging starts straight away. We are waiting to swap to EDF's EV tariff, so we will then set a delayed charge. I've noticed a big divide between ICE and EV lovers. I'm just not sure why. I feel like i've just walked into an argument etc. I have both and understand both have limitations. For our EV, ICE cars cannot refuel faster as we haven't needed to use a public charger (and no need to drive to a fuel station either). Longer runs will require this, but i accept it as part of the pluses and minuses. Next gen batteries will swing the pendulum towards EV's big time.
Welcome to the EV club and a healthy dose of reality. No car is ideal, some are much closer than others and most will look very different in the furture
The only problem with the Leaf is the Chademo as the rapid chargers manufactures are slowly phasing them out, with the slower charging you would have no problem as you have your own cable.
True and the Leaf is a good car, but for a novice thinking of their first EV the current and future charging structure is a complication they can do without
Hi Dave, some very good advice but when showing the tesla supercharger in most cases they currently or only available for tesla owners. And it is worth mentioning it’s not a good idea to constantly keeping the battery at a high state of charge to prevent early battery degradation. I do believe if you have no way of charging at home or at a work place it is really difficult to run an Ev depending on we’re you live in the country and it’s not a good idea to be constantly using rapid chargers if you plan on keeping the car a good number of years plus it’s dam expensive to be running a car of the back of rapid chargers. Unless it’s a tesla. But I do agree with you charge once a week or 10 days as I do. Keep up with what you do it keeps us informed with what’s going on with the charging infrastructure. The only thing I will comment on is tariffs you have to way up how much charging you do because yes you get cheaper overnight price but pay quite a bit more for the daytime rate. For me there was no advantage when charging once every 10 days so I simply pay a single tariff rate and as such can charge when I won’t
Yes Stephen look at the over all package. I get 9pm to 7am off peak weekdays plus all day Saturday and Sunday my peak rate is 40p off peak is 11p and my annual split usage is 85% off peak 15% peak that averages out at a nett 15p over the entire year. That’s much cheaper than if I chose a 5p off peak but only got about 5 hours a night and my peak was 30p. I often need 8-9 hours charging two or three times a week
Plus my home/ supercharger split is 70% home 30% superchargers so my average cost is 23p per kWh over the last 12 months, equates to 8p per mile. I’m happy with that
With regard to split tariffs, don't ignore the fact that you can add a home storage battery even without solar.
Then charge that up during cheap rate and run the house during the day from that.
I almost never touch the higher day rate but everyone needs to do their own sums as there's obviously a cost for the battery but it does enable more flexible tariff options.
Overnight I charge between 80 and 100 miles on a standard plug. One day I will get a dedicated charger fitted. Meanwhile I charge one to two nights a week. On standard rates I am getting the equivalent of 115 mpg on an suv.
Thanks Dave! Great video!
A good video Dave but you did rather gloss over the public charger payment debacle, sometimes it's not possible to download an app or it takes a long time due to a poor mobile signal, also there are still many older chargers out there that don't accept contactless payments, or if they do they only accept an RFID card (not debit/credit). Then for those that DO accept contactless, quite often they will take a pre-authorisation of £40 or so, and I have heard stories of the charge then failing and it taking days for the money to be released, that is money that some people rely on to feed their family. I just came across a couple on Saturday who were having a nightmare because the Geniepoint charger they were trying to use did not work on CCS, so they were charging via the type 2 socket - they had been there for over 4 hours! They could have maybe tried a different charger but options were limited where they were. So while you paint a positive image of public charging, the reality, away from the motorway network, is still rather different I'd say. Unfortunately, this couple are now going to tell all their friends what a nightmare they've had and further spread the negative narrative that the MSM also seem to like pushing.
If you have a house with a drive then charging at home is trivial - install a charger. That's it. I think if someone has on-street parking then they have a very legitimate reason not to own an EV. This is up to councils to sort out - roll out street chargers and offer some kind of reduced rate for nearby residents. Or some way for residents to safely and securely run a charger from their house to the car without posing a hazard to pedestrians. In addition, they need to boost planning laws so that all new car parks and significant building works require new charge points so eventually there are points where people tend to park their cars - offices, parks, supermarkets, on street, venues etc.
Many councils now allow properly designed cable trays across pavements and channelled trays cut into the pavements are quick, easy and cheap and opens up ridiculous cheap off peak rates, have a look into it, like Vevor cable protectors
I would say consider a leaf if you can charge at home don't write them off completely they're a cheap entry to EV ownership
Maybe a second hand Leaf, they are expensive new.
There are numerous ways to get into EV ownership at reasonable cost now. I saw a regular UA-camr buy a 2016 Renault Zoe with 35k miles on it, for £4400 a few weeks back. Nice condition too.... With the right off-peak tariff, you'd have motoring at a cost of around 1.5p (or less) per mile......... It would cost more to use a bus.
The downside to the Leaf is that they use the Chademo charger that virtually no one else uses. That’s why our first EV is a second hand 2019 VW eGolf, which cost us £14,000. The range is not great (real world range about 100 miles) but it only gets used for commuting, shopping, visiting friends and family and it uses the same charger as nearly all other EVs. And, IMHO, it’s much nicer and more user friendly inside than the VW ID3.
@@hishamgmy OP specifically said if you charge at home, however still plenty of chademos in our experience around contrary to the scare stories.
Am a retired bus driver, and have had a Leaf since 2012. For my wife and I it is perfect, as we only use it as Dave says for shopping and short trips in the area. I also live in a second story flat and run an extension cord to my garage. It is also a council flat, so have no access, or interest from my council to wire one in. Plug in over night at 12p KWh and in the morning its full. 4 hours at 12p. Wow cheap.
G’wan Dave lad. Thanks for the information. ❤
Great video and thank you for sharing. The battery tech is still not there yet. The cost of an EV battery power pack is very expensive when the car is out of manufacturers warranty. There is still the battery memory problem which as we all know from other battery products that we all own the battery charges to 100% but as the battery pack ages the 100% charge depletes very quickly. This is a problem for the second hand electric car market, and so I’m sorry I will not be purchasing an electric vehicle.
Hmmm. You have glossed over the stupidity of apps and rfid cards. Imagine the outrage if every filling station group decided that all customers need to to use apps and / or rfid cards to pay?
All public chargers should be contactless, end of. On top of this there should not be price discounts for membersbips. All this says to me is that the occasional users are being price gouged.
And yes, we are ev owners.
Or, just buy a Tesla....
@@chrisheath2637if you can affect one. 😢
Yet I happily use a Tesco store card to get discounts. And a Nectar card to save money. Your problem?
Or just buy a Tesla and charge at 35p = 9p per mile. Just look at home charging as an incredible bonus. A Tesla always supercharging is half the price of petrol and diesel
There is a distinction between public charging and the membership style parking you refer to that used to be commonplace. Those schemes have all but disappeared because they are now competing with the contactless versions you refer to. My Tesla will show me any public charger not just Tesla but will not show me ones that are membership based.
Thank for the updated video, if you touch on charging again can you touch base on possible New EV owners doing research on the Charging curve for cars .
Many a day I read comments on people saying that the chargers not working properly when it’s may not be the case and there trying too get a charge out of a 22KW post and only get 3.5KW . Because there car and Cable are not designed for 22KW AC or even the same comments about DC chargers!.
Just a Thought.
Yes, still a problem, I have covered this before but I think you might be right a new dummy’s guide to charging speed is needed
@@davetakesiton
Morning. Even though I do not have a EV myself I on occasion have the use of my Son’s and so the pleather of Apps and Swipe cards are on my phone and Tablet ( and wallet !).
Plus I made sure I down loaded the User manual for it too so that makes comfortable reading , rather than the rush to find something at the last minute.
I think that App wise ZapMap has started to get better over time , ChargeFinder, ABRP, are a useful as a cross reference tool as well .
I don’t get too do long Journeys with my sons car but we do go on “ long “ runs together to Fairford or Bovington / Isle of Wight.
I have the cards and Apps so that if we share the driving we also share the fuel cost.
Richard.c
Any chance you can look into why ev insurance is going through the roof see a couple of people saying there's has quadrupled
Yes thanks for suggestion it is being investigated, video soon
No doubt that will be the electric vehicle that caused the Luton Airport catastrophe, the other day, bumping up the prices… oops actually that was a diesel wasn’t it? Just price gouging as usual from a for profit financial institution. The same thing happened in America with Tesla’s, so Tesla just brought out their own insurance.
This is not limited to EVs. It applies to everyone, with many I know being at least doubled
I think it is a general insurance problem that any recent car has far more expensive parts, so crash damage is more expensive to repair and as a lot of the parts are still more difficult to source, it takes longer, so higher storage costs and a replacement car for longer, so the cost goes up. Therefore insurance costs go up to cover this. My renewal doubled the cost, so I searched around and found a company that barely changed my cover and offered it for similar to what was paid the previous year.
EV range is a class issue Dave. For people who either can't get credit or can't afford the repayments because of job insecurity for example, buying cheap is the only option. Look at the range of EVs at £5k: around 100 miles range for A roads and maybe 50 miles for motorways. Then look at where they live, and if there are charging hubs in that town. In some northern towns there are just a few rapid chargers, and if they fail you're reliant upon AC charging.
Where I live there's just one working charge point in the town, there's a few other chargers, but they aren't connected to the grid. My daily commute is 60 miles round trip, I don't have access to off road parking so no home charging, the car park where the only working charge point is charges £5 an hour parking on top of the charging cost, it closes at 9pm, I work nights anyway, no charge point at work, only one other charge point in the town on the next motorway junction, don't know whether it's connected to the grid or not
Nice video Dave 👍
I used a Tesla Supercharger for the first time yesterday. So easy to use, and watched the charging progress via the app, sitting inside a coffee shop enjoying a Latte. You can't do that in a petrol station 😂
Perhaps a video on the different type of home EV chargers there are might be worth it.
Hope you're well (Keith).
Thanks Keith Tesla make life so easy. Yes video on home chargers being prepared
Of course, you can do the same with an ICE vehicle.
Fill up the tank..., park the car, and go for a drink.
Not all gas stations have a coffee shop, but that's not a problem. When you're done, you can drive to any coffee shop.
Now, if you want to continue the trip immediately or not, it is (your) the driver's decision.
Comment that this is not possible with ICE vehicle is false.
Why wouldn't it be possible?
If you want to stop for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour... no one will stop you, it's your decision if you want to stop for a while.
I'm not here to argue which one is better, just that you can stop for a while with an ICE vehicle as well. It's the driver's decision...
Have a nice day 🥂
The Leafs ChaDem is bidirectional for V2X. Something CCS doesnt have.
True, Roger, shame it clings to Chademo when that is being phased out.
Very useful video to hopefully win over a few more ev cynics
I charge at Home, but recently did. a long trip and was shocked to see that I had to pay VAT when charging. This just seems wrong.
You pay VAT on electricity at home, admitted only 5%, you paid VAT for petrol and diesel, plus fuel duty. Why so strange to pay VAT on fuel from a public charger?
Good video. But you kept referring to charging your battery to 'full' while you and I know that charging to 100% (full) is not ideal in 'most' cases (planning a long journey is the only time 100% is ideal and obviously certain battery chemistries/types like a 100% charge regularly). Perhaps could have done with dealing with that earlier on/changing the language - a dummy will always charge to full/100% using your guide if they don't listen to the near end. 😉
not quite true. The overwhelming majority of cars now being sold have LFP batteries and they can and usually should be charged to 100%. Their handbooks and on screen guides all say plug in every day and charge to 100%. For them the only time they shouldn't is on a road trip, where charging to 70-80% is better, even for LFP batteries.
You guys have 220v at home, we Americans only have 110v and need to shell out 2k to get the fast chargers
how do you find free charging
Zapmap, Tesla destination charging map, A better route planner, Wattsup, internet, google, AI, an endless list of sources
Hello Dave, 27 months ago I bought a Leaf Plus and was somewhat surprised to hear your advice not to buy one, I have not seen any removal of Chademo sockets on my limited travels, but wonder if Nissan will produce an adapter before too long. I charge at home from a Wallbox unit. keep your ear to the ground for the nice Leaf users please?
I did not say don't buy one, I suggested to potential EV buyers who have no knowledge of charging that this is not the best car to start with and I stick by that. There are staggeringly less Chademo chargers today than CCS2 and Chademo is being phased out and Nissan is no longer installing chademo sockets in their cars. Nice cars, they started the EV revolution way back and still have a value today. I still believe not the best choice for someone who has never driven or owned an EV. BTW new video launching shortly on the used EV market and that will probably be dominated by Leafs.
@@davetakesiton Well if I could turn the clock back I might have chosen a different EV but I got my Leaf for £28.5k when the alternatives were rather more expensive.
@@davetakesiton Hello Dave. Thanks for your clarification. I honestly haven’t found a problem finding Chademo cabinets so far. Anyway I rarely use rapid chargfers. My Leaf is a great car anyway. I am a happy.owner. Keep the good work. AW.
I’m
I’m not opposed to an ev however just not achievable for myself yet, cars are simply too expensive to purchase at the moment. Never spent more than £3000 for a car, maybe by the time I replace my current car Evs will be more accessible
All those electric vehicles, which were new three years ago and rolling of their leases, you will see a lot of vehicles in the market and prices will drop even further than they already have. I am not sure if they will get as low as your budget, but fingers crossed.
If you spend maximum £3k on a replacement car then it may be some time as you will be looking at 10 year old cars and there are not many 10 year old EVs on the market. 5 or 6 years time there will be a lot more choice available and the cost to buy should be down to that sort of price by then.
£3,000 is not really possible but £5,000 is. Watch EVMan (sorry, Dave).
But who would even consider a used EV? Even dealers dont want them
Plug in hybrid is better choice
not for me. Not for the vast majority of motorists. The budget downgraded PHEVs and will in future treat them like ICE for taxation purposes, because they are not good for most people.
But what are the claimed and real advantages of a ev
No tailpipe pollution = no tailpipe pollution
@@davetakesiton But the equivalent amount of pollution in its manufacturing to the total pollution from a petrol car in its first 20 year plus the fuel pollution comes every time you charge it as 75% of electricity comes from none green energy so a ev's pollution is in reality at the plug and not a tailpipe, but it is just the same plus it is using more energy to drag around a one ton battery causing more real pollution.
@@Beaware699Only 40% of UK electricity was produced by gas or coal fired power stations in 2022, and approximately 48% produced by wind, solar, nuclear and hydro, with the rest by biomass, storage and imports. The % of wind and solar serving the national grid is growing all the time. The other point is that tailpipe emissions causing the most concern on air quality for human health reasons are mainly in towns and cities whereas power stations are usually in more remote locations so a lower impact on air quality for the majority of people.
@@johnharvey1786 Sorry but in 2022 only 12% of the electricity produced in the UK was derived from genuine green clean energy.
And as for expanding the charging network to allow for a greater amount of charging, the grid in many areas is at maximum capacity as it is some areas are already having to look at limiting charging at times and are carrying out looking into rotation of charging between areas for a to be decided number of hours at a time.
@@Beaware699 Your figures and comments are completely untrue.
I and many like me cannot afford an EV.
I drive 60 miles a day, 80% of which is motorway driving, I am one who can't charge at home, there's one working charger in the town where I live, one in the next town up, that takes me to work, on one of your previous videos, you mentioned that if your vehicle covers more than 60mpg, it's cheaper to run than the average electric vehicle, the other major issue I have, another UA-cam user told me that I'm a cabbage because I have never had any form of bank card or credit card, again, I work nights, credit card, infrastructure and the price of electric vehicles, at present, I couldn't afford one, (I don't use a technical phone and I have always paid for everything with cash), I don't understand technology I will be honest, being an ugly old fart, I don't have anyone to ask when I don't know what to do.
Unfortunately, everyone seems to think that we all understand technology and use credit cards, you have used many examples that the average working class people can't afford, hotels, (even holidays), being able to afford to go out for a meal or the cinema, the company I work for refused to install charge points, the only supermarket that has charge points, they still haven't been connected to the grid, the local garage (only local garage) that has electric charge points, again, still haven't been connected to the grid, as a paranoid person, I never let my car run below half a tank of fuel, I fill it up every week even though I could do over two weeks worth of driving before refuelling, I'm not picking holes, but hardly anything you mentioned matches up to myself as I would consider myself an average working class person, where I work, the average daily commute for at least 90% of us working in the same area is around 40-60 miles round trip, for many others it's more.
As one other UA-cam user called me a cabbage, I will stick with being a cabbage becau bse, although I am definitely not anti electric vehicles, as I previously mentioned, price, infrastructure and payment methods put me off, and yes, being older I am thick as 5h1t when it comes to technology, I have never been taught and I'm old, but when I have seen the odd charger, they aren't clearly shown, it's just by chance I may see them as I'm driving in the early hours of the day, some large car parks, one inparticular just outside of Bridge north springs to mind, 220 parking spaces, one charger (I only noticed this because I was stopped at a set of temporary traffic lights), I don't even know if it is connected to the grid, there was no sign to say that it was there, no price tariff, just a lone charger, now, as a cabbage, I am going to ask a simple question, where do you find the price of charging? Are the prices regulated in any way? Fuel stations display their prices clearly for everyone to see, do they have to show a price on the charger? You are probably agreeing with the other UA-camr who says that I'm a cabbage, I don't have a problem with that, but as someone who doesn't understand technology, doesn't know how to use a technical phone, doesn't know what ap is, electric vehicles are a very complicated area, my friend who is writing this for me is off back to Japan on Monday, time difference, working routines, I can't just pick up the phone, my neighbours are all older than me, don't use cards or computers, they weren't around when we were young, the issue I find with not just electric vehicles, but clean air taxes, just about everything these days, it's assumed that everyone has a computer and credit card and knows how this all works, sadly we don't, we are the left outs, the cabbages, I know that the government wants us dead and COVID didn't do the trick, but can't they just kill us off or wait a bit longer for the generations that understand these things? I have so many more questions regarding electric vehicles and charging, but you will either think I'm taking the p155, or you'll just ignore me because you think I'm beyond thick
I know of nobody, I repeat nobody who doesn't use tech. Even ex bankrupts are legally entitled to a bank account and contactless debit card. I rather think from the length of your reply that either you expect a special consideration for all industries to cater especially for you and the very few others like you, or, I suspect the real truth is you are just looking for excuses not to go full EV. If that is there case just own up and never buy an EV. The industry will not miss you. Also please stop trying to put us EV drivers off, we will definitely not miss your lies and false info.
@davetakesiton I have nothing against electric vehicles, I have never tried to put down electric vehicles, I'm sorry you think that way, I would love you to visit the street where I live, my neighbours in their 80's and 90's, who don't use technology, when you consider that we are supposed to be cleaning up our planet, another UA-cam electric vehicle evangelist called me a "cabbage" because I still use my 20+ year old Nokia phone which literally makes phone calls, a phone I charge once or twice a week, but yes, because you don't know of anyone who doesn't use technology, does that mean that everyone uses technology apart from me? If so, I am the odd one out on the planet, especially as I have never been taught anything, my use on here is self taught, you're obviously younger than me because, when I left school and college, they never had computers, I remember speaking to a professor back in the 1980's who said that he didn't think computers would ever take off because they're too expensive, there will only need to be a handful of computers throughout the world, and he also called credit cards a passing phase as they were causing too much debt.
You mentioned cards, without a credit trail, you can't get a credit card, I have a bank account, I can't get loans so I could never afford an electric vehicle, I couldn't afford the cheapest internal combustion engined vehicle, I have to pay with cash, I have always used cash, I don't like debt, if I haven't got it in my pocket, I can't spend it, so, as I have mentioned in the past, vehicles are too expensive full stop.
I have criticised the electric vehicle infrastructure I'm not denying that, in the town where I live, there's charge points, but they're not connected to the grid, the only charge point working is in a local car park which is expensive just to park there, I live in the centre of town, I'm not as privileged as you, I haven't got a driveway, I can't afford the luxury of a home with parking, the government are pushing everyone to go electric and they haven't catered for the fact that many of us can't even park near our homes, so I am critical of that side of things, again I apologise for speaking up about things like that
I apologise for offending you and everyone who watches your channel, I will stay away from your channel, again, sorry to you and everyone else I have offended
I'd love to be there when you try to sell your piece of crap and discover it's worthless.
not according to webuyanycar.com, they want it!!!
Not a hope in hell I would buy an EV without being able to charge at home. I would not want to pay the high charging costs. 69 pence as opposed to 7.5 pence at home. May as well stick to petrol its cheaper and more convenient. I charge with a three pin plug, on the lowest possible speed. This way I can get the electric for the whole house from around 7:30 pm to 5:30 am. at 7.5 p Washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, and I even use electric heaters, all night. My combine gas and electric bill has gone from 360 pounds per month to 118 pounds per month and that's including charging my car. You can't do this with public charging. Public charging costs are way more than running a petrol or diesel car.
69p per kWh = 17p per mile same as diesel at 40mpg. What’s the problem?
7.30pm to 5.30am? What tariff is that?!
@@djtaylorutube Economy 7? I'm guessing...... My Octopus tariff is 7.5p per kwh, but that's from 11.30pm until 5.30am. Daytime rate is now within a penny or two of the daytime norm of around 35p per kwh....
But you can reduce public charging costs by subscribing to the charge network you use. My local public charge network's price on a subscription is 38p per kwh......which is a fair bit less than the 69p per kwh you mentioned....
@@Brian-om2hh Well not from 7.30pm :) My economy 7 is the 7 hours, currently from 2:55am to 9:55am and in winter time drops back an hour.
That's why I was curious about a 7.5p rate across such a wide period.
I know how to avoid EV charging problems: don't buy one.
Wow, you're very clever! Did you come up with that all by yourself? ☺️☺️
Pathetic comment. Probably related to Nigel Farrage 🤮🤮🤮🤮
Number one mistake buying an EV.