My youngest son lived in a flat and bought a Tesla. There was a rapid charger just round the corner he used often. He also charge at my house and a friends plus supermarket fast chargers near his office. Note I have three sons, they all have EV's.
Good thoughts Jim. One thing I notice in the UK is that in the car world there's always plenty of people doing down what others have bought or done and saying what they bought and did was obviously better. Its annoying and demoralising.
Do you think it’s envy? I’ve never looked at someone driving past me with an expensive sports car and been envious, I’ve often admired the car or thought ‘mid life crisis’ and I’ll admit seeing a convertible Bentley hit a parked car last summer did make me chuckle. You are right though.
I love my EV and have had EV's for 10 years. I would find it hard to recommend an EV if you haven't got a dedicated parking space to charge your EV. Great video by the way - very informative 👍
Just a simple honest reply I appreciate. I'd love a Tesla but can't home charge and even thought of leasing and just supercharging, but I feel it's a big drawback if you can't home charge due to the costs anyway. Cheers 👍🏻
@@Richard_Barnes I guess it depends on where you go. I don't have home charging, but there is a Tesla Supercharger about a mile away from home. I do about 300 miles a week and charge twice a week. I've never had any issues when I have gone on longer journeys as The navigation in the car will point out the Superchargers on the trip and also will tell me how much range I will have left when I arrive at them.
@@railvlogger1439 Our nearest is only like 4 miles away at the Tesla showroom. I travel for V-Power E5 fuel anyway so that wouldn't bother me. Realistically I'd be charging no more than you but it would all be supercharging though. Can't see me even bothering free slow chargers unless I was staying overnight. 👍🏻
Thank you! I totally agree with you! That is the biggest reason holding me back of getting a BEV (Tesla). I live in a flat in tower block dev without any chargers in the residential car park. Plenty on the streets around BUT quite pricy plus the fact that all are time restricted for and hour or two and have to move the car. While Spring / Summer time might be OK I do not fancy moving the car in Autumn / Winter cold and rainy wether just because of the restricted time on the public charges.
I love your honesty and practicality, I got an leased Ev based on your recommendation and also switched my pre existing octopus tariff to the octopus Go based on your advice …Got an Andersen home charger and it does the job. Thanks Jim for the brilliant videos.
Local councils should provide free parking overnight in car parks and install 7/11kwh chargers. Home charging at 7.5p is so compelling that I can't see how an EV would makes sense if you don't have cheap charging option
They still make sense, it is just at 7.5p they make a stupid amount of sense. I know of a few chargers at 30p. I do about 4.5 miles per KW. So that is under 7p per mile. One of my friends has just got a Toyota Aygo 1 litre thing, it has to have super unleaded and his local stop start driving is using 35 mpg. At £1.55 a litre he is spending 20p per mile. If my EV was in that stop start traffic my miles per KW would go up so I would be around 6p per mile if I had to pay 30p per kw. Even if I used an expensive 79p per kw rapid charger only I'd still be spending less than him. But at 7.5p per kw, my 16 miles today cost me a grand total of 26p all in.
There are companies now that make a device which gets installed in a pavement which you just run your cable through. About £1500 to £2000. Councils should be doing deals with these companies to lower the costs. You need permission anyway.
Great advice, and another good video. I did approx. 12 months of research before deciding it was definitely the right time to change over to an EV. I not only checked the monthly PCP payments and possible savings against fuel, but I also did insurance quotes (you can do them via Compare the Market on AutoTrader), servicing costs and the estimated cost over the following 3 years to show we could save over £1200. We recently looked into replacing our current EV with something a bit more modern, and again, I did insurance quotes and servicing costs and we decided now wasn't the time mainly due to increase in insurance. But, we did the same research and found the same results with our previous petrol and diesel cars. I've always done extensive research before committing to a purchase as it's a very expensive mistake to make if you get it wrong.
Another great, impartial video. You didn’t mention the cost of public charging that people without a driveway need to be aware of. 75p per kwh compared to 7.5p seems unfair especially as the people without a driveway are the ones for whom cheap motoring would possibly benefit the most. We need more chargers and cheaper chargers. At current prices, it’s more expensive per mile than petrol to public charge and that obviously needs to change.
If you have no option but to use public charging, then taking out a subscription to the network you use can offer savings. I understand the Ionity Passport can get the 75p per kwh cost down to around 50p, although I haven't been able to verify this.... My local charge network - Charge My Street - charges from 43p to 38p per kwh depending which of the 3 subscription rates you use that they offer.... Charge My Street are only operating in North Lancashire and Cumbria at the moment......
Domestic electricity has a 5% VAT charge to keep the cost of living down. Owning a £40,000 EV means you have good finances so should pay the full 20% VAT. This will have to become the case if VAT revenue drops for petrol. .
I have no home charger but a neighbour opposite does. My house front garden has no room for a parking space. He allows me to use his and we've never had a conflict. Otherwise I have 6 low powered chargers on lamp posts within 10 minutes walk of home. This seems pretty usual in London where front gardens are often small. Also, as the car is a Tesla, I am lucky to have a whole bank of Superchargers within 15minutes drive away. Only use the supercharger when it's urgent.Richard Insurance is eye watering at the moment, so I will spend time to shop around this year.
Here on the Wirral we have council installed chargers on lamp posts but as you say the parking is not reserved for ev. I’m lucky as I have a Tesla supercharger about 7 miles from me and I’ve subscribed so it’s 40p kWh. InstaVolt are 85p so mega expensive. I’m probably daft but I can’t have charger at home (I live on the 11th floor!) but pick my new one up tomorrow and feel like a kid at Christmas!
I only charge my car when the sun is on my solar panels using a 13 amp plug. This is because I do a low annual mileage and the only time I tried a public charger was at Asda but it did not appear to put much of a charge in. The money I receive for my solar panels more than covers my electricity bills.
I think it's worth mentioning charging at home without having a home charger which is my situation and has worked really great. Octopus gives you 6 hours of guaranteed low tariff rate but any time they schedule a charge you also get the cheaper rate for the whole house/flat. Basically charging slowly helps me save on electricity and I can still easily charge 120 miles in a night. I find that I wake up every morning with around 80%. Having a home charger would actually increase the average cost of my electricity.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru Yes, just the normal 3 pin plug charging at 2kW or 8 miles per hour. When I request a plan I almost always get near to the required charge even if it takes 12 hours or more all of it charged at 7.5p/kWh. It's more than enough for my needs, specially living in greater London with lots of 20 and 30 mph speed limits. When I go on a trip I start on a full charge, sometimes go down to Kent for a weekend and still don't need to charge and arrive back home with around 10%, over the next two days I'm back at full charge long before the next weekend. If I go a bit further away I top-up at a Tesla Superchager to arrive back home with around 10%.
Thanks for this. I was trying to find out whether the 7.5 rate also applies to the house consumption when charging the car. I'm still not sure though. Currently on tracker tariff and the day rate on intelligent is higher enough to mean the bill overall is likely to be higher.
@@tubularG I've been looking at my itemised per hour electricity bills for the last 6 months. What happens is that if you let Octopus control the charging ( basically it's best not to use a smart home charger and just plug to the 3 pin wall socket ), then, every time Octopus gives you a charging plan and the car is charging, you get the cheaper rate for the whole house. Although not guaranteed, from my experience, almost every time you get almost all the time requested even if it's 10 or 12 hours, of course it helps a lot when you're charging slowly otherwise you'd reach the requested percentage of charge very quickly. This is with a Tesla Model 3, it's probably different for other brands. For someone that requires a much faster rate of charging, you can install a 32A wall socket, charge 3 times faster and still not need a home charger. Things can change though, I think the Ford Mach E just lost the ability of being controlled by Octopus so when buying an EV you should always have a plan B. Even if you were charging at a day rate of 31p/kWh, it would cost you less than 8p/mile, roughly half the cost of a petrol car. My plan C was to charge at a Tesla Supercharger 1 mile away from my home at off-peak rate of around 29p/kWh. Luckily for me plan A worked really well costing me 2p/mile while at the same time saving in electricity cost for running appliances and heating water.
I do about 180 miles a week and I dont have a charger but I do have an outside socket so I used that and get about 60 miles charge overnight. Not sure what the long term implications are though.
I leased a Tesla Model 3 about 18 months ago, and as I live in a flat I rely on the public charging network. Luckily I pass by a Tesla Supercharger on the way to work. I do a 40 mile round trip and charge twice a week. On another subject I cant find your video on the black wheel trims you bought. I want to get some, as I lost one of my standard wheel trims, I think while driving through a flood. If you can send me the link, that would be great. Merry Christmas
Connected Kerb are spreading all over the country now. Lots in the midlands and South Wales. Just so happens the one in the village I visited at the weekend in St Athan seemed to be the only one not working! Blooming typical. Thank you Tesla for opening the Celtic Manor super charges to non Tesla’s. Saved getting the extension lead out at my mums house.
I'm using a granny charger at home due to old electricity supply at front of terrace, vehicle at rear. Also charge whilst shopping at Lidl, or having a meal at a pub, so I could easily do without a home charger, it just costs a bit more. Plus look at Coventry, street charger central.
I had my EV about 2 weeks whilst waiting for the charger to be installed. What a pain in the arris that was. Not to mention the cost. About 18 quid to charge compared to about 2.50 at home.
Im seriously tempted get a Corsa e considering how much they have dropped as we have chargers at work. And i could probably do a cheeky charge at home now and again. Costing £40-50 a week in fuel and it's getting on my nerves. Do less than 200 miles per week.
Our neighbour down the road doesnt have off street parking, and they bought a 2021 Peugeot 2008 EV 3 weeks ago. He is now going to sell it to buy an older self charging hybrid as he has a 30 min each way walk to tesco to charge for 3 hours at a time. Meanwhile we have a drive and ohme wall charger and a 2024 kona EV and cant see us going back to ice any year soon.
I have an A250e with no home charger considering switching to Tesla, a solution to ppl parking in instavolt charge is to have some sort of bollard infront that sinks into the ground until the vehicle leaves. 6:15
So im in my own orivate apartment in the uk with my own private owned parking place in a culdesac. The space is across the road and walled which i own and i have no idea where to start with this because im happy to get an ev
@DefinitelyNotAGuru or I bite the bullet and tesla fast charge and public charge when I need I guess. I really want one and it's head over heart at present
I’m getting an ioniq5 in the next couple of weeks but as we are moving in next up to 6 months so going to wait before getting a home charger fitted. I can park on drive and we have an outside socket so hoping the granny charger will suffice just worried when you hear loads of scare stories about the safety of them
@@DefinitelyNotAGuruI ordered through motability so they provide an ohme charger, just trying to put them off until I’ve moved lol. I’m just hoping it doesn’t work out to be too expensive using public chargers in the mean time
A friend at work bought an Enyaq without getting a home charger. Our office have a limited number of charging points but they are free to use (for now) hes now done 1200 miles without paying a penny! Its great if you can get it to work for you.
I work for the NHS in Plymouth, we have 1x 22Kw chargepoint at our site. This used to be free for many years until last month, where they now charge 55p per KwH.
Thanks, got to agree 100%, life would be very difficult and expensive without a home charger. Yes of course it can be donebut even though I am very keen on EVs I would not recommend one to people without home chargers. On the subject of home chargers, I have been driving an EV for 10 years and was lucky enough to get a free unit courtesy of UK Gov, but it was very basic and my new smart unit will integrate with the very cheap smart tariffs available and with solar panels and with other home tech.
I live in a flat and can’t have a home charger. Generally I don’t now have problems charging at public chargers. The only issue at present can be super high price of electricity at public chargers. Luckily i have found chargers that cost between 30 -50p kWh fairly locally. I live near Manchester so generally the public and on street charging network isn’t anything like the so called London and Home Counties. We get totally ignored by the on street lamp post systems. I expect tesla will introduce competition on public chargers. When i travel to Europe EV charging is much cheaper than UK.
I used Octopus Energy to install my charger. I opted for one without any cable, so that I could purchase my own longer cable. The installation was more expensive than the one with a cable. It cost me £1,100.. I have also just renewed my EV policy. It jumped from £405 to £439..!! Not really such an expensive jump.
EV cars replacing ICE cars was/is a great idea, but the government (in the UK) need to pull their socks up. Car manufacturers have poured billions into developing cars that can replace ICE cars, and the general population are accepting the change. Most concerns with the people I speak to about changing to EV are regarding availability, convenience and cost (without a home charger) of charging. My home insurance refuse to cover charging cables that are outside my home boundary and my local council won't allow any alterations to accommodate charging from my home without public liability cover, so I imagine a lot of people will have to take out separate public liability insurance to cover across/under pavement cables. I feel the UK in it's current state is like the lightbulb has been invented before electricity has been supplies to households, and the government is wondering why people aren't buying lightbulbs (obviously light bulbs are a fire risk too, I'll stick with my candles 🤣). I'm dropping my car in for a service tomorrow and will probably get an EV courtesy car (my first ever drive in a full EV), but I won't have the choice of owning an EV until the country leaders develop brains.
What is the problem with using a public charging station as and when required, no harder really than going to a nearby petrol station when required to fill up a ICE vehicle. In North Manchester the only option for 90% of people is using public charging due to living in tower blocks(like me) in private rented accommodation etc. Manchester City Council hate car drivers either ICE or EV so no chance of them installing more charging stations
Can anyone give me a definitive answer to using a cable plugged in to a normal domestic 13 amp socket outlet. Some people on UA-cam claim it's an option, although a very slow one. Others say a 13 amp socket outlet is not rated for 10 amps or so, for extended periods and may pose a fire risk. Also, how would your home insurance company view this option?
I'd ask an electrician if I were you. You certainly don;t want to use one on a normal extension cable but aside from that I'm not the person to ask. Your insurers would simply expect you to use things properly, you don;t need to tell them you're plugging a car in but they expect your home electrics to be up to snuff.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru Thanks for that. I know that socket outlets are available which carry a EV mark, meaning they are rated for continuous use and are capable of dissipating the heat, but if an EV comes with a Granny Cable, then will be tempted to use this method of changing as a permanent solution irrespective of the condition of their home electrics. I can see some issues around this coming down the track.
Don't lose sight of the fact that we're basically just 10 years or so into mainstream EV use. The petrol station infrastructure probably wasn't too good after just ten years or so after the motor car hit the road either.....
No charger at home or possible though neighbours trail wires across the pavements (brick pavements). The county council produced document on EV planning mapping out plans to add more chargers to public car parks as street level wasn't readily possible for many. Good thinking but then the newly added chargers I see, 7kw, charge 88p/Kw. Councils are strapped for cash and while these chargers aren't used much, so aren't a cash cow, at least provision isn't a further drain on resources. This has to work better for non home charging EV people.
I have an EV charging point in a stanchion in the pavement opposite my terraced house. A number of residents in the street objected to this charge point being installed, but, needless to say, the Council ignored them and went ahead with it. Only one person in the street owns an EV and this charge point is right outside her house (which is probably why she swapped her Merc SUV for a MGEV!). The space in front of the stanchion is marked as EVs only, but this doesn't seem to stop non ICE owners from parking in it! It is also quite expensive. As I understand it anyone from any street is entitled to use this point, but the stipulation is that the car can only be parked in the space while it is being charged, and should be moved once charged, so that more or less counts out charging it overnight, for example. In short, these types of charge points are A. Annoying because they take up a much needed parking space, B. Totally pointless because they are not really the answer to this problem.
I agree with you, if you currently don’t have a drive too charge on and you do more mileage per week than the car can do. Just stick with your ICE for now. But I am also cheap and lazy. Also the public charging infrastructure is far too expensive if they were charging around 35-40p per kw might be different. Maybe that’s why Teslas are so popular. There chargers are the cheapest currently, if you own a Tesla.
My local public charge network does. They charge from 38p to 43p per kwh, depending which of the 3 subscription rates you use that they offer..... Not as cheap as home charging of course, but still way cheaper than using petrol...
I asked my housing association (new build small block of flats) about installing a charger by my designated parking bay after I started my new job, which came with an Audi E-Tron as a company car. I was told categorically no. When I pushed them on why, the response was shocking! (see what I did there?) they had NO policy on providing EV parking either on new build property or retrofitting to existing. I then told them I wasn’t looking for them to pay for it and that I was more than happy to fund the installation myself. Still no. The building is coming up to being 5 yrs old and as a national housing association, they have zero provision for EV’s now the future. Where was the legislation from government to help get us into EV’s? As ever a great idea poorly implemented.
I looked at the electric Kona, I don’t have the ability to have a home charger so did some research. A 103 mile top up on a public charger will cost over £17 (16.9p per mile). I get 55-60mpg from my current Kona hybrid. I think it stated home charging if possible would have been £7
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru Yeah, this was a zap map estimate. It’s just a shame I can’t have a charger fitted. The big shock was the public charging costs which do seem to be increasing rapidly.
Currently going trough the fighting motions with my local council to have a gulley or the likes here in Stockport, they are having none of it and are basically saying they are only installing public charging for people with no access to home charging, we all know that public charging alone isn't the complete picture and will not work.. but hey, I cant believe I'm fighting my local council for this! willing to spend money etc.. Its making owning electric cars way more expensive than the combustion engine variant at the moment.. ill be getting my first EV soon - eyes open to the fact that ill be having to public charge but the research I've been doing.. its not the best picture :( maybe its the north west and things are better elsewhere..
I would rephrase your statement that I wouldn’t get an EV without an access to a free/cheap charger. I’m just getting an EV, I don’t have a home charger, but I do have access to a free charger at the office, where I’m typically 2-3 times a week. This should be absolutely fine, or so I hope 😂
Some quick quotes and I'm looking at over £1,100 with massive £800 excesses or even more on some of them. That's £700 more than my S3 now which for me, equates to 2,800 miles of driving my S3, so yeh for now I'll pass. Realistically I think I'd lease one anyway... Cheers for the info 👍🏻😄
I agree that I would find it hard to use an EV without being able to charge at home. I used Utley EV based near Wetherby for our Easee One Charger who did a great job. No I don't work for them and don't get paid by them. We have 6 7kw Pod Point Changers in our village. 45p per KWH and limited to 3 hours as they are in a supermarket car park! Our nearest working rapid charger appears to be at a service station on the A1
Depends where you live maybe but I completely disagree. There are plenty of very good smart chargers available for a grand or less fully installed mate - shop around maybe
Many times I have posted comments which echo yours about using an EV when I couldn't charge at home saying it is virtually impossible to use public chargers all the time. I get much abuse!! As for the across the pavement idea this is a non starter because if you have to park on the road it is very likely that the space you find when you come home is NOT outside your house. I have heard of people who have to get a lift from a public charger to get home then be taken there when the car is charged! -usually in an ICE car!!
Using public chargers is fine on occasion and when you’re doing long trips. Using them as the only way you fuel your car seems like a royal pain in the arse to me.
DNAG you said "People who cant have a home charger are in the vast majority". This is simply incorrect. Aprox 70% of houses *with cars* have a private parking space and so could charge at home. (source, RAC) Of course it doesnt take away from how to charge if you are one of the 30% , but then again 100% of ICE owners are unable to refuel at home and that didnt stop ICE cars becoming popular. As the major supermarkets roll out charging (Sainsburys, 1,000 *this year* for example) this will likely become a major place for the 30% because I suspect most of these have access to a supermarket.
Thanks for correcting me with the RAC stat. So what I should have said was that 30% of the country will have to pay 5-10 times more to charge their cars than the other 70%. You will struggle to convert those who are forced into paying 40-90p per kwh. I'm an EV owner and EV fan, I even present an EV podcast - but I'm also a realist.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru agreed, but it is a key point that there is no barrier for 70%. But yes we need action to enable those who can't charge at home to charge at better rates, at least at this approaching petrol equivalence. From memory thats around 40p kWh.. I suspect the likes of Sainsbury's etc are currently 2x that. But, 40p or less is available on the Tesla SC network at some times already. So this is not an unrealistic goal.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru true but given that ICE owners will queue for ages just to save 10p a litre (been to a Costco lately?) then a price that's say 1/2 petrol even if not the full max cheaper rate you can get would still be a deal. (and amazingly apparently only a minority of EV users are on cheap overnight tariffs)
I disagree and I have literally thousands of comments from viewers that say it’s the biggest single factor in why they don’t have an EV (live in a flat or a terrace etc). People have other concerns about EV (often fuelled by media BS) but add not being able to charge at home into the mix and it’s a turn off. That’s just the way it is.
Basically if you haven't got a driveway and the money to buy the car etc then it's a waste of time. From a brief bit of research around 40% of households haven't off street parking, add to that second or third cars that can't get of the road despite having a drive then we could be talking half the motoring population. So EV market has ultimately lost half it's business model, who's gonna invest in the mass instillation of public chargers with figures in mind if we're seriously going to make the switch? Even if they started on it now it'll take years, your EV will be old by then and you'll of spent all that time messing about, especially on long journeys.
As I said in the video I wouldn't have an EV without a home charger to be fair (yes I have one), public charging is nowhere near as bad as some UA-camrs make out but I'd hate to use it regularly and cost and convenience of charging at home makes it for long journeys only. Horses for courses.
Home charging cheap for now! Amazing how they can give cheap Electricity to charge your car but rip you off for house use Electricity! Once they get more people on EVs, good luck, will be 100% more expensive
My neighbour charges at work for free and I am so jealous. Fantastic perk If this isn't an option and you can't charge at home EV's aren't currently viable
If you're an EV owner and are wondering how you can spend less time at charging stations and more time on the road, it's quite simple. Sell it and buy a gasoline or diesel powered car. 🚗
First thing anyone should know about EV, they burn power 24/7...whether you use them or not....tending the battery will consume 25 to 30 miles of range every single day. Picture it like an Ice car that leaks a half a gallon of gas, every day....all year....then multiply that times a few million EV and your spilling out millions and millions of "Fuel" daily that none of the EV enthusiast want to consider. Do not think any Mpge is close to accurate, because those are all pipedreams compared to reality.
I just left my car near Heathrow for 6 days in cold weather, snow for a couple of the days - it lost 2 miles of range during that time. I honestly have no idea how you came up with your numbers but you're wrong.
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My youngest son lived in a flat and bought a Tesla. There was a rapid charger just round the corner he used often. He also charge at my house and a friends plus supermarket fast chargers near his office. Note I have three sons, they all have EV's.
Obviously neither as cheap or lazy as me 😂
Good thoughts Jim. One thing I notice in the UK is that in the car world there's always plenty of people doing down what others have bought or done and saying what they bought and did was obviously better. Its annoying and demoralising.
True 👍
Do you think it’s envy? I’ve never looked at someone driving past me with an expensive sports car and been envious, I’ve often admired the car or thought ‘mid life crisis’ and I’ll admit seeing a convertible Bentley hit a parked car last summer did make me chuckle. You are right though.
I love my EV and have had EV's for 10 years.
I would find it hard to recommend an EV if you haven't got a dedicated parking space to charge your EV.
Great video by the way - very informative 👍
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Just a simple honest reply I appreciate. I'd love a Tesla but can't home charge and even thought of leasing and just supercharging, but I feel it's a big drawback if you can't home charge due to the costs anyway. Cheers 👍🏻
@@Richard_Barnes I guess it depends on where you go. I don't have home charging, but there is a Tesla Supercharger about a mile away from home. I do about 300 miles a week and charge twice a week. I've never had any issues when I have gone on longer journeys as The navigation in the car will point out the Superchargers on the trip and also will tell me how much range I will have left when I arrive at them.
@@railvlogger1439 Our nearest is only like 4 miles away at the Tesla showroom. I travel for V-Power E5 fuel anyway so that wouldn't bother me. Realistically I'd be charging no more than you but it would all be supercharging though. Can't see me even bothering free slow chargers unless I was staying overnight. 👍🏻
Can I ask, how many EVs you had in 10 year's
Thank you! I totally agree with you! That is the biggest reason holding me back of getting a BEV (Tesla). I live in a flat in tower block dev without any chargers in the residential car park. Plenty on the streets around BUT quite pricy plus the fact that all are time restricted for and hour or two and have to move the car. While Spring / Summer time might be OK I do not fancy moving the car in Autumn / Winter cold and rainy wether just because of the restricted time on the public charges.
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I love your honesty and practicality, I got an leased Ev based on your recommendation and also switched my pre existing octopus tariff to the octopus Go based on your advice …Got an Andersen home charger and it does the job. Thanks Jim for the brilliant videos.
Those Andersen units are lovely looking things 👍
Local councils should provide free parking overnight in car parks and install 7/11kwh chargers. Home charging at 7.5p is so compelling that I can't see how an EV would makes sense if you don't have cheap charging option
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That would definitely see a increase in ownership I think as I am stuck want one but to sceptical with not being able to home charge
They still make sense, it is just at 7.5p they make a stupid amount of sense. I know of a few chargers at 30p. I do about 4.5 miles per KW. So that is under 7p per mile. One of my friends has just got a Toyota Aygo 1 litre thing, it has to have super unleaded and his local stop start driving is using 35 mpg. At £1.55 a litre he is spending 20p per mile. If my EV was in that stop start traffic my miles per KW would go up so I would be around 6p per mile if I had to pay 30p per kw. Even if I used an expensive 79p per kw rapid charger only I'd still be spending less than him. But at 7.5p per kw, my 16 miles today cost me a grand total of 26p all in.
There are companies now that make a device which gets installed in a pavement which you just run your cable through. About £1500 to £2000. Councils should be doing deals with these companies to lower the costs. You need permission anyway.
Very interesting, and fairminded as usual. Thanks Jim, have a great Christmas!
You too Maurice 👍
Great advice, and another good video. I did approx. 12 months of research before deciding it was definitely the right time to change over to an EV. I not only checked the monthly PCP payments and possible savings against fuel, but I also did insurance quotes (you can do them via Compare the Market on AutoTrader), servicing costs and the estimated cost over the following 3 years to show we could save over £1200.
We recently looked into replacing our current EV with something a bit more modern, and again, I did insurance quotes and servicing costs and we decided now wasn't the time mainly due to increase in insurance. But, we did the same research and found the same results with our previous petrol and diesel cars. I've always done extensive research before committing to a purchase as it's a very expensive mistake to make if you get it wrong.
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Another great, impartial video. You didn’t mention the cost of public charging that people without a driveway need to be aware of. 75p per kwh compared to 7.5p seems unfair especially as the people without a driveway are the ones for whom cheap motoring would possibly benefit the most. We need more chargers and cheaper chargers. At current prices, it’s more expensive per mile than petrol to public charge and that obviously needs to change.
Yes, fast charger are crazy expensive in some places, lucky for me Tesla chargers are much friendlier for me (although I’ve used one twice I think)
If you have no option but to use public charging, then taking out a subscription to the network you use can offer savings. I understand the Ionity Passport can get the 75p per kwh cost down to around 50p, although I haven't been able to verify this.... My local charge network - Charge My Street - charges from 43p to 38p per kwh depending which of the 3 subscription rates you use that they offer.... Charge My Street are only operating in North Lancashire and Cumbria at the moment......
Domestic electricity has a 5% VAT charge to keep the cost of living down. Owning a £40,000 EV means you have good finances so should pay the full 20% VAT. This will have to become the case if VAT revenue drops for petrol.
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I have no home charger but a neighbour opposite does. My house front garden has no room for a parking space. He allows me to use his and we've never had a conflict. Otherwise I have 6 low powered chargers on lamp posts within 10 minutes walk of home. This seems pretty usual in London where front gardens are often small.
Also, as the car is a Tesla, I am lucky to have a whole bank of Superchargers within 15minutes drive away. Only use the supercharger when it's urgent.Richard
Insurance is eye watering at the moment, so I will spend time to shop around this year.
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Here on the Wirral we have council installed chargers on lamp posts but as you say the parking is not reserved for ev. I’m lucky as I have a Tesla supercharger about 7 miles from me and I’ve subscribed so it’s 40p kWh. InstaVolt are 85p so mega expensive. I’m probably daft but I can’t have charger at home (I live on the 11th floor!) but pick my new one up tomorrow and feel like a kid at Christmas!
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Thanks for your video. I found it very helpful.😊
I'm so glad!
I only charge my car when the sun is on my solar panels using a 13 amp plug. This is because I do a low annual mileage and the only time I tried a public charger was at Asda but it did not appear to put much of a charge in. The money I receive for my solar panels more than covers my electricity bills.
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I think it's worth mentioning charging at home without having a home charger which is my situation and has worked really great. Octopus gives you 6 hours of guaranteed low tariff rate but any time they schedule a charge you also get the cheaper rate for the whole house/flat. Basically charging slowly helps me save on electricity and I can still easily charge 120 miles in a night. I find that I wake up every morning with around 80%. Having a home charger would actually increase the average cost of my electricity.
With a 3 pin plug charger you mean? Yes, great 👍
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Yes, just the normal 3 pin plug charging at 2kW or 8 miles per hour. When I request a plan I almost always get near to the required charge even if it takes 12 hours or more all of it charged at 7.5p/kWh. It's more than enough for my needs, specially living in greater London with lots of 20 and 30 mph speed limits. When I go on a trip I start on a full charge, sometimes go down to Kent for a weekend and still don't need to charge and arrive back home with around 10%, over the next two days I'm back at full charge long before the next weekend. If I go a bit further away I top-up at a Tesla Superchager to arrive back home with around 10%.
Thanks for this. I was trying to find out whether the 7.5 rate also applies to the house consumption when charging the car.
I'm still not sure though. Currently on tracker tariff and the day rate on intelligent is higher enough to mean the bill overall is likely to be higher.
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I've been looking at my itemised per hour electricity bills for the last 6 months. What happens is that if you let Octopus control the charging ( basically it's best not to use a smart home charger and just plug to the 3 pin wall socket ), then, every time Octopus gives you a charging plan and the car is charging, you get the cheaper rate for the whole house. Although not guaranteed, from my experience, almost every time you get almost all the time requested even if it's 10 or 12 hours, of course it helps a lot when you're charging slowly otherwise you'd reach the requested percentage of charge very quickly. This is with a Tesla Model 3, it's probably different for other brands. For someone that requires a much faster rate of charging, you can install a 32A wall socket, charge 3 times faster and still not need a home charger. Things can change though, I think the Ford Mach E just lost the ability of being controlled by Octopus so when buying an EV you should always have a plan B. Even if you were charging at a day rate of 31p/kWh, it would cost you less than 8p/mile, roughly half the cost of a petrol car. My plan C was to charge at a Tesla Supercharger 1 mile away from my home at off-peak rate of around 29p/kWh. Luckily for me plan A worked really well costing me 2p/mile while at the same time saving in electricity cost for running appliances and heating water.
I do about 180 miles a week and I dont have a charger but I do have an outside socket so I used that and get about 60 miles charge overnight. Not sure what the long term implications are though.
it's the slowest form of charging so shouldn't be causing any harm.
I leased a Tesla Model 3 about 18 months ago, and as I live in a flat I rely on the public charging network. Luckily I pass by a Tesla Supercharger on the way to work. I do a 40 mile round trip and charge twice a week.
On another subject I cant find your video on the black wheel trims you bought. I want to get some, as I lost one of my standard wheel trims, I think while driving through a flood. If you can send me the link, that would be great. Merry Christmas
It’s coming out on 29th December mate. They look great in my opinion.
tinyurl.com/evbase15 (USE CODE Jim15 FOR 15% OFF THE SITE!)
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru Thanks, just ordered them with the ' Tesla' centre caps thrown in. BARGAIN.
@@railvlogger1439 I didn’t get the centre caps with mine, it would certainly finish them off
Connected Kerb are spreading all over the country now. Lots in the midlands and South Wales. Just so happens the one in the village I visited at the weekend in St Athan seemed to be the only one not working! Blooming typical. Thank you Tesla for opening the Celtic Manor super charges to non Tesla’s. Saved getting the extension lead out at my mums house.
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I'm using a granny charger at home due to old electricity supply at front of terrace, vehicle at rear. Also charge whilst shopping at Lidl, or having a meal at a pub, so I could easily do without a home charger, it just costs a bit more. Plus look at Coventry, street charger central.
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👍👍👍 .Thanks Jim. Christmas wishes to you and your family 🤗
Same to you mate, have a good one 👍
Completely agree,‘I wouldn’t get an EV without having a home charger either, especially living up north
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I had my EV about 2 weeks whilst waiting for the charger to be installed. What a pain in the arris that was. Not to mention the cost. About 18 quid to charge compared to about 2.50 at home.
I feel your pain, that used to be me with the review cars before I had a home charger.
Im seriously tempted get a Corsa e considering how much they have dropped as we have chargers at work. And i could probably do a cheeky charge at home now and again. Costing £40-50 a week in fuel and it's getting on my nerves. Do less than 200 miles per week.
Might not be a bad shout mate
Our neighbour down the road doesnt have off street parking, and they bought a 2021 Peugeot 2008 EV 3 weeks ago.
He is now going to sell it to buy an older self charging hybrid as he has a 30 min each way walk to tesco to charge for 3 hours at a time.
Meanwhile we have a drive and ohme wall charger and a 2024 kona EV and cant see us going back to ice any year soon.
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I have an A250e with no home charger considering switching to Tesla, a solution to ppl parking in instavolt charge is to have some sort of bollard infront that sinks into the ground until the vehicle leaves. 6:15
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Very impressed by your videos by the way.
I appreciate that mate, thank you
So im in my own orivate apartment in the uk with my own private owned parking place in a culdesac. The space is across the road and walled which i own and i have no idea where to start with this because im happy to get an ev
Sounds like it’s going to be problematic
@DefinitelyNotAGuru or I bite the bullet and tesla fast charge and public charge when I need I guess. I really want one and it's head over heart at present
Cheers Jim, I always presumed it was mega expensive charging from home. Apparently not 😂
Dirt cheap overnight on a decent tariff. Circa 7.5p kWh vs 30p during the day.
I’m getting an ioniq5 in the next couple of weeks but as we are moving in next up to 6 months so going to wait before getting a home charger fitted. I can park on drive and we have an outside socket so hoping the granny charger will suffice just worried when you hear loads of scare stories about the safety of them
I just had an OHME installed within a couple of weeks and I just launched a video about it
@@DefinitelyNotAGuruI ordered through motability so they provide an ohme charger, just trying to put them off until I’ve moved lol. I’m just hoping it doesn’t work out to be too expensive using public chargers in the mean time
A friend at work bought an Enyaq without getting a home charger. Our office have a limited number of charging points but they are free to use (for now) hes now done 1200 miles without paying a penny! Its great if you can get it to work for you.
Great perk eh!
I work for the NHS in Plymouth, we have 1x 22Kw chargepoint at our site. This used to be free for many years until last month, where they now charge 55p per KwH.
Thanks, got to agree 100%, life would be very difficult and expensive without a home charger. Yes of course it can be donebut even though I am very keen on EVs I would not recommend one to people without home chargers.
On the subject of home chargers, I have been driving an EV for 10 years and was lucky enough to get a free unit courtesy of UK Gov, but it was very basic and my new smart unit will integrate with the very cheap smart tariffs available and with solar panels and with other home tech.
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I live in a flat and can’t have a home charger. Generally I don’t now have problems charging at public chargers. The only issue at present can be super high price of electricity at public chargers.
Luckily i have found chargers that cost between 30 -50p kWh fairly locally.
I live near Manchester so generally the public and on street charging network isn’t anything like the so called London and Home Counties. We get totally ignored by the on street lamp post systems.
I expect tesla will introduce competition on public chargers.
When i travel to Europe EV charging is much cheaper than UK.
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I used Octopus Energy to install my charger. I opted for one without any cable, so that I could purchase my own longer cable. The installation was more expensive than the one with a cable. It cost me £1,100.. I have also just renewed my EV policy. It jumped from £405 to £439..!! Not really such an expensive jump.
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EV cars replacing ICE cars was/is a great idea, but the government (in the UK) need to pull their socks up. Car manufacturers have poured billions into developing cars that can replace ICE cars, and the general population are accepting the change. Most concerns with the people I speak to about changing to EV are regarding availability, convenience and cost (without a home charger) of charging. My home insurance refuse to cover charging cables that are outside my home boundary and my local council won't allow any alterations to accommodate charging from my home without public liability cover, so I imagine a lot of people will have to take out separate public liability insurance to cover across/under pavement cables. I feel the UK in it's current state is like the lightbulb has been invented before electricity has been supplies to households, and the government is wondering why people aren't buying lightbulbs (obviously light bulbs are a fire risk too, I'll stick with my candles 🤣). I'm dropping my car in for a service tomorrow and will probably get an EV courtesy car (my first ever drive in a full EV), but I won't have the choice of owning an EV until the country leaders develop brains.
Fair enough mate 👍👍
What is the problem with using a public charging station as and when required, no harder really than going to a nearby petrol station when required to fill up a ICE vehicle. In North Manchester the only option for 90% of people is using public charging due to living in tower blocks(like me) in private rented accommodation etc. Manchester City Council hate car drivers either ICE or EV so no chance of them installing more charging stations
It costs 10x more and is way less convenient
Can anyone give me a definitive answer to using a cable plugged in to a normal domestic 13 amp socket outlet. Some people on UA-cam claim it's an option, although a very slow one. Others say a 13 amp socket outlet is not rated for 10 amps or so, for extended periods and may pose a fire risk. Also, how would your home insurance company view this option?
I'd ask an electrician if I were you. You certainly don;t want to use one on a normal extension cable but aside from that I'm not the person to ask. Your insurers would simply expect you to use things properly, you don;t need to tell them you're plugging a car in but they expect your home electrics to be up to snuff.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru Thanks for that. I know that socket outlets are available which carry a EV mark, meaning they are rated for continuous use and are capable of dissipating the heat, but if an EV comes with a Granny Cable, then will be tempted to use this method of changing as a permanent solution irrespective of the condition of their home electrics. I can see some issues around this coming down the track.
😊 informative as usual....goes to show we still have a long way to go !
Yes we do
Don't lose sight of the fact that we're basically just 10 years or so into mainstream EV use. The petrol station infrastructure probably wasn't too good after just ten years or so after the motor car hit the road either.....
No charger at home or possible though neighbours trail wires across the pavements (brick pavements). The county council produced document on EV planning mapping out plans to add more chargers to public car parks as street level wasn't readily possible for many. Good thinking but then the newly added chargers I see, 7kw, charge 88p/Kw. Councils are strapped for cash and while these chargers aren't used much, so aren't a cash cow, at least provision isn't a further drain on resources. This has to work better for non home charging EV people.
7kw at 88p is a complete joke; it needs proper regulation as seems to be the wild west at the moment
I have an EV charging point in a stanchion in the pavement opposite my terraced house. A number of residents in the street objected to this charge point being installed, but, needless to say, the Council ignored them and went ahead with it. Only one person in the street owns an EV and this charge point is right outside her house (which is probably why she swapped her Merc SUV for a MGEV!). The space in front of the stanchion is marked as EVs only, but this doesn't seem to stop non ICE owners from parking in it! It is also quite expensive. As I understand it anyone from any street is entitled to use this point, but the stipulation is that the car can only be parked in the space while it is being charged, and should be moved once charged, so that more or less counts out charging it overnight, for example. In short, these types of charge points are A. Annoying because they take up a much needed parking space, B. Totally pointless because they are not really the answer to this problem.
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I agree with you, if you currently don’t have a drive too charge on and you do more mileage per week than the car can do. Just stick with your ICE for now. But I am also cheap and lazy. Also the public charging infrastructure is far too expensive if they were charging around 35-40p per kw might be different. Maybe that’s why Teslas are so popular. There chargers are the cheapest currently, if you own a Tesla.
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My local public charge network does. They charge from 38p to 43p per kwh, depending which of the 3 subscription rates you use that they offer..... Not as cheap as home charging of course, but still way cheaper than using petrol...
Slots in pavements for terrace house chargers are being allowed by some county coincils
Yes, I mentioned it I think 👍
I asked my housing association (new build small block of flats) about installing a charger by my designated parking bay after I started my new job, which came with an Audi E-Tron as a company car. I was told categorically no. When I pushed them on why, the response was shocking! (see what I did there?) they had NO policy on providing EV parking either on new build property or retrofitting to existing. I then told them I wasn’t looking for them to pay for it and that I was more than happy to fund the installation myself. Still no. The building is coming up to being 5 yrs old and as a national housing association, they have zero provision for EV’s now the future. Where was the legislation from government to help get us into EV’s? As ever a great idea poorly implemented.
That’s an utter disgrace
chargelight went bust in august :(
Oh well, plenty of others doing the same thing
I thought it was only recommended that you charge to 80% unless going on a long journey?
It is generally but battery chemistry is different in mine 😂
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru so On a Tesla you can charge 100% all the time?
I looked at the electric Kona, I don’t have the ability to have a home charger so did some research. A 103 mile top up on a public charger will cost over £17 (16.9p per mile). I get 55-60mpg from my current Kona hybrid. I think it stated home charging if possible would have been £7
Overnight on a decent tariff would cost a fraction of that mate.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru Yeah, this was a zap map estimate. It’s just a shame I can’t have a charger fitted. The big shock was the public charging costs which do seem to be increasing rapidly.
Public charging needs some regulation, seems a bit like the wild west right now
Currently going trough the fighting motions with my local council to have a gulley or the likes here in Stockport, they are having none of it and are basically saying they are only installing public charging for people with no access to home charging, we all know that public charging alone isn't the complete picture and will not work.. but hey, I cant believe I'm fighting my local council for this! willing to spend money etc.. Its making owning electric cars way more expensive than the combustion engine variant at the moment.. ill be getting my first EV soon - eyes open to the fact that ill be having to public charge but the research I've been doing.. its not the best picture :( maybe its the north west and things are better elsewhere..
Local councils should be bending over backwards to help people finding their own solutions. Absolute muppets.
I would rephrase your statement that I wouldn’t get an EV without an access to a free/cheap charger. I’m just getting an EV, I don’t have a home charger, but I do have access to a free charger at the office, where I’m typically 2-3 times a week. This should be absolutely fine, or so I hope 😂
Nice perk! 👍
Hi Jim, something like that.
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what do you think about the 8 car manufactures stopping making evs because they can sell the tens of thousands they all ready have
I couldn’t care less. In no way would it affect me if it’s even true.
You might not believe this but it’s true ,I have a fabulous diesel Mercedes and I don’t have a home diesel pump
Wow
Yep - I wouldn’t have an EV if I couldn’t get a home charger
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Some quick quotes and I'm looking at over £1,100 with massive £800 excesses or even more on some of them. That's £700 more than my S3 now which for me, equates to 2,800 miles of driving my S3, so yeh for now I'll pass. Realistically I think I'd lease one anyway... Cheers for the info 👍🏻😄
👍👍 Nowt wrong with an S3!
Also the cost of public charging isnt viable. Makes it no better than driving a diesel, which is still more convenient.
Not all public charging is so expensive but it would certainly make a lot of people think twice
Most councils are installing lamp post chargers.
Not most, some.
Where I live you couldn't have charging from streetlights, the asbo teens would definitely mess with that
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I agree that I would find it hard to use an EV without being able to charge at home.
I used Utley EV based near Wetherby for our Easee One Charger who did a great job. No I don't work for them and don't get paid by them.
We have 6 7kw Pod Point Changers in our village. 45p per KWH and limited to 3 hours as they are in a supermarket car park!
Our nearest working rapid charger appears to be at a service station on the A1
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A good charger costs a fair bit more than a grand. More like £1000-1700. You can get cheaper ones but they are very slow and not smart chargers.
Depends where you live maybe but I completely disagree. There are plenty of very good smart chargers available for a grand or less fully installed mate - shop around maybe
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru okay thanks, will do
Many times I have posted comments which echo yours about using an EV when I couldn't charge at home saying it is virtually impossible to use public chargers all the time. I get much abuse!! As for the across the pavement idea this is a non starter because if you have to park on the road it is very likely that the space you find when you come home is NOT outside your house. I have heard of people who have to get a lift from a public charger to get home then be taken there when the car is charged! -usually in an ICE car!!
Using public chargers is fine on occasion and when you’re doing long trips. Using them as the only way you fuel your car seems like a royal pain in the arse to me.
No Problem using public charging I don’t have my own Charger
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DNAG you said "People who cant have a home charger are in the vast majority".
This is simply incorrect. Aprox 70% of houses *with cars* have a private parking space and so could charge at home. (source, RAC)
Of course it doesnt take away from how to charge if you are one of the 30% , but then again 100% of ICE owners are unable to refuel at home and that didnt stop ICE cars becoming popular. As the major supermarkets roll out charging (Sainsburys, 1,000 *this year* for example) this will likely become a major place for the 30% because I suspect most of these have access to a supermarket.
Thanks for correcting me with the RAC stat. So what I should have said was that 30% of the country will have to pay 5-10 times more to charge their cars than the other 70%.
You will struggle to convert those who are forced into paying 40-90p per kwh. I'm an EV owner and EV fan, I even present an EV podcast - but I'm also a realist.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru agreed, but it is a key point that there is no barrier for 70%.
But yes we need action to enable those who can't charge at home to charge at better rates, at least at this approaching petrol equivalence. From memory thats around 40p kWh.. I suspect the likes of Sainsbury's etc are currently 2x that. But, 40p or less is available on the Tesla SC network at some times already. So this is not an unrealistic goal.
40p is a lot more than 7.5 - price and convenience will help that 30% justify the change more than anything.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru true but given that ICE owners will queue for ages just to save 10p a litre (been to a Costco lately?) then a price that's say 1/2 petrol even if not the full max cheaper rate you can get would still be a deal. (and amazingly apparently only a minority of EV users are on cheap overnight tariffs)
I disagree and I have literally thousands of comments from viewers that say it’s the biggest single factor in why they don’t have an EV (live in a flat or a terrace etc).
People have other concerns about EV (often fuelled by media BS) but add not being able to charge at home into the mix and it’s a turn off. That’s just the way it is.
Basically if you haven't got a driveway and the money to buy the car etc then it's a waste of time. From a brief bit of research around 40% of households haven't off street parking, add to that second or third cars that can't get of the road despite having a drive then we could be talking half the motoring population. So EV market has ultimately lost half it's business model, who's gonna invest in the mass instillation of public chargers with figures in mind if we're seriously going to make the switch? Even if they started on it now it'll take years, your EV will be old by then and you'll of spent all that time messing about, especially on long journeys.
As I said in the video I wouldn't have an EV without a home charger to be fair (yes I have one), public charging is nowhere near as bad as some UA-camrs make out but I'd hate to use it regularly and cost and convenience of charging at home makes it for long journeys only. Horses for courses.
@@DefinitelyNotAGuru I hope it takes off, but I won't be investing quite yet...👍
Most Evs have apps to stop charging at 80%
Pretty much all EVs allow you to choose your own charge limit. 🤷🏻♂️
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Home charging cheap for now! Amazing how they can give cheap Electricity to charge your car but rip you off for house use Electricity! Once they get more people on EVs, good luck, will be 100% more expensive
That’ll still be 1/4 of the price of petrol
My son charges at work for free. His employer is putting in loads of them.
That’s brilliant, a lot of firms are doing it but not all are so generous 👍
My neighbour charges at work for free and I am so jealous. Fantastic perk
If this isn't an option and you can't charge at home EV's aren't currently viable
If you're an EV owner and are wondering how you can spend less time at charging stations and more time on the road, it's quite simple. Sell it and buy a gasoline or diesel powered car. 🚗
Great insight
First thing anyone should know about EV, they burn power 24/7...whether you use them or not....tending the battery will consume 25 to 30 miles of range every single day. Picture it like an Ice car that leaks a half a gallon of gas, every day....all year....then multiply that times a few million EV and your spilling out millions and millions of "Fuel" daily that none of the EV enthusiast want to consider. Do not think any Mpge is close to accurate, because those are all pipedreams compared to reality.
I just left my car near Heathrow for 6 days in cold weather, snow for a couple of the days - it lost 2 miles of range during that time. I honestly have no idea how you came up with your numbers but you're wrong.
I'm more than happy for the EV worshippers, but I'm never going to join the congregation, nothing like feeling you're not welcome.😭
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