EV and advice from any users please!

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,757
We were debating EVs again this weekend and were wondering based on the fact that useable lifespan seems to be 10 maybe 15 years at best, primarily down to the batteries, then there are going to be a lot these needing to be disposed of in a relatively short time. Now I assume the car bits can be recycled as normal but those Lithium Ion batteries are a different thing. From a bit of googling it seems recycling them is not as straight forward as you might expect due to the nature of the way they are built, lots of small cells, and the chemicals they are made up of which seem to like to explode. So will this leave us piles of useless batteries that will need to be stored safely until a safe cost effective recycling process is found?

Sounds a bit like the nuclear industry, limitless cheap power but with a waste issue for generations to come, doesn't sound very "Green or Ecologically sound"
The latest batteries (as now being fitted to new EV's) will still have 90% life (charge/efficiency) after 200,000 miles, as the pre-charging warming technology has improved so much. So the worry about the lifespan/cost/re-cycling of batteries effectively disappears. Though of course, when they do eventually get down to only about 70% efficiency, that is when they can be used for basic power storage such as for solar panels at home, etc.

For ICE vehicles, the economics are that the drivetrain (engine/gearbox) needs replacing (or major overall) after an average of 150,000 miles use. But for EV's this won't be the case. The drivetrain (batteries and motors) will last a minimum of 200,000 miles with next-to-no servicing to that point.

It's a very fast moving industry. Lots of the info on the internet about EVs is very out-of-date already. But that's inevitable.
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,114
It does look like the market will be flooded with used EVs as many of the motability cars come off the three year contracts

If these start hitting 10- 12k I'm in , I like quirky cars and this being a honda is probably a reasonable bet

July 21 cars onwards came with a 5 year warranty , wonder if there's a performance chip for it

View attachment 120870
Be even nicer with a 16 valve DOHC VTech motor moving it along mate.
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
The latest batteries (as now being fitted to new EV's) will still have 90% life (charge/efficiency) after 200,000 miles, as the pre-charging warming technology has improved so much. So the worry about the lifespan/cost/re-cycling of batteries effectively disappears. Though of course, when they do eventually get down to only about 70% efficiency, that is when they can be used for basic power storage such as for solar panels at home, etc.

For ICE vehicles, the economics are that the drivetrain (engine/gearbox) needs replacing (or major overall) after an average of 150,000 miles use. But for EV's this won't be the case. The drivetrain (batteries and motors) will last a minimum of 200,000 miles with next-to-no servicing to that point.

It's a very fast moving industry. Lots of the info on the internet about EVs is very out-of-date already. But that's inevitable.
It'll be interesting to see how sales in the £50k+ EV market go once the incentives to business start to wind down

I believe it's 2025 when EVs start paying VED and congestion charges which as I read it is also being applied retrospectively so cars that are free at the moment won't be

They're also applying the over 40k list price first year ved increase to EVs for the first time.

Accountants probably loved the 2% bik incentives and cheap charging but as on the road charging now costs more per mile than diesel I can't see them being so happy.

Would you still have an EV if it came out of your post tax income , 2 years ago I wouldn't have considered one but now used ones are available for less than the ICE equivalents they are starting to get tempting, especially as I could do most of my charging at home and the range rover costs £140 to fill up
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
The Mrs was away this weekend in her Audi hybrid.
I had to use my BMW as a runaround for the kids.
I did 42 miles, and it cost me £13 in petrol, due to the dismal economy early 20's just running around locally (normally high 30's)
Using the Audi in full EV mode, even with the small battery would have cost
approx one pound!
If you can charge at home on a cheap tariff, and the range works for you, it is a no brainer really, and especially if you buy a depreciated second hand EV too.
Rather than spunk £20k plus the value of my BMW (£15k) on a newer car, it is tempting to keep the BMW for longer journeys (and manual rear wheel drive 340bho fun) and buy say an i3 for the shorter ones.
 
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Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
The Mrs was away this weekend in her Audi hybrid.
I had to use my BMW as a runaround for the kids.
I did 42 miles, and it cost me £13 in petrol, due to the dismal economy early 20's just running around locally (normally high 30's)
Using the Audi in full EV mode, even with the small battery would have cost
approx one pound!
If you can charge at home on a cheap tariff, and the range works for you, it is a no brainer really, and especially if you buy a depreciated second hand EV too.
Rather than spunk £20k plus the value of my BMW (£15k) on a newer car, it is tempting to keep the BMW for longer journeys (and manual rear wheel drive 340bho fun) and buy say an i3 for the shorter ones.

I have just bought my first EV , 80 miles range , £1 to charge it up
1000010969.jpg
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
£1?
You need a cheaper tariff!
It's less to fully charge the Mrs audi
We only pay 7.5p per kwh overnight.
It was a guess, I've no idea how much electricity costs and I don't really care , in the grand scheme of things it's cheap even if it was a pound