Would you have an EV without home charging?
Poll: Would you have an EV without home charging?
Total Members Polled: 161
Discussion
No way. The whole point of an EV for me is to be my "local run around" car and to be useful it needs to be charged at home.
As soon as you start getting into the realm of having to plan charging into your local run around trips, and not forgetting downloading 8 million apps (+ registering with them) and dicking about with adapters for differeing public charge ports the EV concept becomes useless to me.
As soon as you start getting into the realm of having to plan charging into your local run around trips, and not forgetting downloading 8 million apps (+ registering with them) and dicking about with adapters for differeing public charge ports the EV concept becomes useless to me.
Nope,
But then I wouldn't buy a home without a drive either.
I used a granny charger for about a year before getting a 7kW charger, and that was fine too, so just a suitable external/externally accessible mains plug is all that's needed.
But hypothetically, if I lived somewhere without the accessibly mains plug... no, I wouldn't get an EV. Equally I wouldn't decry it as "not the future" because of that, nor would I have said the new ICE ban was a worry. I'd either get myself out of the problem by moving somewhere more suited, or would continue ICE until someone else finds a solution.
But then I wouldn't buy a home without a drive either.
I used a granny charger for about a year before getting a 7kW charger, and that was fine too, so just a suitable external/externally accessible mains plug is all that's needed.
But hypothetically, if I lived somewhere without the accessibly mains plug... no, I wouldn't get an EV. Equally I wouldn't decry it as "not the future" because of that, nor would I have said the new ICE ban was a worry. I'd either get myself out of the problem by moving somewhere more suited, or would continue ICE until someone else finds a solution.
I have an EV, a flat in a city and no home charging. But, I can charge it at work (free) and locally (AC) at £0.30 to £0.45 / kWh. I have done around 8,000 miles in the last 4 months and I reckon I use a fast charger about once every 1k miles. To date my overall average cost per mile even without cheap home charging is around £0.11 / mile, in part of course becuase of the free charging!
If I didn't have access to free charging at work and (relatively) cheap AC charging nearby then the economics would be different. Albeit, I would willingly pay petrol costs / mile for it as as a tool from getting from A to B its just so refined and relaxing. It would be limiting having to spend 15/20 minutes at a fast charger every few days, compared to my current 6/7 minutes once every few weeks though. Interestingly (or perhaps not...) if I only ever fast charged using the BMW chargecard it should 'only' cost £0.63 / kWh , which does work out at roughly 18p / mile... which I hadn't clocked until now. My E350 (petrol) which being generous did 32mpg would have cost £0.20 per mile, and the E250 CDi doing 42mpg was still 16p per mile.
So, I would say yes, because it works for my pattern of use, but without access to destination charging the hassle would put me off, not the cost!
If I didn't have access to free charging at work and (relatively) cheap AC charging nearby then the economics would be different. Albeit, I would willingly pay petrol costs / mile for it as as a tool from getting from A to B its just so refined and relaxing. It would be limiting having to spend 15/20 minutes at a fast charger every few days, compared to my current 6/7 minutes once every few weeks though. Interestingly (or perhaps not...) if I only ever fast charged using the BMW chargecard it should 'only' cost £0.63 / kWh , which does work out at roughly 18p / mile... which I hadn't clocked until now. My E350 (petrol) which being generous did 32mpg would have cost £0.20 per mile, and the E250 CDi doing 42mpg was still 16p per mile.
So, I would say yes, because it works for my pattern of use, but without access to destination charging the hassle would put me off, not the cost!
Martyn76 said:
Yes, have free charging (for now) at work.
Essentially the same thing as home charging though really? Costs bugger all, takes no effort and you can be sure of availability.If they removed work charging or you changed jobs to one without it, what would your opinion be then?
Yes. And quite easily I suspect. I’ve a PHEV without home charging, and being the saddo that I am, charge it wherever I can. I see way more rapid chargers that I do Type 2 7Kw chargers, so in a car with decent range, could quite easily go without simply by rapid charging twice a week.
Probably not but that's more down to the cost of public charging (65p+ / kWh) if it's your primary way of filling up.
Wouldn't be too inconvenient though, less than an hour on a rapid would be plenty for a week (maybe two), there are rapids at the supermarket, local gym, on the street outside the nice park we take the kids to, plus more and more 7kw springing up. Just needs to get cheaper to be attractive over petrol.
Wouldn't be too inconvenient though, less than an hour on a rapid would be plenty for a week (maybe two), there are rapids at the supermarket, local gym, on the street outside the nice park we take the kids to, plus more and more 7kw springing up. Just needs to get cheaper to be attractive over petrol.
PSRG said:
I have an EV, a flat in a city and no home charging. But, I can charge it at work (free) and locally (AC) at £0.30 to £0.45 / kWh. I have done around 8,000 miles in the last 4 months and I reckon I use a fast charger about once every 1k miles. To date my overall average cost per mile even without cheap home charging is around £0.11 / mile, in part of course becuase of the free charging!
If I didn't have access to free charging at work and (relatively) cheap AC charging nearby then the economics would be different. Albeit, I would willingly pay petrol costs / mile for it as as a tool from getting from A to B its just so refined and relaxing. It would be limiting having to spend 15/20 minutes at a fast charger every few days, compared to my current 6/7 minutes once every few weeks though. Interestingly (or perhaps not...) if I only ever fast charged using the BMW chargecard it should 'only' cost £0.63 / kWh , which does work out at roughly 18p / mile... which I hadn't clocked until now. My E350 (petrol) which being generous did 32mpg would have cost £0.20 per mile, and the E250 CDi doing 42mpg was still 16p per mile.
So, I would say yes, because it works for my pattern of use, but without access to destination charging the hassle would put me off, not the cost!
If you don’t include depreciation, then £0.11/mile is not an overall average cost per mile.If I didn't have access to free charging at work and (relatively) cheap AC charging nearby then the economics would be different. Albeit, I would willingly pay petrol costs / mile for it as as a tool from getting from A to B its just so refined and relaxing. It would be limiting having to spend 15/20 minutes at a fast charger every few days, compared to my current 6/7 minutes once every few weeks though. Interestingly (or perhaps not...) if I only ever fast charged using the BMW chargecard it should 'only' cost £0.63 / kWh , which does work out at roughly 18p / mile... which I hadn't clocked until now. My E350 (petrol) which being generous did 32mpg would have cost £0.20 per mile, and the E250 CDi doing 42mpg was still 16p per mile.
So, I would say yes, because it works for my pattern of use, but without access to destination charging the hassle would put me off, not the cost!
Pica-Pica said:
PSRG said:
I have an EV, a flat in a city and no home charging. But, I can charge it at work (free) and locally (AC) at £0.30 to £0.45 / kWh. I have done around 8,000 miles in the last 4 months and I reckon I use a fast charger about once every 1k miles. To date my overall average cost per mile even without cheap home charging is around £0.11 / mile, in part of course becuase of the free charging!
If I didn't have access to free charging at work and (relatively) cheap AC charging nearby then the economics would be different. Albeit, I would willingly pay petrol costs / mile for it as as a tool from getting from A to B its just so refined and relaxing. It would be limiting having to spend 15/20 minutes at a fast charger every few days, compared to my current 6/7 minutes once every few weeks though. Interestingly (or perhaps not...) if I only ever fast charged using the BMW chargecard it should 'only' cost £0.63 / kWh , which does work out at roughly 18p / mile... which I hadn't clocked until now. My E350 (petrol) which being generous did 32mpg would have cost £0.20 per mile, and the E250 CDi doing 42mpg was still 16p per mile.
So, I would say yes, because it works for my pattern of use, but without access to destination charging the hassle would put me off, not the cost!
If you don’t include depreciation, then £0.11/mile is not an overall average cost per mile.If I didn't have access to free charging at work and (relatively) cheap AC charging nearby then the economics would be different. Albeit, I would willingly pay petrol costs / mile for it as as a tool from getting from A to B its just so refined and relaxing. It would be limiting having to spend 15/20 minutes at a fast charger every few days, compared to my current 6/7 minutes once every few weeks though. Interestingly (or perhaps not...) if I only ever fast charged using the BMW chargecard it should 'only' cost £0.63 / kWh , which does work out at roughly 18p / mile... which I hadn't clocked until now. My E350 (petrol) which being generous did 32mpg would have cost £0.20 per mile, and the E250 CDi doing 42mpg was still 16p per mile.
So, I would say yes, because it works for my pattern of use, but without access to destination charging the hassle would put me off, not the cost!
Jimbo. said:
Yes. And quite easily I suspect. I’ve a PHEV without home charging, and being the saddo that I am, charge it wherever I can. I see way more rapid chargers that I do Type 2 7Kw chargers, so in a car with decent range, could quite easily go without simply by rapid charging twice a week.
It's the "simply rapid charging twice a week" that's the issue. At current charge rates and prices you're looking at 2hrs and £110 in charging costs to fully charge a 75kWh battery twice week for 4-500 miles of range. That's 25p per mile, or 27MPG equivalent at current petrol prices.PSRG said:
It was only intended to be a comparison of the running cost and the hassle, as all cars - petrol, diesel, hybrid, EV, depreciate. And, broadly, the more they cost the more they depreciate in % and £ terms. So, to make the decision, I would only look at the difference in hassle, and the difference in running costs on the basis I am already happy with the cost of the car itself or it wouldn't be on the list
EV and ICE don't depreciate at anything like the same rate though presently, so needs to be factored in if TCO is given as an advantage for running an EV. It's a far bigger number than the fuel savings, yet unsurprisingly many appear to be ignoring it.Edited by SWoll on Friday 12th April 16:25
I wouldn't have one today if I couldn't charge at home.
But it's at least ten years (assuming I keep choosing a new car every three years..) before I would actually need to consider one if I couldn't charge at home. I strongly suspect by that point it wouldn't be an upset, street level charging for homes without parking is already underway - it's a bit flaky and basic at the moment but give it a decade, it'll become organised and practical.
Luckily there is zero pressure for those that can't home/work charge to make the jump until proper solutions are in place for them.
But it's at least ten years (assuming I keep choosing a new car every three years..) before I would actually need to consider one if I couldn't charge at home. I strongly suspect by that point it wouldn't be an upset, street level charging for homes without parking is already underway - it's a bit flaky and basic at the moment but give it a decade, it'll become organised and practical.
Luckily there is zero pressure for those that can't home/work charge to make the jump until proper solutions are in place for them.
SWoll said:
EV and ICE don't depreciate at anything like the same rate though presently, so needs to be factored in if TCO is given as an advantage for running an EV. It's a far bigger number than the fuel savings, yet unsurprisingly many appear to be ignoring it
For the majority of those with an EV, they are leasing through a company or salary sacrifice so depreciation doesn't come into it. It's a fixed cost from the outset and cars with similar leasing costs will have similar depreciation.I reckon the costs wouldn't be too dissimilar to an equivalent performance ICE car and there are a lot more rapid chargers on my commute than petrol stations. Even better if you use one of the subscription services which give a discount on certain networks.
In reality if my driveway disappeared overnight, I'd just get the train to work and have an older car for the weekend which wouldn't have the same requirements of comfort and reliability as I need at the moment.
A better question might be, would you buy a house without parking?
Of course, millions of people do, but likely not as a preference most of the time. There must be loads of things in life that are in some way less convenient/relaxed/easy of you have a terraced house or flat as opposed to detached house with drive and garage.
But we don't all get what we prefer all the time, we get what we can have and we make it work. Cars transitioning to electric is just one example of that.
Of course, millions of people do, but likely not as a preference most of the time. There must be loads of things in life that are in some way less convenient/relaxed/easy of you have a terraced house or flat as opposed to detached house with drive and garage.
But we don't all get what we prefer all the time, we get what we can have and we make it work. Cars transitioning to electric is just one example of that.
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