EV Without Home Charging
Discussion
I'm currently doing 1,200-1,500 a month in a 10 year old diesel BMW, so about £420ish in diesel.
I've seen you can HP a new MG EV for example for less than this which will also help with upcoming ULEZ expansion as I drive to Croydon quite often too.
However, I dont have any charging options at home or work (there are some nearby though).
Is this viable to *maybe* find public chargers to use as a lifestyle or would this be madness?
I've seen you can HP a new MG EV for example for less than this which will also help with upcoming ULEZ expansion as I drive to Croydon quite often too.
However, I dont have any charging options at home or work (there are some nearby though).
Is this viable to *maybe* find public chargers to use as a lifestyle or would this be madness?
PistonTim said:
Mr E said:
I think it would be unwise, both in time and costs. Public charging is significantly more expensive than an overnight off peak rate at home.
I've seen a few comments that public chargers are huge money.No option to charge at home as Im in an apartment block unfortunately.
I did say it was a radical suggestion
This subject has been debated before on PH but it is going to become an issue for an increasing proportion of the population as the transition to EVs gathers pace. We can only hope that solutions such as lamp-post chargers are rolled out much more widely.
Where I live, the houses are set back from the road with a public green/mini-forest in between. None of these houses have been allowed a driveway across this green, and the front gardens are too short to park a car anyway. Snaking a high-voltage cable across two footways and a public green wouldn't be particularly popular, I imagine. I'm perfectly happy with where I live in every other way, so don't want to move. All the residents of this row will have to rely solely on public charging.
Where I live, the houses are set back from the road with a public green/mini-forest in between. None of these houses have been allowed a driveway across this green, and the front gardens are too short to park a car anyway. Snaking a high-voltage cable across two footways and a public green wouldn't be particularly popular, I imagine. I'm perfectly happy with where I live in every other way, so don't want to move. All the residents of this row will have to rely solely on public charging.
Very dependent on where you live, your lifestyle and patience level but difficult for many.
Public rapid charging is between 40p and 75p a kWh, so between 11p and 21p a mile, so using that you'd be spending between £165 and £315 to do your 1500 miles a month.
Although if you're spending £420pm on diesel (31 mpg - ish?) then you may be heavy footed enough for that to be more. If there's slow destination charging near home or work then maybe you'd spend less.
You'd need to charge a couple of times a week, high chance over a month of needing to wait or find an alternative.
Perfectly possible as a stopgap but even if you value a bit of quiet time to read or watch netflix it would get a bit tedious.
As said, if you can charge at home it's more like 2-3p a mile on an off-peak tariff. Is £300+ a month in fuel saving enough to justify moving?
Public rapid charging is between 40p and 75p a kWh, so between 11p and 21p a mile, so using that you'd be spending between £165 and £315 to do your 1500 miles a month.
Although if you're spending £420pm on diesel (31 mpg - ish?) then you may be heavy footed enough for that to be more. If there's slow destination charging near home or work then maybe you'd spend less.
You'd need to charge a couple of times a week, high chance over a month of needing to wait or find an alternative.
Perfectly possible as a stopgap but even if you value a bit of quiet time to read or watch netflix it would get a bit tedious.
As said, if you can charge at home it's more like 2-3p a mile on an off-peak tariff. Is £300+ a month in fuel saving enough to justify moving?
When there's hundreds a month involved, surely there are solutions?
Rent a parking space with charging?
There must be business opportunities to cater for all these cars, but businesses won't want to invest if their business model might be undermined by local authorities throwing public money at the problem.
In the mean time, I suspect changing the Beemer for an economical, ULEZ compliant petrol car might be cheapest?
Is the MG really only £420 a month at 18,000 miles a year?
And what would the OP pay per kWh?
1500 miles is what? 375kWh? that's a few quid at motorway prices.
Even on 'go' it's noticeable.
Rent a parking space with charging?
There must be business opportunities to cater for all these cars, but businesses won't want to invest if their business model might be undermined by local authorities throwing public money at the problem.
In the mean time, I suspect changing the Beemer for an economical, ULEZ compliant petrol car might be cheapest?
Is the MG really only £420 a month at 18,000 miles a year?
And what would the OP pay per kWh?
1500 miles is what? 375kWh? that's a few quid at motorway prices.
Even on 'go' it's noticeable.
sjg said:
Public rapid charging is between 40p and 75p a kWh, so between 11p and 21p a mile, so using that you'd be spending between £165 and £315 to do your 1500 miles a month.
This is the key. Public rapid charging is very expensive and even works out more expensive per mile than fossil fuel in some circumstances.TheDeuce said:
PistonTim said:
Mr E said:
I think it would be unwise, both in time and costs. Public charging is significantly more expensive than an overnight off peak rate at home.
I've seen a few comments that public chargers are huge money.No option to charge at home as Im in an apartment block unfortunately.
I did say it was a radical suggestion
Is there someone a short walk away who’ll rent you a space on their large drive, including granny charging, for say, £1500 a year?
PistonTim said:
I'm currently doing 1,200-1,500 a month in a 10 year old diesel BMW, so about £420ish in diesel.
FYI 1500 miles in a diesel car which does 40mpg will be around £315.00 per month
1500 miles in a petrol car which does 40mpg will be around £279.00 per month
1500 miles in an EV doing 3.5 miles per kWh using rapid chargers at 69p per kW would cost around £295.00 per month
Public charging for all your usage would be horrendous, both in terms of cost and ballache.
Perhaps a hybrid might suit you better? Not a plug in obviously. But you would cover your 1500 miles, at current prices, for about £200 in something like an Ioniq, Corolla, Prius etc, all of which will easily average 55mpg on petrol. At the expense of performance of course.
Perhaps a hybrid might suit you better? Not a plug in obviously. But you would cover your 1500 miles, at current prices, for about £200 in something like an Ioniq, Corolla, Prius etc, all of which will easily average 55mpg on petrol. At the expense of performance of course.
SpeckledJim said:
TheDeuce said:
PistonTim said:
Mr E said:
I think it would be unwise, both in time and costs. Public charging is significantly more expensive than an overnight off peak rate at home.
I've seen a few comments that public chargers are huge money.No option to charge at home as Im in an apartment block unfortunately.
I did say it was a radical suggestion
Is there someone a short walk away who’ll rent you a space on their large drive, including granny charging, for say, £1500 a year?
TheDeuce said:
SpeckledJim said:
TheDeuce said:
PistonTim said:
Mr E said:
I think it would be unwise, both in time and costs. Public charging is significantly more expensive than an overnight off peak rate at home.
I've seen a few comments that public chargers are huge money.No option to charge at home as Im in an apartment block unfortunately.
I did say it was a radical suggestion
Is there someone a short walk away who’ll rent you a space on their large drive, including granny charging, for say, £1500 a year?
It's possible, but will probably be frustrating on a regular basis. Only Tesla could offer a hassle-free solution for you in your situation.
How about using the money that you were going to rent an expensive car with into a proper house with driveway where you can have EVSE installed?
How about using the money that you were going to rent an expensive car with into a proper house with driveway where you can have EVSE installed?
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff