Used EV questions

[ChrisH72]

Prices for used EVs are starting to look more attractive these days. I really like the look of either a BMW i3 or a Mini electric for up to say £15k. There's not much else that makes me want to change my current car.

But... I am something of a technophobe and do have reservations about making the switch.

If buying used, what's the best way to go about getting a home charger installed? My car is kept on the drive and the electricity meter is right next to where I park so I'd assume installation would be easy? Looking online I'm thinking something like Pod Point could be best and it'd be about £1k for an untethered 7kw charger. I'm guessing the car would come with the correct cable?

In terms of tariff, I'm with octopus and have a fixed dual fuel tariff until September. I'm probably stuck with that as there are heavy exit fees but then I could move to Octopus Go which looks good.

Would Pod Point allow me to charge overnight at a cheap rate? I'd probably only need to charge once a week as I do maximum 100 miles and never more than 40 miles in any one day. Other than that it would be useful if I could make the odd trip to visit my dad. Its 120 miles away and he lives in a flat so I'd need to use a public charger. Is that easy with an i3?

[ChrisH72]

I'd noticed the Ohme chargers on Octopus. Looks like the same price as Pod Point at £1k installed.

Is there an advantage to having it done by your existing energy supplier? Maybe it'd be easier to sort a new tariff.

I'm pretty sure I don't qualify fir anything towards the cost of a charger. Octopus mentions their scheme where you buy a new car or a salary sacrifice thing. Grants seem to be fir tenants or flat owners.

My thoughts are...

1. Test drive some EVs to see if I like them.

2. Organise the charger and tariff.

3. Buy car and enjoy.

Does that sound right?

Also, how does servicing work on a used EV? Main dealer only or can an indy do it?

[ChrisH72]

Nomme de Plum said:

I've got an i3S with 40k miles.

It hasn't needed a service yet.

The running gear can be serviced by an independent.

I have an Ohme charger on Octopus Intelligent

All good so far.

Good to know thanks.

You could well be biased but... S or non S?

I like the way the S looks with those bigger wheels. Drawbacks are that on paper it's not really much quicker, has slightly less range and is a couple of grand more expensive like for like. I've read the ride suffers on the bigger wheels to.

But its an S so it has to be better surely?!

[ChrisH72]

This looks nice..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2023122250...

Or for a bit less money this..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024032679...

Or the Mini which I do quite like..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024011856...

On balance though I think it'd be an i3.

[ChrisH72]

With the i3 I'd go for the 42kw full electric one. Probably a better bet than a Mini as its about 120 miles up to see my dad and it'd be nice to be able to do that in one go without charging. That said, we do have another petrol car and my current car hasn't been used for that journey in the 4 years I've had it. Nice to have the option though.

We don't have an outside socket at the front so using a 3 pin plug is out. Besides I'd like to be able to fully charge overnight and the BMW is 6 hours with a 7kw charger. I'm guessing we'll need one eventually anyway.

I wasn't aware that different suppliers worked with different chargers. Does that mean that if you change energy supplier your old charge point won't work? And if its tethered, will the cable work on any EV or does it need changing if you change the car?

How does the i3S do on tyre wear? I noticed on Black Circles that the rear tyres on the 20 inch wheels are £250 each whereas the 19's are only £150.

[ChrisH72]

All sounds good thanks.

I quite like Octopus. Been with them a while now and they've been good to deal with. My only slight mistake was taking a 12 month fix last September which has turned out to be more expensive and I don't think there's much I can do until that ends. But that was my choice so not their fault. I'll give them a ring to discuss the options but will probably get them to install the Ohme charger which looks like the same price as Pod Point.

I'm in no rush so it might be closer to September anyway. Need to go and test cars first.

Another thick question. I'm guessing using a public charger is much like getting petrol as in plug in and pay by card? Last night I googled local chargers. There aren't many but it does seem to tell you if they are currently available and what the charges are. The fast charger at Lidl round the corner is 65p a kwh which I think is about £20 to charge an i3 so similar to 150 miles of petrol. I'd hardly ever need it but its there.

[ChrisH72]

Just been looking at Octopus website.

It looks like I need the Ohme home pro with 5m cable for £975 and I qualify for standard installation. I do have a smart meter but I guess they can upgrade it if needs be. The Intelligent tariff would work for me I think. 7.5p P/kwh over night so about £3 for a full charge. It's 29p p/kwh in the day which is 2p more than I currently pay but that's okay as the leccy bill isn't much anyway.

On an annual mileage of 4000 it appears to work out at less than £100 a year. Can that be correct?

[ChrisH72]

Okay you've convinced me about going tethered.

I'm very interested in the ability to pre warm up the car. I have a couple of early starts a week where I leave the house at 7am. It'd be great not to have to scrape the car in winter. Can you do thus with an i3?

Also, out of interest, is it safe to pass the cable through a window and plug into a wall socket or will this blow your house up!?

I'm leaning towards the i3s. But all reviews mention how bad the ride is. I'm coming from a Fiesta ST so am used to a firm ride. What I can't find out is if the standard i3 on 19s rides better? I gather the S has wider track and also sport mode so would handle better?

[ChrisH72]

Sheepshanks said:

GT6k said:

I have had a 2019 I3s for 3 years and an i3 for a short time before that. You only need to worry about particular chargers if you want to access the intelligent tariffs. Simpler time of use tariffs (fixed overnight cheap rates such as Octopus Go) are only slightly more expensive and you get to keep the ability to do timed pre condition the cabin and battery for your departure. This feature is the hidden gem of EV ownership and no way am I going to give it up to save 25p per day.

Could you expand on that, please - if you’re on an intelligent tariff do you “lose” control?

Do all EV have the ability to pre-condition both cabin and battery? Presumably that happens at normal tariff rates (unless you get up very early)?

I'm assuming it can be done on either tarrif?

For me it's not really about cost saving but that could be a nice side to it. I think we'd end up using the EV more than my Fiesta so it would also save mileage on our petrol car.

[ChrisH72]

Question about this car.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024010552...

In pic 20 it shows the battery as being nearly full but 80 miles showing. There's a warning triangle next to the battery. Something wrong with it?

[ChrisH72]

TooLateForAName said:

I'm not sure that the warning is necessarily battery related - i think its just the notification.

that car is showing as untaxed since december so I suppose pics could be from cold weather mid winter?

Not sure that the dealer has a good name though.

Ah right. In what way do they not have a good name? You mean they're dodgy?

I was thinking of asking for a test drive there as its fairly close and they seem to have a few i3 for sale.

[ChrisH72]

I'd be fine with doing it via an app 15 mins early.

[ChrisH72]

The issue I have with a 3 pin plug is that we don't currently have an outside socket at the front of the house. I'd have to run the cable through the window which isn't ideal. Guess I could get an outside socket far cheaper than a proper charger but if cheap rate charging is only 4 hours a night I'd probably be paying higher rate most of the time as it'd take 12 hours to charge. Thinking ahead, we would probably replace our main family car with an EV at some point and that would be likely to have a larger battery. I've kind of factored the cost of a charger into the cost of the car. Its probably worth it for the convenience and once its there its there.

[ChrisH72]

So it's perfectly safe to just run the cable through a window or letterbox and plug into the wall?

I can see how a waterproof extension could be useful. We use holiday cottages quite often and obviously most don't have chargers and they can be in remote locations. Being able to plug into a wall socket with an extension would help. It might also help if I see a car I want and decide to buy before organising a charger.

I presume there's no apps or gizmos when using a granny charger? Does the car just start charging when you switch the plug on? Also, when it's fully charged does it still draw power?