Considering an EV but need help with math
Discussion
As per title, I am considering an EV under SS scheme.
I work 250 miles away from home during the week and return home on the weekend, so 500 miles trip + around 50 miles trips during the week.
Have solar panels and driveway at home, so can charge before I set off. I stay in a flat during the week with only access to street/ public chargers.
Currently I am driving a diesel BMW which did the above 550miles in one tank.
So if I use the public chargers during the week to top up prior to getting back home, will it be cheaper than running the diesel?
Also, what cars shall I consider for such journeys/ use? Currently have my eyes on an Audi A6 e-tron Avant. Are they any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks
I work 250 miles away from home during the week and return home on the weekend, so 500 miles trip + around 50 miles trips during the week.
Have solar panels and driveway at home, so can charge before I set off. I stay in a flat during the week with only access to street/ public chargers.
Currently I am driving a diesel BMW which did the above 550miles in one tank.
So if I use the public chargers during the week to top up prior to getting back home, will it be cheaper than running the diesel?
Also, what cars shall I consider for such journeys/ use? Currently have my eyes on an Audi A6 e-tron Avant. Are they any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks
Someone that owns an ev will probably advise better but for me I would stick with the diesel, your going to have to make sure it’s fully charged before you leave, then you going to charge it at least 50% when you get there, then make sure it’s fully charged before you leave. Charging is going to be not going to save much over diesel - although current prices might favour it more towards an ev at the moment. You will also need to charge when you get home - I presume you will need to get a charger installed too.
Throw in weather and speed that will also affect range. You would probably need to choose your car around ultimate range, or a Tesla based on its charging infrastructure
I wouldn’t want to spend most of my week walking to and from chargers or making stops on the way home. The benefit of the ev is cheap charging and while you sleep. EV owners may offer better advice.
For me I would stick with diesel.
Throw in weather and speed that will also affect range. You would probably need to choose your car around ultimate range, or a Tesla based on its charging infrastructure
I wouldn’t want to spend most of my week walking to and from chargers or making stops on the way home. The benefit of the ev is cheap charging and while you sleep. EV owners may offer better advice.
For me I would stick with diesel.
Buy/lease one with a longer range preferably
Workout the cost per mile in diesel for the BMW. P per litre/MPG etc
Work out the cost per mile based on the estimated home charging miles (base on 7p per kw)
Enquire about the cost per kw on the charger you would use when charging away from home (the prices can vary)
If you can charge at home at 7p per kw and have a long range EV im pretty certain it would work out consoderably cheaper on the EV.
Then compare the journey costs like for like.
Also factor in reduced maintenance costs for the EV. Not sure your status on the BMW, I.e. leased etc but lease/PCP an EV with an included maintenance plan and you can offset that saving too.
Our EV almost pays for its self over our Diesel Qashqai it replaced in fuel savings.
Just to add. I rarely public charge, 95%+ from home.
Workout the cost per mile in diesel for the BMW. P per litre/MPG etc
Work out the cost per mile based on the estimated home charging miles (base on 7p per kw)
Enquire about the cost per kw on the charger you would use when charging away from home (the prices can vary)
If you can charge at home at 7p per kw and have a long range EV im pretty certain it would work out consoderably cheaper on the EV.
Then compare the journey costs like for like.
Also factor in reduced maintenance costs for the EV. Not sure your status on the BMW, I.e. leased etc but lease/PCP an EV with an included maintenance plan and you can offset that saving too.
Our EV almost pays for its self over our Diesel Qashqai it replaced in fuel savings.
Just to add. I rarely public charge, 95%+ from home.
Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 8th April 21:32
Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 8th April 21:38
ABMA said:
As per title, I am considering an EV under SS scheme.
I work 250 miles away from home during the week and return home on the weekend, so 500 miles trip + around 50 miles trips during the week.
Have solar panels and driveway at home, so can charge before I set off. I stay in a flat during the week with only access to street/ public chargers.
Currently I am driving a diesel BMW which did the above 550miles in one tank.
So if I use the public chargers during the week to top up prior to getting back home, will it be cheaper than running the diesel?
Also, what cars shall I consider for such journeys/ use? Currently have my eyes on an Audi A6 e-tron Avant. Are they any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks
To kill your range anxiety, check ev-database and sort by range (real range). Then see which one you can afford on SSI work 250 miles away from home during the week and return home on the weekend, so 500 miles trip + around 50 miles trips during the week.
Have solar panels and driveway at home, so can charge before I set off. I stay in a flat during the week with only access to street/ public chargers.
Currently I am driving a diesel BMW which did the above 550miles in one tank.
So if I use the public chargers during the week to top up prior to getting back home, will it be cheaper than running the diesel?
Also, what cars shall I consider for such journeys/ use? Currently have my eyes on an Audi A6 e-tron Avant. Are they any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks
https://ev-database.org/uk/#group=vehicle-group&am...
There are £45K cars that can do 360 miles.
Let’s say your EV gets 3 miles per kw/h and it has a range of 250 miles. Let’s say you can get a 7p per kWh home tariff (although our Octoous one recently dropped to 3.5p!). So per mile for your outward journey you’ll pay about 2.5p per mile. For 250 miles that’s £6.25.
For the return journey take a worst case scenario of 80p per kw/h. That’s 27p per mile. So 250 miles js £67.50.
So you’re total journey cost js £73.75 which works out at 15p per mile.
But you should hopefully find cheaper public chargers such as Tesla or slower destination chargers. And if you get a car with a greater range then you’ll get more miles on your cheap home charging.
But you also need to consider the proposed 3p per mile EV tax the government announced.
For the return journey take a worst case scenario of 80p per kw/h. That’s 27p per mile. So 250 miles js £67.50.
So you’re total journey cost js £73.75 which works out at 15p per mile.
But you should hopefully find cheaper public chargers such as Tesla or slower destination chargers. And if you get a car with a greater range then you’ll get more miles on your cheap home charging.
But you also need to consider the proposed 3p per mile EV tax the government announced.
Definitely food for thought.
The SS scheme includes maintenance, breakdown and insurance which definitely are a bonus.
I am contemplating 13-14k miles pa.
That s what I am thinking, an EV with a real range of 350 miles so at least I don t need to worry about charging on route (currently I drive 4 hours non stop which is a big benefit of the diesel).
Any thoughts on the Audi A6 e-tron Avant? Or any other suggestions?
The SS scheme includes maintenance, breakdown and insurance which definitely are a bonus.
I am contemplating 13-14k miles pa.
That s what I am thinking, an EV with a real range of 350 miles so at least I don t need to worry about charging on route (currently I drive 4 hours non stop which is a big benefit of the diesel).
Any thoughts on the Audi A6 e-tron Avant? Or any other suggestions?
I'm about to jump into EV world and have less mileage requirements than u, be wary of range, motorways may mean your 360 range is much less
Looking at the YouTube type tests they got 75% ish of stated range doing motorway journeys at average speed below 50 mph (can u do this weekly)
Public charging obvs the killer, my 520d was doing 14p a mile pre trump debacle, good maths above, good food for thought
Looking at the YouTube type tests they got 75% ish of stated range doing motorway journeys at average speed below 50 mph (can u do this weekly)
Public charging obvs the killer, my 520d was doing 14p a mile pre trump debacle, good maths above, good food for thought
Have a look at the area you'll be staying on https://electroverse.com/map , you can see the price of chargers near you, that'll give you the public charging price.
Up_North has the maths; as said at 80p/kWh it's probably a similar cost to an economical diesel at around 15p/mile; there are generally slower chargers you can use overnight at around 55p/kWh. This brings the average rate to (7p + 55p) / 2 = 31p, so roughly 10p/mile.
As said, EV Database has realistic motorway ranges, use that to find one with 250+ miles winter motorway range and you should be able to do each leg without stopping.
I think for this use case the right EV would be a bit cheaper than a sensible ICE, but not dramatically so.
Cheapest is probably a Tesla Model 3 RWD Premium, which might average 4 miles/kWh at 70mph year-round giving ~320 miles range.
So 320 miles for £5.60 on home charged electricity, plus 180 miles on public charging at 55p for £24.75, total cost £30.35 at just under 7p/mile, or about half that of a diesel.
ABMA said:
Definitely food for thought.
The SS scheme includes maintenance, breakdown and insurance which definitely are a bonus.
I am contemplating 13-14k miles pa.
That s what I am thinking, an EV with a real range of 350 miles so at least I don t need to worry about charging on route (currently I drive 4 hours non stop which is a big benefit of the diesel).
Any thoughts on the Audi A6 e-tron Avant? Or any other suggestions?
You need to find out what chargers are near your destination, which will be the key.The SS scheme includes maintenance, breakdown and insurance which definitely are a bonus.
I am contemplating 13-14k miles pa.
That s what I am thinking, an EV with a real range of 350 miles so at least I don t need to worry about charging on route (currently I drive 4 hours non stop which is a big benefit of the diesel).
Any thoughts on the Audi A6 e-tron Avant? Or any other suggestions?
EVs with a real-world range of 350 miles are thin on the ground tbh, and most will have massive batteries, so will take ages to fully charge, think 13-14 hours on a fast charger.
One other thing to think about, even when you use a rapid charger, if the car is cold, and I don't mean cold temp, just not been used for 12 hours, etc., it will be very slow to charge until the battery is warmed up.
Tesla chargers are miles better than anything else, so download the Tesla app and see where the closest one is to you, but they tend to be in places you wouldn't normally want to be, and to get the best prices, you need a Tesla or a membership (£9.99 a month).
All destination (7kw) chargers, from my experience, are 50p plus, so keep that in mind. You will also have charging losses on an AC charger, and that will depend on the car; one of ours is around 20%, the other 15%.
For reference, our car has a WTLP of 320 miles, which is highly ambitious given we averaged around 2.6 miles per kWh on the motorway last week, giving us a range of 200.2 miles (we were fully loaded with a roof box, but it gives you an idea).
We covered a total of 1108 miles last week, but here are the costs to give you an idea. The return leg of 436.5 miles is below.
We left fully charged
1st stop Tesla 42.23 kWh £17.31
2nd stop Tesla 49.86 kWh £20.44
3rd stop BP 28.94 kWh £25.76
Destination 67.89 kWh £4.75
Tesla membership £9.99
Total distance covered 436.5 miles, cost £78.25, cost per mile 17.9p, energy consumption 2.3 mi/kWh, reported car efficiency (dash) 2.6 mi/kWh
My business partner has an Audi A6 e-tron Avant and seems to like it, but you won't get 350 miles out of it; however, it does charge quite quickly. So a short 10-minute stop will get you where you need to be.
I'd look at something like the new iX3 with the 109kWh useable battery (the A6 etron is 95kWh) that should manage 350-400 miles of motorway cruising at a decent speed. That will cover your trip there, driving during the week and another 50+ miles to a charger on the way back. You'll then need to add around 60kW at a rapid charger on the way home.
For the first 400 miles of your journey it'll be costing you very little dependent on how much you are getting from solar, the 60kW on the way back will likely cost around £50 unless you can find a cheaper Tesla alternative en route.
If we assume a total cost of £55 a week for 550 miles that's the equivalent of a diesel doing 85MPG at current prices.
For the first 400 miles of your journey it'll be costing you very little dependent on how much you are getting from solar, the 60kW on the way back will likely cost around £50 unless you can find a cheaper Tesla alternative en route.
If we assume a total cost of £55 a week for 550 miles that's the equivalent of a diesel doing 85MPG at current prices.
Edited by SWoll on Thursday 9th April 09:59
ABMA said:
Currently I am driving a diesel BMW which did the above 550miles in one tank.
So if I use the public chargers during the week to top up prior to getting back home, will it be cheaper than running the diesel?
Let's say the diesel tank is 60 litres. That's almost £120 at current prices.
Now the cost of electricity. Let's assume you're getting the A6 with the 95kwh useable battery. And assume a worst case cost to charge this from empty to full at home on the price cap, which is 25p. This is £23.75. You can, of course, get far lower rates than this if you shop around so best case I'll assume 7p, which would be £6.65. You can see where I'm going already.
To achieve this 550 miles in a week, you'll need to top up with roughly 200 miles worth of public charging to get you home. Let's add 50 for contingency, so 250. Assuming 3.5kwh per mile in the Audi, you will need 70ish kwh to achieve this. Assuming a public charge cost of 70p per kwh, this is £50 or so.
Worst case you're going to spend £70 on electricity to do this, against diesel of £120. You're £200 a month up. Best case you're going to be about £250 a month up.
Above is rough and based on assumptions, but I think it show the answer is quite clear even allowing for some significant errors in my assumptions.
Probably all been covered but if you use a worst case of 2.5 miles per kWh for range and cost and ensure you get something that will atleast do the 250 miles comfortably then in sure you'll be fine.
Costs are 7p a kWh at home and you'd have to check locally at work but likely to be in the 40-60p range or more for a fast charger.
Depreciation might be the biggest factor.
Costs are 7p a kWh at home and you'd have to check locally at work but likely to be in the 40-60p range or more for a fast charger.
Depreciation might be the biggest factor.
_Rodders_ said:
Probably all been covered but if you use a worst case of 2.5 miles per kWh for range and cost and ensure you get something that will atleast do the 250 miles comfortably then in sure you'll be fine.
Costs are 7p a kWh at home and you'd have to check locally at work but likely to be in the 40-60p range or more for a fast charger.
Depreciation might be the biggest factor.
Will be through Salary Sacrifice, so hopefully don’t need to worry about depreciation. It also includes maintenance, breakdown and insurance. Costs are 7p a kWh at home and you'd have to check locally at work but likely to be in the 40-60p range or more for a fast charger.
Depreciation might be the biggest factor.
Just checked the charge points around where I stay during the week and they are 69-79p/ kWh.
So now back to the drawing board.
Don’t forget the addition duty you will be charged by the government- which will no doubt increase year on year, granted it’s only £300 for every 10k
I still couldn’t be bothered with the running around charging when your away from home.
I’d look into the running costs of a Toyota Corolla, on a run I bet they would crack 60mpg, they don’t go wrong and you can get Toyota to cover the car for up to 10 years
I still couldn’t be bothered with the running around charging when your away from home.
I’d look into the running costs of a Toyota Corolla, on a run I bet they would crack 60mpg, they don’t go wrong and you can get Toyota to cover the car for up to 10 years
stevemcs said:
Don t forget the addition duty you will be charged by the government- which will no doubt increase year on year, granted it s only £300 for every 10k
I still couldn t be bothered with the running around charging when your away from home.
I d look into the running costs of a Toyota Corolla, on a run I bet they would crack 60mpg, they don t go wrong and you can get Toyota to cover the car for up to 10 years
That’s my other consideration, a hybrid Toyota if I can’t decide on an EV. I still couldn t be bothered with the running around charging when your away from home.
I d look into the running costs of a Toyota Corolla, on a run I bet they would crack 60mpg, they don t go wrong and you can get Toyota to cover the car for up to 10 years
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