Is getting an EV in 2020 a no brainer?

Is getting an EV in 2020 a no brainer?

Author
Discussion

sprinty

Original Poster:

59 posts

181 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Hi,

What with the BiK going down to 2% in 2020 would I be stupid not getting an EV then?

I would be able to put it through my LTD company and with that low BiK surely it would make sense?

Annoyingly I was one of the first people in the UK with a M3 deposit down but got fed up with the date moving back and back so refunded my deposit.

FlossyThePig

4,083 posts

243 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
sprinty said:
...M3...
Boring Ol Fart said:
An M3 is made by BMW (well it was last time I looked). Why do people like to rename cars incorrectly? It's like people using Se7en for a little 2 seater when a Se7en was an Austin Mini

sprinty

Original Poster:

59 posts

181 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Thanks for the reply, I guess in this part of the forum M3 means Tesla Model 3.

I was unaware there was a waiting list for the BMW M3.

Do you know anything about the BiK rates in 2020 and if it would be a no brainer?

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Can we introduce some standardised Pistonheads nomenclature?

I'd suggest "M3" for the long running BMW sports biased 3 series and "TM3" for the Tesla Model 3, the punchy 'lecy upstart ;-)

All agreed? good, make it so!



As to the OPs point, imo, for a vast number of drivers, and EV is already a no-brainer, especially in a two car family!

sprinty

Original Poster:

59 posts

181 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
I'd agree with that, TM3 does make more sense (although I suspect next time I use it someone will also moan at that such is Pistonheads these days)

I have owned 2 BMW M3's so it does seem somewhat jarring, however when talking about EV's I thought m3 would be obvious.

With regards to the already a no brainer I'm not so sure, yes you do save in fuel costs (had an i3 for 2 years) but it still feels like you are hammered when paying 17% BiK.

Once it goes to 2% it would be a lot more palatable.

I'm asking once this happens will there be any downsides? (for a commuter of course)

Marlin45

1,327 posts

164 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
My current Co. XC60 D4 is due for replacement Jan 2021 and without a doubt at minimum a hybrid will be its replacement with the ramp up of BIK. Currently I do around 30k business a year with daily jaunts of 250-400 miles so I can't see a dedicated EV cutting it?

ntiz

2,337 posts

136 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Financially having a Tesla in the company has been a no brainer for quite sometime.

I would just warn that I was seduced by this side of it and have regretted it.

You have to have the right mindset and expectations going in. For instance do you travel lots of long distances? Meetings that require going there and back in a day? I ask because this is were mine has fallen flat and after 3 years I’m just totally done with it.

For example yesterday did North Norfolk to Southampton and back to drop off my parents. Took 3 charges adding up to 2.5 hours of sitting around waiting. If you do that kind of journey you need to decide if you are good with that or not.

gangzoom

6,284 posts

215 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
ntiz said:
For example yesterday did North Norfolk to Southampton and back to drop off my parents. Took 3 charges adding up to 2.5 hours of sitting around waiting. If you do that kind of journey you need to decide if you are good with that or not.
Same here, wifes recent work meeting, 600 miles in a little over 3 days, all at different destinations and the last thing she(or I) would want to do is faffing around with charging whilst tackling the usual rush hour M-way traffic.

But for us its once in 6 month endeavour, but for that 2 times in the year if we didn't have the combustion car life would be more of a pain.....Hence I cancelled our Model 3 reservation. If

Tesla Roadster 2.0 does suggest next level battery chemistry/density. 600 miles EPA range in a perfomance car is going to need 200kWh pack, which simply isn't possible with current chemistry, especially in a car smaller than a S/X.

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Can we introduce some standardised Pistonheads nomenclature?

I'd suggest "M3" for the long running BMW sports biased 3 series and "TM3" for the Tesla Model 3, the punchy 'lecy upstart ;-)

All agreed? good, make it so!



As to the OPs point, imo, for a vast number of drivers, and EV is already a no-brainer, especially in a two car family!
A vast number? Latest figures show EVs to be about 1 in 200 of cars in the UK.

A growing sector but hardly vast numbers.


ntiz

2,337 posts

136 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
I’m glad it’s not just me. I have to do those kind of journies once or twice a month. I was good with it for the first year but something in me has snapped this year I kind of resent every time I have to charge at the moment. Might be the bad weather nothing like sitting in a cold dark car park in the rain to put a downer on your day.

Probably should add for balance if the company car is purely to go back and forth to the office I highly recommend it.

ntiz

2,337 posts

136 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
REALIST123 said:
Max_Torque said:
Can we introduce some standardised Pistonheads nomenclature?

I'd suggest "M3" for the long running BMW sports biased 3 series and "TM3" for the Tesla Model 3, the punchy 'lecy upstart ;-)

All agreed? good, make it so!



As to the OPs point, imo, for a vast number of drivers, and EV is already a no-brainer, especially in a two car family!
A vast number? Latest figures show EVs to be about 1 in 200 of cars in the UK.

A growing sector but hardly vast numbers.
I think he is saying an EV would make financial sense for the majority of people in the UK not that vast amounts of people have actually taken the plunge.

RJG46

980 posts

68 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
REALIST123 said:
Max_Torque said:
Can we introduce some standardised Pistonheads nomenclature?

I'd suggest "M3" for the long running BMW sports biased 3 series and "TM3" for the Tesla Model 3, the punchy 'lecy upstart ;-)

All agreed? good, make it so!



As to the OPs point, imo, for a vast number of drivers, and EV is already a no-brainer, especially in a two car family!
A vast number? Latest figures show EVs to be about 1 in 200 of cars in the UK.

A growing sector but hardly vast numbers.
A no brainer for people with no brains.

May make sense as a company car to reduce your tax bill but that's about it.

Pooh

3,692 posts

253 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
RJG46 said:
A no brainer for people with no brains.

May make sense as a company car to reduce your tax bill but that's about it.
Not true. I have done 24k miles in just under 10 months in my (privately owned) Renault Zoe and it has cost me around £600.00 including electricity, servicing and one set of tyres. I can't think of an ice car that could have done that. Range has seldom been and issue and I can always hire a car if I need to do a particularly long journey.
The longest single journey I have done is Perth to Inverness and back to my house which was a total of 230 miles, I drove to Inverness and got back to Aviemore before I stopped for some food, I charged the car for around 45 minutes while eating and that was enough to comfortably get me home.

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
April 6 2020 is a fair way away in EV terms

There could be quite a few new models on offer by then

The old adage 'don't let the tax tail wag the business dog' holds true, but if there is an EV that suits your needs more broadly and the overall cost is pushed further in your favour by the tax treatment, then why not.

gangzoom

6,284 posts

215 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Pooh said:
The longest single journey I have done is Perth to Inverness and back to my house which was a total of 230 miles, I drove to Inverness and got back to Aviemore before I stopped for some food, I charged the car for around 45 minutes while eating and that was enough to comfortably get me home.
I 100% agree for family trips, general commuting range is not an issue for current EVs. We did 890 miles end of September on a holiday to France, and probably will do double that going to Italy next summer....

BUT for work meetings 100 miles+ away from home, when your time limted to get to a destination, in a location with usually no chance of destination charging, having to travel at rush hour, the last thing you want to do is spend any time longer than needed on the road. These days when I do these trips all I want to do is get home and see my family ASAP, not faff with charging or worrying about range.

Luckliy most people these trips are rare, but unless your fiddling the books for tax evasion anyone doing big 'buissness' miles may want to study their journey profile carefully.

ntiz

2,337 posts

136 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
Unfortunately for me even my family miles in Europe have become difficult. But that’s not the cars fault. Since getting the Tesla it has become clear my son has mental disability that holds its own complications.

So mix that with planning for chargers means I very rarely travel these days with no stress. Travelling with a Tesla without time restraints is actually quite easy my father who is retired now is enjoying his much more.

Next car is going to have quite a long list of must haves to fulfil.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

254 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
April 2020 will see plenty of TM's in UK if you wanted to go back to one of those.
Its also quite a while off so hard to plan tesla pricing or spec, could well be a higher end/bigger battery version (or not) or air suspension.. or not biggrin

Should be many other options hitting the streets by then too, in addition to kona/niro/leaf etc you'll start to see VW/volvo etc getting vehicles onto the market - but those might be few actual units until later on 2020

Pooh

3,692 posts

253 months

Tuesday 20th November 2018
quotequote all
gangzoom said:
Pooh said:
The longest single journey I have done is Perth to Inverness and back to my house which was a total of 230 miles, I drove to Inverness and got back to Aviemore before I stopped for some food, I charged the car for around 45 minutes while eating and that was enough to comfortably get me home.
I 100% agree for family trips, general commuting range is not an issue for current EVs. We did 890 miles end of September on a holiday to France, and probably will do double that going to Italy next summer....

BUT for work meetings 100 miles+ away from home, when your time limted to get to a destination, in a location with usually no chance of destination charging, having to travel at rush hour, the last thing you want to do is spend any time longer than needed on the road. These days when I do these trips all I want to do is get home and see my family ASAP, not faff with charging or worrying about range.

Luckliy most people these trips are rare, but unless your fiddling the books for tax evasion anyone doing big 'buissness' miles may want to study their journey profile carefully.
Most of my mileage is business mileage but most of my journies are no more than 60 miles each way, I charge my car at a car park beside my office and it is not uncommon for me to do several journies per day with charging sessions in between.
I do sometimes charge during the trips but they are usually short sessions when I grab some food or stop and answer some emails.
It helps that the charging infrastructure in Perthshire is good and charging is free.

caseys

305 posts

168 months

Wednesday 21st November 2018
quotequote all
I am very much looking forward to my BIK dropping to about £25/month in April 2020!

Shame we don't know what BIK in TY 2021-2022 is yet - will it stay at 2%? 3%? 5%?

johnnymiller

160 posts

177 months

Thursday 22nd November 2018
quotequote all
Apologies for the total newbie post on this topic. I haven’t found the basic principle of buying one of these in words of 1 syllable.

1) I’m an IT contractor operating my own Ltd. Company.
2) My ltd company can use money set aside for corporation tax to buy (or act as a large deposit on a lease?) and assign to me an EV as a company car (has to be new right?) and a home charging point instead of just handing it over to the chancellor? There is also £3.5k of additional tax encouragement in the purchase price?
3) I can assign it to me as a company car and reclaim 50% of the VAT on any lease payments, paying BIK in the usual way. From April 2020 the BIK for providing it to myself as a company car is massively favourable at 2% depending on the vehicle.

Have i got this about right? Or made some glaring errors/omissions.

I’ve got a privately owned A45 AMG (all bought and paid for) at the moment, but using it as a motorway mile muncher isnt really its bag hence looking at this over the next year or so for commuting to my various customers.

I’m thinking Tesla Model 3, but understand there is a monumental wait time it being a new model and all.

Any good pointers on resources welcome. I’ve sent an email to my accountant so I’m sure he will have all the technicalities for my specific situation. Any tips/pointers welcome.

Thanks all.