Reasons Tesla are the only current good choice to buy

[rdj001]

Hi Mike,

It varies quite a lot depending on which service you use.

Audi provide £150 of free charging via their affiliates and then around 24p / kWh.

https://www.audi.co.uk/electric/charging/e-tron-ch...

I think Shell is also around 39p / kWh but I think it is then discounted if you registered and use their app / key card.

So a very approximate cost for 121 miles (assuming this is about 40 kWh)

Home charging : 40 X 5p = £2.00
Audi affiliates : 40 X 24p = £9.60
Shell Recharge : 40 X 39p = £15.60

Edited by rdj001 on Friday 31st July 17:17

Edited by rdj001 on Friday 31st July 17:25

[SWoll]

jason61c said:

rdj001 said:

On my way to South Wales from Suffolk. Left Bury St Edmunds with a full charge and got to E.ON fast charger in Brum (121 miles away) with 59% remaining. 20 mins on fast charge got me back to 100%. e-Tron maintains a charge speed of around 140 kW up to 80% when it starts to slowly taper down. It never drops below 50 kW. Assuming a fairly linear reduction, I make that an effective range of 295 miles. The entire journey is dual carriageway / motorway (save for about 3 miles) and was done this afternoon in normal flowing (!) Fri traffic.

Against all the odds (apparently) both fast chargers were available, operational, not vandalised and a piece of piss to operate. No more complicated / stressful than when I take one of the Teslas.

One observation, the onboard e-Tron range meter is woefully pessimistic. I covered 121 miles but only lost about 70 miles of indicated range i.e. the indicated range at the start of my journey was at least 50 miles light. No particular change in driving style to affect it. Air-con was on all the way, cabin at 19C, outside temp around 35C.

[Edit] Posted for info only based on real life experience

How dare you post a pic of a row of empty working chargers! glad too see if was pain free.

The real question, without the supercharger network, why would you buy a tesla?

Just for posterity from another E-Tron thread this week.

VEIGHT said:

First impressions. Wow it's really, really good. Feels solid, is super fast and nice cabin to be in.

They called and said did I want them to stop and charge before it got to me. I stupidly said no and thought that's part of the experience charging it up!?

First two I went to, chargers out of order. Looked on Zap Maps, found another, got there, car already on charge. Have come home and it's on a 3 ping plug with 29 hours till fully charged!

That being said, it's a lovely drive, quiet, responsive and quick in sport!

Impressed!

It's between this and plug in Q5 now...

As stated by people with actual EV experience, it can be very hit and miss.

Oh, and we got ours as it's the fastest and best driving EV on the market this side of a Taycan Turbo whilst < 50% of the price of the Porsche and more practical to boot.

[Mikebentley]

rdj001 said:

Hi Mike,

It varies quite a lot depending on which service you use.

Audi provide £150 of free charging via their affiliates and then around 24p / kWh.

https://www.audi.co.uk/electric/charging/e-tron-ch...

I think Shell is also around 39p / kWh but I think it is then discounted if you registered and use their app / key card.

So a very approximate cost for 121 miles (assuming this is about 40 kWh)

Home charging : 40 X 5p = £2.00
Audi affiliates : 40 X 24p = £9.60
Shell Recharge : 40 X 39p = £15.6

Edited by rdj001 on Friday 31st July 17:17

Edited by rdj001 on Friday 31st July 17:25

Thanks for that so the solution for most would be home charge to full every night and effectively very cheap running costs.

[rdj001]

Hi,

Absolutely. Home charging (assuming you have a decent tariff) allows you to run an EV for peanuts.

The key with EVs is a combo of nightly charging at home and top-ups when the opportunity presents itself (a lot of shops / car parks provide EV charging whilst you do something else).

It is different to the notion of an ICE car which is typically brimmed to full, run down to near empty (and repeat).

[anonymous-user]

If I couldn't charge 95% at home, I'd sell my tesla tomorrow tbh.

First 6 months I charged for free at public chargers but that's not exactly a premium experience. Wouldn't do it again, now i'm used to home charging.

[jamoor]

rdj001 said:

Hi,

Absolutely. Home charging (assuming you have a decent tariff) allows you to run an EV for peanuts.

The key with EVs is a combo of nightly charging at home and top-ups when the opportunity presents itself (a lot of shops / car parks provide EV charging whilst you do something else).

It is different to the notion of an ICE car which is typically brimmed to full, run down to near empty (and repeat).

Yep you nearly always have a full charge.

[SWoll]

jamoor said:

rdj001 said:

Hi,

Absolutely. Home charging (assuming you have a decent tariff) allows you to run an EV for peanuts.

The key with EVs is a combo of nightly charging at home and top-ups when the opportunity presents itself (a lot of shops / car parks provide EV charging whilst you do something else).

It is different to the notion of an ICE car which is typically brimmed to full, run down to near empty (and repeat).

Yep you nearly always have a full charge.

Indeed. Ours very rarely gets below 50% despite us limiting charging to 90% to assist with longevity. Just keep it topped up every other night between midnight and 7am on the cheaper tariff.

[Mikebentley]

Thanks for the Insight. See what I did there. After all the current nonsense I have six months lease left on my van and I would love to try and switch to EV if cost effective. The next six months will tell if I can still earn to pre CV19 levels. I am fortunate and have parking off road and am actually excited to try and make it work. I need 120 miles per day range and am drawn presently to e 208 GT but the next six months other options might become available in what is becoming an ever more interesting market place. If that is down to Tesla then I will happily concede and applaud their Influence on the EV Market.

[ZesPak]

sambucket said:

If I couldn't charge 95% at home, I'd sell my tesla tomorrow tbh.

This. Going out of your way to fill up your car is for ice vehicles, not EV's.

[off_again]

rdj001 said:

Supercharger network is great....but...there are alternatives nowadays and options are growing rapidly.

Agreed, but here I am not seeing much growth in the Supercharger network. I am seeing many more options around the others, especially ChargePoint and affiliated ones. I have to counter some of my criticism because I do live in the countryside here in Northern California and yes, everyone drives pickups, so demand is low. But this is wine country and obviously tourism is key. As high net worth individuals buy Tesla's in increasing numbers, they are potentially cutting themselves out of the market - so a bunch of 'Tesla Destination Chargers' got fitted. So the map looks great, but in reality its the lowest charging rate and you have to use the businesses in question (almost all are on-site at businesses and the owners require you use the business).

And in the wider region, I am not seeing new Supercharger locations - just a little increased capacity in certain high use places. Thats OK and they have to balance it, but increasingly I am hearing that Tesla owners are not using Superchargers because its just not convenient or have open bays. With places like Lake Tahoe being very popular and easily accessible for any Tesla one-way, it becomes a challenge to get a solid enough charge to return home. People are shifting to traveling out of normal hours to get access to them (early morning / evening) and thats fine because you miss the traffic. But that will only last for so long. I just hope they keep the growth going to support themselves.

Final comment - one thing that really makes little sense here is that there are so few 'motorway service stations' like the UK or pretty much everywhere on mainland Europe. There are a few and Tesla have installed a few Supercharger locations to support this. But most gas stations in California are off the freeways / interstates, and hence you have to get off to get fuel. I think Tesla is missing a trick by not having really convenient charging locations ON the freeway / interstate network. They have some, and they are great, but if they can make it REALLY convenient they will get so many more customers.

[RobDickinson]

The supercharger network is expanding at a global level, China is getting a lot of new chargers now.


As for EV sales.. June 2020..

[J012E]

ZesPak said:

Yep, think M3 vs GLE.
It would be a hard choice, but if I didn't need the extra range, I'd probably go for the Merc. Depending on equipment on it, that is. It's a luxury SUV, it needs to be well equipped for it to make sense

So i'd be leasing either car, to much uncertainty in regards to residuals so happy to take that risk away by leasing.

I live in South London suburbia, so no real need for long distance driving and we have access to another car if we do need to travel long distance. It's the EQC AMG line so fairly well equipped.

I really like the look of the EQC, it's also larger which is a good thing for my family. Based on list price, the EQC is better value too. But there's definitely something about tesla's that makes me want one even if it isn't the ideal choice.

[J012E]

rdj001 said:

Hi Mike,

It varies quite a lot depending on which service you use.

Audi provide £150 of free charging via their affiliates and then around 24p / kWh.

https://www.audi.co.uk/electric/charging/e-tron-ch...

I think Shell is also around 39p / kWh but I think it is then discounted if you registered and use their app / key card.

So a very approximate cost for 121 miles (assuming this is about 40 kWh)

Home charging : 40 X 5p = £2.00
Audi affiliates : 40 X 24p = £9.60
Shell Recharge : 40 X 39p = £15.60

Edited by rdj001 on Friday 31st July 17:17

Edited by rdj001 on Friday 31st July 17:25

Which provider and tariff are you on to get 5p a Kwh?

[ZesPak]

Indeed, I'm on the continent but our night rates are closer to triple that after you include all costs.

[RobDickinson]

J012E said:

I really like the look of the EQC, it's also larger which is a good thing for my family. Based on list price, the EQC is better value too. But there's definitely something about tesla's that makes me want one even if it isn't the ideal choice.

Eqc is wafty luxury, tm3 is far more sporty and tech focused.

If you are leasing and don't care about range then either will do, worth a test drive

[rdj001]

Which tariff?

Try Octopus Agile (currently in beta). Regularly get negative rates i.e. they are paying you to take surplus energy.

Also think Bulb energy have very low nigh rates.

[Evanivitch]

J012E said:

Which provider and tariff are you on to get 5p a Kwh?

Octopus Go tariff is circa 15p/kWh standard, 5p/kWh for 4 hours during night. You pay about 5p more on the daily standing charge.

Agile tends to see low prices consistently throughout the night, but you could be paying 30-35p come 5-6pm peak.

[jamoor]

Evanivitch said:

Octopus Go tariff is circa 15p/kWh standard, 5p/kWh for 4 hours during night. You pay about 5p more on the daily standing charge.

Agile tends to see low prices consistently throughout the night, but you could be paying 30-35p come 5-6pm peak.

Is it actually worth going on these rates rather than just paying normal rates all the time and being able to plug your car in whenever?

[Evanivitch]

jamoor said:

Is it actually worth going on these rates rather than just paying normal rates all the time and being able to plug your car in whenever?

On Octopus Go, for me (pre-covid), yes. I would be paying 5p/kWh for 11kWh a day (£16.50/month), instead of 15p (£49.50/month). I would be paying 5p (£1.50 a month) more on the standing charge. On Go it wouldn't cost me any more than what I normally if I chose to charge during the peak times.

Agile is a different thing again. Prices have been exceptionally low, negative even, through lockdown. I have electric cooking and we tend to use it between 6-7 and I don't see that changing. However, it might still workout cheaper if I had a decent attempt at modelling (something the smart meter will allow me to collect data on), and it might be that the cooking is offset by other activities (charging, dishwasher, washing machine etc).

My friend with a ASHP would save a bomb, he would just turn the heating down at peak costs but his thermal mass would carry him through.

[anonymous-user]

jamoor said:

Is it actually worth going on these rates rather than just paying normal rates all the time and being able to plug your car in whenever?

Not for me. I decided against getting a charger for this reason.

Fuel costs are a fraction of ownership costs unless you buy the appreciating tesla line.