How much is your EV costing you to run?
Discussion
What make or model do you have?
What is your usage like? For example, 10 miles a day or 100 miles a week.
How much does it cost you to charge? For example, overnight off my solar charged power wall it’s free. Or, 12 hours overnight and a couple of quid. Public chargers etc.
For you torque monsters out there are your tyres costing you more annually?
Any other hidden costs? Given there are no oil changes.
Breakdown your answer however you like. I am trying to get an idea of what the savings might be. Although it is a given that ‘leccy’ is costing more.
We’ll all be forced to go electric one day it feels. I have decided after 30 years of driving it’s time to go electric for my next car.
My current daily is a Mercedes W205 220d with a larger capacity fuel tank. I can net 600-800 miles on a tank. Mainly long journeys a few times a month. About 200-300 miles to make an appearance at HQ which is not served well by public transport.
I am hoping this thread can inform my decision.
My shortlist is the BMW i4 and Tesla Model 3.
Wildcard being: Ford Mach-E
Cheers
Mercedes W205 C220d
Standard diesel with the odd v power tank: £1,400 a year
Maintenance: About £600 a year on average (Service A/B etc.)
Insurance: £300 a year
Road “fund” license: £520 a year up from £450
Total: £2,820 a year (approximately).
What is your usage like? For example, 10 miles a day or 100 miles a week.
How much does it cost you to charge? For example, overnight off my solar charged power wall it’s free. Or, 12 hours overnight and a couple of quid. Public chargers etc.
For you torque monsters out there are your tyres costing you more annually?
Any other hidden costs? Given there are no oil changes.
Breakdown your answer however you like. I am trying to get an idea of what the savings might be. Although it is a given that ‘leccy’ is costing more.
We’ll all be forced to go electric one day it feels. I have decided after 30 years of driving it’s time to go electric for my next car.
My current daily is a Mercedes W205 220d with a larger capacity fuel tank. I can net 600-800 miles on a tank. Mainly long journeys a few times a month. About 200-300 miles to make an appearance at HQ which is not served well by public transport.
I am hoping this thread can inform my decision.
My shortlist is the BMW i4 and Tesla Model 3.
Wildcard being: Ford Mach-E
Cheers
Mercedes W205 C220d
Standard diesel with the odd v power tank: £1,400 a year
Maintenance: About £600 a year on average (Service A/B etc.)
Insurance: £300 a year
Road “fund” license: £520 a year up from £450
Total: £2,820 a year (approximately).
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 3rd June 07:22
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 3rd June 07:23
I do ~8k miles in a Nissan Leaf.
Charging is free at work, 5p a KW at home over night. At 3.5 miles per KW, ‘fuel’ is sub 1.5p a mile and often free.
Tax is free. Insurance is cheap. Depreciation is minimal. It’s done 4 tyres, a pollen filter and a set of front brakes in the last 5 years.
It is without doubt the cheapest way of getting to work I’ve ever owned.
Charging is free at work, 5p a KW at home over night. At 3.5 miles per KW, ‘fuel’ is sub 1.5p a mile and often free.
Tax is free. Insurance is cheap. Depreciation is minimal. It’s done 4 tyres, a pollen filter and a set of front brakes in the last 5 years.
It is without doubt the cheapest way of getting to work I’ve ever owned.
2016 Nissan Leaf 30kwh, bought from a dealer for £10,500 in December 2020. Bought using the government 0% loan.
We’ve done 20k miles in it
Charge roughly half the time at home for 5p/KWH or for free at work/journey rapids.
Average 4 miles/KWH, roughly £125 in ‘fuel’ to do 20k miles.
We’ve put some new front tyres on (£100) I replaced the pollen filter myself (£10) and put it through a MOT (£50)
It’s also appreciated by £1500-2000 ish
Total: up by £1200
We’ve done 20k miles in it
Charge roughly half the time at home for 5p/KWH or for free at work/journey rapids.
Average 4 miles/KWH, roughly £125 in ‘fuel’ to do 20k miles.
We’ve put some new front tyres on (£100) I replaced the pollen filter myself (£10) and put it through a MOT (£50)
It’s also appreciated by £1500-2000 ish
Total: up by £1200
Leaf 62kwh. Charge at home on cheap overnight power (5p/kWh) so around 1.5p/mile. Range is enough that I rarely need to public charge but rapids are 6-8p a mile - remember though you’re usually starting with 200+ cheap miles in the battery.
£0 tax
£350 insurance (which seems ok for a >£30k, >200hp car)
-£1500 deprecation (WBAC will still pay me more than I bought it for)
Past initial cheap services and default warranty, Nissan do a £360pa package of extended warranty, service, MOT and European breakdown cover which doesn’t seem too bad.
£0 tax
£350 insurance (which seems ok for a >£30k, >200hp car)
-£1500 deprecation (WBAC will still pay me more than I bought it for)
Past initial cheap services and default warranty, Nissan do a £360pa package of extended warranty, service, MOT and European breakdown cover which doesn’t seem too bad.
I’ve had my model 3LR exactly a year, done 8600 miles and spent £230 on electricity (home and away) in that time. I charge overnight little and often, initially at 5p per kW but at 7.5p since April. I don’t charge away much and use Superchargers when I do, which are cheaper and more reliable than most alternatives. No brainier.
IME tyres and brakes are going to last longer than in an ICE vehicle despite the added weight due to how the power is delivered and regen braking. Our Model 3 Performance was still running its original Michelin P4S after 20k miles and the brakes were barely worn. Similar story with our current etron 55, approaching 10k miles and little sign of wear.
Insurance is a personal thing so a bit pointless to compare.
Tesla have very little in the way of servicing requirements, a checkover every 2 years is about it. The BMW has a similar schedule but will cost more (around £400 every 2 years or 20k miles)
Working on the assumption that your Mercedes is costing you approx 15p per mile at current fuel costs then any savings are going to be down to which tariff you are on and the price of a kWh. Based on the UK average cost of 28p and efficiency of 3.5 to 4 miles/kWh then the EV would cost you 7 to 8p per mile if all of your charging is done at home. If you need to charge on public chargers regularly then that cost will increase of course, as it will in October for home charging when prices hike again if you aren't locked into a long term deal.
Insurance is a personal thing so a bit pointless to compare.
Tesla have very little in the way of servicing requirements, a checkover every 2 years is about it. The BMW has a similar schedule but will cost more (around £400 every 2 years or 20k miles)
Working on the assumption that your Mercedes is costing you approx 15p per mile at current fuel costs then any savings are going to be down to which tariff you are on and the price of a kWh. Based on the UK average cost of 28p and efficiency of 3.5 to 4 miles/kWh then the EV would cost you 7 to 8p per mile if all of your charging is done at home. If you need to charge on public chargers regularly then that cost will increase of course, as it will in October for home charging when prices hike again if you aren't locked into a long term deal.
We did about 14k miles in our Leaf (2021 e+ Tekna) over the last 12 months. Local trips/school runs etc.
Apart from about 10 longer trips, it’s all been charged at home on a granny charger, so half at 5p/kWh, remainder 15p or so.
Call it £300 for charging at home, £100 for charging out and about.
£159 for a service, £300 to insure it, £330/month in lease costs.
Apart from about 10 longer trips, it’s all been charged at home on a granny charger, so half at 5p/kWh, remainder 15p or so.
Call it £300 for charging at home, £100 for charging out and about.
£159 for a service, £300 to insure it, £330/month in lease costs.
2021 Hyundai Kona 64kWh Premium.
2 year lease from Hyundai was £1600 up front and then £246 per month including servicing, breakdown cover etc. I plan to extend lease another year. 8K miles pa.
£0 car tax
£188 insurance, old bloke, safe area, full NCB
Charged at home overnight using Octopus Go, so £3.50 for a full charge ~280 miles, or free using excess solar.
2 year lease from Hyundai was £1600 up front and then £246 per month including servicing, breakdown cover etc. I plan to extend lease another year. 8K miles pa.
£0 car tax
£188 insurance, old bloke, safe area, full NCB
Charged at home overnight using Octopus Go, so £3.50 for a full charge ~280 miles, or free using excess solar.
those rates of 5p per kwh are probably disingenuous because most dual-rate tariffs available now that offer cheap off-peak are loaded during the peak time such that the total cost of all usage averages about the same or sometimes above.
in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
I've done around 20,000 miles in my Model 3 - commuting 80 miles into London.
I have free destination charging which obviously skews the 'total' result, but it's costing 6p a mile on my new (higher) tariff when I charge at home.
In the 18 months I've owned it, there have been no other costs. No servicing, no brakes, not road tax etc.
My previous daily driver was a Range Rover - I've calculated a saving of around £11k a year on fuel and servicing costs compared to the Range Rover.
I didn't buy it to save money or newts, but it was a hard car to ignore when it came to replace my elderly Rangie.
I have free destination charging which obviously skews the 'total' result, but it's costing 6p a mile on my new (higher) tariff when I charge at home.
In the 18 months I've owned it, there have been no other costs. No servicing, no brakes, not road tax etc.
My previous daily driver was a Range Rover - I've calculated a saving of around £11k a year on fuel and servicing costs compared to the Range Rover.
I didn't buy it to save money or newts, but it was a hard car to ignore when it came to replace my elderly Rangie.
Tye Green said:
those rates of 5p per kwh are probably disingenuous because most dual-rate tariffs available now that offer cheap off-peak are loaded during the peak time such that the total cost of all usage averages about the same or sometimes above.
in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
The Go tariff available now is 7.5p from 00:30 to 04:30 but Octopus carried on my tariff from last year. I also have a 8.2kWh home battery that gets charged overnight so virtually all of my electric is at 5p/kWh or free via solar.in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
I know my situation is at the "sweet spot" of home generation and usage, but can only speak from my own experience and setup. I think I was lucky to get the Kona at the right time too, as the same deal now is about £370/month
Edited by gmaz on Friday 3rd June 10:49
Tye Green said:
those rates of 5p per kwh are probably disingenuous because most dual-rate tariffs available now that offer cheap off-peak are loaded during the peak time such that the total cost of all usage averages about the same or sometimes above.
in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
Thankfully I can answer this using real data.in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
If you're an Octopus customer you can put your details into this site https://octocomparison.co.uk/comparison
It will then break down your actual usage and compare your current tariff to others. For example, for yesterday:
Agile; £17.00
Go; £6.40
Standard; £11.97
Go Faster; £5.28
What I never really appreciated is how energy hungry moving cars around is. The charging usage dwarfs anything else we do.
On a non-charging day you can see that there is no subsidy as has been suggested:
Agile; £8.80
Go; £3.75
Standard; £5.17
Go Faster; £3.27
gmaz said:
Tye Green said:
those rates of 5p per kwh are probably disingenuous because most dual-rate tariffs available now that offer cheap off-peak are loaded during the peak time such that the total cost of all usage averages about the same or sometimes above.
in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
The Go tariff available now is 7.5p from 00:30 to 04:30 but Octopus carried on my tariff from last year. I also have a 8.2kWh home battery that gets charged overnight so virtually all of my electric is at 5p/kWh or free via solar.in other words watching the telly or running the dishwasher is subsiding charging the car!
I know my situation is at the "sweet spot" of home generation and usage, but can only speak from my own experience and setup. I think I was lucky to get the Kona at the right time too, as the same deal now is about £370/month
We have done 36k miles in almost exactly 3 years in our Kona EV.
Only charged a handful of times (& some of those just to test it!) - the 230-280mile range covers 99.9% of our needs (we still have my XC60 for really long runs, tip runs and moving the kids stuff from A to B when they move flats.....but we only do 4-5k miles in that, the Kona is the "go-to" vehicle).
A nice chunk of free fuel from our solar when at home (& the sun is shining!). It is nice to check and see "ooh, another 20-40 free miles today"....only 4 this morning, it's very grey overhead...
At 5p/kWh for the vast majority of those miles (a few times we might have boosted at 13.5p/kWh)....and averaging 4miles/kWh - our fuel costs have been under £500 across the three years. Around £170pa.
Insurance - averaged £200pa.
Servicing: £80/£195/£105 to 30k.
eta - Tax, obvs £0
Oooh, & £60 on mats and a boot liner
Oh yes: at 35k miles, had a slow puncture in the original Nexan Ditchfinders (which worked perfectly fine for us!).....so it was time to replace all four. Needed them that day (I was heading away) £460 for some in-stock Costco Bridgestone Turanza T0005s all round. Could have done for £420 with a bit more time, but Costco do a decent job fitting and not desperately upselling...although it is, of course, impossible to be there for an hour without spending £80 instore on stuff you didn't know you needed
Clearly the car cost a chunk more than a normal one (£34k in our case, but the model is over £40k now
), but the running costs have been teeny!Edited by mikeiow on Saturday 4th June 11:50
SWoll said:
IME tyres and brakes are going to last longer than in an ICE vehicle despite the added weight due to how the power is delivered and regen braking. Our Model 3 Performance was still running its original Michelin P4S after 20k miles and the brakes were barely worn. Similar story with our current etron 55, approaching 10k miles and little sign of wear.
.
All that tyre and brake wear is eminently achievable in a reasonably powerful ICE too. ‘How the power is delivered’ is controllable in an ICE too, by sympathetic, yet not necessarily slow, driving. I would be disappointed with tyres needing changing below 30k miles. My tyres have done 14k miles and I have just this minute measured the remaining tread at 6mm rears, and 6.5mm front (335d). They replaced the original 19” at 32k miles, which I replaced with 18” for comfort, those 19” tyres probably would have reached 36-40k miles..
Pica-Pica said:
SWoll said:
IME tyres and brakes are going to last longer than in an ICE vehicle despite the added weight due to how the power is delivered and regen braking. Our Model 3 Performance was still running its original Michelin P4S after 20k miles and the brakes were barely worn. Similar story with our current etron 55, approaching 10k miles and little sign of wear.
.
All that tyre and brake wear is eminently achievable in a reasonably powerful ICE too. ‘How the power is delivered’ is controllable in an ICE too, by sympathetic, yet not necessarily slow, driving. I would be disappointed with tyres needing changing below 30k miles. My tyres have done 14k miles and I have just this minute measured the remaining tread at 6mm rears, and 6.5mm front (335d). They replaced the original 19” at 32k miles, which I replaced with 18” for comfort, those 19” tyres probably would have reached 36-40k miles..
If you're getting that kind of life you must be driving very sensibly, or do a lot of motorway miles? I did neither in our Tesla.
Reasonably new to it, so only have three months use to go off, but…
Polestar 2 Single Motor Standard Range
Averaging 188 miles per 61kWh
Charge at home, unit rate of £0.18625
So basically 6p/mile
Private purchase so no BIK, and no other costs
The above is based on mixed use, but mainly short journeys. On a long drive this weekend we averaged 4.4 miles/kWh, so around 4.2p/mile.
Polestar 2 Single Motor Standard Range
Averaging 188 miles per 61kWh
Charge at home, unit rate of £0.18625
So basically 6p/mile
Private purchase so no BIK, and no other costs
The above is based on mixed use, but mainly short journeys. On a long drive this weekend we averaged 4.4 miles/kWh, so around 4.2p/mile.
Tesla 75D Model X, £71k new in early 2017, worth about £50k now. Done 65k miles, average cost of electricity has been around 5p per mile = £3000 in fuel. £0 VED. So £24k total ownership cost excluding servicing = 37p per mile.
It's had x2 sets of tires at roughly £150/tire, so £1,200. One set of front disks+pads, air con regas, and new heater element out of warranty, £1,500 for that lot, than a few air filters x2 MOTs, so call let's call it £3000.
So excluding insurance total cost over 65k and 5.5 years of ownership has been £27,000. Not 'cheap' or even close to it versus a £500 banger, but for a 6 seater SUV, that does 0-60 in under 5 seconds it's not that bad, roughly £400/month total ownership costs.
It's had x2 sets of tires at roughly £150/tire, so £1,200. One set of front disks+pads, air con regas, and new heater element out of warranty, £1,500 for that lot, than a few air filters x2 MOTs, so call let's call it £3000.
So excluding insurance total cost over 65k and 5.5 years of ownership has been £27,000. Not 'cheap' or even close to it versus a £500 banger, but for a 6 seater SUV, that does 0-60 in under 5 seconds it's not that bad, roughly £400/month total ownership costs.
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