Phev with no home Charger? Volvo buying
Discussion
Morning all and happy new year!
We are looking at 2nd hand XC60s from 2018 onwards.
In out budget (about £25k) there are a few that tick all the spec boxes, brown or cream leather, Pro model, sunroof etc. but the one that ticks all the boxes is a T8 dual engine.
This is a phev with about 50 miles range. We don't have a home charger and out garage isn't directly behind our garden so running a cable might be tricky.
Is running a PHEV with no home charger really stupid? Can you get granny chargers with really long leads?
The other option id the B5 mild hybrid but it's not the spec we want really.
It will be my wife's car.
We are looking at 2nd hand XC60s from 2018 onwards.
In out budget (about £25k) there are a few that tick all the spec boxes, brown or cream leather, Pro model, sunroof etc. but the one that ticks all the boxes is a T8 dual engine.
This is a phev with about 50 miles range. We don't have a home charger and out garage isn't directly behind our garden so running a cable might be tricky.
Is running a PHEV with no home charger really stupid? Can you get granny chargers with really long leads?
The other option id the B5 mild hybrid but it's not the spec we want really.
It will be my wife's car.
BigGingerBob said:
Is running a PHEV with no home charger really stupid? Can you get granny chargers with really long leads?
I'd argue the opposite, it generally wouldn't be worth spending £1k on a home charger just to charge a PHEV's small battery.It looks like the XC60 Twin Engine has about 15 kWh, which would take ~7 hours to charge from a three-pin charger. So you'd easily charge it overnight.
On the second point, I use this EV-rated extension cable
https://toughleads.co.uk/collections/ev-electric-v...
and I've been charging this way for 2 years now without problems.
Assuming that your usage is mostly within ~15 miles or so of home, the PHEV could work well and save significant money on fuel, as well as the convenience of fewer visits to the pumps.
Extension cable are the largest cause of fires in the uk, check any fire statistics. I guess insurance companies accept the people ignoring safety warning at the moment and would pay up as things stand. Make it a simple as possible rather than mess about with cables, I am all for plugging in a forgetting.
ashenfie said:
Extension cable are the largest cause of fires in the uk, check any fire statistics. I guess insurance companies accept the people ignoring safety warning at the moment and would pay up as things stand. Make it a simple as possible rather than mess about with cables, I am all for plugging in a forgetting.
I initially charged our EV with an extension cable and granny charger before we got the 7kw jobby. What I did was only unravel about 10m of the 25m reel and then plugged it in. The plastic sheathing on the cable melted and, I would guess, wasn’t far from going up in flames but fortunately I caught it in time.
Charging cars and extension cables aren’t a good mix.
My parents ran a PHEV with just a granny charger. I wired in a dedicated outdoor, IP-rated socket for this purpose. Obviously a full-spec 7kW charger is going to be more expensive, so it's doable to do the PHEV thing with just a 3-pin plug. Toughleads do a decent PHEV-spec and rated cable if you needed to run an extension, but I'd sooner have fixed wiring as far as possible for safety.
BigGingerBob said:
Morning all and happy new year!
We are looking at 2nd hand XC60s from 2018 onwards.
In out budget (about £25k) there are a few that tick all the spec boxes, brown or cream leather, Pro model, sunroof etc. but the one that ticks all the boxes is a T8 dual engine.
This is a phev with about 50 miles range. We don't have a home charger and out garage isn't directly behind our garden so running a cable might be tricky.
Is running a PHEV with no home charger really stupid? Can you get granny chargers with really long leads?
The other option id the B5 mild hybrid but it's not the spec we want really.
It will be my wife's car.
We have a 2024 XC60 T8 and use a granny charger with it. Absolutely love it - it’s a great car. Points to note though:We are looking at 2nd hand XC60s from 2018 onwards.
In out budget (about £25k) there are a few that tick all the spec boxes, brown or cream leather, Pro model, sunroof etc. but the one that ticks all the boxes is a T8 dual engine.
This is a phev with about 50 miles range. We don't have a home charger and out garage isn't directly behind our garden so running a cable might be tricky.
Is running a PHEV with no home charger really stupid? Can you get granny chargers with really long leads?
The other option id the B5 mild hybrid but it's not the spec we want really.
It will be my wife's car.
Only 2022 onwards cars have the larger battery and hence larger range. Realistically even with the bigger battery the range is 30-35 miles in winter and 35-45 miles in summer.
More significantly, at the same time as the battery was upgraded, there were some significant upgrades made to the drivetrain. 2022 onwards deleted the supercharger from the engine, so it’s a slightly less complicated setup and increased the power of the electric motor to 140bhp - enough to make driving around electric only a reasonable proposition for “normal” driving, even at motorway speeds. Finally, the 2022 onwards cars have revised electric motor and heater designs - the older cars have a couple of common weak points that are prone to failure, and the electric rear axle is very expensive to replace.
It’s an absolute beast when engine and electric motor are combined, and the air suspension of the T8 keeps it pretty tidy when in Power mode. We find ours does 35-45mpg on long runs at 70mph motorway speeds once the battery has run flat. Lower end in winter, but 40ish mpg is pretty usual. This is significantly better than we got with the B5 version of the XC60 when we had one as a courtesy car, and I find the T8 has miles better power delivery, and sounds nicer.
1.5p per mile tax from April 2027. The PHEV is much nicer to drive than the mild hybrid, but you want to be doing a much driving on cheap electric as you can.
I'd get a quote from an electrician for putting power in to the garage before buying the car. You'll be fine charging from a granny charger, if you can get a normal 13A socket fitted.
I'd get a quote from an electrician for putting power in to the garage before buying the car. You'll be fine charging from a granny charger, if you can get a normal 13A socket fitted.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Thursday 1st January 14:27
ashenfie said:
Extension cable are the largest cause of fires in the uk, check any fire statistics. I guess insurance companies accept the people ignoring safety warning at the moment and would pay up as things stand. Make it a simple as possible rather than mess about with cables, I am all for plugging in a forgetting.
The quality of debate on PH would be a lot higher if people actually quoted sources for their so-called facts.For example, in reality
gov.uk said:
Cooking accidents are the main cause of fires in the home
https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/be-informed-about-...(click for source)
Extension leads are also only part of the "Electrical distribution" category, which also includes things like multi-plug adapters where loads can easily add up to more than 13A.
It is true that EV charging involves drawing a high current (typically 10A) for a long time, so it's important to have good quality undamaged components rated for 13A and use them correctly,
Devon and Somerset Fire Service said:
Extension leads that are coiled or rolled up need to be unfurled completely before use, to stop them from heating up.
https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/safety/home/electricalsIn any case, if the OP would rather not use an extension cable, you can buy a three-pin charger up to 30 metres long, if that's long enough. This has the advantage of a temperature sensor in the plug to cut power if it overheats, which you don't have with an extension cable.
https://toughleads.co.uk/collections/ev-electric-v...
Of course if you can arrange a power socket in the garage that's ideal, but I wouldn't let the need to run a cable put you off.
I have very limited experience of having a phev suv (a hire car for a fortnight) but that might actually put me in the upper quartile here on PH.
Granny cable with extension lead: my hateful 25m reel from screwfix (that tangles for fun) kept hitting the thermal cutout after about 20 minutes charging a kuga.
So I would invest in a heavy duty extension reel (none of which will be rated for vehicle charging) or a charger cable extension (the big funny plug one).
Use type- the pure electric really worked for my shirt journeys: I liked the idea of not putting wear on the ICE engine and found electric driving quite pleasurable in a no drama sort of way.
I didn't have it long enough to really assess running costs.
What was obvious though that my usage at least wound never ever never save enough to outweigh the extra cost of buying such an expensive motor. And when the juice runs out, economy is pretty iffy (but of course it always will for a 2.5 tonne suv).
The performance of a t8 is appealing, although as a recent volvo owner have been less than dazzled by their build quality - like bmw they spend as much on marketing as engineering for a reason.
The largest cost will of course be depreciation, which makes a few quid on petrol pretty trivial unless your wife is a taxi driver.
So I think you should buy the car you want. But plug in savings will add up over time if it suits your journey patterns.
Hth
Ian
Granny cable with extension lead: my hateful 25m reel from screwfix (that tangles for fun) kept hitting the thermal cutout after about 20 minutes charging a kuga.
So I would invest in a heavy duty extension reel (none of which will be rated for vehicle charging) or a charger cable extension (the big funny plug one).
Use type- the pure electric really worked for my shirt journeys: I liked the idea of not putting wear on the ICE engine and found electric driving quite pleasurable in a no drama sort of way.
I didn't have it long enough to really assess running costs.
What was obvious though that my usage at least wound never ever never save enough to outweigh the extra cost of buying such an expensive motor. And when the juice runs out, economy is pretty iffy (but of course it always will for a 2.5 tonne suv).
The performance of a t8 is appealing, although as a recent volvo owner have been less than dazzled by their build quality - like bmw they spend as much on marketing as engineering for a reason.
The largest cost will of course be depreciation, which makes a few quid on petrol pretty trivial unless your wife is a taxi driver.
So I think you should buy the car you want. But plug in savings will add up over time if it suits your journey patterns.
Hth
Ian
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