When are you going electric?

[Big Kev]

Just lately, out of interest, I've been doing a little bit of man maths to see if it's worth getting a used electric car for commuting (and keeping the jaaaaaag for weekends).

I don't have the ability to charge at home but there's a 150Kw supercharger a mile down the road which would put 80% in the battery in 30 mins for £15 and gives 110ish miles of range (the Jag costs just under £100 to fill up with super juice and gives a range of around 260 miles). I could live with going to the charger every other Saturday morning. Also my local supermarket has 4 free chargers but they're only 7Kw but a free 10 miles of charge while I shop wouldn't be too bad once or twice a week. It even has a cafe so I could get a cuppa for half an hour and get 20-30 miles for free.

18 month old Mini electrics, Honda E's and Fiat 500e's are all £6-10k off list with under 10,000 miles on the clock.

I'm quite taken by the mini. All the spec I could want, heated seats, wireless carplay, folding mirrors, app control to pre heat or cool the cabin. Don't really need anything else for a short commute. Not sure I'd be too bothered either by the odd dink or kerbed wheel as it would just be a daily driver workhorse. It would be around £750 a year cheaper to daily than the jag, and of course the wear and tear on the expensive stuff like the jag tyres and brakes would drop dramatically. I could probably even cut the insurance down because the mileage use would fall to 1-2000 miles rather than 8000.

I think a couple of you guys have gone electric. Do you like it or have you switched back to burning dead dinosaurs?

[durbster]

If I was still commuting I'd have considered it because it seems the perfect solution for that kind of driving. It's probably a couple of years until they come down to the prices I'm happy to pay for a car though.

I did test drive a Peugeot e208 when we were considering getting one for Mrs durbs. A fantastic looking thing but not very inspiring to drive, and I was a bit disappointed with the performance. I know it's not supposed to be quick but I expected it to have that EV punch. Even in sport mode it didn't really do much.

That said, something like that would have been fine for commuting. Nice interior, quiet, comfortable.

I'm one step towards it because I settled on a hybrid instead. It is a bit token when it'll do a grand total of about 1 mile in EV mode but I am totally fascinated by the engineering of it. It's geektastic.

[norbs]

Next car will be electric. Just depends on when we do it. Australia is an EV back water sadly.

Smithcorp, Nutty and Brett have EVs as far as I know. I know Smith is super happy with his.

[Exar Kun]

The price is the big thing. I couldn't afford to replace what we bought 5 years ago with an equivalent ICE powered car with the way prices have risen let alone an electric one.

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[Bauer]

I have looked and been interested for years. Fascinated by the tech.
If I blew the motor in the mx5 I would seriously look at a conversion but other than that, current work from home situation doesn’t warrant the outlay.

We have a decent charging network in Tassie. More and more people are doing an ev holiday here due to our relative size. Chargers everywhere.


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[Cutter]

Later this year.
Either the upcoming MG 4 or a Polestar
I wouldn't get a TESLA with Tassie roads - w came very close to pulling the pin before Xmas but thought we'd wait June.

[Big Kev]

We have a decent charging network in Tassie. More and more people are doing an ev holiday here due to our relative size. Chargers everywhere.

Public network charging is the main issue in the UK.

There are 3 garden centres near me with nice coffee shops that I meet friends at from time to time. None of them has a charger in the car park. That would be a perfect location. Semi-out of town shopping area with big electrical stores, DIY, sofa, carpets etc and a costa. No chargers at any of those either. Local wildlife park, no. Enormous local hospital that I work at, no. 2 supermarkets within a mile of my flat, one has none and the other only has four 7Kw chargers so if you shopped for 30 mins you'd be lucky to get 3-4 miles of charge in that time.

I guess the 7Kw chargers are cheap enough for some businesses to think yeah we can afford that to look green but they don't give you anything like enough charge to be useful in the time you would spend in the store. The norm needs to be 50-150Kw not 7-22Kw.

And a lot of them need an app. You can't just rock up and use contactless payment like you would at a petrol station. They're making it difficult for themselves to be useful and simple to use.

It's been very interesting and enlightening doing some tentative research on this but also you can see we're just not ready. I looked at the route I drive to my mum's 160 miles away. When I come off the motorway I have a 75 min cross country run to get to where she is. No chargers on that route at all and none in her village or the 3-4 neighbouring villages either. Nearest one is 6 miles away and that's only 7Kw as well!

[smithcorp]

I think a couple of you guys have gone electric. Do you like it or have you switched back to burning dead dinosaurs?

We have an Ioniq 5. Love it, would never go back (in fact my main nervousness is writing it off because of the difficulty of replacing it, given limited supplies in OZ).

I charge it off the solar panels with a home 7kW charger (though on reflection I could get by with the slow 10A charger at home). I have to get my fusebox refurbished, so I'm taking that opportunity to get a plug and isolator switch put onto the side of my house so my Ioniq 5 can run the lights and powerpoint circuits if there's a blackout or to save money with increasing electricity charges.

[DarrenM]

Been holding onto my 206 forever because I want to go electric next. Range (350km highway min), availability and price have been the issue. Ioniq 5/XC40 Recharge are tempting but are more options on the horizon like ID.4, e-3008 etc. So likely end of this year or next year for me.

[Brett_S]

Loving our Model 3, we also have a Mini Clubman and will be replacing it with another electric car soon

Being able to work from home 3 days a week and charging off excess solar has almost ended any running costs - we have charged overnight on off-peak rates and it cost less than $4 to 'fill the tank' from around 40%

We've done a few road trips (Canberra, Orange and Bowral). Used the Tesla supercharger near Canberra airport, at Orange we used the NRMA charger at Bathurst and I stayed at an house in Bowral that had a charger available

Can't say I have had any bad experiences with the car or being worried about range - so long as you have a way to charge (either a rest stop, destination or at home) they are great, but not for everyone

[nutty]

Like Brett we are in love with our Model 3. We had ours for 13 months now, have 18,000km off it and most is home charging. Because I work from home most of the charging is done off my excess solar so my powerbills have haven't really gone up.

Ive also done 2 gladstone trips, two sydney trips and a bunch of goldcoast hinterlands/sunshinecoast hinterlands ect.. not once have I really had any range issues.
The not having to worry about fuel on a day to day / week to week experience is great, no more shit im late for work and I need to stop for fuel, no more smell fuel stations and no more day to day price gouging by the servos. Combine this with the fact that the Tesla is just fucking rad, like I get it people not wanting to go with Tesla cause of Musk, but its just all around awesome experience as a car owner

That being said, we are still a two car family, the ute is our camping/towing setup, and I cant see that changing anytime soon. Maybe oneday something like a Rivian but with the fact I love going super remote/offgrid (fraser island ect..) I think we are many years and significant battery tech upgrades before that becomes a viable option for me.

[w00dsy]

Is it financially viable to buy one based off lower running costs or is it also a bit of a tech/gadget thing to want one? I've never really looked into electric cars but a base model electric Hyundai Kona is an extra 27k over the petrol version. You'd have to do a lot of driving to make that back.

[Cursed]

We're coming due for a new car and I'm leaning towards going electric. If not this purchase cycle, then it will be the next one. The Jetta has served us well, but it's getting time to move on.

The Mrs is pretty keen on the idea of an XC40 and I think I could go along with that idea.

We're on the horns of a dilemma though. We're getting down to the pointy end of paying off our mortgage (around 5 yrs to go) and we have a chunk of offset savings sitting there helping with that, but the thought of shifting any significant portion of that to get a car means the mortgage sliding. Seeing the mortgage disappear is really just an emotional attachment really - I know debt is debt and the mortgage offset funds represent the cheapest interest cost to us, but you know - 20+ yrs of paying this thing, I'd like to see it gone.

I'll want to look into a few more things though.
- I have 3-phase power on the house; is it possible/feasible to get fast charging set up?
- my solar set up is very sub-par and I could do to review upgrading that and considering batteries, etc - I know this isn't necessary related, though.

So much money....

[Bauer]

And a couple of questions

To those with a Tesla model 3, which one did you get and why?

Cutter, why not for Tassie?


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[Brett_S]

To those with a Tesla model 3, which one did you get and why?

We got the SR+ or RWD Model 3. I was waiting for a Model Y Long Range but the missus saw that the total cost was under 60k after government rebate so we decided to get this one first and if we liked it we would end up getting a Model Y when they came out.

At the time our short list was Model 3 or Y, Ionic 5, Kia EV6 and maybe the BYD Atto 3 (but that was a way off) - Model 3 was cheaper and quicker to get so we went with that

[Bauer]

Cheers Brett

I’m tyre kicking and thought I was quite a way off going electric but I spent way more time looking online today than I should have so maybe I’m closer than I think.


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[Cutter]

And a couple of questions

To those with a Tesla model 3, which one did you get and why?

Cutter, why not for Tassie?


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Given the low profile of the Tesla and the roads / roadworks here, right now we have major works on the Bass & Midland Highways.
With roads down to dirt level / road base going down / top shot and asphalt over that.
That's a lot of Rocks / Stones/ Gravel being driven by a population (both local & tourists) that (generally) doesn't know how drive to the conditions.
A lot of stone chips / a windscreen / and a side window later, after 4 years makes me think this.
$70K or so for a low profile car here currently doesn't work for me.
Particularly taking to a few owners at a Devonport EV open days last year - one driver mentioned getting a quote for stone chip retouch work work without mentioning the brand - he rocks up to Mr Dingo with a Tesla and the price doubles.

[Bauer]

And a couple of questions

To those with a Tesla model 3, which one did you get and why?

Cutter, why not for Tassie?


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Given the low profile of the Tesla and the roads / roadworks here, right now we have major works on the Bass & Midland Highways.
With roads down to dirt level / road base going down / top shot and asphalt over that.
That's a lot of Rocks / Stones/ Gravel being driven by a population (both local & tourists) that (generally) doesn't know how drive to the conditions.
A lot of stone chips / a windscreen / and a side window later, after 4 years makes me think this.
$70K or so for a low profile car here currently doesn't work for me.
Particularly taking to a few owners at a Devonport EV open days last year - one driver mentioned getting a quote for stone chip retouch work work without mentioning the brand - he rocks up to Mr Dingo with a Tesla and the price doubles.

Makes sense and I thought that might be what you were getting at.

However, my experience is different. After 35 years on our roads, I’ve had 1 stone chip on a window. Other than that, paint chips for sure.

Point very much taken on the midlands too. It’s terrible. Lucky for me, my life revolves around turning left at Conara. That may change with a Tassie afl team but hoping the hwy might be ok by then


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[DarrenM]

Is it financially viable to buy one based off lower running costs or is it also a bit of a tech/gadget thing to want one? I've never really looked into electric cars but a base model electric Hyundai Kona is an extra 27k over the petrol version. You'd have to do a lot of driving to make that back.

I don't drive much so it's not financial for me. It's about how much quieter, smoother and relaxed it is without an engine constantly vibrating the car.

The people who are going to save money are commercial like taxi's, delivery, tradies etc.

[markus]

We went electric three years ago. Tesla Model X and Mini Cooper SE. Not going back to legacy auto.

[nutty]

I'll want to look into a few more things though.
- I have 3-phase power on the house; is it possible/feasible to get fast charging set up?
- my solar set up is very sub-par and I could do to review upgrading that and considering batteries, etc - I know this isn't necessary related, though.

So much money....

Have a read of my post from early last year, even another 12 months in I stand by it.
https://arseforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... ng#p471716

And a couple of questions

To those with a Tesla model 3, which one did you get and why?

Cutter, why not for Tassie?


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I just wanted a cool car for driving around every day/long road trips, for $64k I couldn't find another car that was as fast/as fun and as cool for that price. Being electric at the time was interesting to me but not a deal breaker, I couldn't find anything else.

[Brett_S]

You can cheat and do this

[Brett_S]

BYD Seal pricing released

[Bauer]

Cheers Brett. That’s a bit of a shake up on the current range/price trend.

[Exar Kun]

Certainly looks good on paper. I wonder how it drives? 2200kg - that's a fair bit of weight to throw around!

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