Good question. In the case of a taxi the figures will be very different. You're not doing much taxi driving on 8000 miles a year. I think a lot of cars are rented, I know one driver who does this, the actual owner buys cars and rents them to taxi drivers as a business. It's the kind of use that lends itself to an EV, because fuel is a larger part of your total cost per mile. Another example - I know someone who took a £300 per month lease on a BM W, 8000 miles a year. So £3600 for 8k miles, about 45p a mile fixed lease cost before you start the engine. Fuel about 10p a mile if diesel, 15p if petrol. Then insurance, tax, repairs. Probably 65p a mile all up, of which fuel 15 to 20%. Reduce your fuel costs, big deal. 80%+ is fixed costs. But a taxi on 50k + miles a year, fuel is more like 50% of costs per mile (if diesel). That's worth reducing.
Who's bought their last tank of petrol?
- Thread starter Cesare
- Start date
Ponty
pfm Member
Pleased to hear he came out the other side of it.
ASHP - Air Source Heat Pump. It's basically a big fridge screwed to your house wall. The warm side you put indoors, the cold side outdoors. You make the garden cooler and the house warmer. I think in the UK where it's never especially cold you can ge t about 3x the energy consumed by the pump back as heat, though obviously this will vary with delta T, ie the difference across the wall. If it's 10C outdoors and you want 18 indoors, happy days. If it's -15 and want +25, you are going to have to work very hard to get the energy out of the outside air.
Air Source Heat Pumps.
Think the general consensus is to lease an EV rather than buy because of the battery issues.
No idea about hydrogen boilers but I’ve noticed a few manufacturers releasing adverts regarding those boilers notably Worchester Bosch.
I don't even do 8000 miles a year which is why I ended up buying a diesel van.
Aethelist
pfm Member
Hmm. Last tank of Petrol bought? Yes.
Fuse upgraded on electricity supply to 100 amp? Yes
Smart Meter installed? Yes
Charging point installed? (not yet but not actually required just yet because we can charge for free at the office - company is paying for the install though - via various grants etc - lots of hoops to jump through)
4 weeks to go. £3500 a year saved in tax and fuel (on an average of 55mpg in a hybrid)
That's quite some saving over 3 years. Plus we get the fun factor of dicking around in a Tesla.
Can't wait.
Fuse upgraded on electricity supply to 100 amp? Yes
Smart Meter installed? Yes
Charging point installed? (not yet but not actually required just yet because we can charge for free at the office - company is paying for the install though - via various grants etc - lots of hoops to jump through)
4 weeks to go. £3500 a year saved in tax and fuel (on an average of 55mpg in a hybrid)
That's quite some saving over 3 years. Plus we get the fun factor of dicking around in a Tesla.
Can't wait.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Make one of those at a normal price of an A5 with comparable performance (I couldn't care less about the ballistic 0-60 time) and range on one charge / fill, I'm in.
lordsummit
Moderator
I don’t understand why there’s this fear of replacing the batteries after 8 years. How many people with Prius’s do you know who’ve had new batteries? Plenty of older Leafs still in service. Look on Speak EV, you’ll regularly see 6 year old Leafs for sale with 11 out of 12 on the battery condition meter. It’s just another excuse. A wall charge is £500 after the grant if you don’t have a difficult install and want to be miles away from the meters and electric in wire. So much misinformation abounds. Yes if you want to tow or do inter-continental tours there are much better options, but considering how much of our energy is clean now, how they improve emissions, and how they don’t emit fumes from their tailpipe, they have to be a good thing.
Electricity power stations are only about 35% efficient so how are EVs better for the environment?
Condensing boilers are designed to be less polluting nothing to do with being efficient, obviously they are pretty efficient but they were introduced here in the UK to reduce emissions (NOX).
Thorn
pfm Member
The Ionic 5 is larger than my XE and more expensive. When smaller, less expensive electric vehicles that can do 300 miles and charge to 80% within less than a quarter of an hour hit the market, and that time shouldn't be too far away, then they become a realistic proposition for me when I change my car.
lordsummit
Moderator
Yes that reputable enquiring documentary Top Gear, they always let the truth get on the way of a good story don’t they?
I don’t think the original Zoe had much of a range to begin with. Mine will do 220/230 miles.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
When it's all renewable or carbon neutral electricity and doesn't require batteries that require metal that can only be acquired with a huge environmental impact then, yep, an EV would be better for the environment.
No longer convenient, overpriced and joyless but better for the (immediate) environment and the conscience.
lordsummit
Moderator
Well as an ICE is at best about 30% efficient I’d say that was an improvement. Especially as most EV owners will use Octopus for home charging. Most charging stations use renewable sources of energy, or are supplied by companies who only purchase from renewable sources. There’s nothing coming out of the tailpipe, so air quality is improved. But yes, haters are going to hate.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Diesels are 45% efficient https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/diesel-engines#:~:text=Diesel engines have a high,operate on low-grade fuels.
[edit]
Sorry about the rogue apostrophe. Fixed.
I don't hate EVs far from it I don't actually care about EVs.
Personally I think it's a huge con.
Each to their own though.
That's a load of bollox frankly.
Full of maybes and might be's
As I said above electricity power stations are terribly inefficient and that bollox above is saying that EVs need more efficient power generation ie up to date power stations which isn't going to happen anytime soon, punters will buy cheap cars from China rather than from Sweden that's just a simple fact, I mean how many people have the dosh to buy a £50k Volvo?
From that link above.
"With cars emitting a sizeable proportion of global greenhouse gases, e-vehicles are increasingly seen as the solution, and are being promoted by the EU. However, there have been suggestions that, when cradle-to-grave emissions are taken into account, including emissions from generating the electricity that powers e-vehicles, EVs perform no better than petrol and diesel cars, and sometimes worse."
Mike Reed
pfm Member
Maybe, but with my diesel doing 50 to 55 in winter and 55 to 60 in summer, it'll take something to improve on economy sufficient to balance the extra upfront costs. No DPF, no screen, just an almost manual, old-fashioned wagon.