Electric car anyone?
1 lurker |
72 watchers
26 Jun
11:16am, 26 Jun 2024
1,957 posts
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Gromit
Thats the kind of tale i've seen elsewhere and why we're putting our purchase on hold....... also new better batteries coming on board all the time worries me that we'll buy something that will be "out of date" with in 24 months...... fine if you're leasing but we wont to buy out right.... a visit to Range Rover / Jaguar dealership with a friend a few months ago was reveling when the sales guy said the sales or pure electric were drying up ........... no interest out there in the market 
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26 Jun
11:19am, 26 Jun 2024
50,297 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I think I've found it. A very old story that we've linked here before of someone who sounded very inflexible about car charging and whose conclusions I wouldn't have agreed with. inews.co.uk But one thing in the article (no link provided by them) "According to the UK-wide independent car supermarket Motorpoint, 56 per cent of EV drivers part-exchanged for an alternative fuel type in 2023, with petrol dominating the choice at 30 per cent. Mark Carpenter, chief executive of Motorpoint Group, says: “It’s clear that some have found an electric vehicle isn’t right for them. There doesn’t seem to be one reason. Instead, it tends to be a range of factors, for example, moving to a property without a home charger, a new job with a longer commute, or the high price of public chargers.” " Can anyone find the research for this. Motorpoint is just a car selling website, I think. Which is currently down! And I can't find any evidence. 56% changing back to non electric is astonishing and I suspect is just plain wrong. But would love to see the evidence if so? |
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26 Jun
11:26am, 26 Jun 2024
50,298 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Gromit, here's what I'd say to you. * New tech coming. Sure, but that's always true of anything technically advanced. Phones, TV etc. Doesn't stop you buying one now and getting the benefit. * Sales drying up - that's all about economy, gov't messaging etc. Sunak moving the ban on new car sales back from 20230 to 2035 affected it, I'm sure. Labour have committed to reverting it back. The models and technologies out there work. What I am driving now is cheaper for me today than my BMW diesel and petrol cars were for previous 10 years. There is some minor planning and slightly harder logistics when travelling very long journeys. And the cheapness and convenience of charging at home I 100% accept is dependent on living in a house with a drive. Not everyone has that luxury. But I bet 90% of those in Fetch do have that luxury. So there really is no barrier to purchase. I will be buying (not leasing as I am currently) a second hand EV in the next purchase in under 1 year with complete confidence. Ask any questions you like about any barriers to converting to EV. Yes, I'm a confessed fan boi!! G
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26 Jun
11:42am, 26 Jun 2024
20,208 posts
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Dave W
Buy a phone. Costs a grand. Change it in two years. Expensive but doable. Buy a car. Costs seventy grand. I’ll want to keep it for at least ten years. My current diesel is a great car. Only five years old and doesn’t do much mileage. I’m also one of the people waiting for the tech to get better. In five years I’m sure it will be brilliant. Also not sure it’s particularly environmentally sound to bin my car off to get a new one when the old one is still perfectly sound. Sorry. |
26 Jun
11:50am, 26 Jun 2024
24,744 posts
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larkim
Tech today will never be as good as tech in 5 or 10 years. But you'll always be chasing that 5 or 10 year away product. Not sure that makes sense. Mass market EVs are here now, they work, and in 5 years time there's not any realistic prospect of them being lightyears better. 5yo diesel not doing much mileage? Agree, no good reason to change either for financial or environmental reasons. |
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26 Jun
11:52am, 26 Jun 2024
50,302 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Agree Dave, no argument from me here. Diesel, not old, doing low mileage anyway, hence no need to change or buy anything. Tick. As with all environmental choices - NOT buying, NOT throwing away comes first. Agree! My advice is targeted only at those who ARE getting a new (to them, I would never buy new off a forecourt) car and are at the point of having to change, for whatever reason. At that point, an EV should be the first choice. Reasons not to: * genuinely can't afford the higher upfront cost (despite the lower running costs). There should be (were, not sure now?) help with the capital purchase cost. Not sure that applies to many on Fetch, btw. * don't have a driveway for home charging, work charging or nearby reasonably priced and convenient public charging. Yip, this is a problem. Agree. Can't think of anything else though. Everything else is just "a bit of inconvenience" at worst, as far as I can tell? G
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26 Jun
11:59am, 26 Jun 2024
20,210 posts
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Dave W
Disagree with the tech part, L. If you look at how good EV's are now compared to 5 years ago, they are so much better. Because the market is now into EV's, the technology is being advanced. Can the technology continue to advance at the same rate. Probably not. But when computers first came out they were the size of a house and used cards with holes punched in them as memory. Now there's more computing power in my phone than in all the computers in the world from back then. So things do advance, and as I don't have an unlimited budget for these things, I'm having to make a decision as to how to proceed. And that isn't scrapping my car. If money was no object, I'd have an EV straight away. Probably keep the Volvo for longer runs though. But then I'd also but 7000 acres and plant trees all over it. Come on, Lottery win. |
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26 Jun
12:03pm, 26 Jun 2024
24,745 posts
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larkim
I disagree; I've had an EV now for four years. The car I drive today is pretty similar in EV terms to the one I drove four years ago, and both are still quite a way behind what a Tesla was doing well over 5 years ago. A five year horizon for new EV tech isn't actually very long, and we'd already be seeing some of that new ubiquitous technology today if it was to be mainstreamed in 5 years. 10 years away is a more sensible horizon to be fearful about new tech. |
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26 Jun
12:25pm, 26 Jun 2024
20,213 posts
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Dave W
Well I guess that you’re more in the know about it than me. But there seems to be quite a bit of advancements in the battery side of things which to me seems like the most important part of the car. The range an EV can travel seem to be increasing a lot as well. Until they come up with the car equivalent of electric trains that take energy as they go instead of having to carry it about with them. So I’ll be hanging on and watching where things go from here. |
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26 Jun
12:31pm, 26 Jun 2024
24,747 posts
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larkim
I think you've got to be a bit careful of hearing BBC news stories about leaps in battery tech and assuming they are making it into cars any time soon. I can absolutely understand the apprehension of taking, say, a car today which has 300 miles of range and then wondering whether what the residual value of that when pitched against a newer, higher density battery tech that can maybe do 500 miles might be in 5 years time. But the car industry moves relatively slowly, and whilst batteries will still probably get "better" I don't think there is an earthshattering change coming quickly. On the flip side, if you are happy to take a car today which meets your needs today, then it doesn't really matter whether in 5 years time it won't be as good, because it still meets your needs. |
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