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ok as you know i am not due to change till end of may next year. i know a lot can change before then.
as ive just found out lol. i am being made redundant effectively with notice etc on 31st august. so as i am 66 in september i will get a whole 24 days of the dole or whatever it is these days. and the chances of getting a job at 66 is pretty slim.
fortunately the old age pension is pretty much the same as i was earning so in a sense i am not much worse off just not as much better off than i was expecting if you see what i mean lol it was going to be a nice rise in income.
one good thing i suppose is that i wont be doing a 30 mile return commute 5 days a week.
the car needs are pretty much the same but milage a lot less. the need for as little ap as possible remains. fortnately i am on wpms so that helps.
i get a veterans auto grant of £660 so thats the start point.
my short list is:
juke tekna £269
juke tekna+ £887.
austral techno esprit alpne £1433
kuga st line £633
kona n-line £537
all hybrids
outsiders petrol countryman exclusive £1640 and electric due to decent range super comfort and bargain ap ioniq 6 £387. would probably only need to charge once a month to begin with, i dont get out much lol.
or yet to test honda civic 0ap.
or extend and save for a cheap runabout.
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If you’re not due to change until next May then a lot could change before then.
If you can charge at home then get an EV, but only if can home charge cause you will end up doing more miles than expected.
If you’re not going to go out much do you really need a motability car, buy a small cheap runaround and keep the money but I thought they’d stopped allowing extensions 🤔
I could not be bothered looking at cars and advance payments on the scheme eleven months in advance as availability and pricing seems to change daily.
There’s a difference in how driving locally and a decent commute to work affects the vehicle. With ICE there’s the fuel filters to consider, both DPF and the petrol equivalent can block up on constant cold driving. It’s not until the engine heats up properly these get cleared.
With EVs there’s less to get problematic with short journeys. In adverse conditions the batteries won’t be at optimal temperature, which means you’ll be getting less per kWh than you’d like but if you’re topping up monthly, you’ll not care too much anyway.
I would definitely be looking around the available EVs within budget and seeing if any appeal.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Definitely EV, if the vast majority is short/local drives, a 7.4kw charger will keep the car topped up easily (if you can charge at home), so every journey starts at 250+ miles range, for peanuts to charge with the correct tariff (our next car would charge from 10% to 100% in around 13 hours over two nights, for a total of less than £5).
As for “what EV”.. Your shortlist is a little all over the place, hard to see a particular focus there (small crossovers, medsized SUV, compact crossovers and a saloon).
Suggestions for cars to look at would be Kona EV, Ford Explorer, Skoda Elroq. These seem to hit the average size of the cars on your shortlist, minus the Ioniq 6 which is deceptively large (as near as it makes no difference, 5 meters – or slightly shorter than a 5 series, or another 30cm over the Kuga).
We test drove all of them (albeit, the Kona a while ago, i think there was a facelift or new version since) – all great cars to live with. For my money, it would be the Elroq, which is currently probably the best EV on the scheme all things considered (it’s not on the scheme right now but poised to come back, according to our Skoda dealer – was removed because they couldn’t keep up with orders).
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.the main list is all petrol hybrids as i cant charge at home. i did look at the petrol cupra formentor and i have a soft spot for the countryman but given the finances theres a lot available at less than £1600.
the only reason i put the ioniq out there was that when looking at the kona i sat in one and i was suprised i could get in and out without much discomfort and once in the seats and driving position were lovely. and at the moment the ap is rediculously low. my 7k annual mileage will probably halve so i will only have to go out and charge once a month or every 3 weeks at worse and they have just installed a bunch of chargers at my favourite garden centre so a couple of hours or so there even at their higher costs isnt going to break the bank.
i will monitor the list as we go the easiest solution is another juke just a case of which trim.
for the electric buffs out there would doing so few miles be problematic regarding battery life or range.
also would it be better just charging to 80% and charging 3 weekly or monthly to 100%.
for the electric buffs out there would doing so few miles be problematic regarding battery life or range. also would it be better just charging to 80% and charging 3 weekly or monthly to 100%.
In regards to doing few miles, no, zero problems at all.
Generally speaking, one should charge to 80%, as it’s easier on the battery, and 100% when you intend a longer journey the next day. Though, with some of the EVs on the scheme, assuming around 70 miles of driving a week, you potentially could get away with charging every four weeks if your right foot is light.
If you can’t charge at home, it’s down to you – nobody can really help you there. I personally wouldn’t go for an EV if i couldn’t charge at home, it sort of defeats the “purpose” for us (cheaper motoring) due to extortionate prices on public chargers. Adding to that, many chargers (chances are, the garden-centre ones are too) top out at 50kw (and less), so charging is going to take at least an hour to 90 minutes.
For reference, some chargers around here ask £0.89 per kw/h. At home i can charge for £0.28 in prime time, or £0.07p at night. A full charge on the Ford Explorer (that’s what i did the math on for myself, so i got those numbers present) or anything with a similar sized battery (around 80kw/h) would cost me close to £65. As opposed to the £5 i pay at home. That’s very okay for the few longer distance trips i do a year – but if i had to pay that every fill.. Then i’d probably look at ICE again, because that’d end up cheaper.
At least, that’s my thoughts on it.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.There’s been an increase in chargers just about everywhere. It should be simple enough to find somewhere you’d regularly visit that has a good 7.4/22kW charger. Depending on the car you end up with and the tariffs around you, it will still work out cheaper and definitely easier than petrol. Plug in to a rapid monthly whilst doing the weekly shop or, should the car accept 22kW charging, even a 3phase AC charger and you’ll have refilled your monthly use when you’re done. I know Lidl usually have chargers outside most bigger stores and they aren’t horrifically priced.
Regularly doing short journeys makes no mechanical difference, we don’t have to warm lubricants up to get effective protection, the batteries, motors and other moving parts aren’t heat sensitive for failure prevention. You’ll lose a little efficiency but on your mileage, who cares?
Charging would depend upon circumstances. If you could overnight charge at home for pennies, I’d be charging around 40% and charging to a max of 80% but if I could only use public chargers, I’d let them drop further and charge up to 85-90% but much less frequently.
There’s been more than a few threads here including filters clogging and the subsequent problems from unavailable cars or repetitive breakdowns. Add in the potential for delays in replacement parts and down time for repairs, I’d not feel right not suggesting looking into a reasonably sized battery in an EV and looking at the costs locally. As an idea, there’s a channel on YouTube called EnyaqGorm. He’s ran a 60kWh Enyaq and shows how it’s not a problem even on long runs. If you can find a car capable of real world 200+ miles, you’ll be fine locally and on longer runs.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
thanks guys, it is going to be an option i think assuming the ioniq is still around in feb when i can order well the 28th lol.
its probabley the best looking car on the scheme i think and the seats are so comfortable so i would be tempted to do longer journies just to have a comfortable sit down for a while. mind it will be just my luck and the ap will shoot back up to what it was. is it due a refresh or replacement does anyone know?
My honest view Mark @MFillingham is if you can’t charge at home, it become more of a faf especially as we get older to rely soley on public chargers. This is especially true if your feeling down for a week, but not yet got round to charging, only to worry how your going to get the doctors or hospital appoinment. Of course this is not an issue if you can charge at home.
Equally @mitch has said previously, he gets 60mpg from his Juke Hybrid, which works out at 9.6p per mile, I can’t see any public chargers being that cheap. Tesco for example charges 40p kWh for it’s 22kW chargers. At an average of 3.5 miles kWh , thats costing just under 11.5p a mile, with the hastle of charging away from home.
It would be a totally different outcome if the council allowed permission for a driveway and mitch could apply for a DFG or Forces grant, then your looking at as little, as 2p amile.
My honest view Mark @MFillingham is if you can’t charge at home, it become more of a faf especially as we get older to rely soley on public chargers. This is especially true if your feeling down for a week, but not yet got round to charging, only to worry how your going to get the doctors or hospital appoinment. Of course this is not an issue if you can charge at home. Equally @mitch has said previously, he gets 60mpg from his Juke Hybrid, which works out at 9.6p per mile, I can’t see any public chargers being that cheap. Tesco for example charges 40p kWh for it’s 22kW chargers. At an average of 3.5 miles kWh , thats costing just under 11.5p a mile, with the hastle of charging away from home. It would be a totally different outcome if the council allowed permission for a driveway and mitch could apply for a DFG or Forces grant, then your looking at as little, as 2p amile.
It’s so funny you should say that. The government announced a £63 million boost including an extension of the Kerbo charge type cable tunnel trials that have been run by certain local authorities. This should help with those who have been denied chargers due to a lack of drive but have parking outside of their property with a single public access between car and property boundary.
Given Mitch’s own estimates of use and likely need to charge on only a monthly basis, it would be easy to keep the car at a point where emergency trips to hospital/doctors wouldn’t be an issue. I can do that very easily at home but even charging publicly wouldn’t be a hassle as I’d charge every 2 weeks to around 85% and allow that to run down. My estimation would mean that at recharging it’ll still be over 40% charged.
Yes, costs will be fractionally higher but expectations are for petrol prices to not come down, in fact it’s a minor miracle that the whole Isreal/Iran thing didn’t see a jump in pricing. However, there’s now an established pattern in charging coming down in price. All it takes is for 40p to become 35 and for the estimate of 3.5 to become 4 and the maths looks entirely different. Remember, the Ioniq 6 is one of the most efficient designs around and averaging 4 miles per kWh over a period of a lease shouldn’t be particularly challenging. It wasn’t that long ago that someone posted to one of the Ioniq groups that they had achieved 6miles per kWh, something I remember because everyone thought it was a 5 and reacted accordingly. Even at 40p 6 miles per kWh would be less than 7p per mile.
What I’m less sure of is whether I’d want something the length of the 6 for around town driving. The driving would be fine but street parking or getting into some car parks around here in that would be a head ache I’d rather do without.
Oh and @Mitch there is a new facelift version due out soon. It also comes with the Ioniq 6’s equivalent of the 5’s N model. The Ioniq 6 N is a 650 bhp ‘Porsche’s worst nightmare’ beast.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
ah @MFillingham, that explains the current low ap so its safe to say it probabley wont be an option come next year. so it looks like sticking to hybrids. the problem with home charging for me is the distance i am from the road 20 odd metres and thats owned by my landlords and the council so i am having to deal with 2 entities and when the dropped kerb alone is nigh on 5k it aint cheap. i have asked for details of applying for grants but it aint going to be quick maybe for the car after next lol.
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