- This topic has 46 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
.
- Topic
Just came through to St Andrews yesterday and was surprised to achieve 50 mpg in our Volvo xc40 PHEV. I had the electric on “Hold” so the journey , of some 80 miles, was on petrol. Most of the 80 miles was completed on motorway (50 miles) with the remaining 30 on A and B roads.
- Replies
The Other factor here is The Inconvenience of having to plan trips too. As it All adds up. Time to charge against Time to fill up. ?
Brydo, on the return leg of a trip to Southampton yesterday with a depleted battery I also got 50mpg.
oscarmax, could you not get a battery and use your gains from the panels to either charge car or use in house?
Current Car: Hyundai Kona Premium EV...2 way 40kg hoist
Last Car: Toyota C-HR Excel Hybrid...4 way 80kg hoistStruth I already have a 5.8 kWh solar battery which has reduced my energy cost dramatically, problem is on a good day we generate more than we can use and store, it is very painful watching all that power going back to the grid, then having to pay 3 times the price to import it back , at least I am balancing the grid.
The alternative is to replace the existing Pod Point EV charger with one of these smart EV charger at a £1,000 a pop ?
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
Just filled my Toyota Chr 1.8 hybrid up with petrol had 70 miles left said display cost to fill up to third click at pump £50 should give around 500 miles more in summer is this a lot dearer than full electric same miles ? Im on British Gas for gas and electric standard tariff
Just filled my Toyota Chr 1.8 hybrid up with petrol had 70 miles left said display cost to fill up to third click at pump £50 should give around 500 miles more in summer is this a lot dearer than full electric same miles ? Im on British Gas for gas and electric standard tariff
Thats not bad compared to around 240-260mile fot the same amount in mine!
Struth I already have a 5.8 kWh solar battery which has reduced my energy cost dramatically, problem is on a good day we generate more than we can use and store, it is very painful watching all that power going back to the grid, then having to pay 3 times the price to import it back , at least I am balancing the grid. The alternative is to replace the existing Pod Point EV charger with one of these smart EV charger at a £1,000 a pop ?
Oscarmax I got myself a Zappi solar charger when I got my house battery, it’s early days yet but I do think it’s going to work well when we get into the high solar months. I realised I was doing the same as you and putting a lot of electricity back into the grid and buying it back expensive. Battery and Zappi charger have fixed that!
Does this mean if I generate my electricity myself and charge the car with it that I win the efficiency test this thread is driving at?
About £20 for a home charge here gives me 250 winter, 325 summer
Current Car: Hyundai Kona Premium EV...2 way 40kg hoist
Last Car: Toyota C-HR Excel Hybrid...4 way 80kg hoistThe Other factor here is The Inconvenience of having to plan trips too. As it All adds up. Time to charge against Time to fill up. ?
Takes me 20 secs to plug my EVs in……….it’s nicer than going to a petrol station
Struth I already have a 5.8 kWh solar battery which has reduced my energy cost dramatically, problem is on a good day we generate more than we can use and store, it is very painful watching all that power going back to the grid, then having to pay 3 times the price to import it back , at least I am balancing the grid. The alternative is to replace the existing Pod Point EV charger with one of these smart EV charger at a £1,000 a pop ?
Oscarmax I got myself a Zappi solar charger when I got my house battery, it’s early days yet but I do think it’s going to work well when we get into the high solar months. I realised I was doing the same as you and putting a lot of electricity back into the grid and buying it back expensive. Battery and Zappi charger have fixed that! Does this mean if I generate my electricity myself and charge the car with it that I win the efficiency test this thread is driving at?
I don’t think this thread is a efficiency test but it is nice to have some real world comparisons before we make these big financial decisions , as a bench mark a petrol car 50mpg using unleaded petrol £1.50 @ litre roughly work out 13.5 pence a mile, in reality unless you have a home charger and an EV tariff both an EV or PHEV does not make financial sense for all of us.
We are due to change vehicles in June with the ever increasing energy prices we are so unsure be it a Hybrid or another PHEV.
I would be interested how you get on with your new Zappi charger
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
That work out 6-8 pence a mile really excellent
Struth I already have a 5.8 kWh solar battery which has reduced my energy cost dramatically, problem is on a good day we generate more than we can use and store, it is very painful watching all that power going back to the grid, then having to pay 3 times the price to import it back , at least I am balancing the grid. The alternative is to replace the existing Pod Point EV charger with one of these smart EV charger at a £1,000 a pop ?
Oscarmax I got myself a Zappi solar charger when I got my house battery, it’s early days yet but I do think it’s going to work well when we get into the high solar months. I realised I was doing the same as you and putting a lot of electricity back into the grid and buying it back expensive. Battery and Zappi charger have fixed that! Does this mean if I generate my electricity myself and charge the car with it that I win the efficiency test this thread is driving at?
I don’t think this thread is a efficiency test but it is nice to have some real world comparisons before we make these big financial decisions , as a bench mark a petrol car 50mpg using unleaded petrol £1.50 @ litre roughly work out 13.5 pence a mile, in reality unless you have a home charger and an EV tariff both an EV or PHEV does not make financial sense for all of us. We are due to change vehicles in June with the ever increasing energy prices we are so unsure be it a Hybrid or another PHEV. I would be interested how you get on with your new Zappi charger
Oscarmax absolutely agree and if I’m not careful it will become another one of those pro anti Ev threads
Very impressed with Zappi charger. Last year prior to battery installation I exported 5MwH of electricity and was paid a paltry 5p a kWh for it. My plan this year is to use the Zappi to top one of the EVs up with any excess solar. My routine at the moment is to charge the battery up overnight on Octopus Go cheap electricity. I then use a combination of solar and battery to power the house during the day when grid electricity is expensive. If the house load is covered, the battery is fully charged then the Zappi uses excess solar to charge Ev. These options can all be altered to suit. I’m now hardly exporting anything and soon I will use just solar to charge the battery as there will be enough to keep me off grid unless I need to quickly charge the card. Zappi brilliant for Ev not so sure for Phev.
Struth I already have a 5.8 kWh solar battery which has reduced my energy cost dramatically, problem is on a good day we generate more than we can use and store, it is very painful watching all that power going back to the grid, then having to pay 3 times the price to import it back , at least I am balancing the grid. The alternative is to replace the existing Pod Point EV charger with one of these smart EV charger at a £1,000 a pop ?
Oscarmax I got myself a Zappi solar charger when I got my house battery, it’s early days yet but I do think it’s going to work well when we get into the high solar months. I realised I was doing the same as you and putting a lot of electricity back into the grid and buying it back expensive. Battery and Zappi charger have fixed that! Does this mean if I generate my electricity myself and charge the car with it that I win the efficiency test this thread is driving at?
Octopus has just announced a new rate for solar and battery users.
https://octopus.energy/smart/flux/
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
@wigwam strangely enough coming back from St Andrews, taking the exact same route, in reverse, I achieved 46mpg. Can’t think of anything I done differently and the weather was much better also.
Oscarmax you are quickly becoming the go to guy for all things solar, battery and Octopus energy related. Your detailed personal info and general knowledge of the subject in general makes a great read, thanks ?
Just as an aside we had a fantastic time in St Andrews. The weather was great, on the beach on two of the days, I can thoroughly recommend it as a town to spend a few days.
@wigwam strangely enough coming back from St Andrews, taking the exact same route, in reverse, I achieved 46mpg. Can’t think of anything I done differently and the weather was much better also. Oscarmax you are quickly becoming the go to guy for all things solar, battery and Octopus energy related. Your detailed personal info and general knowledge of the subject in general makes a great read, thanks
Just as an aside we had a fantastic time in St Andrews. The weather was great, on the beach on two of the days, I can thoroughly recommend it as a town to spend a few days.Brydo I cannot take any credit I receive the majority from Martin Lewis ‘Money Saving Expert Forums. As regards PHEV energy consumption our PHEV is very sensitive to temperatures, the colder the weather the less efficient.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
@Oscarmax thanks for the link to the Octopus Flux. I’ve registered my interest as my Octopus Go Tariff comes to an end in June.
I recently changed my 2 year old BP Pulse Charger to a Zappi after having Solar Panels and Batteries installed last year. I have been storing the electricity on the cheap rate through the night. The Zappi is excellent being able to charge the car with solar or the stored electricity as and when needed without the need of using the Grid. I had a Kona for a year but due to needing a lot more space for wheelchair and oxygen cylinders etc, I moved over to a Hyundai Tucson Ultimate PHEV. I find the Zappi is still very useful with the PHEV especially when you need a quick charge when coming home and having to go back out in two hours. I will move over to a larger EV if available when the time comes to change.
@Brydo I totally agree with visiting St Andrews, we were in that area last year and had a great time plus a visit to a local Whiskey Distillery.@oscarmax you are bringing knowledge on a subject that is in the public eye due to rising energy costs and most people will know nothing, or very little, of solar power and battery storage. The octopus energy info will also pass many people by, so bringing it to the Forum will inform those who, maybe, don’t look at the subject.
Anyone who has to drive in Central London will know the story. Yesterday I had to go from Heathrow to Catford picking up my Son in law in Westminster. The amazing element wasn’t the hour and fifty minutes it took (I half expected it) or the comfortable and relaxed drive (thanks to the XC40 PHEV) but the incredibly good fuel consumption. Starting with a depleted battery the car was acting as a normal if heavy hybrid:
Thats not bad at all @wigwam 🙂
This is the GTE with a depleted battery, in worst conditions (no traffic, no traffic lights, speed limit 40-60 apart from a 3 mile section of 30 – it’s a round trip).
The absolute lowest we had so far was 48mpg on a two mile drive petrol only (showing the car off to a neighbour with an extra sprinkle of skinny pedal).
We’re currently 500 miles in on our first tank and have still 140 miles indicated left (plus electric), averaging around 85mpg since refuelling so far – and that’s in cold weather (with the spell of snowfall in there), heating for the majority of drives and a still tight engine.
Yeah, we’re pretty happy, and the math worked out. Way cheaper than our 1.5 Ateca, which managed around 370 miles per fill in winter (around £65 to fill, about 36-39mpg). We’re still on our first tank, paid £49 for Super and an additional around £12 in electricity (it’s £18 used in our “cheap hours”, but heatpump tumble and washing machine are running every two-three days in that timeframe too). We basically halved our cost per mile, could save more if we went for normal E10 but since we’re refuelling rarely, Super it is. In summer this number will go up considerably, since at the moment our electric range is only about 24 miles indicated of a possible 35. In 14C it’s 29 miles indicated, so in summer we expect 33+. Best range on actual hybrid driving (the app indicated purely electric as 300mpg) was around 130, with an outlier of 270mpg but i assume that was a drive where we drove 90% electric and the engine kicked in for the last two miles or something.
I do think we’re ready for EV too, juggling the battery capacity, planning journeys etc is less complicated than we thought. I still get, funny enough, range anxiety (because i want to maximise the benefit of the PHEV system and hate leaving efficiency on the road), but it’s manageable.
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.
Just as an aside we had a fantastic time in St Andrews. The weather was great, on the beach on two of the days, I can thoroughly recommend it as a town to spend a few days.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.