125km each way commute

studdlymurphy

Hi guys,
As the title suggests, I travel 125km to work and 125km home. There is a charger at work but from watching it over the last few weeks it is not always available so I couldn't rely on it everyday. I do pass two Apple greens with charges on the way but I would not like to be stopping for to charge the car if I could avoid it. What are my options if any for an electric car.
I like the look of the leaf but I'm open to other options too.
My budget is around 15000 but could stretch if there was something good.
Thanks for the help.

ELM327

Short of a tesla, there's no EV that will do 250km of daily driving. Maybe the new 41kWh Zoe at a push. But that would be a lot more than 15k.

125k km is doable in most current gen EV, 30kwh leaf, Ioniq, etc. So if you could guarantee a charger at work then an Ioniq, 30kwh leaf or 41kwh Zoe are your main options, none of which will you get for 15 k i think.

cros13

There are options but out of your price range I'm afraid, the closest being the Zoe 40 which starts at around 27k new ( could be got for 25k ) and is only on the market a month so new is the only option. It has a roughly 280-300km real world range.

There will be more options announced in September for the 181 reg, including the new mark 2 leaf.

studdlymurphy

Thanks for the replies.
I'll have to see if I can get a guaranteed slot in work so for the charger. If I could guarantee a charger would it give me working options or am I still priced out?

eeguy

I'd say that right now an electric car isn't for you.
If anything went wrong, accident, traffic, out of order charger, detour etc, you could be stranded.

If I were you I'd buy a cheap and cheerful petrol and reevaluate EV's in a few years when range increases and price decreases.

KCross

studdlymurphy wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
I'll have to see if I can get a guaranteed slot in work so for the charger. If I could guarantee a charger would it give me working options or am I still priced out?

You may not need a charger for the entire day.

Do you know if the work charge points support 32A or 16A charging?

If they support 32A you could get an EV capable of utilising 32A and then 2-3hrs is all you would need on the charger.

So a 30kWh Leaf with 6.6kW charger would be one of the options that you could get with your budget.

If you could guarantee 3hrs on the work charger an EV will save you a small fortune and you don't need to do any public charging either

studdlymurphy

I'll have to ask in work, I might be able to get in contact the with the owners of the electric cars and maybe they have some sort agreement with each other like a rota system.
Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it.
I'll be back in touch when I find out more.

KCross

studdlymurphy wrote: »

I'll have to ask in work, I might be able to get in contact the with the owners of the electric cars and maybe they have some sort agreement with each other like a rota system.
Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it.
I'll be back in touch when I find out more.

One other thing the 30kWh leaf came out in 161 so you might need a bit more than €15k and the 6.6kW charger versions are rare. You might have to look at the UK for it.

Evd-Burner

studdlymurphy wrote:

I'll have to ask in work, I might be able to get in contact the with the owners of the electric cars and maybe they have some sort agreement with each other like a rota system. Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it. I'll be back in touch when I find out more.

That's your best bet. There's 4 in my building car park. A few people have asked me how long it takes to charge mine and would I be willing to swap at lunch. Told them to F off that I'd never do such an accommodating thing, I'd rather see them not be able to get home!

Gumbo

When you get to work, is there an outside socket that you can plug a granny cable into?

An Ioniq would do that trip easily after a little boost while your in work.

unkel

kceire wrote: »

When you get to work, is there an outside socket that you can plug a granny cable into?

Or even an inside socket with cable through window / door / letterbox

kceire wrote: »

An Ioniq would do that trip easily after a little boost while your in work.

Or 10 minutes on a fast charger will give you 50kW / 6 is a bit over 8kWh, or about 60km. Should be more than enough. Will take a little bit longer in winter.

goz83

eeguy wrote: »

I'd say that right now an electric car isn't for you.
If anything went wrong, accident, traffic, out of order charger, detour etc, you could be stranded.

If I were you I'd buy a cheap and cheerful petrol and reevaluate EV's in a few years when range increases and price decreases.

I don't think a petrol would do any favours for a round 250klm journey per day. Much as I hate diesel, it would be a better pick than petrol here.

OP, what you really need to evaluate here are the sums. There are 3 solid considerations.

1) What does it cost you per week/month/year to run your car? Don't forget maintenance costs.

2) What would it cost you if picked up a more efficient petrol/diesel to run?

3) Finally, what would it cost you if you picked up a 161+ 30kw Leaf? (assuming monthly finance repayments).

If the sums are close enough over say a 5 year period, then it might make sense to get a 30kw Leaf. Your journey to work will cost you about €1. You would be charging for free to get home. Seems ideal to me, but I don't know your sums.

BlinkingLights

Given the distances involved, unless you are looking at a Tesla, maybe consider a hybrid ?

studdlymurphy

goz83 wrote:

OP, what you really need to evaluate here are the sums. There are 3 solid considerations.

goz83 wrote:

1) What does it cost you per week/month/year to run your car? Don't forget maintenance costs.

70-80 euro per week for diesel, maintenance costs are cheap as I service the car myself probably 100 per year not including breakages.

goz83 wrote:

2) What would it cost you if picked up a more efficient petrol/diesel to run?

I run a 1.6 tdi diesel so it is as efficient as it gets really.

goz83 wrote:

3) Finally, what would it cost you if you picked up a 161+ 30kw Leaf? (assuming monthly finance repayments).

I'd have to price them to see. I'll get a sit down later to try and get the costs straight.

goz83

So if that remained the same, on fuel alone, over the next 5 years, you would spend €17,500.

If you purchased a brand new Leaf, which would cost circa 25k after scrappage and allowances, paid over 5 years, it would cost €500 per month to pay the loan. So you would be increasing the monthly spend. It would take about 8 years to break even.

Now, if you are smart, you could cut that right down. Here is an example you can get for €17,000 with 6.6kw on board charger and very small miles. Lovely Tekna spec. Battery Owned. The monthly cost is what you're currently spending (borrowed over 5 years at about 9% APR). You sell your own car privately and use the funds for your home charger and to reduce the loan perhaps.

sgalvin

You have a mega commute there. You must spend a huge time in the car also ~3hrs/day.

240km return for ~200 working days/year is 50,000km.
In depreciation of a used hard worked car is €2,000/year
Fuel €4,000/year
Tax/ins €1,000/year
Tyres €500/year
Repairs/service €500 (clutch, timing belt, dpf, turbo,etc. You will have 1 per year.

That's €7,000 after tax or €14,000 before tax at the higher rate.

Question is could you work within walking distance or where you live and take a pay cut of €15k and gain 3 hours a day
or
move close(r) to where you work and do the same.

I had a round trip of 120km and up to 2.5 hours time/traffic
I just moved house and saved huge time and money and have a better quality of life. Worth thinking about if it's an option for you.

studdlymurphy wrote: »

70-80 euro per week for diesel, maintenance costs are cheap as I service the car myself probably 100 per year not including breakages.


I run a 1.6 tdi diesel so it is as efficient as it gets really.


I'd have to price them to see. I'll get a sit down later to try and get the costs straight.

studdlymurphy

goz83 wrote:

you can get for €17,000 with 6.6kw on board charger and very small miles. Lovely Tekna spec. Battery Owned. The monthly cost is what you're currently spending (borrowed over 5 years at about 9% APR). You sell your own car privately and use the funds for your home charger and to reduce the loan perhaps.

Thanks goz.
I like the look of that one. I'll have to read up on the different specs and models of leaf.
30kw Leaf what is the range on one? Will it safely get me to work all year round ie winter with lights on etc. I could then charge for home journey.
I'll be torturing everyone in work on Monday trying to find out about the chargers and how available they are.

goz83

studdlymurphy wrote: »

Thanks goz.
I like the look of that one. I'll have to read up on the different specs and models of leaf.
30kw Leaf what is the range on one? Will it safely get me to work all year round ie winter with lights on etc. I could then charge for home journey.
I'll be torturing everyone in work on Monday trying to find out about the chargers and how available they are.

Tekna is the top spec with Leather, heated seats, 17" alloys and 360 reverse camera. Acenta is the middle spec and Visia is the basic one. Has no screen in car....so not nav, or anything.

a 30kw should comfortably get you 150klms in winter on a full charge. The 6.6 OBC are not easy to find and are a real bonus, cutting your charging time in half at work/home. You would get from empty to completely full in under 4 hours on a 32A charge point.

In all honesty, I don't think you will find better than the linked one....which is possibly click bait. You don't know til you call.

feichin

In Response to the OP, I do 100KM each way commute every day in a 30kw leaf with a 6.6 charger. In winter it "costs" 65% of a charge each way. In summer it's 50%. If you have reasonable access to a charger during the day it should be well within your limits.
The benefits are obvious and the leaf is a nice car to drive.
The downsides are that you will probably be paying back a loan similar to what you were previously paying for petrol or diesel, and at that mileage you have no idea what the future holds, either in longevity of the battery or resale value of a high mileage car.
Having said that, for now, I'm glad I made the switch

BoatMad

With the present low costs of fuelling EVs , savings mount the more mileage you do. , we have 140km round trip commute with work charging and the savings are more then covering the costs of the PCP.

Battery degradation is primarily a function of elapsed time in Li , as the major degradation is parasitic action. Driving style is likely to have little effect

Like any car , high mileage will be lower resale , but actually EVs with simpler mechanicals are likely to be more robust then equivalent ice mechanicals. Also residuals in a growing markets with continuous new extrants should be better then existing ice residuals.

thierry14

What about buying a used Zoe and upgrading it to 41kw for 3k with Renaults offer?

Surely get a used one for 12k?

3k for the battery upgrade

n97 mini

125km is on the outer limits of what a 24kw Leaf can do in one run, but there should be no brown underpants in a 30kw.

You will need charging at work and you would need to stay below 100km/h

n97 mini

thierry14 wrote: »

What about buying a used Zoe and upgrading it to 41kw for 3k with Renaults offer?

Surely get a used one for 12k?

3k for the battery upgrade

Battery upgrade is 10k for non-leased Zoes.