[Freds Dad]

Hi

After having a long think about it over the last few months I've made the decision to ditch my 2L Honda CRV and go down the EV road and have spent hours and hours on the interweb learning about the EV world. My better half a an hybrid Lexus so we use that if we go any distance.

I've decided to intially lease a car, probably a Leaf to see if it works for me before buying. I've found a deal that I think is good but I am going to a dealer on Wednesday for a test drive and see if they can match it.
The deal is on an N-Connecta, 2 years, 8k miles per year and 1 month deposit for £245.40 a month or £258 with a maintenance package which is currently the best I can find but if anyone knows of a better deal then please point me in the direction of it.

The other decision's I have to make are around which charger and which electric tarrif to go with.

I've narrowed the charger down to either a Podpoint or EO Mini again any advice more that welcome and then I have to decide on tethered or untethered but I am leaning towards untethered as SWMBO thinks it will look neater on the wall. If I go down the untethered route where is teh best place to buy a charger cable and are all the type 2's the same?

Finally do I need to spend and extra £13 a month on the maintenance package or wil it be cheaper to pay for servicing as required and does the car have to go to a main dealer for the work?

Lots of and lots of questions and thank you in advance for any help/advice that I receive.

 

[HandyAndy]

I chose untethered charger for a several of reasons:
1) I could get a longer cable, 10m, while most tethered seem to be 5m. If you have >1 car on your drive, or park in different places, or charge-flap is at opposite ends of your Evs etc etc, you might want the greater reach & flexibility of a longer cable.
2) You get to take the cable with you on trips. Most Evs come without a Type-2 cable, as they aren't cheap! You'll need one if you plan to charge at e.g. supermarket/cinema/high-street 7kW chargers. Also a longer cable means less chance of being "Iced" at a destination charger - I once used a 13A mains extension cable to be able to charge at a supermarket from a Podpoint charger surrounded by petrol cars!
3) This is becoming a rarer thing, but my car has a Type-1 socket, as do ?early Outlanders? and early Leafs; the standard now is that Evs have Type-2 sockets, as will my next Ev. So I only need to swap the untethered cable to modernise, when that happens. Also any visitors can use whatever Type-2 cable they bring with them if they want a charge.

Untethered is probably neater, but if your charger is outside then you may find yourself constantly packing the cable away somewhere ?car boot? when not charging. This is more hassle than simply winding the cable round the charger! My charger lives inside gge with up-and-over door, and there's a gap under that, so I treat mine as if it was tethered & just wind the cable inside gge out of sight, and only unplug it when going on longer trips that need destination charging. Note that outside installations of EVSEs now require, I believe, an "Earthing Rod" - not my area of expertise, you may want to research the visibility/elegance of these!

I bought my cable from Evconnectors.com, and it's been utterly reliable for 4 years now. Comes in a round green carry bag, which is getting a bit tatty - my fault!

They may offer 3-phase cables, or possibly single-phase cables. Single phase is all you need for 7kW charging, and should be cheaper as fewer wires so less copper & less cost than a 3-phase cable. 3-phase cables need a 3-phase charger on the Ev, and typically offer 11/22kW charging, or I think 44 (used by some Zoes at Rapids). Very few homes have 3-phase electricity, and not many Evs in Uk can make use of 3-phase EVSEs.

 

[Hermit Dave]

Leaf minor service at dealer is 149, major is 199. Not sure what terms of lease state.

Regarding electricity and charge point. Who is your current provider,
how much do you pay per kWh,
do you have a smart meter? If yes is it recent or old?

I'm on EDF Go electric tariff that
costs
8p / kWh off peak
17p / kWh peak.

7:00 to 21:00 GMT - peak hours.
21:00 to 7:00 - off peak

Peak hours only apply to weekdays. Weekdays are entirely off peak.

I have been similar tariff for over 10 years now and significant usage is off peak.

As far as charge point is concerned, if go tethered as new cars as they all support Type 2 adapter but it's your choice.

- Leaf 30 kWh
Sent from mobile phone so please mind the typos

 

[Malik84]

Hi FD & All at SpeakEV,


I'm also new to the EV community, and collect my new VW e-Golf tomorrow.

Although i have been driving a Nissan e-NV and Leaf for work since 2016, this is my first personal EV car.

My car ownership journey has gone from petrol, diesel, hybrid to now being full EV & i expect my future cars to all be EV from now on.

My other car is an Auris hybrid owned since 2016, which i will be giving to my dad.

Having been able to test drive the e-Golf for a few days via the MK EV Experience Centre i was pleasantly surprised with how it was (i will paste my review of those few days at the end of this message).

I have the e-Golf for 3 years and definitely looking forward to using it as much as possible in that time.

Options selected at point of order are:

• 12.3" high res. Info. Display
• Rear view camera
• Heat pump
• Winter pack
• Key-less entry and start
• Carpet mats
• Metallic Paint - Tungsten Silver

IN REPLY TO FD ...

I have also had installed a 7 kw Ohme wall charger (tethered) and changed to the Octopus GO tariff for cheaper overnight rates between 1230am-0430am.

I've not opted for the maintenance pack, and will do this separately. I intend to 'self insure' by setting aside x no of £'s each month to cover me for tyres, servicing etc. I will look around for any service plans though.

Anyways, this was just a hello to all of you and i'm sure i will keep an eye out for various conversations on a regular basis and no doubt ask the odd question.


APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR THE MINI ESSAY.


▪︎MK EV Experience REVIEW - VW eGolf:


Chose the VW e-Golf for a 4 day trial. I have this car on order so wanted to test it with some longer trips. Travelled down from West Yorkshire so had a chance to do this, as well as some local driving whilst at home. The booking process was quite straight forward and communication with staff was also good.

Arrived on the day and went through the formalities as required. The staff again were very helpful in offering advice with the booking.

Was shown the car and had a decent run through the workings of it (drive modes, regen, acc, digital info. display etc.) As well as a good overview of the charging capabilities. The car was fully charged for me (handy 7kWh chargers very close by).

The staff also kindly recommended free parking at the nearby Park & Ride and allowed me in the time i had to drive there and leave my car for a few days and then test drove back to the centre from here. They also dropped me back off when i returned the car to them.

Everything was explained to a good standard and all the staff are knowledgable. Nothing felt rushed.


With regards the car itself ... i was pleasantly surprised. It was better than i was expecting. The polar network was reliable and all the chargers i used were in good working order - the charging process was quite simple (place the rfid card against the machine, select your charger and connect to the car and wait for the charger to 'talk' to the car and initiate charging). The experience includes free charging on this network. In the 4 days i travelled 440 miles, rapid charged on 4 occasions using a total of 83 kWh's, with an avg. Charge time of no more than 35 minutes. All chargers used were 50kw CCS. On the motorway i travelled mainly in the 'slow' lane at 65 mph, whilst hitting 70 mph to overtake when needed. This i found to be the most efficient on the higher speed roads. Although i used the ACC i have to admit i was not a fan, but will hopefully get used to it when my new car arrives in the next few weeks. When i started the hire the avg. M/kWh on the computer was 3.2. I returned the car with an avg. Of 4.2. I noticed the avg. On the motorway to stay at a consistent early 4's, with local driving hitting close to 7 with careful but not inconsiderate driving, but never going below mid 4's. The car definitely does gain plenty of mileage via regen ... i kept the drive mode in B throughout the hire period, in order to make good use of the high level regen. On a decent downhill stretch i was gaining 10-12 miles, which was great. A full charge was approx. 125-140 miles. The outside temp. Throughout my hire never went below 3, and never above 10 degrees celsius.

If you do ever decide to choose this car in the future as a purchase definitely spec. It with the heat pump and heated seats ... and always carry a couple of blankets just in case. Without, you will need to compromise on the use of the heater and your personal warmth. I only used the heaters when needed to clear the windows and that's it. At the ends of a long trip i could hardly feel the bottom half of my body!!. By doing this you will maximise your range. With regards range, the car warns you of low range at around 30 miles. It will then warn you a 2nd time, and then a 3rd, showing critical range (this happens around 8-10 miles left). Once this happens the car jumps to eco+ mode and all comfort settings are restricted. I got the range down to 7 miles before recharging.

If i had to pay for charging based on the above and inc. The full battery at the start of the hire, and using the 25p/kWh cost on Polar instant, the cost would have been £22 total. This works out at 5p/mile ... my current Auris hybrid costs me 13p/mile, so a significant saving for me in the future all going well.

The size of the car is very similar to my Auris so practicality is on par. This 4 day experience has given me more confidence with my choice of vehicle and it means that i do not need to be afraid of any long trips (i just need to hope that the charging network, regardless of the company, is reliable).

 

[Malik84]

Another thing i forgot to mention ... i used API Electrical (Manchester based) for my home charger. This company may be worth checking out seeing as they are quite close to you.

Communication & overall customer service was good. The cost & turn around was also good value and quick.

The experience on the day was also good especially as my install was non-standard.

I've not had a chance to yet try the charger as my vehicle hasn't arrived yet but hopefully all goes ok.