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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 13:41:22 GMT
I can see how it would fit with your "normal" routine, but the trouble with normal routine is that life has a habit of throwing curved balls at it. What happens if, and especially at a moment's notice, both cars need to make long journeys at the same time? What if that was at a time when rental cars were not an option for example? A family or work emergency perhaps? Wouldn't work for me anyway but even if it did, I'd not want be so range restricted. I'd consider a hybrid, but not a full electric, not while you can still buy internal combustion engined cars that can do huge mpgs.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 15, 2017 13:55:19 GMT
After 19 years of marriage, 12 with children, no such emergency has occurred. It may happen once in a lifetime. I'm not sure that's enough reason to discount the possibility of one electric car in our two-car household.
Also, the £77 per month battery lease can be offset against the £25 a month VED I currently pay (on one of the cars). So £52 a month battery lease versus 2-3 tanks of dino juice. There's over £100 a month saving right there. I wonder if I could sell my Mazda 6 for £2.5K? Doubt it, but blimey, if it was cost neutral to change it for a Fluence I'd do it, and keep the Merc for the long journey/second car/dog/tip duties.
Edit: Christ, WBAC only offers £580. Bloody hell.
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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 14:05:07 GMT
I can go 893 miles in my son's Aygo for your £77 and it costs £20 a year VED, and I paid just shy of £3000 for the car. And I could drive it as far as I liked in the knowledge I could fill it up easily and quickly. Next question? 😜
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Post by crankcase on Mar 15, 2017 14:06:13 GMT
In general terms, I would encourage anyone who hasn't driven a BEV to give it a go. Just to see if you like it. Take a test drive in a Leaf, they're falling over themselves to sell you one at the minute (as in not hard to find brand new, £199 down, £199 a month territory at the minute, albeit for not many miles a year at that rate).
Numbers - you can make them work or not forever, twisting circumstances about. Just try it and you may find you'll pay a premium either way for your choice happily.
PS 8500 miles now, not quite £100 in electrcity.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 15, 2017 14:20:03 GMT
I can go 893 miles in my son's Aygo for your £77 and it costs £20 a year VED, and I paid just shy of £3000 for the car. And I could drive it as far as I liked in the knowledge I could fill it up easily and quickly. Next question? 😜 I don't want to drive an Aygo to work every day, it isn't big enough to transport 4 people and lots of school bags/sports gear. I can nearly fill the boot of the Merc E Class estate sometimes.
£80ish to go 893 miles? My theoretical Fluence could do that many miles for £52 a month plus a pound a day in leccy. Let's call it £75. And I bet I could buy one for £2.5k. Besides, in my circumstances I have to compare it against my existing daily driver, which costs about £200 a month in fuel, plus £25 VED. Of course an Aygo is cheaper to run than a Merc E Class daily, that goes without saying.
Yep, the Aygo is more flexible under extraordinary circumstances, but it is smaller than some washing machines.
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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 15:11:58 GMT
Is that the sound of straws being clutched I hear? 😉
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Post by Alanović on Mar 15, 2017 15:13:36 GMT
Are you talking about the gear stick in the Aygo?
;-)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 15:22:09 GMT
I'd be swayed because I would like to have an electric car. I think it would fit quite well with my driving style within the city.
Absolutely no charging infrastructure though and not a mechanic that you'd actually and willingly trust with hi-tech within 1,000 miles.
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Post by crankcase on Mar 15, 2017 15:23:09 GMT
Won't somebody think of the children? Toodle round your local estate/village/town/shops, nothing yukky for anyone to breathe.
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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 15:25:03 GMT
Fair point Al! But no, it was more the "yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but" sounds leaping off the screen...😎
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Post by Alanović on Mar 15, 2017 15:33:49 GMT
You say that, but, other than inflexibility in the case of two emergency long journeys happening simultaneously, I can't see the down side.
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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 16:17:43 GMT
Best get one then. ( if that's the way you're leaning ) whoops...😅
Or are so inclined...😂
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Post by bromptonaut on Mar 15, 2017 21:28:05 GMT
Can I just also quench your fears over the cable - not live, doesn't go live, can't go live, until in car and car has signalled all is well. Can't even be removed from car live. Noted but I don't think this is a dedicated supply, just connected to a domestic 13A socket in their garage. Looks exactly like the connector I use when caravan is on site's shore supply (or plugged in in my garage when resting at home).
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Post by Alanović on Mar 16, 2017 10:59:06 GMT
Crankcase, do you know if Fluence can be charged form a simple domestic socket? Or does it need to have a specialist charger installed? If the latter, what charger is required, who would install one, and any idea how much they cost?
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Post by crankcase on Mar 16, 2017 11:31:04 GMT
The BIG issue with the Fluence in the UK is that you can never own the battery. You are committed to the monthly payments. So what? Well that means it's really hard to sell on again - the RCI (Renault Finance) contract is such that you can only sell it to someone as long as they agree to take on the battery payments. No dealer/scrappy will therefore ever take it from you. You have to sell privately, if you can find someone. If, crucially, they don't do their bit of the paperwork, RCI will continue to charge you the payments. RCI have been asked many a time by many a punter and they simply will not allow battery ownership in the Fluence. You could try though!
That might not be insuperable for you, but most people simply aren't interested in that kind of arangement, so be very certain you know what you're doing. Of course, this is at least partly why they are super cheap, but it's not like a car you can "just scrap" when bored/broken.
The Zoe arrangement is better - you can return the car after a PCP or it's possible to buy a Zoe-i with the battery included and no monthlies on it - but they are VERY scarce and cost a fortune. There is also an exemption for Zoe, in that a dealer can take it in p/x and battery payments are "suspended" while they have it, so a trade in possible.
So, if you're still keen - you probably would want a wall charger fitting (got mine free with the Zoe), and that will be a few hundred pounds. It will charge at 3.6kW on the Fluence, I think (half the Zoe) and therefore would take about six to eight hours to fully charge. Fine overnight of course.
If you don't do that there is the Renault "occasional cable", the clue being in the name, for a standard 3 pin. I have one for the Zoe, bought as an optional extra for £500. Ow. But it doesn't burn your house down. Third party stuff is out there, but caveats about overheating your domestic wiring apply.
Using the 3 pin is very very slow indeed. I charge my Zoe all day at work using it (and it's faster than the Fluence on 3 pin), and it puts on about 6% battery per hour, if that helps.
Add those things in and see if you're still keen. The ideal would be if you had a public charging point near enough to be able to use that regularly of course.
None of this applies to cars like the Ion and clones, where you just buy and own it like a normal car, but they're not as nice and really do have a relatively tiny range.
There's also the electric Kangoo, which gets good reports, if you need a bit more space, but it's the same Renault madness on batteries.
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