I did quite a lot of research into cars earlier in the year as I was in the market for a new car (well year to 18 months old), I looked at the range of electric cars available at the time and came to the decision that there weren't any that I either wanted and/or could afford. The main conclusion I came to was electric tech is still a bit to immature, the batteries are too heavy and the range isn't enough. I was after an estate car and at the time there was not one electric estate car on the market.
I really do not like SUVs so that took many options off the table.
The hatchbacks available (until the ID3 came out) were all combustion engined cars that had been made electric (apart from the Leaf and Zoe, which were far too small (I think)).
The ID3 is priced comically, it's marketed as the first mass market family car that was designed as electric from the start yet the cheapest version is £29k with the grant taken off, that's far too expensive for the cheapest version. I don't understand how the ID3 is so expensive, they're gonna sell bucket loads of them so why isn't it £25k with the grant knocked off?
Based on volume alone I bet the cost of the batteries and electric motors aren't that much more than a petrol engine and all ancillaries. The equivalent Golf is £23k, a Hybrid Focus is £22k.
If you don't do a huge amount of miles on a regular basis (say a 15 mile commute each way) then an electric car
will save you money in the long run. All you'd need to do is remember to charge it up overnight when it gets to say 10% capacity and you'll be fine. It'll cost pennies to run. On a long run you just need to plan your route well, most of the motorway services now have fast charging points, the time it takes to stop for a loo, coffee, burger break etc will get you topped up enough for at least 100 or so more miles.
However...if you don't have off road parking and don't trust charging your car with a long lead trailing from your house to the roadside then you'll be dependant upon the public charging network and that is a lot more expensive than doing an overnight charge at home, albeit it could be a lot quicker.
In the end I bought a petrol Focus estate, it'll do me just fine for about 3 or 4 years after which time I'll sell and will probably then revisit the electric world.
One final thing....some of my work colleagues have got electric MGs and love them. They're quite well specced and keenly priced, they also brought out an electric estate 2 months after I got my Focus :bang:
Here is an example lease deal from leaseloco for an Electric MG, 12k per year, 3 year deal. Bear in mind this is a lease and not a PCP deal.
MG are currently doing a 0% PCP deal, only 8K but it works out more expensive than the lease over the 3 years
One other final thing...I will also recommend the
Fully Charged Show, loads of great stuff on there about electric cars (and houses, bikes, etc.)
