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Electric Cars

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  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 21,917
    edited July 15
    ArmchairAddick said:
    Hopefully not too off topic, but how are people finding insurance for electric cars?  It used to be if you had a big powerful ice car, like 3.5 V6 or something, it would of course cost you more than a little 1000cc, presumably on the basis they think you are more likely to have an accident not just the value of the car ... yet your average electric car has far greater hp potential right? (680bhp someone mentioned for the Volvo XC60!?!!?).  So how does an electric compare to a model roughly equivalent?

    The performance of a car (0-60mph, top speed, BHP) is not the primary factor in determining insurance costs. As important, if not more so, are:

    - Costs to repair
    - Profile of driver (age, driving history, married and so on)
    - Annual mileage
    - Use (SDP only, does it include commuting and/or business use)
    - Address where the car is kept - risk of theft at that location.
    - Where it is parked overnight (locked garage, off road driveway, on the street)
    -  Accident and theft history data of that model

    Electric cars are generally more expensive to insure primarily because of the first item on that list - if the battery pack is damaged the whole battery has to be replaced, if a charging point on a wing is damaged the port, inverter and cabling all have to be replaced - and so on. Also, there are far fewer high voltage technicians than those qualified to work on ICE cars - hence labour costs are far higher.

    To give you an example of how performance isn't a main factor - a year ago I replaced my Volvo XC90 (0-60 8s, top speed limited to 112 mph) with a Porsche 911 (0-60 less than 3s, top speed 194mph) and the premium was cheaper!

  • C.Walsh'sLoveChild
    C.Walsh'sLoveChild Posts: 3,379
    After four years and 90k in an Ioniq5, I had this ginormous thing delivered on Monday. 


  • Carter
    Carter Posts: 14,706
    The performance of the van isn't in question. Its really nice to drive, accelerates smoothly and quick off the blocks. 

    They do feel heavy, if you are of an age where power steering was very much an optional extra on cars it feels a bit weighty. Which it would it is really heavy! 

    Just fed up of mincing around mcdonalds, searching for charging points that my app will recognise and generally having one eye on the range the moment I have to drive on anything other than a local road 
  • Dippenhall
    Dippenhall Posts: 3,936
    Carter said:
    Hybrids are generally decent from my own personal experience of them. Plug in hybrids are the best of both and my mate next door uses his as EVs are sold to be used. Drives to and from work, a 6 mile round trip on the battery, plugs it in when he gets home and when he is doing actual miles on motorways and shit its used normally. Horrible looking thing but thats beside the point in this example. 

    My experience of EV remains that they are wholly impractical with normal person budgets unless you have a drive, a charger and are only doing short journeys. Increasingly me and my colleagues are now finding friends of humanity that chop away the charging cables the points and using local experience I've found several charging points that the software just doesn't work. 

    I maintain they are very nice to drive, air con and heaters are elite but using both has a very real impact on thr range and maddeningly I now need to plan with precision a journey more than 20 miles each way and also have a bit of luck on my side. For context this is a 50kw electric van, I've taken as much stuff out of it as I can and in real world conditions am getting under 100 miles on full charges. 
    From my earlier posts I have been very negative on EVs through personal experience driving family members Teslas. 

    But when I recently sold my beloved Audi Avant Quattro A4 (called it a day after blowing a gasket on 130,000 miles) I looked for a small SUV for mostly short urban journeys with good mpg.  The days of 30,000 miles year are long gone. Cut a long story short I ended up getting a Lexus LBX hybrid.

    I am a convert. First 200 miles just completed and got 61 mpg.  Just did a short 4 mile round trip and it was 92mpg. Its petrol engine is a 1.5litre unit but nippy enough for an old git like me. I admit I've not yet had to make a motorway journey, but I don't intend to make many.

    Fantastic value on a 2 year lease costing me £250 a month, although only 8k a year mileage, but that's where I am so works for me.  So no worries about maintenance or repairs and a lovely smooth quiet drive without breaking the bank.  So I am now a convert to hybrids.  Still haven't changed my mind about full electric or plug in hybrid which just have too many practical drawbacks in my mind.


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