To EV or not EV: should I buy an electric car?

When our ageing Corsa made it clear that it was trundling inexorably towards the car graveyard, my partner and I started to discuss how to replace it. Could we afford to take the plunge in to the emerging electric vehicle (EV) market, and could an EV do what we needed from a car?

In recent years the range of EVs available has increased dramatically – from just six in 2011 to over 20 today. EVs have also become more convincing, delivering sensible safety levels, speeds and mileage ranges. However, like most people I had reservations about owning a car with a limited range and restricted ‘refuelling’ points. EVs may be better for the environment, but have they reached the point where they’re really financially and practically viable?

A good run for the money?

While I wanted to reduce my environmental impact and support new technology, I’m on a budget. Often, one of the first sales lines for EVs is the cost saving of not having to fill up. However, savings on fuel come at a cost. First, you have to make a major choice about how you pay for your battery. Will you:

1. buy the battery as part of the car purchase, at around £10,000; or
2. rent the battery on a monthly basis, subject to an annual mileage limit?

Initially, outright purchase appeared to be the sensible option, but hire also includes breakdown recovery (including cover should you run out of battery power) and a battery guarantee: if your battery stops charging to at least 75% it will be replaced at no extra cost. Even the most advanced batteries currently on the market are only estimated to last 8-10 years, so the latter benefit is particularly attractive, avoiding a substantial outlay at some point in the future.

We decided that rental would be the way to go, and found that £50 a month would permit us to do around 7,500 miles a year, meeting our expected requirements. Despite all the major car companies selling one or more electric vehicle, only two appear to offer battery rental. Renault and Nissan both also state that their batteries are recycled at end of life – another tick on the green checklist.

Added charge

The other main running cost of an EV is charging it. There are currently two options:

1. install a charge point at your home; or
2. use public access charge points.

If you have a drive, a home charge point offers the security of always being able to fill up. Installation costs around £300, and some green energy suppliers offer discounted rates for EV owners, subsidising the cost of home charging.

However, we have to park on the street, so home charging isn’t an option. Instead, we would have to rely on the growing number of public charge points. Fortunately, there are websites to help you track them down; ZAP-MAP currently lists over 8,250 charge points in the UK.

A slight complication with public charging is that different operators each require different swipe cards, with subscription and charging costs varying from free to around £7.50. For longer journeys Eco-tricity’s Electric Highway provides a network of free rapid charge points along major motorways in England with limited coverage in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Still, it seems sensible to assume that if uptake increases, people will be expected to pay for the electricity they use.

The body electric: they will not let me off till I… charge them full. Photo by Werner Hillebrand-Hansen, via Wikimedia Commons. Apologies to Walt Whitman.

Other financial incentives to consider include a government grant of £5,000 off new EVs, band A car tax (currently free), and car rental discounts for EV owners who sometimes need a conventional car.

After an hour or two of Googling, we had a spreadsheet that told us the monthly running costs were likely to be lowest for the Renault Zoe, and that after the car purchase we would at least break-even compared to running the Corsa. Therefore, we concluded it was financially viable to switch to a Renault Zoe – a rare opportunity to go green without paying a premium.

Going the distance?

While an EV might be affordable, would it be practical? The National Travel Survey 2012, shows the average trip to be 7 miles: a fraction of an EV’s range. But how would an EV cope with the longer trips we take to visit relatives? If money was no object, we could splash out on a TESLA, with an optimum range of 310 miles. The myrenaultzoe.com blog has published articles about owners achieving 140 miles or more, but this was done below motorway speeds and in a spirit more of hope than expectation.

A more realistic range is 80–90 miles when fully charged, which means that for day to day use charging once a week should suffice. However, longer journeys mean charging stops need to be planned in.

Charging time is dependent on the vehicle you chose, the charge point available and how much power you have left. For a Renault Zoe from nearly empty:

• A quick charge, mostly available on the motorway, gives 80% capacity in 30 minutes;
• A high powered charge, generally available in public carparks, gives 100% in 3 hours;
• A standard home charge gives 100% in 6 hours; and
• A trickle charge, from a domestic socket gives 100% in 18 hours.

With EVs you have to err on the side of caution when it comes to range. However, cars are often left sitting outside our homes, place of work or shopping centres for hours at a time. We decided that we would usually be able to find a charge point to at which to leave it while doing something else, making an EV practical even in a single car household.

Go-ey Zoe

If you’ve come to Isonomia for advice on cars, you’re probably more likely to think a DRS is a deposit refund system than a drag reduction system. The motivation for going electric is always going to be more about the environmental than performance, but my partner (a confessed car nut) was won over to EVs after a test drive.

High levels of torque and a simple stop-go motor made the Zoe a smooth drive. It was nippy to get away from a standing start and delivered extra speed when required – an impressive feat given it weighs nearly two tonnes! It’s also exceptionally quiet and has a good number of gadgets which make for a more comfortable driving experience, including cruise control and remote controlled preheat settings for cold winter mornings.

I would like to say that I fully considered all the implications of buying an electric car prior to making my decision; however, once I’d established I could afford a slightly used Zoe and after having great fun on the test drive, it was a done deal. For the last nine weeks I have been the proud owner of Monty, a 14 plate Renault Zoe. So far I have no regrets, although we’ve already had to be rescued once by the breakdown service when we arrived at a motorway service station with 7 miles worth of battery life remaining, only to find the charge point was broken!

I can’t yet vouch for the longevity of the car or future maintenance costs, but if you’ve been considering going electric and mostly do short/medium journeys I would recommend at least going for a test drive. Driving Monty is so much smoother and more fun than my old car, while allowing me to feel more environmentally virtuous on my daily commute.