I am giving in.

[gavroche]

I have made an executive decision while I was doing some diy this morning. I tend to think about all sorts of things then and I realised that, with the cost of fuel going up all the time with no sign of it going down again, the combustion engine is coming to an end. My car is diesel, which I love as it is very economical but for how much longer? I was watching a program on YouTube last night about batteries for cars and the future looks good as the range is for ever increasing and recharging time for batteries decreasing, making it more practical.
So, there are millions of petrol and diesel cars on the road at present and many people can't really afford the cost of electric cars so I think the government and car manufacturers will have to tempt us to make the switch with attractive offers. After all, what is going to happen to all these cars?
My policy is therefore to wait for that to happen and then I will go electric which will amply cover my needs for distance.
In the meantime, my present car is only 3.5 years old, in very good working order and will do me until then.

 

[Sixmile]

My policy is therefore to wait for that to happen and then I will go electric which will amply cover my needs for distance.
In the meantime, my present car is only 3.5 years old, in very good working order and will do me until then.

Much like you, I own a diesel motor, which is very economical, in very good working order and will do for the foreseeable, albeit mine is just passed 10 years old. I would be tempted to move to electric/hybrid if there was a tempting offer. It is my view though that the most economical thing you can do is keep what you already have.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Great idea until you need to go a distance..

Until they sort charging I'm going to carry on with derv

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I would love to go to electric, the type of driving I do the current range will cover 90% of my journeys, we'd have to get creative with the extra 10%. Now where can I buy a solid reliable family sized car that runs on electric for £5000, oh that's right Nowhere!

 

[LonesomeWanderer]

The government are reducing the subsidy on buying a new electric car by £1000. So....yeah.

 

[Drago]

Aye, I'm kind of with you Mr Roche. My next scoot will be electric without any doubt, almost certainly the Smart Fortwo ED, probably the end of next year. In the meantime, I get the smug warm glow of knowing that my tiny Smart petrol is responsible for less cradle to grave emissions than a Leaf.

 

[gavroche]

Great idea until you need to go a distance..

Until they sort charging I'm going to carry on with derv

I very seldom go more than 50 miles away from home nowadays. When we go to Devon, to visit my wife's daughter, then I will hire a traditional car.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I very seldom go more than 50 miles away from home nowadays. When we go to Devon, to visit my wife's daughter, then I will hire a traditional car.

If all you driving is local your onto a good thing.

I'd love a little leccy car for work and nipping about.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

My company looked at electric cars and hybrids but they haven't got the range and leasing costs are high. I do about 40k a year.

 

[Drago]

Soon it won't matter if you do long journeys or not - it'll be electric, or the bus, and excuses be damned.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Apparently not. My next car is to be a 3l V6 Amarok I've been told.

 

[pjd57]

I decided a few of years ago that I was never buying another car.
At the time I had a good reliable VW beetle.
8 years old , low mileage.
I thought I would make it do me for another 4 or 5 years at least as my cycling miles were overtaking my car miles.
A year on I decided to stop using it unless my Mrs was with me.
But since she had her own car mine quickly became a fixture in the driveway.

Bit the bullet last August. Advertised it on Gumtree and it was gone in minutes.

No regrets.

 

[Milkfloat]

I need a new car next year - at the moment I have a diesel estate which only does about 5,000 miles a year. I need something similar in size, but obviously diesel is now not the way to go. Big and electric would be good, but such a thing does not really exist, not with a real world range of 250 miles at a sensible price anyway. I think I will just end up leasing whatever is cheap and if it has to be a diesel then so be it.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

So the only electric car under £5K is a 5 year old Renault, but you have to lease a battery (dealer claims £40pm) but then you have to pay to charge it, it's still not looking very favourable.

 

[Drago]

Mercedes have their electric range out next year, expected to include sizes equivalent to C and E classes, including estates. Hyundai Ioniq is a decent size - not huge, but a touch above Golf and Focus size. They're out there.

People need to get over the range thing - capacity will slowly improve, but even if it doesnt the time when that's all you'll be able to buy isn't that far off, and is likely to get closer by some years.