Quitting Winter Commuting

[confusedcyclist]

Get an electric car, 95% of all vehicle journeys in the world are less than 30 miles, so an electric car is perfect. Recharge over night or work-if they have facility, alot of firms are installing chargers.

We have a Nissan leaf and in 1 year we've put 18000 miles on it with lots of local journeys. It costs £3.20 for 150 miles of range- no internal combustion engine can get anywhere near that. We are selling all our petrol vehicles now and getting a Hyundai Kona electric EV this winter.

Comparison for you, We spent £380 on electric to go 18,000 miles

A internal combustion engine, that would of cost £3,300!!
assuming 30mpg ave, Which is an ave town journey mpg.

I appreciate your thoughts. I had looked in to EVs a while back. Running costs are certainly lower, and I expect maintenance and repairs to be so too, given they have less moving parts. However the higher initial purchase price would take me some time to break even. Particularly as my mileage would be much lower than yours at 2-3k a year. Also, a high portion of my journeys are way over 30 miles, not because I drive more than you, but because I only use my car for long distance inter-city travel, not to nip to the shops/work. Internal combustion engines always win with long distance driving because there is better infrastructure for rapid liquid refueling. I'm also not particularly sold on the sustainability of e-vehicles, considering they are grid powered and dependant on finite rare earth metals like cobalt (blood diamond of batteries) and lithium.

If there was a big shift to electric cars, I don't think it's fair to expect prices stay as low as they are now, electricity prices are only going up as nuclear and coal plants are phased out, a problem that is further compounded by a serious lack large scale of storage for intermittent renewables (the technology doesn't exist). Grid electrical supply may well become intermittent, if not as bad as that, we will start to be charged way higher at peak times. It's bad news if you need to be somewhere at a specific time and place and can't get their on foot/bike/public transport.

Most people aren't ready to think about this stuff yet, but our chickens will come home to roost sooner or later. Check out the government's track record with long term energy planning, it's really worrying stuff. We will increasingly become dependent on surplus electricity from the EU (which can't always be relied upon) which bumps up prices further. Increased grid electricity demand from transport sector will also have major implication for household energy use prices too. Prices would certainly have to increase to fund private investment in electrical infrastructure to catch up. I don't think free at point of use charging points will scale up or remain free long term. It's a subsidy to the rich (generally only well to do can afford EVs) and once people cotton on, they will protest against the unfair nature free energy topping points. They were only ever a means to lure early adopters.

EVs are interesting tech, and they might make sense for some people now, but really we need a sustainable transport system, one that prioritises walking, cycling and public transport, probably in that order.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Cars don't need to be expensive. In fact that's half the problem they are so damn cheap - but are especially so if you do limited mileage so aren't putting 20% of your income into the petrol tank to sit and queue your way to work every day

2002 Toyota Yaris
Bought 18 months ago for £500. Clean with just a bit of a dented rear valance, looks like it's had a Tesco's knock
Frugal 16v 1 litre does a billion miles to the gallon* but can still keep motorway speeds for a longer drive
£19 work to get through the MOT
About £85 spent on a new battery and new exhaust (eBay, fitted DIY)
Needs a new balljoint - about £12 the pair (plus I anticipate a grazed knuckle and a couple of hours swearing at a balljoint splitter)

I don't do mega miles but weekends into the peak district for walks, a day trip to Snowdon and a holiday in the lakes, plus surprising room with the seats down for a tiny car, shoehorned 4 adult bikes in there (no passengers of course)

You don't have to spend a lot if you don't mind getting spanners out now and again and not as scary to fix as people think

*slight exaggeration

I actually prefer to spend around that mark. Less risk if you stick to "uncool" cars and in my experience, avoid Fords and Vauxhalls at that price. Spend a bit more like £1500 and a couple of £250 garage bills on more complex stuff and then you start getting into the "spent too much to scrap it, better spend more" if you get a bad 'un

 

[classic33]

Indeed, I did resume cycling again after the incident, the evening have been much lighter, providing I left the office promptly.

I've heard of "night falling", but didn't realise it was that quick near you.