Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Are EV`s THE future...?

Hi Neil

Thank you for taking time out to reply.
They are most impressive figures and the savings are beyond argument for anyone needing a sensible commuting car with very good range.

You have built a very strong case for a quality EV with a thoroughly researched and implemented drive train and provided me with a lot to ponder, mainly as I know you have owned many super cars and indeed love your Aero 8 for leisure and holiday trips to Europe. So thank you for your candid and valuable review.

Shooter of this village is also a multiple Tesla buyer and gets value from them .

I'm not a massive fan of Tesla, but that's pretty impressive TBH. It's interesting that as the real-world experience of owners builds, the myths of EVs are getting knocked down. That much range left after 8 years and nearly half a million miles is extremely good by any measure.


We bought our Mini Cooper SE in December 2021, it cost £28k, just a bit less than the equivalent spec Cooper S. As far as I can see from a bit of googling, it's lost about half its value in that time, whereas an equivalent age Cooper S would be worth a couple of thousand more.

We've done 14 thousand miles at approx 2p/mile with servicing costing £500 (including 2 tyres) so say £780. A Cooper S returning 40mpg on the same mileage paying around £1.50 a litre/ £6.90 a gallon would have cost £2415 + servicing, say another £750 or so, making a total of £3165.

We're reckoning on keeping our car for 10 years, so depreciation doesn't bother me, and I'm extremely happy with the running costs.

When the decision to buy a Tesla was made it was done so on the design ethos and the practical application of it and that it was not any kind of conversion process of an existing model

As I have oft times typed, I ever saw the Tesla as a way forward in personal transportation that could work out to be more reliable than most forms of EV at the time, that it fell within our basic needs and might just go some way towards off-setting my minimal ICE mileage relative to climatic issues...

As for it`s drop in value and running costs, it cost circa £44k circa 15 months ago I imagine it has perhaps halved in value since even with perhaps 3k miles on the clock, the insurance is a bit expensive, as it seems the motor trade repair business is not up to speed with working on EV, thus it seems they are written off rather than repaired, though in time I expect that might change as the trade becomes more electrically skilled...?

I would suspect that keeping an EV for 10 years or longer might just become the norm for those into who`s lifestyle an EV might be a better fit than they currently imagine...?

I mean this as a serious comment....EV's are closest in nature to our white goods. (Stay with me here). You don't buy a fridge or washing machine and trade up after three or five years. "Most" white goods users keep the item until it fails. And accept the zero value at the end.

With EV's and the reported high depreciation,but cheap running costs, plus the fact that second hand buyers will fear battery issues, it makes a lot of sense to keep an EV ten years plus, or until the battery expires. That way the initial high cost has far less impact. I'm a ten year plus car owner anyway, some going beyond twenty years.

But remember that there is a problem with battery disposal, and maybe the manufacturers should be made to deal with expired batteries. But the likelyhood is that they will be buried in a third world country. In my time in Customs, there were regular shipments of worn out white goods to Africa..............The details of which did not make sense, but there you go.

Battery recycling is a growing industry; here’s one company doing it:

Lanrantech

Impressive fugures .... will be interesting to see if they hold up for intermittently used cars with periods of sitting .... to be fair a run of the mill diesel van or taxi being run solidly will rack up those, and more, mileages where a 'privatlely' owned one will fail at much lower miles done in less advantageous ways.

Still on the fence 🙂

K

When I worked with EDF 10 years ago they set up a scheme with Nissan to re-purpose end of life EV batteries to make mass storage systems for solar power. Grab a load of load batteries, pack them into containers, site them next to solar farms. Great idea - except that there was a huge shortage of end of life batteries, they were lasting much much longer than originally predicted (see the Tesla video). So they started using new batteries instead.

There are legitimate concerns about Lithium batteries, but having to find ways to dispose of them safely is not one of them.

Good point - it's clear that proper care and maintenance is key to getting long life out of anything. There are a fair few scenarios where it will be a very long time indeed before EVs are the right solution, but increasingly we are seeing that the common concerns like longevity, range, and cost are rapidly becoming assuaged. Which is great - if we can reduce tailpipe emissions and CO2 production especially in cities, urban, and suburban areas we will go a long way to lessening environmental impact. A few folks trundling round in the countryside in old Landies isn't going to make a heap of difference. At least I hope so, I want to keep running my Td5 until I peg out.

The argument for buying outright and keeping your EV long term is probably a good one if you're happy accept the depreciation. I'm. sure it would be worth something at end of 10 years though.
For those amongst us with a low boredom threshold and who like having a newer model the prospect of losing a huge amount of your initial investment* is probably not sustainable.
A PCP or lease deal might be a better way of owning one as it allows you to get the newer model at the end of the term.

My mates £100k Taycan Cross tourismo is now 2 and a bit years old and he's been offered late £30k's/£40k for it.🤷🏻‍♂️
The motor industry needs people to keep buying new cars, holding on to the for years doesn't work for them.
There's so many scare stories out there about EV's, it's relatively new tech in it's current form, I'm sure in a few years things will settle down or there'll be a new way of powering vehicles by then.

*investment* not in terms of a money making proposition......!