Happy with owning an EV in Ireland

eagerv

Thought I would start this thread after a comment from @jusmeig in the other 'Unhappy' thread.

Going great for us so far, after first trying with an Ioniq 28kWh nearly two and a half years ago. And finding that we rarely need to use our ICE, even though the Ioniq had a realistic range of only about 180km. Now are in the lucky position to have two EVs, both doing about 20K km per year and so far no range anxiety or charging problems whatsoever. I have always been a car enthusiast, with more of an interest in new tech and efficiency than being a 'petrol head'. But love driving.😉

I am not going to be too critical of the charging infrastructure here, except to say that of course we need more motorway hubs (4+ units) and coverage at the extremities of our country. Also fully understand that EVs aren't for everyone and not all have the opportunity for home charging. We also have a modest 4kW solar array on house, realistically not enough for car charging after other household usage, but is satisfying on a sunny day to sometimes see up to 15km/hour for a few hours in the afternoon when house otherwise quiet. Also hope that the crazy pricing/shortages will eventually revert back to what it was like for us a few years ago.

Ireland could be one of the leading countries in the world for EVs IMO, we are the perfect size and shape with a temperate climate.

Just some of my views, looking forward to hearing others..

ELM327

So. I'm a petrol head (and a "diesel head"). I've owned many classics and modern interesting cars, from a 60's mopar big block that did sub 10mpg, to a 85 chevy suburban that did about 12mpg but cost €200 to fill up a couple of years ago(!), to various bimmers and JDM cars, to a 1982 rolls royce.

We are now a 2 EV household. I started with a leaf in 2016, then an Ioniq 28, then a tesla model S.

Now I have a Tesla model X and herself has an ioniq28 (second one we've had in total).

All great cars in their own right, the only problems I ever had were charging network related and weather related. There's not enough HPCs to cover a dublin return trip, and when the weather is bad the EV range drops dramatically. Outside of that it's been hassle free and I'll never go back to a fossil fuel daily driver. Predictable running costs and better tech makes it a no brainer.

I'm currently arranging solar PV install too so we're going "all in" :P

NIMAN

Another delighted owner here.

slave1

Started the journey with an imported Leaf30 in March 2017 to replace petrol 2nd car. Was a super car, virtually brand new at 6months old, seats still wrapped, only had 2,400kms on it so I had to drive the crap out of it for VRT appointment every evening to get it up to 6,000kms.

Never an issue with it, cheap servicing and only replaced two tyres by the time I sold it at 70odd k kms, more than paid for itself in savings. Battery SOC 92% when sold at ~5years old.

In 2020 took advantage of pandemic pricing and imported a 2015 Tesla Model S, fully loaded, a beast of a car that I spent approximately €50 on fuel costs in two years before I sold it earlier this year at significant profit.

In 2021 sold the Leaf for a well priced Kona 64 (buyer needed quick sale as needed to pay for Model 3P he had lined up), could sell it now for a profit and we still have a brand new battery to look forward to. Best range car out there.

Currently with Model 3 RWD, no issues whatsoever apart from small paint correction after collection in March of this year. Around a fiver in fuel costs for the ~3k kms done since purchase as virtually all charging via solar PV.

Never took the Leaf outside it's range really, herself takes the Kona on Charge Required trips and never an issue. Range of both Teslas I've owned means rarely taken outside range, think I may have used eCars twice on Teslas, I route via SuC network whenever possible and Granny charge on weekend aways. Only fast charged our Model 3 once since ownership. Could sell the Model 3 tomorrow at a profit but I have it for the long term.

No hesitation on being a two EV household the last few years given we are now with two 400kms+ range EVs.

However, if you need to rely on eCars and/or do not have home charging then EVs are not for you.

jordan191

Got our first EV in Nov 2019, a Tesla model 3 performance & did nearly 60k over 2 years, changed it after 2 years to another Model 3 performance ( as used values held up really well- I did look at all the other brands but honestly couldn't find a better all rounder) fuel savings more than paid for any small amount of depreciation, have since installed PV panels & do 95% of my charging at home and with a range of 400-450kms never really have to charge on the road unless we're going on a family holiday & when we do its mainly the Supercharger network which has improved a lot in the past 2 years. Really happy with my EV & will replace the wife's diesel Tucson which now is the second car with an EV eventually. 80K done in 2.5 years & really happy we made the change

Grumpypants

I'm hoping to be happy in a few weeks 😊. Waiting on my delivery that has been held up since march, told it is on the way to the dealers.

I should have a range of 400+ km. And I can't remember the last time I did more than 200 in a day round trip. I've been paying close attention.

The two times I did venture to Dublin or cork in the last year we stayed over night. So I just need to factor in a hotel that has a charger for those one off holiday trips.

Fingleberries

Electric Cars weren't for me.

Or so I thought, because I have a 120km round trip commute when I'm in the office and I had heard horror stories about the public charging infrastructure. That changed when, for a treat, we used UFO drive in Dublin to rent a Tesla model 3 for the day - we took it pretty much the length and breadth of County Wicklow and the Dublin mountains. It did everything we wanted for a car, had plenty of juice to spare at the end of the day.

What that did for us was show that EV's had the potential to be useful for our situation - there was no range anxiety at all on our day trip, but the model 3 we drove had about 360km on the range meter and wasn't necessarily going to cut it for our day-to-day.

The seed was planted and if we could find an affordable EV with ~450km range we would look at it, thinking it would be a few years before one came to the market. Then we saw the id3 tour 5, with huge range and a decent looking car. Took a test drive and put down a deposit - although circumstances came that VW couldn't guarantee and build / delivery date and cancelled our order.

Some mathematical gymnastics later and we ended up getting a Model 3 SR+ (even though we originally ruled it out of our price range - given the recent price increases since March it would now be outside our range). We've been running it for about 4 months now on public charging infrastructure and it's been a joy to drive - when we bought it first, we both admitted to driving the longer way home, we were just having fun driving the car.

We've covered over 6,000 kms in it and it has cost less than €25 per week on charging. Using our old ICE car (Toyota Auris Hybrid, 5.2l/100km) would have probably been about €35 per week for petrol. A small difference, considering the old car had no finance outstanding on it, but it was enough to add up and make sense for our needs. If we could move to having a home charger installed, and a decent day/night rate, those savings would go up.

Overall, we're very happy out. Even if it does take a little more thought for route planning on longer trips to have a plan A, B and C for public charging.

the_amazing_raisin

Two happy owners here.

I went from a 2007 Auris to a 2nd handLeaf24 in 2018. I wasn't sold on the idea of Hybrids and was looking at the available PHEVs and wasn't fully convinced by them either. Decided to take the plunge and go full EV with the Leaf. We still had my wife's Citroen C3 for long journeys so it was a bit of a soft introduction

Over the next 3 years the Leaf quickly became the main car for the family. We've driven all over Leinster with the car, had a few charging mishaps but in general the experience was great.

Decided to upgrade to an ID.4 last year, needed more space since the Leaf was a bit small for 2 young kids and all their associated luggage. Also wanted more range since it was apparent that the C3 wasn't suitable for long trips (and would probably break down if we tried)

Initally had planned to sell the Leaf but in the end my wife took it to replace the Citroen, so we're a 2 EV household now. She wasn't entirely convinced at first due to the shortish range but has since come to love her Leaf and now refuses to go back to an ICE car

Neither car have given us a hint of trouble, with the ID.4 I feel like I can go almost anywhere in Europe without too many charging stops in a day

On the cost front, I reckon between the 2 EVs we've saved around €5k in fuel and maintenance costs over the past 5 years (the C3 in particular was extremely unreliable, often needed €500+ per year to keep running)

miamee

Another two EV household here. OH had a Leaf24 when I met him and that was my introduction to EVs. We were gluttons for punishment and often drove Dublin to Belfast in it - yes it often required 2 charge stops 😏

In 2017 we bought an Ioniq28 which we still have. We've been the length and breadth of the country in it. OH used it for commuting to work and I used the Leaf for my more local driving. I loved driving it to be honest. In 2021 we traded in the Leaf and bought a second hand 2019 Kona. OH mostly drives that and I have the Ioniq though we both drive either one when it suits. I work from home so for me it's for leisure driving only. We moved house this year so we now, for the first time ever (!) have a home charger installed. We won't know ourselves, OH was charging at work and we both were using the granny lead and/or public charging. I'm not going to miss those days 😄 We're also looking into solar in the new place as well, funny to see a few others say the same :)

Cyrus

We bought an Audi Etron 50 2 years ago next month, few issues with the car itself which meant it was back at audi more than id like (all resolved now) but as regards owning an EV i couldnt be happier, im certainly a convert now. We use ionity the odd time we need to charge on a long spin but the majority of our driving is urban local so we normally charge once a week at the weekend.

...Ghost...

Another 2 EV hh here. Brought in a 2014 Leaf from the UK in 2017. Loved it even though I think the old Leaf is ugly. Our remaining ICE car was not used for a couple of months and we jumped on a 2012 Leaf when it came in at a good price in a private sale. Both cars still going strong and saving a fortune on fuel and maintenance. Upgrading to new Leaf 40 whenever the car arrives in stock and will sell the 2012 at that time for about the price I bought it.

unkel

2 EV household here too, with a bit of history. Have owned performance cars, several Porsches and many BMWs, plenty of big engines. All the cars I have ever owned were petrol. Almost all of them rear wheel drive. Hate diesel, I guess I am (or was) a petrol head.

Was interested in EVs from early enough on and realised from about 2013-2014 it was the only way forward but there wasn't much out there that would fit a family of 5 that one could afford unless one was very well off. Fluence and Leaf really. The first can't even fast charge and the latter had a motorway range of about 80-90km in perfect circumstances (at 120km/h GPS speed). So you'd need to charge it for longer than you are driving (if you can find the working chargers). I came close enough to buying one in early 2016, but I saw sense, it simply wouldn't cut the mustard as our only family car at the time. Not to mention that it was vetoed by other family members because of its looks 😂

All that changed when the Hyunday Ioniq 28kWh was launched in late 2016. I saw it perform remarkably well in range and other tests in brutal weather in Norway, the guy testing them owned a Tesla Model S and he called this the poor man's Tesla. More than half as good but only a third of the price. I got a 24h test drive in January 2017 and bought one the next day after intense negotiation with all Hyundai dealers in Ireland. It cost me just €25k on the road. After 3 years I sold it for nearly €20k as I got an unbelievably good deal on a Tesla Model S Performance that I bought from Tesla Manchester and imported into Ireland the day before the schools here closed because of COVID. Last year I got our second family EV, a Fluence. For my daughters to learn to drive in. Bought it for a couple grand. Changed my Tesla Model S for a newer model this year, making €12k profit on the old one, after driving it for 2 years. Have another EV on the way, a project car. 5 years of owning EVs hasn't cost me a cent in total cost of ownership. That makes me very happy. And I now charge them at home from the sun for much of the year. That makes me even happier.

Gumbo

Happy = yes.

Long history of Performance cars, all the Honda Type R’s, S3, M3, Evo, STi, GTi, V8 BMW X5, then every diesel 6 cylinder BMW had since the E39 530d, E60 525d, E60 535d, E36 325i, a few odd balls in between such as MG ZR, Fabia VRs, a **** load of 320d’s 🤣

In 2012 my company got 2x Fluences and a Kangoo for shared use. I knew then this was gona take off.

Couldn’t justify any EV at the time as the Leaf was too expensive (SVE) so waited until 2017 and bought a 2014 Leaf Tekna in Scotland and drive it home. Never drove a Leaf before then. Never public charged until I was in Scotland on the way home!

Paid €7795 and drove it for 2 years and sold it for €11k.

Then bought an i3 for €21k in London. Drove that for nearly 2 years and sold for €20km to buy a Tesla Model S P85+ for €34k in 2020. Sold that for €36k in 2021 and bought another Tesla Model S P90DL for €48k and sold that this year for €57,609 😃

Currently stuck in a 2020 Model 3 Performance.

Would I go back to ICE? No, not unless it was for something different for the weekends, another STi Impreza or Evo. Maybe something JDM.

Is one of the main reasons for switching to EV because of the costs? Kinda but not. You spend more on the car but the running costs are for nothing. Motor tax is €120 compared to €1000 of my last ML270. Insurance is the big difference. I haven’t paid more than €300 since 2017!

It cost me €236 to renew in Feb of this year!

The running costs help in that you get the performance of something big for the running cost of something substantially smaller!

mfceiling

Happy EV owner here also.

We had an Audi A7 TDI and it was a pig on diesel with the most sluggish kickdown on a gearbox ever. Traded it against a model 3 performance. Guy that had it kept it for 6 months and then bought a 911.

Was convinced after a short drive that it was the only way to travel!!

Over a year owning it now and it's still a joy to drive.

Performance is ridiculous. You can overtake without a thought and the kids still get a laugh when you floor it.

It's so cheap to run that you'd never miss paying for diesel again.

Netflix and YouTube on the screen is great for the inevitable wait on kids whatever they need collected from.

My wife bought an 840d BMW at the start of last year and more and more she takes the Tesla over her own car.

Never had a slight bit of range anxiety and I've been all around Kerry, a load of trips to my folks in Tyrone and various trips to Belfast and back.

Very happy owner.

TitianGerm

Went from a Golf + Yeti to an ID3 + Karoq to ID3 + Ioniq 5.

I will never own an ice can again if I can help it. The EV is cheaper to run, nicer to driver, safer to overtake (given the instant power) and is more spacious in a similar sized vehicle.

DC999

Really happy out with our 2016 Leaf 30kw. Have it for last 2 months to replace our one ICE car. First time on EV. Like others, we are now forever gone from ICE. Costings a fractionnnnn of petrol costs even with higher energy rates. Automatic car is brill. We're only charging at home so easy peasy.

Not buring petrol was a big reason we changed.

Solar panels arrive next week so will get some charge for free from da sun :) Hop over to the renewable energy forum on Boards for more info on how others are doing that if interested.

jusmeig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058252332/happy-with-owning-an-ev-in-ireland

Let's show that other thread....Delighted with my EV journey so far. I also owned an Ioniq 28kwh and was very impressed. Never gave me any trouble and would happily recommend, great car.

My experience with the public network has been largely positive. I've had a few instances where I've had to queue for a charger with maybe one other car, and a bit of faffing to get a charge started, but no major drama.

The Model 3 has been great, no quality issues and the supercharger network is certainly an eye opener when it comes to building out hubs that work!!!

crisco10

Single car household that is an EV here. We were a hairs breadth away from ordering an Octavia Estate before christmas, but a few friends dissuaded us by simply asking us to run the numbers for a "cheaper" EV (e.g. MG5, MG ZS, Ioniq 5 Exec spec). Didn't take long to realise total ownership costs for the EV would "win" over about a 6 year period. Our plan was to buy and hold, so that timeline was fine. Ordered Ioniq 5 within a few days then.

Numbers are only better since the events in Ukraine have driven up petrol prices.

Whatever about the economics, we love the car and experience of the EV. Lot's of toys, and preheating is a godsend with a baby in winter. No messing with blankets or coats or whatever, just preheat the car 20 minutes before you leave. (So about the same time you start trying to leave the house with kids!). And the torque is just fun, similar to mfceiling, kids love when you "drive like a maniac" aka flooring it when the light goes green. lol

Have solely used homecharging (bar opportunistic free charging in Marlay, Nutgrove etc), and have spent about €70 to fuel 4000km odd. This will increase when we do more public charging on a drive through France in August where I plan to just use ionity for simplicity sake, but overall we'll still be miles ahead of the Octavia fuel costs.

No range anxiety, and also tempted by solar (if a little unconvinced by economics of it as yet). Yes it's free fuel, but fuel is cheap! lol

innrain

2 EV household here.

We got Kona in March/April 2019 to test if EV's are for us. I was looking into EVs for a while but the long commute of 100+km per day and living in an apartment with communal parking was a big question mark. We managed well with the Kona, Its biggest minus being the size it is smallish for a 2+2 family. In March 2021 we decided there is no point to keep the petrol backup as we didn't used in the last 2 years. So we got a Tesla M3LR just before the grant changed, which became the family's main car and Kona is the commuter car. With both we drove 90,000 km around the island and I shared my driving and charging experiences here on boards many times. The thing is I'm not really a car person. For me cars are just instruments I use to do my job. However, even after a year with Tesla I feel joy when driving it. Even with the Kona, very hard to fault it. The poor charging network is something real. However, with careful planning we managed to mitigate it. Since we got Tesla most of the planning needs disappeared. High Power Charging, high efficiency of the car, SuC network, the car's software all are there to make an incredible experience.

Calahonda52

Looks like we need a sub thread here for the traders that have eliminated their mortgages by trading EVs.

Certainly the unhappy lot don't have that experience.

Here's looking at you Gumbo 😎😂😎

Hope you are well: I still recall that test drive in the tesla at the energy show.

....

2 ev house here too.

Overpaid, according to one of the mods on this forum, for a 30 kW leaf in Feb 2017: 73k kms on it.

Ran out 4 times, twice on one day, all self inflicted.

Had to buy a cheap petrol car for work when I relocated to Nenagh from Dublin: put 70,000 on it

Sold it last Sept.

Got a new 58kW ID3, did a PCP., prolly overpaid again :)

Got the 675 free elec deal with that purchase.

Dream of a car, have home charger now for first time, can charge leaf on the granny and ID3 on the zappi on night rate.

The one down side is no roof racks possible on either car, for kayaks etc

Old diesel

Was finding the modern car thing a bit boring especially when dieselgate kicked in.

Enjoyed reading up about and watching videos on the EV stuff.

Bought a 28 kwh Ioniq last August.

There isn't an ICE car on the planet id replace it with.

fits

We are a two car household with one ev and one ice. Unfortunately we will need to run a diesel for quite some time yet as we do a bit of heavy towing. I have wanted an ev since the leaf was first launched but finally made the leap last year when I accepted a job in Dublin and needed to change our old car as it didn’t agree with my back. Test drove a few and ordered an id.3 tour which now does about 80% if the family mileage. We have never needed to use a public charger in a year of ownership. The range on it is more than we need to be honest. My only gripe is I wish it were an estate with a good boot. And that doesn’t even really matter except on trips away.

Bovakinn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119266292#Comment_119266292

I picked up my Model 3 RWD in march of this year too, but I have 12,500 km on it so far 😂

Needless to say, I'm a happy EV owner!

We have been driving exclusively EVs as family cars since summer 2015, but we did have two camper vans as second vehicles until last year. Moved from a 15 yo. SAAB 9-5 to a 24 kWh LEAF in summer 2015, then traded that in to a 40 kWh model in spring 2018, and finally to a Model 3 LR in summer 2021. The Tesla is the only 4-wheeled transport we have. So far we have enjoyed 185000 km of enjoyable EV travel here and abroad. I absolutely loath driving anything but an EV now and we actually sold the second camper as I just plain hated driving it and fillling it up. I have driven some fancy vehicles like a hybrid ML and am not impressed. There is no way I would ever ever go back to ICE/hybrid at this stage even when some compromises are needed in EV travel.

We have always had home charging which have covered the majority of the energy usage. The car purchases were pretty well timed based on the developments in charging networks: Back in 2015-2017 with free charging and low number of EVs on the road we heavily relied on the public networks on regular journeys, but since the second Nissan the cars have had plenty of range for day to day usage. Every time we changed cars the effective range of the car doubled from the previous model and I feel that the Model 3 and Supercharging network combined now allows just normal usage(*) without compromises.

We have not been afraid of spreading the wings and travel abroad: First car we took to Cornwall in summer 2017, the second one to UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland return in summer 2018, and pretty much the same trip on the Model 3 also in Summer 2021.

The 1st trip needed careful planning due to lack of rapid/DC charging in South Wales and generic low range of L24. The summer 2018 needed careful planning to avoid rapidgate on the L40 in 30+ degree temperatures in Germany but was fine otherwise. The latest trip on Model 3 combined with SuC was a no-brainer: We just decided how much distance we want to travel per day and the car planned the rest. Unplanned detours are not a problem: I left our passports in a hotel safe in Kaysersberg and realised this 48 hours later when I saw another safe in our hotel in Versailles. Overnight return trip Versailles-Kaysersberg-Versailles and earlier Nancy-Versailles meant that 1343 km in less than 24 hours is not a problem as far as the car is concerned. The driver however...

LEAF24: Needs careful planning if the only car, probably unusable in Ireland for long trips in 2022 or if you don't have home charging.

LEAF40: If you have home charging not many people drive more than 200 km regularly so not a problem in general. But I had to wait a few times at the chargers already in 2019. But we needed public charging very infrequently in general, could have been several months between the public charges.

Model 3 LR: Haven't had to queue even once and we covered 39000 km in a year. (*) Still need some planning when SuC is not available like in Donegal. This will become less of an issue as multiple new stations have opened since we bought the car.

eltoastero

Not the most glamourous car history: Fiesta (1.4 TDCi) - Audi A3 (1.2 TFSI) - Golf GTE (1.4TSI + 99kW motor (maybe, I'm not sure)) - Kia EV6 (168kW)

The GTE converted me; it was originally bought as it offered a massive saving compared to a Golf GTI or Golf R when importing from the UK, but I soon found I almost begrudged the petrol engine kicking in.

Now we're a very happy 1 EV household. Very fortunate to have a driveway as the home charger makes it very easy to live with.

It handled our most recent holiday in Cavan (from Wicklow) without having to consider charging. I've even had to deal with the worst case scenario situation of getting a call in the middle of the night to travel 200km up the country (knowing I'd to travel back home the same day) but with it only 50% charge at the time - and it was fine. A quick stop (less than 10 mins each) in IONITY on the way up and down and I got back home with more than enough remaining range.

If the country had a decent covering of 150kW+ chargers every 25km on the motorways it would go a long way to easing peoples fears.

As I've read before here: "the only people who have range anxiety about electric cars are those who don't actually have one". I'd fully agree with that.

miamee

@Calahonda52 "The one down side is no roof racks possible on either car, for kayaks etc"

This was specifically why we got the Kona over other cars last year, aside from price and availability, OH kayaks and surfs so ability to have a suitable roof rack was a winner. We'd tried one on the Ioniq and while it worked, it wasn't ideal and the car was not really designed for it.

pjdarcy

Very happy e-niro owner here too (especially when I see the prices at the petrol pumps these days). The biggest surprise for me was how fun electric cars are to drive. It's like driving a really nippy bumper car!!

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119274504#Comment_119274504

I'd have more kms done expect for WFH, and with WFH and car pooling when going golfing (my only big trips so far since purchase) I'm predominately charging the car for free off the PV Panels at home, just the single (free) DC charge. Just looking at my app there now, actually 5,034kms done, more than I thought!

powmr

Pulse width modulation is so simple that it has been around for decades. One of its incredible advantages is that, in most cases, the PWM solar charge controller will not utilize the full capacity of the panel. In addition, sine wave inverter are fairly quiet, and connected load devices (such as fans, light bulbs, etc.) do not hum. However, sine wave inverters are a bit cheaper than square wave variants. There are basically two types of batteries offered by Luminous Flat Cells and Tubular Cells. Flat-panel batteries are widely used for backup power and storage in stand-alone systems.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119274857#Comment_119274857

Thank you for sharing. Sound like you are happy with your EV choice too.

aprilla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119274812#Comment_119274812

Ha! That's what I call it too... the bumper car 🤣

We are very happy since making the jump to EV with an EQA a few weeks ago. Very happy with the car and really enjoying the new driving experience. Delighted with the fuel savings, let's hope that continues 🤞

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119274898#Comment_119274898

That one had me scratching me head too 😁

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119274857#Comment_119274857

3.1 software update

AndyBoBandy

In late 2019 our 2006 BMW 320d developed an electrical issue which we couldn't get resolved (BMW or Indy's), and we were toying with the idea of importing either an Audi A6 or a Mercedes E-Class from the U.K. before the Brexit door slammed shut on imports...

We knew we would eventually end up in an EV, but felt we had 1 last ICE in us before making the switch.

Cut to January 2020 and with the electrical issue getting worse, as well as being completely random (dash warning lights would flash and chime, wipers, indicators wouldn't work, car sometimes went into a sort of limp mode where it wouldn't go higher than 3rd gear (autobox) as well as loads of other faults)... Anyway we were driving one day and saw a 'Tesla' but it looked different from the few other Tesla's we'd seen before, and then I remembered that the 'cheaper' Tesla was now available in Ireland, so one Saturday we took a spin out to Sandyford to have a look at the car in person, and were very impressed by it, and the Tesla guy who explained everything to us.... We just looked at the car in the showroom and didn't do a test drive or anything... but were very impressed with the car, and Tesla themselves.....

A week or 2 later, and driving across the M50 in the pi$$ings of rain, the electrical issue arrived again and the wipers wouldn't work, and we were stuck in 3rd gear doing about 80km/h, and it was an extremely dangerous situation to be in....... so that night (Jan 18th) I ordered a Tesla Model 3 SR+ (bearing in mind at this point I'd never driven a Tesla (or any electric car before)).

I was resigned to losing my beloved 320d to scrap as the issue was getting so bad the car was very unsafe for us to drive in winter..... but about a week before we collected the Tesla I bought a 2nd hand alternator for the BMW on eBay for about €30 and fitted it, and low and behold it completely resolved the electrical issue (BMW main dealer had proposed a new alternator which I politely declined as they were quoting in the region of €1,500 for the job....).

At this point we were too far in with the Tesla order, but nothing was going to deter us from buying it anyway so we pressed on, and collected it on March 13th (Friday 13th, the day the school's first closed), and immediately fell in love with it.

Here we are 28 months and 57,500km later, and we still love it as much as we did on that first day. It wasn't the 1st EV we ever drove as we did take an SR+ for a test drive about 2 weeks before we collected ours, and it only confirmed to us that we'd made the right decision.

Are we happy owning it? Yes, Extremely fcuking happy owning it...

On Saturday we felt like doing something spur of the moment, so decided on a day trip from North County Dublin over to Roundstone in Galway and back... to visit the beach in Dog's Bay. A 642km round trip which required absolutely zero planning in terms of charging thanks to the SuC network... At home we have Solar PV so lately (when I do need a grid charge)I never charge the car to more than 70% (unless I know we are doing a big trip the following day), and Friday night was no different, set it to charge to 70%, and that's what we left with on Saturday morning, and I had absolutely zero doubts or concerns about getting the required charges along the way in Enfield & Athenry.. (Distance: 642km, Total Energy: 105kWh, Avg Energy: 164 Wh/km, Total cost: ~€2.40 for the 20kWh I put in on Friday night as SuC is still free for me + tolls).

In 2 weeks we are taking the car on the Ferry to Cherbourg, to then drive 1,250km to Kiel in Northern Germany to take another Ferry to Lithuania, and again, haven't even given charging on the drive through France/Germany a 2nd thought as I know I'm covered with SuperChargers for the entire route, and the car will tell me when and where I need to stop and charge, and for how long I'll need to charge at each charger....

Still have the BMW as a 2nd car but it's used very infrequently these days (last time was this day 4 weeks ago), and it's a pain paying €710 to tax it and it might only do less than 500km in a year!!! The economics means its just easier/cheaper to keep that for another year or 2 before trying to change it for a 2nd EV...

notAMember

EV owner(s) since 2015. Sold the ICE (2nd family car) after it sat unused for the bones of 6 months. Charge at home and at work. In order of frequency we use bikes, public transport, our EV and use a short term rental company service if we are ever stuck and need a second family car at short notice.

Happy with driving EV, it's one of the best financial decision we ever made. Tax, servicing, fuel and insurance saved. Bumped up our pension AVCs with those car savings, I should be able to retire earlier.

budhabob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119288964#Comment_119288964

With Respect to the Short term rental - with costs rising through the roof on rentals, is that something that you still use?

Red Silurian

Bought a 3.5 year old second hand Leaf40 in January for 21k, paying €400 a month on the car loan but saving €50 a week on fuel so actual cost is just €200 a month - Meaning actual cost is only 12k over 5 years

The only problem I'm having with it at the moment is the NCT keeps getting cancelled. Other than that I see no benefit to buying brand new

notAMember

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119289706#Comment_119289706

The only time we've ever needed a second family car is if the children need to be in two different places at the same time, and we're also bringing other children along. So, dropping a bunch of kids off to a party, and some other parent picks up later... something like that. It's very very rare that happens.

We use enterprise go. it's 20 euro for a year's membership, and you get 20 euro credit. A car is 8 euro an hour on that. We've used it once so far this year, for 2 hours.

There are also car sharing apps that do the same kind of thing I think, but you're lending or borrowing a private car in that scenario.

budhabob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119290620#Comment_119290620

Cheers for that, 1 car family here and have never needed a second car but always wanted to have a back up option - not EV specific but saw the mention, hence the question.

the_amazing_raisin

Thought I'd do some thread resurrection 😁

Last Monday I drove from Swords to Centre parcs Longford in the ID.4

Car was loaded to the brim with clothes, toys, scooters, a buggy and some humans

I plugged the car in the evening before, set to charge to 100% and started the charger before I went to bed

The day of the holiday we drove there, didn't charge at all and arrived with 72% remaining

Ran the AC a few times during the week to freshen the interior

Today we got into the car and drove home without any stops, arrived home with around 40%

So 230km driven without charging stops for a bit over €5, what's not to be happy about 😁

unkel

And you got 50% discount on the tolls 😁

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506013#Comment_119506013

what's not to be happy about

The initial price, if you can even get your hands on one

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506135#Comment_119506135

Cars, second most expensive thing you're likely to buy in your life 😉

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506135#Comment_119506135

You don't have to buy brand new, there are EVs from about €5k, which will give you near zero maintenance, zero depreciation, super low fuel cost motoring. With the lowest possible total cost of ownership of any car, even one given to you for free.

the_amazing_raisin

To be fair most of those cheaper EVs would require one (or more) charging stops for a long journey like I described

But equally you don't need a 77kWh battery to make the distance.

A Leaf40 or Ioniq28 would probably have made it in one go and with plenty of destination chargers available they could be charged up for the journey home

Cheapest one I've found today was €22k, which isn't money to be sneezed at but isn't as totally unaffordable either

unkel

Cheapest what? You can buy an Ioniq 28kWh from about €17-18k privately.

NIMAN

Another happy ev owner here.

Currently on a gen 2 Leaf after owning a Gen 1 Leaf.

I think the fact that so few ev owners ever sell and buy an ICE car again speaks volumes.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509793#Comment_119509793

You could, but I've already taken a deposit on mine and the next cheapest was 20k+

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509793#Comment_119509793

Just took a look a Dondeal, cheapest Leaf40 I could find

As you say if you're properly looking you can find them cheaper, I was just taking a quick glance to see what was available

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506922#Comment_119506922

You asked what's not to be happy about, I was only answering :p

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509844#Comment_119509844

I said the same thing about petrol cars when I bought my first diesel in 2015 - and to be fair I was right as I went from that to a leaf

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119507033#Comment_119507033

Where is this €5k EV?