Does anyone regret buying EV?

Praetorian22

Hey Folks,

I'm just curious if anyone regrets buying an EV vehicle in the last five years for example? I know by all accounts EV technology is going to continually improve and get better but did anyone find themselves perhaps going electric a little too early?

After seeing great vast amounts of depreciation with some cars in particular (E-Tron, Ioniq) anyone thinking they should have kept with an ICE vehicle a little longer? While all cars depreciate add the charging infrastructure and cold weather into the mix.

I don't drive an EV myself but wouldn't rule one out in the not too distant future. With Tesla lowering prices and BYD entering the show the market for EV's continues to get more diverse.

So anyone any regrets? Would you have bought another dirty diesel, smooth petrol or went hybrid given the choice again?

ELM327

No. I change cars quite regularly but have been EV since 2016 for at least one car in the household.

tlaavtech

I traded in my 2010 Insignia Diesel estate for an BMW i3 33Kw nearly two years ago and don't regret it for a second. Car is so much fun to drive, and even the longer trips are now fun little expeditions when you bring charging planning into it! My wife's car is a 2019 fiesta, and the minute the loan is up on that, she will go electric too.

I totally understand people in the market right now waiting for a few months for prices to settle, but other than that, no reason not to buy an EV for 90% of people.

Vast majority of people on here will tell you that once you change, you will never go back. I hate driving the fiesta!!

staples7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334326/does-anyone-regret-buying-ev

No is the simple answer for me. Im 2 years down the line with and ID4 followed by a Model Y. Delighted so far, being a high km a year driver. Saved just over 8k in fuel in the 2 years (Taking charging into account also). But not even accounting for servicing etc

I do have a work and home charger so this helps :) but really when you do the calculation free work charging doesn't end up being a massive gain. its all about the cheap night rate.

On the Tesla side of things its where the tech comes into its own in the car and on the APP.

If I was doing things again I would go in at a really well kept low milage 2-3 year old EV, then you miss the chunk of depreciation but still have the savings . Thats the sweet spot. This will become easier when EV market is more mature....

whippet

No regrets from myside - i've saved a fortune on fuel on the EV we have and also have a PHEV which is usually kept charge.

Depreciation is something i've learned to live with - when I traded in my first EV against the one I have - the trade in value after two years was nearly what I paid for the car new - so swings and round abouts. I've been stung badly in the past with depreciation on some ICE cars too ... so it is just something I deal with when it happens. Usually we change cards every 3/4 years so depreciation is just a cost of keeping new cars on the road

drunkmonkey

Yes, bought an ID3 1st, big mistake, wasn't suitable for me. Held onto it for about 6mts and 12,000km

Would it stop me buying another EV, no. It was just the wrong car, went back to petrol after that, then phev.

If you get one at a price your happy with and the range works for you without compromise, no reason not to consider one. Buying new is probably not the way to go though with prices all over the place.

Patser

No real regrets.

I kinda got lucky, bought my 1st EV 5 years ago before brexit really hit and while EVs were still niche - so got an BMW i3 for €17k from UK, and absolutely loved the car. Really converted me to the joys of driving EV

Traded it last year for an MG4 and got €13k trade in value - at a time EVs were still priced high, so my car had only lost €4k over 4 years.

Now my MG4 probably has depreciated a bit more than I expected - probably based on the above experience - but since I'm now an EV convert, the price wars among new EVs means I'll probably be spending a lot less to upgrade anyway whenever I do.

dunnerc

Yes Cupra Born , software issues , battery modules failed , huge depreciation most main dealers wont even entertain giving a quote to trade in.

Buddy Bubs

Regret buying at a time where there was waiting lists and high prices in Aug 2022 but don't regret buying the car at all apart from that, it has been great. Very briefly looked at what it would be like to trade in and it wasn't anything I could stomach so just keeping it now.

Added a 2nd full EV to the family fleet with same range as the 1st one last week so wouldn't have done that if EV didn't suit.

Not going back to ICE at all. Both cars are 22 reg plates so very fresh and think they will both be outside the house for at least 3 more years.

Cyrus

we have had 2 different audi etrons since 2020 (so 4 years), dont regret it and dont ever see myself going back to ICE, that said we live in an urban area, have always had home charging and drive at most 15,000km annually so it suits our use case very well.

RainInSummer

3 EVs since 2015, no regrets. Or is that ragrets?

pcardin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709729#Comment_121709729

how exactly did you save a fortune? Did you get your EV for free, is it a company car? are you charging for free (secretly plugged in your neighbors grid)? Not sure what EV you have but most of them cost way more to purchase than ICE cars.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709861#Comment_121709861

maybe read what the poster said, which was saved a fortune in fuel, and your second point is wrong as well.

positron

I regret not buying an EV when I test drove the Ioniq in 2017. Instead I bought an ICE estate - it's okay, nothing wrong with it, we needed the space and there were no EV estates in the market for years.

I am in India this week, and drove an EV (Tata Nexon EV) for 100 km thru clogged roads with horrible stop-go traffic straight after landing here. And compared my ICE driving experience over the years, it was an absolute dream - 360 degree camera, complete full phone/navigation integration, all sort of safety bells and whistles and the car just glides along, no need to dance on the clutch pedal or change gears. Once at destination it was plugged in and it charged to full overnight. 40kwh battery, 350k range. My 100 kms driving only took 80 km off the range of the car :D.

I don't know if I can get back into driving an ICE after this week.

AndyBoBandy

No,

Bought a Model 3 almost 4 years ago (base SR+/RWD version), and since I bought it, the Model 3 has had too many upgrades/improvements to mention, but in summary the WLTP range went from 409km (my car) to 513km (current version), the battery got bigger, and the price dropped by about €8k.

Still love the car though and depreciation aside, still can't justify upgrading to a newer 'better' version...

I'm just about to roll over 90,000km, and since new it's had 8 new tyres installed (1 set front, and 3 sets on the rear (latest as recently as yesterday)) and a new set of wipers, and nothing else that I've had to pay for.

90,000km in my ICE would cost me around €11,000 in diesel, and maybe €500 over about 6-9 oil changes (which I'd do myself), 2 full sets of tyres (~€2,000) & probably a set of brake pads in there as well... €13,500 + €2,840 motor tax = €16,340

90,000km in my EV would cost me about €2,628 in home charging* (14.6kWh/100km average @ €0.20.kWh (€0.20/kWh is the highest my night rate has ever been, but most of the 4 years I've had the car it's been below that - currently €0.18/kWh, but lets use worst case)), tyres about €1,800 (but I won't need more now till 120,000km) and a set of wipers for €50 - €4,478 + €480 motor tax = €4,958

*there was still a bit of free charging around when I got the car, and I also had free Supercharging for about 2 years, so my actual spend on charging would be a bit less than the stated €2,628 stated above. (got about 7,000km motorway driving from Tesla Superchargers for free)

Regrets: yeah, why didn't I switch to EV sooner, though in fairness nothing really appealed to us until the Model 3 arrived here, and we bought early enough, with ours arriving here as part of only the 2nd shipment of Model 3's into Ireland (back in the glory days of ship watching and seeking out VIN's in the Tesla website's source code...).

If you have access to home charging it's a no brainer. Theres lads on Facebook with the same car as mine, and they're already up over 200,000km and the cars are still going strong... milage monsters they are...

VikingG

No regrets - No issues - nicer to drive, cheaper to run - however I do say to people you need to have a home charger ( at least at the moment) or perhaps an accessible work one. There is a learning curve with public charging and planning for long trips, but to be honest with the range of current cars it is a lot easier.

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709861#Comment_121709861

Have another read of my post - i've saved a fortune on 'fuel' ... i've lost my shirt on the cost of the car - but that isn't any difference on the amount i've lost over 25 years of changing cars every 3/4 years. I accept depreciation as a cost of liking my cars and having a relatively new one.

As for saving on fuel - yep - compared to what I was spending on Diesel and what I'm no paying to drive the same miles on nightrate electricity it is significant and I've also considerably reduced what I was spending on coffee and shite in service stations.

k123456

Originally had a 2016 24 Leaf, terrible range

Now have a 2019 Ioniq saloon, even though the battery is marginally bigger at 28kw, the range is acceptable, I generally just drive in Dublin , so the range of 200 to 240 k is suitable for me

Well spec'ed and nice to drive

I wasn't happy that the EV reduction on tolls expired recently

I am considering buying my third EV , but depreciation and software issue on newer EVS , makes me hesitate

yermanthere

Too expensive. Expensive to buy and expensive to sell ( depreciation). Fantastic vehicle to drive. A real pleasure to do shopping runs, and motorway across the country.

But cost to own is just too much. Will cost me way too much over 3 years, to cover 50,000km. Compared to other sized cars.

But....

If the fear around EVs finally swings around in 24/25? Or if government makes tax changes to ICE/fuel? Then all those problems go away, and you're left with a really nice car.

Royale with Cheese

I bought a Model 3 in late 2019 so I could run it as a company car, sold my Golf GTI that I owned personally. I had no issues with the car, but due to it losing nearly half its value by the time I sold it last month, and the Golf probably not losing any value in that 4 years judging by ads on donedeal, any savings I made by running the car through the company got wiped out by the depreciation. It possibly would have worked out cheaper to keep the golf for those 4 years, depending on repair bills (I owned it less than 2 years and had already made one costly fix of €1000 to it). No massive regrets but that 0% BIK deal on EVs didn't end up being quite the saving I thought it'd be, and could easily have waited until now to make the switch. I bought another Tesla so I'm obviously happy enough with them.

Bandana boy

2 years in and I am still very Happy

I probably spent 15-20K more to get the EV I wanted than I probably would have spent on an ICE .

That's a mixture of buying new versus second hand and just the equivalent in my eyes EVs are dearer.

But as I avail of free charging through works Solar panels , I am saving ~3,500 a year in running costs . The driving experience though is several times better , and its hard to put a value on that aspect , but I certainly will not be going back to ICE .

Hopefully when I want to change it next there is an actual second hand market which might close that gap for me .

Ivor_Guddon

bought a Plug-in Hybrid and its a great car and bought it because of the 2030 year the government wanted us all to be in electric etc , lets say they are not helping EV customers with reduced grants and also hiking tolls etc , im tempted to go balls to wall and splurge on a brand new VW GTI

Gumbo

Nope.

EV since 2012. Back when the cars had no fast charging capabilities! Could see then it was the way forward.

Have had countless and could never go back to ICE h less it was something of decent historic sentimental value.

E46 M3

Lancer Evo 6 TME

to name but a few.

denismc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121709768#Comment_121709768

Cupra Bjorn is a relatively new car, I would have thought any battery issues would have been covered under warranty?

ratracer

Interesting discussion, and one I’m gonna watch.

I’ve had solar installed in December, and my current car loan will be done in the summer, so currently considering my options for changing! Live rural and have 2 diesels ATM.

I am leaning towards a first EV, though there’s a lot of announcements from BMW and also GM/ Honda about hydrogen power. How far away is that? More research to do, plenty of reading and probably more dreaming in the next few months!! 😂

dunnerc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710378#Comment_121710378

It was .

Mickeroo

No regrets here. Bought an Ioniq 28Kwh in 2019 and still have it. One car household.

Might upgrade in the next couple of years, might drive it for 5 more, not sure really.

Patser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710428#Comment_121710428

Hydrogen is interesting, and I work with some hydrogen buses - but in my opinion it'll suffer the same problem as LPG - nowhere to refuel. Garages won't install hydrogen pumps until there's a significant demand for it, and motorists won't buy until there somewhere to refuel. Hydrogen will have a good chance for something like buses, trains maybe even planes - as they'll have a set route, and a defined depot to go to; so consumption and fueling times can be planned, and infrastructure put in

SteelyDanJalapeno

Not me! Bought an ID3 in 21, have done 80,000km mostly free as we have chargers in work. Saved a fortune so far

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334326/does-anyone-regret-buying-ev

There is a person on youtube that deals with them a lot. He does not paint a flattering picture of most and addresses the things I often wondered about such as heating and air con effects on range.

He approaches EV's in a very practical way and includes irritations and limitations I would not have thought of prior to buying.

I can't recollect the title of his video's but a Google of youtube, EV's and milk floats should hit the spot.

It's well worth checking, although like a lot of youtube stuff he can ramble a bit.

kanuseeme

A co worker sold his EV and bought a phev, only after a month or so, his wife has medical problems and the realization of how long it takes to charge was not acceptable to him, I had suggested a phev, but greed got the better of him, he would only save a few hundred in fuel a year compared to the phev.

My sister has ID4 gtx, she was not happy with queues, driving in the wrong direction to charge and then chargers not working and moving to the next one, I have not talked to her since the price drop, but I imagine she isn't happy.

I have seen 2 or 3 more people here who have posted about getting rid of there EV.

Saying that I can well understand people in towns and citys or 2 car households owning one or 2, works for them why not, but insisting on everyone one else buy one, failing that ridiculing them for not buying one or calling them trolls for agreeing with other peoples comments,

I have to laugh at the guy with one EV and 3 diesel cars who does not like me clicking the thanks button.

Summer2020

No regrets whatsoever. Would switch to a 2 car EV household if I could. Bought ours in Jan 2022 and got a much higher trade in price for our petrol qashai than we’d get now as used car prices were much higher then. So depreciation isn’t much of a factor for us

Another i3 owner here, initially as a 2nd car but in reality it’s the one we use the most. No regrets but not sure what to change it for. Nothing on the market is as revolutionary as the i3 was and none of the other offerings interest us. No plans to go electric with the family car as take too many long trips with it including the annual French holiday

MrMusician18

I don't regret buying an EV but I do regret not waiting 6 months. Easy to say now with hindsight and at the time there was pressure to change to something better.

Seeing the paper value of the car sink much faster than anticipated has been unpleasant. We bought used and pushed out seller very hard for value so didn't get reamed as badly as some. That said realistically if we were to sell it today we'd be lucky to get 7k less than what we paid. That's the kind of depreciation you see on new exec. cars, not used family ones.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710764#Comment_121710764

Fair enough but that list of issues you have posted reads like a conspiracy forum post, most ev drivers have seen their insurance drop especially for the performance on offer, the lack of physical buttons is a modern car thing not an ev thing, and what servicing is expensive when the warranty runs out. There isnt much to service.

The range and charger queues depends on your usage requirements to be fair, if range doesnt meet yours then thats understandable.

crl84

Nope, changed last year and glad I did. Went out looking for a petrol to replace the diesel Focus, and ended up with an EV. We'll definitely replace the other ICE with an EV in the next couple of years.

The supposed horror stories have turned out to be complete nonsense.

Saving loads on fuel, and would be even more if I wasn't WFH 3 days a week. Probably have the cost of the EV versus equivalent ICE made back in less than 2 years just on fuel alone.

Don't care about depreciation as I'm not planning on changing for a few years at least, and like new ICE cars, if you're worried about depreciation, then a brand new car is a foolish choice.

Gumbo

Out of all the cars over the last 10 years, the one I really regret is the BMW 530e. Problems, really bad bmw customer service. More problems.

It's actually more annoying to own than any of the EV’s I’ve had or still have.

Its immaculate and one of the highest spec 30e’s in the country, hence the hesitation is getting rid of it, but I think this year will see it go.

jasonb

I really don't regret it, bought a 2nd hand L24 in late 2018. The range wasn't great but for 95% of my journeys it was fine, public charging was still free and electricity was cheaper back then so I ended up paying about €25 a month for charging at home. A complete no-brainer for me, considering my average journey distance. Loved the tech that came with the car and it definitely felt like the way to go.

Came into a little bit of money in 2021 so in the end I bit the bullet and took a chance on getting myself a new L40, my first new car in years. I got lucky in that I got the car before things got bad with waiting lists etc. It was another no-brainer for me, all the things I loved about the L24, but now with better range and even more tech gadgets etc. Driving it two years now and I love it. Still barely use public chargers, and while it's now costing me about €60 a month to charge at home, that's still less than half of what my Petrol costs used to be. I haven't looked at depreciation figures, I'm sure I'd have a heart attack if I did, but then I've no plans to sell this anytime soon at all. We have my wife's Prius for the longer family trips around the country for when we don't fancy stopping to charge, but that's only a couple of times a year. I could never seen myself going back to ICE now, and any EV I get for the rest of my life is probably only gonna have even better range etc.

byrne249

Ignoring capital outlay I've consistently done conservatively 33+kms/euro. Versus my old octavia which was doing 6-7km/euro. This is not something one can regret. Assuming the car works correctly of course. Switching to energia and further elec price drops I look forward to doing 55km/euro. Including capital outlay I'll hit 1euro/km after only 12 months driving. To put in context, the used octavia purchased for only 1500e ONLY managed 5km/e over a 9 year career. There is simply no comparison. I also am led to believe that the performance drop of the battery will favourably compare to performance degradation and repairs to a similar ICE.

Here is a token historical account of trains and gives some insight on how long this changeover will take. Beginning in the 1900s steam locomotives were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives. With railways fully converting to electric/diesel power beginning in the 1930s.

And frankly, the longer the changeover takes the better for everyone who bought early and holds on to the car. People who buy every year anyway don't care about depreciation so the depreciation argument is null.

All the neanderthals who fear change are doing is missing out on cheap energy that doesn't leave cities in a cancerous smog.

higster

Regret going EV....definitely not. Both cars in house now EV and both loving it.

Regret buying the ev model i did (Jag I Pace)....no and yes. No as love the car itself (handling, comfort, looks, speed, roomy etc) but yes due to reliability and ~75km short on range I need now (when bought it range was grand for needs)).

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710428#Comment_121710428

I’ve solar too and last year from the beginning of April to July 5th 100% of my charging came from solar excess.

it you have solar, and have a car(s) sitting on your driveway for most of the day then it makes even more sense…

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710090#Comment_121710090

Do you think that the chances of the government making changes to taxes on EV ownership to compensate for losses in excise on fuel/vat on servicing/generally less economic activity might end up causing issues?

I appreciate that one needs a car of some description and these things are just a side effect of owning such an item.

This is an interesting thread. I don't have an EV and don't plan on changing from my 16 year old diesel any time soon or indeed the other 13 year old diesel in the house but I'd reckon the disincentives to own such cars will start to ramp up in the next five years, on the other hand, I can't see the state not increase the various taxes associated with EV use.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121710666#Comment_121710666

In fairness, you could say the same about the take-up of EV. I appreciate that most people can 'refill' at home but not all and the lack of a charging infrastructure is one barrier to mass take up. If hydrogen cars have decent range, durability and dont cost the earth literally and in monetary terms there's no real reason they won't gain popularity.

...Ghost...

Firts EV in 2017. Added second EV a few weeks later. Both 24kWh Leafs (3 and 5 years old when bought). Sold the older one and replaced with a Tesla M3. It's the first brand new car I have purchased.

I only regret that I didn't know about EVs sooner.

donkey balls

Switched over last year from an A6 quattro to the E tron, Mainly commute between the house and work both based in Dublin and can charge at both locations. Yep the price of the cars are dropping but what I'm driving is on a different level comfort wise range is crap.

If I was doing high mileage then I would have stayed with the A6 as it's a miser on fuel once on the motorway. I'm going keep the car for another few years and see what comes on the market then. One option would be depending on trade in value is to give the missis the E tron sell her car and get another electric.

Praetorian22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121711785#Comment_121711785

Just out of curiosity what E-Tron are you driving? Really like the look of them

turnfan

Went from a 2010 Skoda Superb to am ex demo 2019 Ioniq 28kwh in June 2019. I sometimes irrationally regret it, (size etc) but there is no doubt it was the correct decision. I intend to keep it forever! The car runs for pennies.

donkey balls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121711796#Comment_121711796

E tron 55 quattro S line blk edition.

quokula

No regrets here. Had an ID3 since 2020 and it's the best car I've ever owned. I've owned more expensive, more premium cars and the ID3 has a lot of annoyances around its infotainment system, but the advantages of the powertrain make up for all of that, whether it's the much cheaper running costs, the convenience of never having to worry about range or queue up at petrol stations anymore, the bags of torque at all rev ranges which is great for overtaking or getting out into junctions and means you no longer have to think about gearing, or the pure refinement of the silent, smooth electric motor that makes driving so much more relaxing.

We're hoping to be a 2 EV family by the end of this year.

Wanderer78

any experience with ev vans, i see some couriers are starting to use them, looks like i ll be getting a van soon?

liamog

Mod Note: Split off the bickering posts, keep to the topic instead of attacking each other https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334395/differences-of-opinion