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EV or Hybrid for my needs?

o1aa

Hi all,

Hope it's ok to post here.

Im not sure whether to go fully electric or hybrid or maybe not change at all.....

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Car I own now:

1.5 diesel, 2013. Road tax €190. Very economical, 5l/100km.

I am aware my car is getting older and if I sell this year I can still get good money for it. If I don't sell soon, it will depreciate v quickly and I'd stick with it till its not longer good to drive.

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My needs are as follows:

At the moment I commute 33km one way to work, twice a week. I'd do 90km/h max, stuck in traffic through town in the mornings. Occasionally I'd take the motorway if the traffic is bad on the backroads.

Then 3 days I week I commute Short distance 7km one way. A lot of traffic on the road, stuck in traffic for most of the commute.

Weekends I'd do just the regular spins to the shops.

Occassionally I'd go to Dublin so that would be motorway all the way.

Twice a year I'd go to the West of Ireland so that's 250km one way. I'm aware I'd need to rent out a car kf I was doing a switch to ev.

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Possible change to my commute due to changing jobs could be:

5x 40km commute each way. No traffic on the road, speed usually 80-90km/h

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I hope I included everything needed to assess my needs.

As you can see my diesel car is cheap to run 😂 no issues with it. I just wanted a newer car and thought of electric/hybrid. If you were me what would you be leaning towards and why?

It would be a family car.

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Lantus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118038216#Comment_118038216

Looks like UK offers a plug in and hybrid. Just the hybrid here. It's 8k sterling more though for phev. Eye watering price for a teeny weeny battery to take you to the shops and back.

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118038216#Comment_118038216

Could have been an import? Or discontinued

Quin_Dub

I stand corrected - Having said that , I can't see any PHEV other than a RAV4 on the Toyota.ie website.

They only have one model of Prius showing and it's not a PHEV.

kanuseeme

Toyota have made Prius phevs since 2010 around 20 km range, 4. something kWh battery, 2017 upgraded battery of 8 ish kWh with 40 km range and an option to fast charge on chademo in japan, rav4 is now a phev option.

Toyota have pole position in this country with little or no effort, when they start dropping to 2nd or 3rd place you can bet what ever you want that every single toyota will come with a plug much the same as when they dropped diesel and switched all their cars to hybrid without any great fuss.

I would think people are very happy with their Toyota hybrids probably suits a great majority better than a diesel.

AndyBoBandy

This Prius is a PHEV… I can 100% confirm it is a PHEV. And it’s a 2012 car.

So even back in 2012, Toyota had the jump on most, yet failed to grasp it.....

Quin_Dub

To the best of my knowledge no Prius has a plug and certainly not one of that vintage.

** Just had a quick look on the Toyota website and the only PHEV from Toyota is a single version of the RAV4 , no other vehicle has a plug.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118037240#Comment_118037240

This one is at least 6-7 years old… if not older.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118037207#Comment_118037207

Only the newest models - Some 20/21 plate Rav4s are PHEV for example.

AndyBoBandy

there are some PHEV Toyota's knocking around...

My local Tesco has an eCars AC22 which was regularly ICE'd by a plug in Prius that I never saw plugged in!!!!

I ranted on the Irish EV Owners FB group, and then it stopped happening (so I'm guessing he saw my post).

JPup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118026000#Comment_118026000

Toyota doesn't make mild hybrids. They are a different thing again. Toyota's hybrid's don't have a plug but they do let you drive for some of your journey purely on battery power which mild hybrids don't.

AndyBoBandy

When they do eventually change over to BEV, I'm guessing CHAdeMO (of which Toyota is a founding member) plugs will be standard across the range.

It'll be funny to see Toyota's ads change from 'no need to waste time plugged in' to 'with Toyota, you'll be plugged in the longest'.....

Lantus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118035255#Comment_118035255

Toyota are resisting the change world wide. The Japanese car industry employees huge numbers of people and they do not want that to change. Ev cars will require substantially less workers.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118027129#Comment_118027129

Amazingly , Toyota in the US have been lobbying AGAINST the shift to electric and PHEV cars there.

They made a very big bet on Hydrogen as the future solution and so far that has just not taken off at all , so they are significantly behind the rest of the industry in terms of development of vehicles.

They are now rushing out PHEV and BEV cars to try and catch up , but they are quite a bit behind which is amazing since they were the leaders in the hybrid space 10 years ago.

o1aa

Thanks all for your input a out servicing. I have no issues with my car at all but I do agree it's costly even when nothing is wrong with the car. I actually had to replace brake pads at around 40k mark, prob previous owners loved the break pedal 😂

From doing a lot of research on the current market prices I think I'll hold off and stick with my car. But...My two issues with it is that it's getting older plus I'd love to get an automatic car for the ease of use. But looking at the market ATM maybe it's not the wisest idea to buy now.

Regarding solar panels, I'm getting them done at a cost price plus not getting batteries as the payback on them is not great. So I'm getting solar panels regardless whether I own ev or not.

Thanks everyone for your comments. If anyone has anymore advice you are welcome to give me some pointers 🙂🙂

the_amazing_raisin

I would not recommend trying to spec a solar battery for charging an EV. Even the smallest EV batteries are much larger than most home solar batteries, and the losses are pretty bad

A better strategy is to get a charger which can sense when you're exporting and divert the power to the EV if it's plugged in, so that you charge it off of the excess solar power

Lantus

Obvious issue is EVs while great are still expensive. The 3 mentioned above are good but older and with the smaller batteries. Still suits your trips but nothing much longer. The current big family ev models like id4 and enyaq have 45k to 55k price tags. Big space and range but the cost isn't in the normal car spend bracket just yet for the average Joe.

As you have free motoring currently you should consider saving the cost of a new car loan every month for 2 or 3 years as a deposit. Car market is weird currently with prices and supply. EVs should be much cheaper than they are and the next 3 years should see a pivot towards that but no guarantee!

Solar pv installations are expensive and you will need a massive array with a battery to have any hope of charging your ev from it even partially. Have you researched this much yet?

Overall I would not really invest in hybrid as it's still a petrol engine with an expensive battery. Up coming regulations indicate that hybrids could be assessed very unfavourably as countries want to go to full electric. Only car manufacturers want hybrid as it's profitable. There will be a reckoning in 3 to 5 years and companies like skoda have already stopped any new phev car development. They know where the wind is blowing...

A spreadsheet is your friend so do lots of sums. Buts a balance of lifestyle and wants and costs.

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118026000#Comment_118026000

Thanks, that's what I thought. I'm sure they'll eventually bring out an EV to match the wind turbines in their ad's 🤔

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118025934#Comment_118025934

Toyotas , except for very very recent models are all "Mild-hybrids" also called "self-charging".

They have a battery , but it's very small (only a few kw/h capacity) and charges from the petrol engine and brake re-gen only - Only good for a few kms of Electric driving.

MightyMunster

Is a Toyota hybrid not just a petrol car, or does it have a plug?

[Deleted User]

I have a Toyota CH-R hybrid and find it excellent. Extremely good to drive and seems to run on air with city driving, and generally economical. I got 3 years servicing included in purchase, it has low taxation and good insurance profile. Tons of safety spec, no range anxiety, great handling. Couldn’t recommend enough from my personal experience.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118024580#Comment_118024580

New technology,sadly,same old people,thanks.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118024657#Comment_118024657

Think your right on that,some of us pure electric drivers are finding hybrids blocking the bays,not needing a charge and not bothering to plug in.One now famous hybrid gentleman in Downpatrick has been doing just that,going to work,bay blocked all day for the last 6 years . No-one can touch him as no legislation over those years,nor likely to be.

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118023876#Comment_118023876

Brake drums will need periodic checking and "shoes" instead of pads however and they can warp with heat if, for instance, the handbrake gets stuck or is rubbing the inside of the drum for long periods.

With regards to the question of PHEV or BEV by the OP. I went with a PHEV this time around as the economics of a BEV just did not work out for me (high initial purchase price and availability of a model I would want to be in). The comfort of having over 1000km of range in the PHEV in case I need it was the overriding reason for me and I can get around perfectly well on the almost 60km of distance that the car can cover on the battery alone (in the summer of course... in winter it is closer to 50km). There was 1 occasion where I had to drive to Galway and back twice in a day for family reasons and it was good to know that I could do that all in the one shot without having to pull over and wait for a charge. The Galway run is a regular one for my family and we cover this every 2 weeks, although like you, we would pull over for a quick bite half way (but I would not bother to plug in anywhere with the PHEV). I do, however, have charging in my workplace and I live 10km from the office so I can quite comfortably be 2 days in the office without having to drive anywhere else in the meantime and then charge while I am working. Weekends are mostly covered on battery power (even when we get to Galway) and I charge the car a few times a week (in fact, as I type, I realise I have not charged it since Sunday but I have been shopping and other places in the meantime on battery power alone).

All this being said, I think your use case would suit a BEV, but I still believe PHEVs have a place.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118024454#Comment_118024454

Wasn't there a tax brake in the UK for PHEVs a few years back? I think it got scrapped for exactly the reasons you said, the cars never got charged. There was a big flood of 2nd hand PHEVs on the market around that time (2018/19 I think???)

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118024454#Comment_118024454

I can attest to that - I bought a UK import PHEV and less than 1% of the mileage on the car was Electric.

I'm running at roughly 60% electric only mileage since I got it , but then I plug it in every day.

Previous owner had clearly never once plugged it in to charge and ran it in Sport mode exclusively so it never used Electric mode.

I guess when you aren't paying for the fuel you just don't care.

reboot

A recent bbc radio programme pointed out that the UK intends to phase out hybrids 5 years after diesel and petrol, seems a lot of companies have bought fleet hybrids,but the staff can't be bothered switching over to electric,so drive a very heavy battery around,polluting more than ICE vehicles!

Wheety

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118020247#Comment_118020247

It can display twice when you first post but if you refresh or go out and back into the thread it shows only once.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118023479#Comment_118023479

The air filters are generally located in an area that’s easily accessed, like the glove box . And hence you can replace them yourself for less than 20 euro.

Many EVs use drum brakes so don’t even needs pads or discs.

Fluids, are generally sealed. Brakes and power steering , and don’t need regular replacements.

if your AC needs a top up, get it topped up, no need for a service

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118023479#Comment_118023479

Yes, mostly the same as the stuff in all cars like filters, wiper blades, tyres, etc... but generally they are minor things, as its the ICE that eats up most of the maintenance cost of an ICE car...

Not sure how regular the aircon needs topping up, but when I bought my BMW in 2012, I got the aircon topped up as it wasn't effective, and it still works fine 9 years later!!

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118023230#Comment_118023230

I get that there's substantially less things to be looked for Servicing , but surely things like filters and the various fluids for the AC system etc. need to be checked/replaced at a reasonable interval?