Switching to an EV: Everything You Need to Know

[@GaryDoesSolar]

* NOTES SINCE PUBLICATION * You don't need to be with Octopus Energy to use Electroverse - it's a service open to everyone. If you ARE an Octopus customer though, you get a discount on charging rates at many stations. You can also add a payment card instead of linking it to your Octopus energy account.

[@AndrewEbling]

You do however get an additional discount if you are an Octopus customer.

[@Ian_Woods]

I looked at electroverse card before I bought the tesla, and found it was putting quite a surcharge on top of the hosts prices, i.e. iberdrola here was 45 cents yet electroverse was charging 65 cents just that alone makes me not trust octupussy. so I would check the prices on there to the actual charger networks own pricing.

[@AndrewEbling]

@@Ian_Woods is that in Spain? Generally I've found Electroverse to be competitive on all networks here in the UK. Then again, I've fairly regularly been charged different than advertised prices even using networks own apps.

[@Ian_Woods]

@@AndrewEbling yes that was here in Spain and was of course over a year ago when I checked the prices. Although it wasn't just Iberdrola. But I have never actually used any of the networks or cards as I decided to buy the Tesla so haven't had the need since

[@untruth]

Conversely, Electroverse doesn't always charge for connection fees and/or time plugged in fees, which can make quite a difference to some of the direct contactless tariffs in Europe which do charge these fees (France, Germany, Belgium). But I agree, it's not always cheaper. It is however super convenient and doesn't hold back 50 quid on your card everytime you plug in, which is a big problem on many networks...

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

Thanks Gary for a very helpful and informative video. I have solar panels, a Tesla battery 13.5 kw and an air source heat pump. I’m already an Octopus customer. My next step is to buy an EV and your video has been enormously beneficial with my research. Thanks again from north east Scotland.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Michael - ah, you're ahead of me then with the heat pump. That'll likely be my next purchase. I've lived down in England for more than 20 years now, and I still miss Scotland. Luckily I have reason to go back at least once a year as I still have family there :-) All the best in whatever EV you end up buying - see my later video where I interviewed Jim Starling on things to consider when buying: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYOpn3V9hsepoqMsi=TognrstPlpM27h6M

[@humphreybradley3060]

Thanks Gary. We’ve been fully BEV for 5 years now & in every way a it’s a superior ownership experience. We’ve travelled all over Europe & have never had problems finding a working charge point. Financially it’s an absolute no-brainer, particularly charging from home. We would NEVER go back to ICE!

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thank you for sharing your EV experience here. I’m expecting a lot of anti-EV-folks to blast the comments with rhetoric, and so it’s great to hear real experiences! 😀❤️

[@humphreybradley3060]

@@GaryDoesSolarthe anti-EV crowd are often those who simply have no experience of EVs & feel the need to fire off ill-informed negativity to demonstrate their ignorance. Odd behaviour really!

[@raytait8624]

I’m now on my 2nd Bev and agree with you, I’d never go back to an ICE car if I can help it. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t for everyone. However, if you can charge from home it’s a no brainer. Last year I did 13500 miles at a cost of £268. The negative comments from people who don’t own one or even know anything about them and worst of all certain newspapers and other sections of the media are annoying but laughable which shows their ignorance towards the EV sector. We will never be able to live without oil and gas so don’t agree with the labour stance on not allowing more licenses to drill in the North Sea. It will just mean importing more from foreign countries and leaving us vulnerable to expensive import costs.

[@antrog1895]

Nice to hear some positive long haul stories. We had to stop twice from London to Leeds which doubled the journey. I also read 80% of owners aren’t rebuying EVs

[@trevorburridge7785]

One year anniversary on 20/07. Fully BEV. Never would go back despite one zombie moment. We have ignored the car nagging to top up three times now. Lowest was 8% on arrival at home. It’s a new way of life. 10 days after delivery we drove to Bordeaux. Infrastructure in France streets ahead of UK. Remind me why we left.

[@andrew-o5i]

after owning 28 ice cars , at 62 years old i wanted to take the plunge have been looking for a while , and noticed used ev prices plummeting , tried a few cars like tessla model y as wanted something a little higher up ( suv ) ended up buying skoda enyaq coupe vrs which was 55k new and i bought the managers car at skoda with 3k on the clock and 6 months old for 35k , i never lease cars like to pay cash , managed to get a ohme pro charger fitted next day inside my garage , am on octopus anyway , and wow i am loving it , its so smooth and powerful as its a twin motor car with a claimed range of 313 miles , 250 is easy to achieve , only had for less than two weeks now , just been doing 30 percent top ups to 80 percent and these are about £1.70 ish , i stopped at the garage yesterday to get some milk and felt like i should go to the counter and give her £50 ha ha cant see much benefit of self charging hybrids and not much more saving and twice the amount of part to maintain and go wrong .... my wife was not sure at first but now she is loving it ... as retired now we do little milage and never much venture far from home ...........

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Great stuff :-) Thanks for sharing!

[@Joe-lb8qn]

My experience of driving an EV is that many friends who don't have one are keen to tell me how i cant do various things in an EV that they actually know i do / have done. Eg i drive all over the UK, ive driven to Norway (1300 miles) on a 4 day road trip, ive done many 200-400 mile day trips. Yet according to many my EV is only useful for nipping to the shops after which Ill have to charge for 36 hours before i can go out again,

[@Brian-om2hh]

Yes Joe, it's truly amazing how much EV knowledge some folk have, despite never having owned or driven one...... Much of their information comes from their visits to the local Pig & Whistle, where there is usually at least one EV expert, who often gleaned his knowledge from his brother in-law, who once lived 4 doors down from someone whose brother had an EV.

[@djtaylorutube]

Your friends are right, they're only any use for going to the shops or perhaps to a friend's house for a BBQ. This is our experience too. I wanted to buy a music box for my daughter so drove to the shop in Switzerland. A couple of weeks ago we went to friends for a BBQ so that was a little drive down to Madrid. We line in the UK and leave the diesel and petrol cars for the short journeys and as to cost, the 3000 mile trip to Madrid cost about £247 on public charging,

[@st200ol]

@@djtaylorutube WTF are you talking about!

[@djtaylorutube]

@@st200ol How it's only possible to use an EV to drive to shops and friends for a BBQ, you know, how we keep getting told by those who apparently know better, that EV's can go far. One shop was in Switzerland, BBQ was in Madrid. 😛

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Joe, thanks for sharing your experiences - it just shows that having an EV is not a backward step by any stretch of the imagination! :-)

[@oakfieldfarm4131]

Should mention that many Tesla Superchargers are open to non-Teslas now and are waaaay cheaper and more reliable than all other chargers - approx half the price. A monthly subscription reduces this still further if your mileage warrants it. I rarely use any other public chargers now, despite driving a Renault Zoe 🌞

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That’s brilliant. I know Elon Musk gets a lot of stick (much of it merited, people might argue) but he’s really showing the world how to progress…

[@sjwright2]

@@GaryDoesSolar He gets a lot of stick because he expresses political views so wild that they're shared by around half of the voting population of the USA. They're *definitely* not my political views, but I don't look to CEOs or billionaires for their opinions about politics, so I don't care. I'll choose Tesla (or whatever happens to be best) based on the merits of the product, and I won't pick an inferior product to satisfy some nebulous (and frankly absurd) fear of bad optics.

[@ashb8572]

There seems to be more and more newer EVs with compatibility issue using Open Tesla supercharger...

[@oakfieldfarm4131]

@@ashb8572 Like which ones? For my Renault Zoë ZE50 there are no more reliable chargers. Superchargers are head and shoulders above all the others that I’ve tried.

[@AndrewEbling]

Agreed - Tesla Superchargers open to 3rd party vehicles do seem to be the most reliable and most consistent for charging speed. We did however get flipped off by a Tesla owner last time we used one, due to the design of the charging stations and the location of the charge port on my car, I temporarily blocked a second station. I did do everything I could to minimise this, including turning up with an almost empty battery, adding the absolute minimum charge required, and moving the car off the charge bay the moment I had enough charge even though we had not finished our lunch.

[@rugbygirlsdadg]

With regenerative braking you also have the safety advantage that in an emergency braking situation, braking starts as soon as your foot comes off the accelerator pedal, not when your foot hits the brakes, so your effective reaction time is reduced slightly. Nobody anywhere I've seen has mentioned this. There is a disadvantage which nobody mentions either: Because of the relative high performance of EVs compared to ice cars, there will be more low performance drivers in high performance cars...

[@GaryDoesSolar]

These are two very good points that I hadn't considered until now - thanks for sharing :-)

[@GavinWilkinson]

Great, Gary. Really appreciated all the aspects you looked at there. 👍

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Gavin 👍🏻 I felt it was an important video to make

[@OldCodeMonkey]

Great video Gary. EV + home battery + solar, was a game changer for us. Even an older EV (2018 Kia Soul) allowed us to switch to an EV tariff with Octopus, which meant the home battery is charging each night at 7p a kWh and supplies all our household needs for the next day. Servicing of the Kia is £100 a year and after 54k miles, the brake discs have 10% wear and the pads 20% wear. When we owned two petrol cars (averaging around 47mpg) we'd spend around £250 on petrol a month and around £230 on electricity a month (pre solar/battery). Now during the summer covering the same number of miles each month in two EVs + our household electricity needs, the combined total is £11 a month. This rises to £60 a month in the depths of winter. We have easily saved over £400 a month since switching to EVs/solar/home battery. Thanks for your videos which were instrumental in setting me down this path two years ago 👏

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for sharing all this. In the end, we purchased a Kia eNiro (2021) and it has been fabulous so far! Great to hear our running and servicing costs will be very low!

[@OldCodeMonkey]

@@GaryDoesSolar You can take out a service plan with Kia which freezes your servicing costs over the coming years and also means they throw in a free pollen filter. However keep in mind once paid for, the service plan is tied to car and transfers to the new owner should you sell it (I believe). Also found the warranty process faultless, During a service, Kia discovered the universal joint on the steering column had too much play and they just booked the car in and replaced it. I wasn't even aware there was a problem 😂

[@GaryDoesSolar]

@@OldCodeMonkey Wow - that's really cool!

[@mattsnider5704]

I went EV yesterday. Honda Prologue Elite. Thanks for your videos. Very informative.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

You’re most welcome! 😀🙏

[@w0nd3rlu573r]

yep, pretty much what my experience was swapping the ICE with an EV. I am a different driver now, one that I prefer. And I got myself a 11 y/o EV with a small battery. Charging every 130-140 kilometers is so relaxing now, I barely even notice it.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That’s brilliant! 😀

[@julianplant1797]

Great Video Gary, as ever. May I add a couple of beginner tips. 1) use heated seats. The fan heater is then enemy of range. In the winter preheat the car when it is plugged in. If experiencing range issues on a motorway. Slow down. It make a massive difference.2) charging a battery from under20% to 80% is normally as quick as charging from 80 to 100%. Therefore when you hit 80% unplug and move onto the next charger. Free up the space for someone else.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Julian, cheers for the feedback on the video! And thanks also for the tips - great! :-)

[@julianplant1797]

@@GaryDoesSolar for route planning A Better Route Planner is great (ABRP). Charge your car with an appropriate charger. Higher power chargers are more expensive. e.g. Ionity 350kW is +80p/kW. If your car can not accept 350kW use a slower / lower powered charger that is also cheaper. Torque delivery from an electric motor is constant and independent of revs. however, in an ICE car the motor has a "power band", a sweet spot of revs for optimal torque, which is why you need to change gear. If you are considering an EV log your current car journeys for a month. This will inform you how much range you actually need. When fast charging away from home, plug in first then go for tea / comfort break. That way you can do two things at once. My EV (Ioniq 5) has a winter range of 250 miles. The average speed on UK motorways is 50 MPH. after 5 hours I need a break. Fully, regularly trained HGV drivers can only drive for 4 hours without a break. Why should you be a better/safer driver than them. App controled pre heat is your friend on a cold morning. It is the best EV feature.

[@colingoode3702]

We got our first ever EV a year ago, a used 1 year old 64kWh Hyundai Kona which was half the price when it was new & it's a great local run about car. We charged it a bit last summer from solar at home but mainly from cheap rate electric overnight at home. Haven't needed to use a public charger yet. Now we are Octopus Intelligent Go tariff we only charge it to 80% over night at 7p & export as much solar as possible during the day which results in negative household electric bills - at least for the summer months. My wife uses the EV most for local trips but I do drive it as well when we are travelling together. Longest trip so far was a 240 mile day trip to see family. No need to re-charge it until we got home. I keep my ICE car for longer trips & holidays. Not quite ready to go EV only just yet. I reckon the EV is saving us £175 / month on fuel alone.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That's brilliant Colin - and what a saving on fuel costs - wow! Thanks for sharing this. It's exactly the kind of thing that people, who might be thinking about EVs but are not sure whether to make the jump, need to hear :-)

[@nigelkempson8746]

I am an extremely satisfied EV owner for 4 years and used to work for a major electricity distribution utility (DNO). I endorse your video but would make a couple of points. Commercial public chargers are purchasing the power under different tariffs to that paid by a domestic property. They are paying a higher rate of vat and are also paying "capacity" or "availability" charges for their connection to the network. They pay this "availability" charge all 48 half-hours per day whether or not they are selling any power and this charge can be quite substantial. Also, around the country, some of the distribution network nodes are weaker than others. So fast chargers are very thin on the ground in some of my favourite areas - North Norfolk coast, Mid-Wales, Welsh marches, Cornwall south of Redruth. Isle of Skye etc. I know the engineering reasons for this and know it will take time to change (getting planning permission for new power lines is a labour of Hercules). To stay in the areas mentioned above you really need to find a place with a "destination charger". If you cannot easily charge overnight then owning an EV becomes more problematic. When you purchase diesel at least 80% of what you pay is tax. As more and more people make the switch to EV's then the government will have to find ways of replacing this revenue. My guess is that sooner or later EV's will have to be somehow charged by the mile. I would favour road tax plus some sort of congestion charging to avoid unduly penalising rural users. Also, there is a bit of a range paradox with EV's depending on their battery chemistry. Currently, if you by a "long-range" EV you are likely to get a battery chemistry where it is recommended you only charge routinely to 80%. With a "shorter-range" EV the batter chemistry might be different and the recommendation is to routinely charge to 100%. On long road trips this can complicate things - the charging stations you choose on the outward journey may not be optimum for the return journey (you leave home with a battery 100% charged but never charge above 80% whilst you are away). Also, the way the different battery chemistries lose range over time is different -once a vehicle has done 100, 000 miles you might find the "short-range" EV has longer range than the "long-range EV". Luckily, these sort of problems go away once you learn to think like an EV owner. One final warning that I learnt the hard way. With motorway service-stations the postcode is usually the same for both sides of the motorway. Make sure that your sat nav is set to the side of the motorway that you intend to use!!!!

[@RaianeGross-sx9oq]

Nigel. Thanks for this. Useful info. So nice to get a sensible response compared to other videos on other channels (generally the pro-ICE ones)

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Nigel, this is brilliant insight - and would have taken your while to write out - thank you! I'm learning a lot here :-)

[@adrianflower3230]

Thanks Gary. My experience of EV brakes is if you don't use them due to regen, they will rot with rust pitting and scoring, long before wearing out. So a good dab on the brakes once every few days really helps this challenge. 👍

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Adrian - great advice, thanks! 👍🏻

[@markiliff]

…which is why, despite the mockery, I'm glad the ID.3 has rear drums

[@gavinlenobel174]

Lots of cars account for this and will have a mode where the brakes will be used instead of regen to clean them (e.g. Hyundai/Kia)

[@northernouthouse]

We've had our bev for 8 years and the rear brake pads are still original. I don't think is a huge issue.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

This is a good tip. Just do it when driving alone rather than scare your passengers 😂

[@petergrant6484]

I also hired a Polestar 2 from Hertz to see if I could live with an EV. I was so impressed that I ordered a one from Polestar. It costs £5.75 to fully charge at home (7p/kWh) and can do 300 miles.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Peter, that's brilliant! :-) Yeah, such a great car as well! I really enjoyed driving it. Pity I had to give it back!

[@JonathanPriceUK]

@@GaryDoesSolarThere are plenty on the used market as I’m sure that you know. I bought a 70 reg dual motor two months ago and also tow a caravan with it.

[@drfredriks]

Recommend ABRP (A better route planner) for route planning. Adaptable for all known EV brands

[@GaryDoesSolar]

I’ll take a look - thanks! 🙏

[@clivepierce1816]

Another excellent video. We were relatively early adopters with our 2017 30 kWh Nissan Leaf. We are also a fully electric household - solar PV, Tesla Powerwall and an ASHP. As semi-retirees these have saved us a fortune in energy bills and running costs for the car. The Leaf is now decidedly long in the tooth but it has been completely reliable and we still use it for most journeys even though it’s range is 80 miles at best.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks Clive, and great to hear about your EV experiences! It just shows you that range is not the be all and end all :-)

[@stevebannell2948]

5 year Tesla model 3 owner, 2 Tesla powerwalls and solar. It's the best thing I did and highly recommend it to anyone having doubts.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Steve! I would love to have a Tesla one day :-)

[@peterjones6640]

I have done the journey from HEV to BEV over the years by way of PHEV. I certainly wouldn’t go back to an ICE car. I have had no problems using public chargers on the relatively rare occasions I have needed to. The motto I follow on a long journey is charge when you stop don’t stop to charge. I would recommend the KZbin channel “Dave takes it on” for more about EVs and especially charging. Now what really needs to move forward is vehicle to home ( or vehicle to grid).

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for sharing your experience here, Peter. Yeah, I quite like Dave's channel as well :-)

[@AndrewEbling]

Great video Gary. A few points by way of response from a long term EV owner: - most cars can only charge at 7kw on a 22kw charger. Some can manage 11kw, minority (mostly Zoes and Megane) can manage 22kw. - it's more financially rewarding to export excess solar power and charge off peak over night. I do however like the idea of driving on sunshine, using home-grown electrons. - EVs still have suspension components which wear out. We had a Renault Zoe for 4 years and in that time spent more on suspension repairs than we did on electricity to run the car. That's despite using a local specialist and not a Renault dealer. - EVs do emit tyre particulate pollution but you can minimise it by driving smoothly and making use of eco mode on the car.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for raising those points - I didn't know that about 3-phase chargers...

[@enyaq_gorm]

That was true a few years ago but most cars brought out in the last three years or so will do 11 kW as standard. The 22 kW charging on Renault and the Nissan Ariya are really useful though as there are lots of 22 kW fast chargers out there. They're often cheaper than rapid chargers too

[@AndrewEbling]

@@enyaq_gorm yes - I discovered there are loads of 22kw chargers in Switzerland, for some reason.

[@Ian_Woods]

Hi Gary good video. We bought our first EV nearly 9 months ago (now done 13,000 klm (8,000 miles)). I had done my research before we decided on what to buy, therefore i was confidant that all would be ok. Even though! We were still a little apprehensive on our first long drive 2 weeks after delivery, which was all across Spain from my villa here in Valencia through Portugal to Gibralter and back to Valencia via Malaga. No need for the apprehension as we thought it was actually a better experience than using my 900klm range diesel (I never drove it 900 klm without stopping normally every 300klm or so for the usual needs 🤣). Only annoying thing is the tesla finishes charging before I have finished eating 🤣, so I have to go move it 😂. The one thing I found so much better and got rid of a lot of the stress, was finding, would you believe charging stations, this will mainly only be applicable to teslas, I accept, because our cars navigation all you have to do is put the end point of your journey into the nav and it will immediately work out your route, every charge stop, how much battery you will arrive with, how long to stop to charge before you can continue, and of course routing directly to the tesla supercharger, no hunting for it like a petrol station, yes I can hear you saying but petrol stations are everywhere and indeed, if you just use the motorway and only stop at motorway services ok. But as there can be as much as 20 cents a liter difference to the motorway service to one off of the motorway for our diesel that is like 15 euros less for every fill up. So as I am tight 🤣we looked for one off of the motorway and try to never use motorways. I think this is something people do not really appreiate until you drive one. I have worked out our tesla cost about 1.1 cents per klm charging at home and 5.5 cents per klm using tesla superchargers, my diesel costs a litttle over 15 cents per kilometer. so over the 13000 klmI have saved at least 1600 euros over the diesel, I say at least because i have charged quite a lot at free chargers in that time and of course when I get the solar panels up will be nearer to free 🤣. August we start our proper 🤣 long journey from here in Valencia, Spain, through France to UK, over to Ipswich up to Scotland down to wales, London and back again to Valencia visiting my family and as many places as my wife has never seen, but because of my experience so far, we have no quarms at all about this journey, in fact we are looking forward to it as I actually love driving our tesla. So keep the great vids coming

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks Ian, for taking the time to write up your experience and insights - this is great! :-) Maybe some petrol stations will slowly transition to services over time, with charging points along with (or instead of) fuel pumps? They'd likely make more profit than they do now - people will be there longer, and there's almost zero-profit in just petrol/diesel sales...

[@Ian_Woods]

@@GaryDoesSolar yep they will all have to at some time or go bust. Indeed in Spain there are many petrol stations now that have chargers as well, (along with aldis, mercadonas, burger king, carrefour, all commercial centers that i have visited etc etc) and very few that have attendants, most are the unattended automatic type that maybe has one attendant for 5 or more stations.

[@crm114.]

Nice overview. HEVs are not electric vehicles IMHO as they only use one fuel source which is a fossil derived. PHEVs only make sense if you’re prepared to charge frequently. If not, you’re just dragging around the weight of the battery. With PHEVs you’ve also got the hassle of ICE servicing. BEVs are the way to go and once driven, few will go back to ICE.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks, and you're right, BEVs are the only way to go. I guess the only benefit I can see that if they're used on school runs, they won't pollute as much as the ICE cars there...

[@crm114.]

@@GaryDoesSolarRecent data on emissions from PHEVs have shown manufacturers have been falsifying emission data.

[@MartinLawrence-j3g]

Good information Gary.. have full solar at home with updated Tesla Powerwall 2 which you recommended, plus now with Intelligent Octopus go at 7 pence per Kilowatt per hour at home and using the battery it works out with my Tesla Model Y to drive 300 miles the cost is £5.18..Also in 2 1/2 years have only spent £38 on cabin filters on this car, she has done 21000 miles!!

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Wow - that's incredibly low running costs! :-)

[@stever656]

I have had Kona EV for 4 years no problem and better then i bought model 3 and its so easy with an EV public charging is really only for 200+ miles journeys and you only have to stop to topup as you rest

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Steve, that's so great to hear :-) Thanks for taking the time to share!

[@mattiazamboni4909]

Thanks for the informative and genuine video. I think for the sake of completeness, it would be worth mentioning 2 things: 1) if you have a solar system at home you can have a "smart" wallbox mounted that communicates with the inverter. This implies that you can select a charging mode in which it will charge the car ONLY with energy in excess not used in the house. This also take care of these days where the sun is coming and going, so you end up not paying a single penny to recharge. And if in the middle of the recharge process you need to use your oven or your wash machine, the recharge could automatically be put in stand-by (depending on the size of your solar system) for a short while, to then resume. Second relevant thing to mention is the difference in recharging experience between EVs and ... Tesla. In the first case I share your experience having owned an ID.3, in the second case... it is completely hassle-free since there are several supercharger stations, and even before reaching them you can check prices, typical daily/hourly usage, realtime occupancy, etc. And once you get there all you need to do is plug-in your car which gets automatically recognized and eventually your credit card charged. (Prices are reasonable, typically just slightly higher that electricity costs at home).

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Mattia, thanks for the very kind words and also for taking the time to share all this insight! Yeah, I think Tesla is showing the rest of the world how to do things!

[@Ian_Woods]

Yep before I had decided which, make model EV to buy, I downloaed every app for charging I could find as part of my research, but since i decided on the new model 3 highland, i haven't found the need to use any charger other than tesla superchargers when on a journey other than free ones at supermarkets or stores and of course at home

[@Biggest-hz7ng]

​@@Ian_WoodsI saw a Tesla using a Gridserve charger the other day, presumably in an emergency (or maybe they liked the service station)?

[@Ian_Woods]

@@Biggest-hz7ng there can be million reasons why, maybe they live near, maybe as you say they love gridserve, maybe it was more convenient for what they were doing that day, who knows. I can only say that in 13000 KLM at least 5000 of which are long journeys all over Portugal and spain where it is needed to charge quickly and away from home I have not used nor found the need to use any other fast charger

[@SteveGamesplayer]

I'm 69 and didn't have any issues going from an 18 year old pick up to a BEV hatchback. Not sure what all the fuss is about!

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That’s brilliant, Steve! 😀

[@EcoHouseThailand]

I’ve had solar here in Thailand for 8 years and EVs for 4. We now power the house, 2 EVs and an electric motorbike 100% from solar - we don’t have a meter. We found that having EVs and solar greatly shortened our pay-back on the solar system. I have the V2L from my BYD Seal plugged into my solar system to give us more backup power at night - videos on my channel.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

I’ll take a look at your videos - thanks for sharing!

[@pf888]

Good balanced video on switching to an EV, I had solar PV and 15kwh of home batteries installed a year ago and signed up to Octopus Go, I then sold our Audi Q3 and bot a new Audi Q4 last September and switched to Intelligent Octopus, although the depreciation on the Q4 has been brutal and car insurance expensive, its been good to be able to charge the EV at 7p per kWh at home and the driving experience has been great, I've managed about 3 miles / kWh so far mainly city driving which is respectable, although having a driveway to home charge is a must.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for the great feedback! And thanks also for sharing your EV experiences so far. Agreed, a driveway makes things a lot easier...

[@lalitsakhi5545]

@garydoessolar - many thanks for al your information and tips i have now opted for tesla EV and octopus solar with tesla PW3 , now next question , to have a tesla EV charger ? to keep in tesla metaverse or go for Ohme EV charger to be in octopus metaverse ? what will make more sense and ease of use

[@GaryDoesSolar]

You're most welcome, and you raise a great question. I would be tempted to keep everything you buy within the same ecosystem, because that way you'll benefit from the most complete integration of services between the various components. And this Tesla, they're very good at software updates over time that improve features and capabilities, so you end up always getting more benefits over time from the same initial outlay.

[@cliffsaran]

Good point on the driving experience, Gary. I love one pedal driving in my Polestar 2 LRSM and using adapative cruise control - with no feet on pedal - to keep within speed limit when average speed cameras are in use (my dog also appreciates the calmer driving experience😂). I tend to set the cruise control speed to 65mph, keep in the slow lane and then just watch to see when cars are filtering in or I'm catching up someone in front...these are the only times on the motorway that I may need to tap the accelerator slightly to get into the middle lane. It's also greater with Octopus Intelligent Go that the 150 mile mixed motorway and city roads roudtrip from the South Coast to our Central London office only costs £2.76 (90% to 40% charge).

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for taking time to share your EV driving experiences, Cliff - I like your cruise control strategy!

[@sheilathepotter6636]

On our second EV, been a fully EV house for almost 5 years now. Absolutely love it, and we would never go back to ICE. We drive an electric van. Costs us 2p per mile to drive. We only have to public charge a couple times a year at most.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Sheila, thanks for taking the time to share your EV experience - great stuff! And hopefully it will encourage others to make the jump! :-)

[@colinleggett8686]

Very good video, if only more people didn’t listen to negative EV lies .

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Colin! Hopefully it'll help people who might be on the fence... :-)

[@andrewbarrett9277]

Great insight on buying a ev Gary I have been contemplating buying one for a while and you explained it great thanks

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Andrew - this video took the longest to make, so it's great to see that it's being received well. Good luck with whatever you decide with the EV!

[@andrewbarrett9277]

Thanks Gary once again I will subscribe to your channel 👍

[@twelvebears1971]

We got a Hyundai Ioniq 5 at the start of April and we absolutely love it. Apart from looking amazing, it’s great to drive, comfortable and with Octopus Intelligent Go and an Ohme charger, super cheap to run and easy to charge.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Yeah, the Ioniq 5 is quite an iconic car - glad you're enjoying it!

[@ellWayify]

Great video. Having a card from your energy provider that can be used at public chargers is brilliant. Wish we had that in Australia

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Yeah, I love it, and I think the idea will spread all over the world soon... Keep all your energy expenditure in one place!

[@rhiantaylor3446]

Great video - but a couple of points to raise. first, chargers connecting to 13a wall sockets are set to draw 10amps so 2.3kw not 3kw and also charging at this rate will tend to be less efficient due to the fixed overheads of the car's onboard AC charger which is designed for 32amps. Secondly, the fit with home solar is reduced in that you may want to drive the car during the daylight hours when power is available and shuffling energy in and our of a home battery is less efficient and requires the investment in that battery - I think using home solar works best if the EV supports V2L. Lastly, worth saying that those Tesla superchargers that we are allowed to use are nearly half the cost vs. other public chargers.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Rhian, and thanks for this insight - I'm learning new things every day!

[@JonathanPriceUK]

@@GaryDoesSolarJust to mention that the low power “granny” chargers are now typically not included with many new EVs (but you can buy them). Also the latest PHEVs are now quoting 60+ miles electric range (check the brand new MG HS now available to order) … so this will become more and more common. That said I still prefer BEV.

[@prjackson7802]

Great video. I have a Fiat 500e with two subscriptions to BP Pulse & Tesla. Generally Tesla works out at 34-34p/kWh & BP Pulse is 63-69p/kWh. Gridserve has an app with 20% off until September at 63p/kWh. I regularly travel up to Scotland & have no range anxiety.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks! And yeah, Tesla prices are really showing the market the way forward! :-)

[@mrstoives2444]

Great factual video and agree that a lot of nay sayers are baseing the charger network on out of date info. Unfortunately main stream media still loves to bash EV’s. So please keep shouting this message. I changed to an EV about 9 months ago and wouldn’t go back. I dont have a smart charger (inherited an older type with the house) so cant use Octopus. Was with them but had to change to British Gas EV tariff which is fixed for a year. Also Electoverse is open to anyone, not just Octopus users.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for the great feedback, and also for sharing your experience! Good point about Electroverse being open to everyone :-)

[@tonyshipton8896]

Thanks Gary for a great Video, I hope it helps a lot of people close to going EV.. The more the better.. I’m not sure whether you have actually purchased an EV yet, but as a 9 year Tesla owner I would definitely say try one before you decide which is right for you… the whole package is way ahead…. No 3rd party Apps needed…

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Tony, for the great feedback. Yeah, after the great experiences my wife and I went out and bought an EV 😀👍🏻 It’s not a Tesla but I think I’d still like one - I’ll need to save the pennies! Great that your own Tesla is doing so well after 9 years! 😮

[@tonyshipton8896]

@@GaryDoesSolar never had a service..! Wiper blades, cabin filters and tyres… range down from 275 to 260 miles

[@davelocktalk]

I bought an ev last year and I was very unsure it was going to be a good idea, but it was a fantastic car to drive. I bought the biggest battery I could afford a 64klw hyundai kona . I do nearly all my charging at home, and it's only cost me £200 for a years driving 11000 miles, far cheaper than a petrol or desiel car. I convinced one of my workmates to get an electric car too and he loves his electric car too.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Dave - thanks for taking the time to share your EV experience. I think many people reading these comments will start thinking about getting an EV if they hadn't considered one before!

[@newevowner]

I bought an EV last week off the back of a different youtube channel - after watching your videos i've now bought a home battery. Thanks for your content, i cant believe how big the savings are. I bought a kia E-niro that is basically free over 4 years due to the petrol savings and is fully warrantied for the next 5 years!

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for sharing this and I'm very humbled that my content has been of some help to you. Would you believe, my wife and I also bought a Kia eNiro a couple of weeks ago and it's just fantastic! :-)

[@EdMorbius46]

We too love our Kia e-Niro here in New Zealand, even though we waited over a year for our Zappi charger (the reverse of Gary's experience). Had to use granny charger before that. Most of our driving is around the city, so now with the Zappi we charge once a week. All of this is on a local plan that means free charging pm to midnight, so weekly charging of 21kWhr is all free (and much of our hot water is also free, apart from the winter months when I schedule a brief daytime boost of the hot water).

[@craigpearce5551]

I've been desperate to switch to EV for such a long time - can't wait to get rid of my godawful diesels! Thankfully prices are now tempting & range & infrastructure are no longer drawbacks

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hopefully you'll acquire one before too long, Craig!

[@peterbee8892]

We went fully electric a couple of years ago and realised the second hand EV is the gateway to cheaper octopus and a low cost driving, heating hot water etc great videos.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Brilliant and thanks for your kind words, Peter :-)

[@simonreeves2017]

Hi Gary, greetings from Oxford. I took the leap to BEV in 2019 with the BMW i3, I’m 58YO, I well remember the anxiety I felt between placing my order and taking delivery. The experience has been sublime. Nearly 50k miles later I would not return to a combustion car. The i3 is a great little car for a couple, range is not fantastic, but in reality I very rarely drive more than 50 miles in a day so it’s the issue I thought it was.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for sharing this, Simon. Hopefully, people who are unsure and switching will gain a lot of confidence reading all these comments 😀👍🏻

[@davidrolfe9571]

Spot on with the sheer ease, comfort, smoothness and stress free driving experience - the car and the electric motor were made for each other, why did it take over 100 years before it happened? I can never contemplate going back to the vibrating, whirring, noisy and jerky IC engined car with red hot parts and 2000+ barely contained explosions every minute. And with improving technology, the BEV can only get better.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers David! I totally agree! 👍🏻

[@iansinclair7581]

Hello again Gary. We are at this particular stage now. From what I can see lease prices are broadly equivalent between ICE and BV’s. We would not generally have any range anxiety but the Electroverse section was of particular use as we are Octopus customers. As always an informative and well explained presentation. Many thanks.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Ian, thanks for the great feedback! And good to hear that the Electroverse part was useful to you :-)

[@lyracian]

Thank you Gary. I am looking to get an EV in the next six months so this was a good intro. Darcia Spring is 15k new so the prices are really starting to drop. I shall have to sign up for that Elcroverse card as I am already with Octopus.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

You're most welcome. And yeah, I was very impressed with Electroverse!

[@Biggest-hz7ng]

Secondhand options are great in the UK right now , with old fleet vehicles coming into the market. E.g. 3 year old e-niros or Konas for £15k

[@mikeforwarduk]

I live in the UK and, having now bought two used EVs in the last 6 months, I can confirm that everything Gary says about EVs here is fair and accurate, as is everything Gary says about solar: 1. Charging costs. We are with Eon on their EV 'drive' tariff, which is 6.9p per kWh between midnight and 7am. Our EV does around 4 miles per kWh, so that is 1.7p per mile! That's around 1/10th of what we paid for petrol. 2. Performance. EVs are SO much more torquey away from the lights - unlike any ICE, they produce maximum torque at 0 rpm. Just try one and be amazed. For example, my 4 year old Tesla Model 3 Performance does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds (now less than £25k, or £high teens for a higher mileage example). 3. Maintenance. The latest data says EVs are at least 30% cheaper to maintain. Tesla don't even have a required service schedule to maintain your 4 year/50,000 mile full warranty. As Gary said: no ICE engine, oil, transmission/gearbox, clutch, exhaust pipe, catalytic converter, fuel tank. Minimal brake pad wear due to regen braking. There are around 20 components in an EV drive train vs 300 for an ICE. 4. Purchase cost. EVs in the used market in the UK are now as cheap or cheaper than petrol equivalents (e.g. My Vauxhall Corsa e - 1 year old, 5,000 miles on the clock, cost £14,300. Just go on Autotrader). 5. Further to Gary's comments, I have to mention Tesla. If you buy a Tesla, their dedicated (i.e. largely Tesla-only) supercharger network kills range anxiety stone dead, on your very first trip. You will discover banks of 12 super-fast (250kW) Tesla superchargers, normally with many empty, at typically 40p per kWh instead of the 85p for non Tesla. You literally just drive up, plug in, and you're good to go. The Tesla navigation software even preconditions your battery to safely charge at maximum speed before you arrive! It's seamless. There is however one big negative of buying an EV : you will be faced with a barrage of EV misinformation and ignorance from ICE acquaintances who think they are soooo funny telling you about the EV that caught fire in a car park blah blah blah [by the way, that was actually a petrol car: and in any case insurance data says that EVs are 1/12th as likely to catch fire as petrol cars]. And that you'll need a new battery every year costing a billion pounds a time blah blah blah blah blah blah yawn. I agree that governments forcing people away from petrol in such a short timeframe is heavy-handed,a nd I can understand anti-EV sentiment for that reason. But EVs will win NOT because of government interference, but just because they are: 1. cheaper to run, 2. faster, 3. cheaper to maintain, 4. now as cheap to buy used, 5. just BETTER!! - quite aside from the environmental impact. By the way: I am not being paid by anyone to say any of the above. It's just the honest truth as I see it. If you're still wary, can I just encourage you to give it a go? I don't think you will go back to ICE if you do [that's another outright lie that is being bandied around - that large numbers of EV owners are going back to ICE]

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Mike, thanks very much for taking the time to write all of this. I'm hoping that people reading these comments will see that there is indeed a lot of disinformation out there, which directly (and purposely) contradicts the great experiences that EV owners are having...

[@Tyreman22]

How much do you pay per kw during the day. I get my ev next month. I’m with eon on a fix tariff , Not sure if I can change it.

[@mikeforwarduk]

@@Tyreman22 I think it's 29p per kWh, which is a bit above the prevailing market rate of around 23p, but I did the sums for my situation and it was a good deal. I was with Eon on a fixed tariff too, and they allowed me to switch to their EV tariff without penalty

[@michealangelosantalucia2207]

Hi Gary I’m in Australia your overview of EVs was fantastic and much may apply to Australia Cheers

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Michael, that's for the great feedback - hopefully my video will get wider appeal :-)

[@farhada147]

Very good video Garry. You've calmly described your experience and through doing so have shown that EVs are not something to be scared of and charging is far better than most would want to believe. I've had an EV for 5 years now (purchased new in 2019) and included in the savings you mentioned (which I am blown away by everytime I think about it) is that in these last 5 years, and because of regenerative braking, I haven't needed to change my brake disc even once. The car has been for its service twice now and every time the dealership (those that normally push for these sort of things to be changed) have reported that the brake discs are still at 70%. We've covered approx. 46k miles including a trip from London to the north of Norway via the European continent, and still I've never need to change the original brakes. The other belief is that after 5 years the owner has to change the cars main large battery because it will have stopped working. what utter nonesense. Our car has done 46k and at the recent service I asked the dealership to perform a battery health check and they reported that the health of the battery is still at 96%, which means the car can easily do 150-200k miles before we'd even need to think about changing the battery, even at all. Now some poeple will want to point to that and say "well at that point, the cost of a battery replacement is going to be huge" I say, indeed, but in all honestly, how many petrol/diesel cars have you driven that even reached 150-200k miles, and what did you do with those; i guess sell them and buy another car. Would that be far more expensive than simply replacing the main battery, if you decided to take such drastic actions anyway?

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Farhad, cheers for the kind words about my video, and thank you for taking time out to share your EV experience in such detail! I hope people can see that the benefits of owning an EV are way more than meets the eye... :-)

[@Seneca384]

Thanks Gary. We have Solar at home and 10KW storage and a BEV. On octopus go I can charge up my 10 KW overnight at 0.085 / kw and run the house on solar during the day and also charge the car to 80%. If generation via PV is high I can plug the car into the wall charger not the 7KW charger and put the excess solar directly into the car increasing the maximum charge to say 90%. Basically I have 10kw batteries and a 70KW car battery for storage. I can also export electricity to Octopus at 0.080 / KW therefore when I buy any electricity it is at the 0.005 / KW or at worst 0.085 if recharging the car depending on solar generation which controls battery drain and export earnings.

[@Ben-gm9lo]

Nice one Seneca. We have the same set up, solar, 20kWh battery and 2 EVs. We also run our house on the overnight charge. I suspect you are with Octopus, so have you registered for export? If so you can get 15 p for export. We only charge the house battery and the EVs on overnight (now 7 p in our area) and export all our solar at 15 p.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

You're most welcome, Seneca and thanks for sharing your stats!

[@johnm7723]

Hi, not sure if this has been raised but the 'Granny Charger' supplied with the car is normally only capable of 2Kw. This is to avoid plug terminal heat up and potential fires due to the long term connection required. When used within there capabilities they are really handy. We have now got 24,000 miles under our belt in our Kia and are happy bunnies. Oh and yes you do drive calmer in an EV, although its also easy to drive too fast on a motorway. Keep up the good work.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi John, good point about using a granny charger. And like you, we're loving our Kia :-)

[@brendanoreilly4846]

Excellent review very clear....

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for the great feedback, Brendan 😀

[@enyaq_gorm]

Been driving Ev since 2017. Firstly a Nissan leaf (ok as a starter but old tech and design with limitations), then a tesla model 3 (badly built with loads of faults and appalling service), then 3 years ago moved to Škoda Enyaq. Brilliant car. Just bought a new one due to an amazing offer from my dealer for an updated model. There's no way I'd go back. I also have a diesel camper van. I've just spent 2 weeks driving to Germany and back to Scotland. It really reminded me why driving an ev is so much better. For testing EVs you can also try Arnold Clark experience centres which let you try a range of EVs and they don't sell cars so there's no pressure.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Ah. That’s great news about Arnold Clark! What a fab thing for them to do! Thanks also for sharing your EV experience! 👍🏻

[@mikadavies660]

Buying a reasonable cash petrol car cost around £10,000 over 5 years, in petrol and servicing. A simple BEV (say Citroën) will cost £2,500 over 5 years... A second hand BEV can be purchased and entirely pay for itself in savings.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Yeah, we're certainly paid a fortune in fuel, servicing and maintenance over the 10 years we've had our Audi A4 Avant :-/

[@divad4438]

Nicely done introduction to EVs kept basic, general and simple to understand , that takes some skill with all the elements you covered.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thank you for the very kind feedback! High praise indeed 😀😀😀

[@clivethomas6864]

That was a very good presentation, clear and concise. I will be watching more.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Clive! That’s great feedback to receive 🙏

[@stuartburns8657]

Still rocking our two paid off 55mlg diesels. Both still in very good health. Our combined annual mileage now less than 4,000. Happy to 'sweat' what we have now and wait until 2026-27 for the dust to settle. Jealous of the fact they geg access to the IOG tariff with that 15p export rate. Just not Jealous (or financially foolish) enough to switch just for that 😊

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Stuart, I can't argue with you plans - makes a lot of sense, but maybe, just maybe, you'll eventually succumb to IOG as it's just such a good tariff! Perhaps starting with just one EV....? :-) :-) :-)

[@stuartburns8657]

@@GaryDoesSolar Indeed. It's inevitable we'll get one, but whilst both diesels are hale and hearty (and fully paid off) the former loan payments are being put against the mortgage. Both kids done with secondary school, both getting to college via alternate means so not even school run mileage. By commute is a 7 mile rt. Tbh a small / cheap phev would be ideal, but I'm sticking to our plan by having mortgage cleared in 5 years

[@flukeylukey7559]

Also it's not a good idea to charge to 100% every day, especially NMC battery, once a week for LFP batteries. This degrades the battery quicker. If you're driving small distances, it's better to keep the SOC near the middle, like charge to 60% then discharge to 40%. If you charge to 100% for a big trip, make sure you are ready to go soon after getting to 100, minimising stress on the battery. Constantly charging to 100 on a road trip is also not always necessary. Gary, are you considering V2G or V2H then to grid. Have you bought an EV yet. I like the sound of octopus payment card. It'd be more civilized if there was a queuing system for chargers and some info on how long people will be charging for.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Great advice - thanks for sharing! Yeah, we bought a Kia eNiro 4+ (3 years old) a couple of weeks ago and it’s just fabulous! 😀

[@alanmuncaster7357]

Now with 2 EV's (one Tesla M3 and Hyundai Ioniq 5) in the household I will not be changing back to an ICE. The driving experience of EV's is far better, smooth and relaxing. Like all cars you pays your money and takes your choice but our 2 have good range and comfort. As for running costs we have 9 KW of PV and for about 8 months of the year we can charge for free and just take the hit mid winter and on longer journeys using public or Tesla charging. Yes they are bit more expensive to buy and insure but overall its so much cheaper. Just take the plunge Gary but choose wisely, which I am sure you will do..

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Alan, thanks for taking the time to share your EV experiences. Just to let you know, my wife and I decided on a 3-year old Kia eNiro 4+ and we absolutely love it! I still have designs on a Tesla MY down the line (second car) but we’ll have to wait and save the pennies. Heat pump next for us I think!

[@alanmuncaster7357]

@@GaryDoesSolar Hi Gary. For just ease of everything the Tesla is the one to go for. Heat Pump, ours went in this June along with external wall insulation. With 9 KW of PV and 24 KW of battery EPC now A with a score of 118. Not bad for a 1960's bungalow. The 12 year project draws to a close. Battery wise have added a third to cover our winter ASHP usage and to max the off peak time.

[@twelvebears1971]

The other thing we found amazing was how great it was to drive on the super hilly roads in deepest Devon. The instant torque and one-pedal driving mode made dealing with the tight up and downhill curves so much easier.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Fantastic! :-)

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

For charging, always find Tesla chargers that accept all EVs as they are a lot cheaper but it needs an app

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Great tip - thanks! 👍🏻

[@_Dougaldog]

I believe for @ £9 a month a 'Tesla' membership can be had that makes Tesla only charge rates available, as little as 22p/kWh fast charge @ off-peak times is achievable. I'm looking at EV's from a 'looking to buy' non-home charging perspective, so a weekly trip to one of these would suit me well.

[@dougbamford]

Thanks Gary for sharing that useful experience. We got an EV in February and won't ever go back! Expect we will only have charge away from home once or twice per year. Used the Tesla chargers on our annual long journey and they worked a treat (and much cheaper than rivals). You do have to do it through their app though (though maybe some will take card payments in the future).

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Doug! Sounds like you're having a fantastic time with EVs. I'm hoping that people who are not sure about making the switch will see that the water's quite warm! :-)

[@dougbamford]

@@GaryDoesSolar I've seen some great deals for nearly new EVs in and around Oxfordshire (especially Citroen E-C4s), if you can find your own finance. Nice idea to try out an MG4 with Cowheels - they weren't in Didcot when I last checked, but most other towns seemed to have some. I suggested this (and your video) to someone else who wanted to be able to test out a Zappi. 🙂

[@Lawrence7of9]

Tesla supercharger is a huge advantage as I’m sure you’ve heard. You input a destination & your car works out charging stops required on route for your car/battery level - inc Europe destinations - also updates you on available chargers, can redirect you if busy at chargers & will preheat your battery automatically for faster charging. No effort. We had a family road trip across Europe around Norwegian scenic routes 5k, epic, easy simple & cheap miles 😀

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Tesla really showing the way forward! ❤️

[@wakeywarrior]

I’ve had Teslas for 6 years, never want to go back. I considered that in reality Tesla had little competition, but that’s changing. I’ve just leased the new Renault Scenic which matches Tesla for technology, has a massive 87 kWh battery (and will get around 330 real world motorway miles) and costs half the amount of a Tesla Model Y LR to lease, it’s also half the insurance cost. The market is finally catching up to Tesla. I just cannot believe it’s Renault who have come up with this car. I get up to 280 miles in my Tesla currently, costs me £4.50 to charge. Tesla chargers are by far the best, many others are simply a rip off. Tesla has about 25% of its UK chargers open to other cars in the U.K.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That's a great advertisement for Tesla EVs - thanks for sharing :-) Such great cars!

[@SimonFranklin-wr9yu]

Another great video Gary, balanced and well though out. My only surprise was its taken you this long to move to an EV. For those considering an EV, these are my costs for running the car over the last 12 months. I do have a PV system and 17.5 kwh battery storage and have never had to use a public charger, I thought I would, but I haven't travelled more than 300 miles in a day since I've had this car. I use British Gas as my energy provider, as until very recently, Octopus wouldn't accept a Zappi (Car charger) and a Mercedes on Octopus Intelligent but would on Octopus Go. However, for me 4 hrs (which is what they used to allow on Go) charging isn't sufficient. (If you need long charging times at cheap rate, Eon do a 7 hour cheap rate tariff). Anyway costs. For 11,000 miles I have spent a total of £156.54 on charging it, all of it has been done at night on an off peak tariff. I also pay £22 a month for a service plan off Mercedes, its just been in for the service and they tell me my brakes aren't that different from the day I picked the car up. I work from home a lot so it is regularly on "Eco charge" on the Zappi so it charges the car and the house batteries at the same time. My advice to anyone looking at an EV at the moment is buy a used EV, mine has depreciated an unbelievable amount (40%) since it was bought a year ago, fortunately it goes through my business rather than my own pocket.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Simon 👍🏻 Yeah, it was just the finances holding us up, really. Next objective: heat pump!

[@stevieguk8014]

Gary - another good video. I have had EVs for nearly five years and would never go back to petrol or diesel. Mine have been Kia Niros (on my second). I bought new - the first time because there were incentives / grants and the second time because I lost only about £3k in depreciation in three years on my first Niro (a quirk of post pandemic supply v demand). I expect to lose a lot more in depreciation on my second Niro as the EV market starts to reflect “normal “ car markets meaning prices are coming down both new and second hand. I have found the Niro has a good range (200 - 270 depending on weather/ speed etc). Insurance costs are low (but shop around) as are servicing costs (I buy a three year plan from Kia). Fuel costs are very low as I have solar, battery storage and like you am on Octopus cheap nighttime rates. I also use Electroverse for long distance driving / charging. A recent 300 mile trip cost me £16 using a public charger plus charging before I set off at home. I tend to go for chargers slightly off motorways preferably near a cafe so my wife and I can use it as a rest break. On this last trip I found a fast charger and we hardly had time to have a cuppa and a sandwich at a lovely village cafe before the car had reached just over 80%. The car app tells me how quickly my car is charging. If I do change my car it will probably be for the Kia EV3. The only reason being that it will have a bigger battery/longer range - but I have to test drive first. Depreciation just like with any car will determine if I do change as my current car does all we require (big enough for us , grandkids, dog etc but not too big for parking in a City centre which is free for EVs). My wife also went electric last year trading in a petrol Fiat 500 for a second hand electric convertible 500. She loves it and so do I when she lets me drive it! The range is lower than my Kia (140 miles or so) but it only does short trips and a relatively low number of miles a year. They are cracking cars to drive and significantly cheaper second hand. I persuaded my brother in law to go electric for his car for commuting but have still to persuade my son and daughter - they think I am just an oldie fixated on going green whereas I think I am an early adopter reaping the benefit and helping to save the planet.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Stevie, I really appreciate you taking the time to write up your EV experiences to date. I am absolutely sure that people reading these comments who might be on the fence about switching to an EV will get a lot of comfort and encouragement from these real-life experiences 😀👍🏻 So just to let you know - and I think you’ll be very pleased to hear this - after all our research, my wife and I elected to go for a Kia eNiro 4+ 😀😀😀 What a fabulous car! It’s three years old, but it meant that the depreciation that you experienced, indirectly allowed people like me and my wife to afford an EV - so thank you! 🙏

[@Danothebaldyheid]

My, some butthurt ICE drivers in the comments. I appreciate this, Gary, as someone who wants to get an electric car but had a few questions about the experience (and a distinct lack of funds). It is probably the most useful explainer of real world usage I've seen.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Dan, wow, that's praise indeed - thank you! :-)

[@robjones8950]

Great stuff again Gary. I’ve had an ID.3 for 3 years: great car with slightly dodgy software. I’m never going back to ICE. New EV prices are on the way down. Dacia Spring just launched at £14k, which will give the Chinese brands a run for their money. Cheers, Rob

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Yeah, there's some slightly dodgy software (including spaceship sounds) in our Kia eNiro that we just bought - but apart from that, it's a superb car! I'll read up on the Dacia Spring...

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Most vehicles are parked 23hrs every day and all night long. BVs oversized battery makes the home battery look pathetic 😮 Selfplug-in V2G feature is the future.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

I'll be making a video on V2G shortly... :-)

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

@GaryDoesSolar put a few selfplug-in vacuum cleaners plugging in. In the videos just for fun, Hahaha 😆 And a wall outlet on the wall at bumper height. Hahaha 👍 The visuals will be very strong 💪. Trickle currents 23hrs every day is ezi pezi. People are lost in horses and cart frames of thinking. Or bowser diesel ⛽️ thinking every 10 days.

[@leewright6920]

Enough said Signed on the dotted line today pick it up next week Happy days 😀

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Fantastic, Lee 😀👍🏻 Enjoy it when it arrives! ❤️

[@jcfallows]

Running my third EV in ten years, a modest by today's standard; a Zoe GT LINE, which is the perfect roundabout and a 200+ mile trip out car. I'm retired now and I will never go back to ice I'm working myself to give up owning a car, now I have a bus. Pass and an electric bike.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That's a fantastic testament to the benefits of EVs! Thanks for sharing :-)

[@shanedavis9166]

I'm not an EV owner ( yet ), but I fully endorse your opinions on Octopus Energy. We've been with them a number of years, and they are the best on our opinion.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers Shane, yeah - I can't really fault them - impeccable service and product offerings!

[@AndrewBrennan-t8b]

Hi Gary Great video, bit spooky for me watching ,getting first ev on Tuesday ,already got solar and battery’s, on octopus agile so easy swap to octopus intelligence go with zappi charger.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Oh wow - how timely! 😀 Sounds like you’re soon to be all set on the tariff front as well - IOG is such a great tariff! All the best when your car arrives Tuesday!

[@davidrandall2742]

My Chevy Bolt euv has had zero problems, and it costs me 1/3 to charge it at home compared to putting gas in my 2019 awd Prius, which averaged a real 57 us mpg over 55K miles from new. I can't see myself going back to an ice vehicle.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That's brilliant, David - thanks for sharing - great to hear that you've had no problems. I'm not sure that many people appreciate the fact that there's little to go wrong in an EV... :-)

[@gobshite99]

Polestar 2 is a great car. Owned on for three years. Going back to an ICE is painful experiance once you have switched. I would definitely be going for a Tesla next time though. They are a few years ahead of the competition.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Yeah, it's only a matter of time (and money!) for me... :-)

[@gobshite99]

​@@GaryDoesSolaryeah luckily I get one company car scheme.

[@geoffhaylock6848]

If you compared fuel prices equally and used the same level of tax, the cost difference would disappear. The government is not going to let this amount of tax just vanish from its income. They will have to add a lot more tax to EV's at some point.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

I agree, Geoff - the government has certainly got their eyes on EVs - but that's ok. I don't think EV owners will be expecting special favours in the longer term - they just need some incentives to get started...

[@UpsideDownFork]

Gary Does EV. I like it. I appreciate you can't go into all the detail of everything in just 20 minutes. Small correction on the HEV like the Prius. They are not limited to regenerative braking but can recharge the battery from the engine's alternator whilst driving at any speed, as long as the correct mode is selected. Some HEV vehicles can fully recharge the battery in as little as a couple of minutes whilst driving on the motorway. Kind of pointless info as I don't believe that HEV's have ever been a viable solution. For almost all BEVs there is a reduction gear box. Only the people who keep their vehicles for a very long time will get to know that it requires an oil change! Anyway, i'm just being a pedant and it doesn't take away from your brilliant overview video.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Cheers UDF- yeah, haha - maybe a new channel one day! :-) Good point about HEV charging, and I agree, HEVs feel like they give owners impression that they've gone green, but actually they haven't. Thanks for your kind words about the video! :-)

[@stephenrussell6074]

You can get PHEVs now that have a longer range on battery than the first Nissan Leaf. They are a great choice if you get one with 30-40 miles range as you will find as we did that 70-90% of the days if you charge overnight you only drive on electric. We filled the tank less than five times a year.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That's good to hear (thanks for all your comments, btw) :-)

[@stephenrussell6074]

@@GaryDoesSolar we had two PHEV a Mercedes CLA we did a 130 mile trip on just over one gallon petrol fully charged at start plus regen. The second was an Audi Q5 both did 30-35 miles on an EV charge.

[@kennethmclean872]

Been driving an ev here in New Zealand, current wheels is a 28kwh ioniq. Love it, over10k kms. I have 36 panels on my roof. 20 of them are bifacial, I also have a byd LVLbattery. I have a Evnex smart EV charger with solar diversion. I’m also an electrical inspector so I was able to install all my gear ,self and get a workmate to sign it off. I’m all in and get some shit from workmates and others for having a ev etc, but I’m all in and I know this tech is the only thing the future holds, weather people winge or not

[@GaryDoesSolar]

That’s brilliant, Kenneth! Thanks for sharing - and I think your friends will soon see that actually you’re well ahead of the game 😎👍🏻

[@IanMK13]

Another great video, Gary. I've had a BEV (MG4) and charger (Zappi) for over a year and finally managed to get my solar and battery installed at the beginning of this month (very long story; don't ask). You will know that we've had a funny old summer in the UK this year so for the benefit of full disclosure I'll just make the following comments regarding my experience of charging at home. The solar can't be used if there is less than 1.4kW being generated; I seem to hit this limit frequently because of frequent cloudy days. I shouldn't have installed my Zappi on a south-facing wall as it will overheat in the sun and restrict the charging current. Fortunately the flip-top on my recycling bin makes a great sunshade. Seriously - who would think that a nice sunny day is not a good time to charge your EV.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Ian, thanks for sharing your experiences here. You're not wrong about the UK summer this year - it has been highly underwhelming! But at least you're solar and battery install is in and hopefully the sun will decide to make more of an appearance for October comes! :-) Good point about the threshold for solar->EV charging. Actually, I've found that being on a tariff like Intelligent Octopus Flux where the export rate is quite high, it makes sense just to export all the excess solar and simply charge your EV overnight. What I've not figured out yet though is how you set everything up to do that, because by default excess solar will always go the EV if it is plugged in...

[@IanMK13]

Hi Gary. I'm still waiting for my export MPAN from the DNO 😉 I'm a low car user and find that Agile woks best for me. When I get my export set up I'll just use scheduled Fast charging on the Zappi overnight as required.

[@rugbygirlsdadg]

​​@@IanMK13when you get your export mpan I'd recommend octopus Intelligent Go and the octopus export tariff. You can export everything from your panels at 15p/unit and charge both your car and household battery overnight at 7p/unit.

[@madharry6792]

Great overview in 22 mins! I have researched EVs a lot and still hear a lot of charging issues inc delays, out of use, people hogging for long sessions. Car Prices and insurance still need to come down more and manufacturers need to provide battery warranty (heard many horror stories of battery replacement as dear as the car itself), and a small percentage of EVs non extinguishable battery fires. EVs have to be the way forward. Hope development accelerates!

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for the great feedback - I'm hoping that the fabled "KZbin algorithm" will push the video out to more people so they can benefit from it. Hopefully, you'll see that all these items are improving daily...

[@SimonFranklin-wr9yu]

Really surprised you mention the battery warranty madharry. Most ICE have a 3-5 year warranty on the engine, the battery on most EV's now is 8-10 years.

[@madharry6792]

@@SimonFranklin-wr9yu ICE engines may have 3-5 year warranty but have been tried n stood the test of time for over a 100 years. EV battery issues are well documented. Still, I am up for an EV soon as there is one with 500 mile real world range, price tag and insurance match ICE car of similar standing.

[@timoliver8940]

If you have solar panels don’t expect to be doing big huge charges unless you have a very very big solar array. I have a south facing 3.9kW (14 years old too) array and started my EV journey with a Mini Cooper S E. My solar could handle charging its 29kWh usable battery but only in the summer when I was generating more than 1.7kW excess and this is the same for most “smart chargers” but then a cloud appears in the sky, excess drops below 1.4kW and the car stops charging. I’m lucky that on days with good solar generation my Eddi will heat my Mixergy tank until it is 100% heated from solar and then export to the grid until the excess is 1.7kW and then start charging the car which is usually after about 1pm. Now I have a new Mini Counttyman Electric that has the luxury of a 65kWh battery whatever excess I get now is basically a bit of free charging until Octopus Intelligent starts charging the battery in the wee small hours of the night. Because I’m retired and don’t do huge daily drives I only charge to 55% -65% which still gives around 165 miles range - more than enough for my 32 miles round trip to the nearest supermarket. So unless you have a big solar set up think of any excess generation you can put into the EVs battery as a bonus not something that is guaranteed. Might be different in the tropical areas of southern England but I live in the Trossachs area of Central Scotland - not an area noted for its endless sunshine! My diesel 4x4 hardly gets used these days - in June I spent £11.70 to charge the Countryman for 570 miles covered, £11.70 would get my 2023 D250 Defender 90 about 55 miles………… until JLR bring out an EV defender I won’t be replacing the 90 with another diesel when replacement times comes around, I’ll make do with one EV and forego the Defender altogether.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Great points, Tim!

[@FamilyMorcChannel]

Great video Gary, nice to see such a positive ev discussion. Comments from your subscribers excellent. Must have watch too many videos from Geoff Buys Cars and Macmaster, where they stir up so much anti ev misinformation.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks - and yeah, I must admit, I expected more detraction and maybe that will come if the video gets wider distribution. I doubt I'll convince those who already are anti-EV, but I hope to give more insight for those who are undecided, or new to the topic :-)

[@FamilyMorcChannel]

@@GaryDoesSolar Thanks just gone down the EV route and solar too.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

@@FamilyMorcChannel Brilliant! 😃

[@radiotowers1159]

Good video Gary, I moved from a PHEV to BEV recently. My experience between the two : no lag when you accelerate , brilliant. And why did I not buy an automatic when I had an ICE car ?. I have the regeneration on my KIA set to 90% so not quite one pedal, oh and wait till you set the Air Con or the heating before you enter the car, so no hot or cold car, it will make you soft " ken like" as they say in Fife !

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for the kind words, and yeah - I haven't actually worked out how to heat or cool the car remotely whilst on the driveway. Is that done through an app? We purchased a Kia eNiro a week ago :-)

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Also, you know Fife very well :-)

[@radiotowers1159]

@@GaryDoesSolar All done via the kia app, on the 16th July ( ish) it had an upgrade , so the air con setting / heating icon is now on the front pages rather than digging in to settings. I did notice no granny charger supplied with my new Nero EV but I had one supplied with my Nero Phev, looks like they took advice , possibly to many 13A sockets being burnt out. I’m in North Lanarkshire and used to work all over the central belt and made a lot of visits to a Radio shop in Glenrothes in my own time.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

@@radiotowers1159 Thanks for the info! The eNiro we bought used to be a lease car, so I might have some trouble trying to link the app with it, but I'll certainly give it a go 👍 I know Glenrothes very well as it happens, having spent a lot of my younger days there 😃

[@steve_787]

Great summary video on starting out with an EV. We got our Zoe 8 years ago as a replacement for our 2nd car and found we used it as much as we could. It never went on any long trips (longest was a 100mi round trip) but it was more brought to see how it was to live with, even if it had a short range. 4 years ago I could finally afford to switch our main car to an EV and just wouldn't go back. The end of June we had solar installed and again over the moon with the system. So far in July we have generated 626kWh (in 22 days) and our elec/fuel bill for this month is so far at £4.56 (and that's because I was playing around with the battery settings). Before we got solar and onto Octopus Go (long battle with EDF stuck on a flat rate tariff so no cheap night rate!) we'd have been spending close to £200pm. Yes it's an upfront cost but I'd be paying for the elec anyway so in 5 years time my bill will just disappear and in the mean time I've done a little bit for the planet. Win-win in my book.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Wow - great story, Steve - thanks for sharing this here. Hopefully, this will encourage others to take a serious look into EVs and also solar... :-)

[@nyanyalee1]

Nice presentation.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thank you for the great feedback! :-)

[@tazz1669]

My problem is I can't have a drive according to the council so for me public charging would cost almost as much as filling with fuel so I have a HEV at the moment. The only thing I could do is park on the pavement and run a cable to the car but with the change in the law I would risk a fine parking on the pavement. I do fancy changing to a PHEV at some point so unless they change the rules and I get a drive I'll be sticking with what I have. I guess in the future having a charge point will push up the house cost or reduce the value of your house if you don't

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Valid points 👍🏻

[@jabberwockytdi8901]

All depends on your risk appetite and finances, if you can afford to lease a new EV, or one with significant residual warranty , and just give it back at the end of the lease, rinse and repeat and you can find an EV that suits your use case why not. People who have to consider out of warranty cars or short residual warranty on the battery have to consider if they can stomach the small risk of total loss in the worst case scenario of a major component failure - battery , power electronics etc. For many people who don't see themselves as early adopters it's still too early for them to grasp how a used EV or Hybrid really compares to a used pure ICE car as to reliability and repairability and to see through the combination of FUD and rose tinted spectacles that is whirling round the media.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Great insight and advice here - thanks for taking the time to share it!

[@blobstrom]

Great video from a human perspective who has no idea how to live with an EV. Just a few points HEV not only charge from regenerative braking but predominantly charge by the combustion engine. Also one pedal driving refers to coming to a complete stop without touching the brake. Many EV's don't have this. Nissan LEAF was the first as far as i know. Personally I had a diesel estate car and looked into EV's in 2018. I took about 9 months but in that time learnt how to charge with the different charge point providers which in 2018-19 was limited to about 2 in the south. Now there are many more operators with all different prices. Currently for rapid charging Tesla are the cheapest (use their open to all chargers for non-Tesla drivers)

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks, and a great point re regenerative braking! 🙏

[@brucec954]

The problem with my EV is that I never want to drive my other ICE car now. Instant acceleration AND deceleration is addicting.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

You’re not wrong 😀😀😀

[@davidfowles1252]

Thanks Gary, I got my Solar / Battery install at the end of 2023 and I am now looking at and EV in the next 9 months. Can you benefit from the lower Octopus tariff and still get a good export tariff as well i.e for those days when I am working from home and not charging my car? Also really good to hear about the elctroverse system as so much easier to track energy usage and accounts through the Octopus systems.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi David, yes - currently, with Intelligent Octopus Go you can also setup Fixed Outgoing, which provides 15p per kWh - this makes it one of the best tariffs in the UK out there :-)

[@davidfowles1252]

@@GaryDoesSolar I am currently on Octopus Flux Export, the variable rate one, is this not compatible with Intel Oct Go? I will of course research in more depth nearer the time direct with them just looking at experience and advice wherever I can find it.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

@@davidfowles1252That’s correct, none of the Flux fates are compatible with IOG, I’m afraid.

[@davidfowles1252]

@@GaryDoesSolar Thanks Gary, worth highlighting but to date the average flux price for my exports has only been 16-17p per kWh anyway so the saving on imports for a longer period for the EV and the house will be a better overall deal anyway. Thank you as ever for your helpful advice.

[@stewartburnett7303]

BEV 7,500 miles a year home charging = £180 (Intelligent Octopus GO tariff) - a couple of staycations a year adds ~£120 in public charging. But still only £25 a month in "fuel" costs, around 20% of previous petrol car costs. The staycations do require a little bit of planning, mostly around where to lunch and charge (and more often than not the answer is Tebay (and a couple of other favourite stopping points)). Not tried the Telsa chargers yet, they were rather few and far between for non Tesla drivers last time we were on a trip (but have improved considerably since), but that could reduce staycation costs to under £90 for a couple of trips. I do "dab" the brakes once in a while just to skim the rust off.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Hi Stewart, thanks for sharing your EV experiences - fantastic! :-)

[@twelvebears1971]

Many of the current crop of EVs also have impressively fast charging capabilities. Ours is so fast on a 150-300kW charger that in practice, you will be hard pressed to take a bathroom break, pick up a coffee and be back to the car before it’s back up to 80%

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Yeah, it's great to see more and more rapid chargers coming on-stream all over the country (and the world!)

[@ObiePaddles]

Gary. I wouldn’t call the HEV an electric vehicle. It is 100% fueled by petrol, with assistance to make it more economical. At least with a PHEV you can put electrons in and never use gas.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

I mean, technically it is - it's even in the name, but I take your point. The benefits on a HEV over an ICE car are marginal at best.

[@ObiePaddles]

@@GaryDoesSolar It isn’t an EV at all. It’s Toyota confusing everyone with their ‘self-charging’ BS. Don’t put fuel in it and see what happens. It’s a fuel only car with assistance Still, appreciate you quick response

[@twelvebears1971]

Also we recently travelled from nr Milton Keynes to Dartmouth South Devon and back to see friends. A decent drive by any measure and did each leg without any need to charge, in fact had over 20% left each time. Obviously the biological passengers didn’t do the drive without the need for a break, so range anxiety need not be a factor.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks for sharing this. Long range drives in an EV is no longer a problem in the UK - we just need to get the word out! :-)

[@markiliff]

Welcome to the siblinghood! I've had some swish cars in my time, but went EV about 4 years ago and wouldn't want to go back to any of them.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thanks, and wow - that is saying something! Thanks for sharing this 👍🏻

[@ionlywanttrains]

Great video. Nicely balanced. Your experience mirrors my own, I've had an EV for nearly a year and any range worries have long since gone and the fuel savings are amazing! I've also seen more high speed public chargers pop up in that time.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Thank you for the great feedback, John. Yeah, I know public charging was a problem a couple of years ago, but not today...! :-)

[@mikadavies660]

Gary.... on charging the BEV, you forgot to mention that no matter what your vehicle is, you can use charge at certain Tesla stations.

[@GaryDoesSolar]

Great point, Mika - thanks for highlighting!