THE SHOCKING COST OF AN 838 MILE JOURNEY IN AN ELECTRIC CAR!

[@ModernHeroes]

SO MANY “a diesel is more economical than that!!!1” comments from confused people. I said the cost per mile of the EV on this journey WAS EQUIVELANT TO X miles per gallon using diesel - I didn’t at any point say that this was a representative consumption figure for any vehicle other than the EV. Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, your diesel is probably cheaper. 🤦‍♂️

[@ItsAllJustBollox]

They should try the same experiment doing 800miles around London in stop start traffic and see which one is the most expensive, long high speed runs result in the worse energy consumption on EVs and the best on diesels heavy stop start traffic reverses this, add in home charging and the EV wins every time. With most car use in the UK short journeys the EV saving advantage on these journeys offsets and extra costs an unusually long trip costs.

[@ModernHeroes]

Why would I factor in the cost of the energy at the start if I’m recharging at the end? That’d be counting it twice.

[@fredjames9867]

You can only give a one sided view because that's all you drive . Ice people are most moaning about wait times .and see it as a impossible option in there day to day life .with the amount of money the car is losing they so ice as a no brainer

[@davidwilson4468]

The public chargers by me in Finchley cost 69p per kwh. I live in a flat so would have to use public charging. at 4 miles per kw thats 17 pence per mile compared with the 15 pence my diesel costs to run. If you can charge at home fine, if not public charging is just too expensive.@@ItsAllJustBollox

[@warrensmith4590]

The key thing I note. Is that electric is free from fuel duty. Once fuel duty revenue declines it will be added to either other tax or EV charging by road charging with total monitoring of where you are all the time.

[@michaeltilney1298]

I find it incredible that you can charge up and not know how much it has cost until you get the reciept. Petrol stations have the price on a big illuminated sign outside and the price displayed on the pump. No way would I just pump a tank full of petrol with no idea of the cost!

[@martynmorris8160]

Tells you on the machine typically

[@michaeldawson6309]

Yep as Martyn says its on the machine screen or on the app before you start. I use their apps so I am pre warned what they want to charge me.

[@ItsAllJustBollox]

It tells you the cost per Kw before you start and when you finish how many Kw you have put in the battery its not rocket science to work out the cost, maybe its an intelligence test to catch out the hard of thinking.

[@michaeltilney1298]

@@ItsAllJustBollox Very appropriate user name you have there. Have you watched the video? It is clearly mentioned that the total cost was not known until the receipt was sent (presumeably by email). That would be the intelligence test failed then.

[@MrDAVIDATKIN]

Any person who has driven an EV for longer than a few weeks or a month who uses public chargers will know exactly how much it costs. You usually plan your stops on a long journey on Zap Map. It tells you exactly how much the chargers cost. You would also charge locally to full on a cheap street charger before setting off. I did the same trip in a Polestar 2 only from Lands End to John O'Groats.Knew exactly where I was charging before setting off and it worked out at about 12.5p a mile, cheaper than my previous petrol Seat Leon which would have cost about 15p per mile. If I did it in the Summer it would have worked out about 10p a mile.

[@colin.d]

People living in flatted accommodation and places with no access to off-road parking at their property are going to be reliant on the public charging infrastructure. This is where cost becomes the killer and a serious disincentive to going EV.

[@paulbuckingham15]

That's when used Teslas become a serious choice.

[@grahamleiper1538]

​@Lookup2Wakeupwe do want to know about this and are the ones moaning about the cost of public chargers, especially public AC chargers. We didn't always have driveways you know. If you can't charge at home EVs struggle to make sense economically. If you can charge at home diesel struggles to make sense economically.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

They already rely on public filling up....unless they have a petrol station in the complex

[@MikeHarEV]

​@stevenbarrett7648 but with the extra waiting times, why would they switch. I'm the only ev driver in my streets of terrace houses. I can charge cheap at work. I don't see any of my neighbours switching any time soon if they are well informed.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

@@MikeHarEV exactly, drivers should be able to choose what fuel they use, I choose electric but if someone wants to drive diesel they should be allowed to do so…..as long as they pay a bit more for fuel in the form of an NHS health tax to help people who contract respiratory disease from exhaust fumes, bit like the additional tax on cigarettes was for

[@entity_dragons2013]

Ill be honest ive only two more years, with my electric Cupra Born and i carnt wait tohand it back, ill never buy an electric car again

[@thelaserhive3368]

Well done for not sugarcoating this. We all know that public charging these days is expensive. The plus is that most EV drivers normally charge at home, possibly at 7.5pence a kWh ( or 2pence per mile). The minus is that if you can’t have a home charger then you will spend more than diesel. It could be seen that this is potentially a tax on the poor ( terraced house, no driveway, no choice). Things do need to change as the costs are a legitimate concern.

[@Kevin-dp1vy]

At 21p per mile that's 50% more than my 2.0 petrol estate costs me currently. Given that I don't have the means to charge at home and the cheapest public charger (of which there are only 8 in the town) costs 69p per kWh, I will be staying with petrol for the foreseeable future.

[@wintersun398]

some people in Cambridge live in terrace houses worth North of £500k, but I’m sure many of those have swanky new EVs

[@stephene.robbins6273]

the “majority of ev owners charging at home” is an illusion awaiting a reality check when a huge number of folks who cannot do this will be forced into EVs. Right now the EV world consists precisely of those with the wealth and circumstances to do this. 8% of the population.

[@keelferm]

Rich people live in terrace houses too... particularly in London

[@michaeldawson6309]

For people that do not need to charge every day the 7p tariff can be prohibitive for your normal house electricity. So for those the rate is close to 26p still ok IMO. However I agree public charging is well overpriced and I would only use it as a last resort. Its a big barrier to EV adoption

[@stevebeever2442]

Absolutely shocking cost. Could drive from john o groats to lands end and back to john o groats for that price in my car.

[@PJWey]

This is going to quickly become a situation waiting for a disruption, much like in the USA with NACS the Superchargers stand poised to clean up! Also the “spark gap” here in the UK makes electricity more expensive for sure, I believe.

[@happysporran]

Excellent, balanced video. At present the vast majority of my driving is commuting that could be home charged but soon I expect the balance to dramatically shift, after retirement, to less frequent, but far longer, journeys, and those public charging prices would be unaffordable. The cost difference is actually greater than you estimate. I get 70mpg from my diesel giving a 700 mile range. Realistically I never need to use anything other than the cheapest local station... currently 142.9 pence per litre.A cost of 9.3 pence per mile. There are many reasons to choose electric but sadly, for me, cost isn't one of them.

[@Lewis_Standing]

I get 2p a mile from my EV 🤷

[@grahamjohnson4702]

@@Lewis_Standing EV bikes are not in this debate.

[@Lewis_Standing]

@@grahamjohnson4702 7.5p charging, 4.5m/kWh = less than 2p a mile

[@Kevin-dp1vy]

@@Lewis_Standing and my local public charger costs 90p per kWh with a maximum stay in the far park of 2 hours and it's a 7kw charger.

[@ObiePaddles]

@@Lewis_Standingmine is half that price… but in NZ

[@davidjones8680]

That electric charging and pricing structures looks like one big crazy and expensive puzzle to me. Im blissfully happy with my 33 year old VW Passat 1.6 Turbo diesel. 56mpg @ 60 mph. Its 25 gallon tank gives a range of exactly 1400 miles at 60mph. I could leave home here in mid Wales with a full tank and drive non stop to Lands End, turn right around and then drive to JoG non stop and still have nearly 200 miles worth still in the tank. I wonder how your Poletart or any other EV will be holding up when its 33 years old. My whole life vehicles cost just continue to get smaller and smaller by the day.

[@dave6018]

I had to go to Tunbridge Wells from Preston for work and I was getting paid mileage, at the time I had 2015 1.6 idtec Civic, I averaged 78mpg, oh and the car is zero tax, motoring doesn't get any cheaper

[@Brian-om2hh]

25 gallons? That's over 100 litres. A VW Passat doesn't hold 100 litres.

[@davidjones8680]

@@Brian-om2hh The very early 1.6 Passat Turbo Diesels did come new with a 25 gallon tank. When they later uprated the engine to the 1.9 turbo diesel they reduced the tank size to 18 gallons.

[@johnmcconville6055]

​@@davidjones8680Do you fill the tank all the time? Seems to be about 60 kg of ballast to me even if you are doing longer trips

[@johnmcconville6055]

​@@davidjones8680Also what you said would require 17 hours of non stop driving.In reality you would stop every few hours? When I did my flying training we had a Cessna 152 with longer range tanks.Trouble was with 2 people and full fuel it was too heavy.But they recommended brimming the tanks every night to minimise tank condensation.They put 5 hours of fuel in it instead of 6,but even then it was very slow to climb.More trouble than it's worth.

[@DopeyDalek]

Well this has confirmed something for me. A couple of weeks ago i did a 240 mile round trip in my mg4 which seemed to cost a lot because I recharged at the mid point. I thought it would have been cheaper in my old diesel Bongo campervan. Following this video, I calculated the costs and yes it is cheaper for me to run a 23 year old campervan barely capable of doing 35mpg than my brand new ev. At least I know now: if I'll have to public charge; use the old van.

[@awestrope74]

If you did a 240 mile round trip surely the majority of the charge was from home (if you have home charging)?

[@michaeldawson6309]

At the price identified on this video it would have been cheaper to use my Fiat Ducato motorhome which can achieve 35mpg

[@bordersw1239]

Never saw more than 27mpg in my diesel Bongo

[@YAK89VTR]

Interesting costs and I like the points on how you could have made it cheaper but then faced delays by using other sites. This is what Lee found, it was cheaper but he faced delays because everyone else wanted it cheaper too. I've done a splash and dash at motorway services but only putting in enough to get me off the motorway and to a cheaper fuel station but I think if in an electric car that might be harder to do.

[@manomano8939]

Yeah I’ve done a quick volt and bolt but then you just stay and charge because you are already there so take the premium price on the chin.

[@Chaughan1]

I know you don't particulally like Tesla, but they have got it right in terms of Charging infrastructure, cost, efficency and reliability. America has woken up to this and adopted the Tesla standard across the board (nearly). The v4's superchargers will be open to all in the rest of the world, as will the the entire network eventually so I don't see how the other networks at will compete on avaliability, reliability and cost.

[@ouethojlkjn]

Unfortunately, in the UK, unlike the petrochemical industry, this supercharging lark is unregulated and a free for all. The only charging network that has it right is Tesla, which is why getting a Tesla is the only sensible option if you are considering electric.

[@Dilbert-o5k]

Didn't vw have to roll out a chain of chargers in America to atone for their dieselgate misdemeanours? If the European and UK governments hadn't been kissing the EU and German butts , they might have got a similar settlement. But the governments presumably don't care enough about reparations for the people of their cities for the extra pollution they had to endure. They'd rather spend time ripping off their population with ulez and such, but let vw and co conspirators off Scot free.

[@marcsroberts]

My personal situation, in answer to your final question: Most of my driving over the year is home>work>home + evening use, which is easily covered by home charging at 7.5p/kWh, or just under 2p/mile. The weekend trips out, same deal, usually within 150-200 miles, covered at 7.5p/kWh or just under 2p/mile. I have family in Cornwall, I can charge there and they're just outside of my car's range, so I generally leave home at 100%, stop half way to have a wee, get a coffee and charge, 10 minutes max. This would be at 37p/kWh maybe 20kWh, about 70-80 miles worth at 9p/mile (because Tesla prices). Average p/mile is still very good for the overall trip. BUT, heavy reliance on public charging, especially non-Tesla public charging would clearly tilt the balance the other way quite quickly.

[@ItsAllJustBollox]

Same here in the two years of EV ownership I have used public charging about a dozen times and charge for free most of the time.

[@Kevin-dp1vy]

At 21p per mile that's 50% more than my 2.0 petrol estate costs me currently. Given that I don't have the means to charge at home and the cheapest public charger (of which there are only 8 in the town) costs 69p per kWh, I will be staying with petrol for the foreseeable future. Electric vehicles are just too expensive to run if you cannot charge at home.

[@dave6018]

how much did your EV cost and how much is it worth now

[@ItsAllJustBollox]

@@dave6018 cost a lot less and still worth a lot more than a diesel range rover 😂😂😂

[@marcsroberts]

@@dave6018 loadsamoney Sorry, serious answer. About £38k in Aug 2019. I don’t know what it’s worth now. Less.

[@jcfallows]

Well done you have highlighted the biggest problem facing ev owners. The cost of public charging! I run a Zoe and pay 29p a KW at work which is the same cost as running my previous Dacia bi fuel! But I'm retiring so have managed to install an outside 13amp socket at my rented flat and will have to charge via a granny charger. 7.5p this means I won't using the car on long journeys! I could buy I hate being ripped off so I'm looking at using my bus pass and a £30 rail card for two or a coach holiday. The government can't lose all the fuel duty when we are forced to go all electric so that means road charging per mile on top! The end of personal transport for the masses is coming to an end! But least when insurance companies will be able to monitor your driving and charge you more immediately if you don't stick to the rules! I'm glad my driving days are limited anyway. We have had the best of our freedoms unless you can afford to pay a fortune to keep it.

[@allosaurusfragilis7782]

Sadly I think you're right. That's the way it's going. Like you, I've had my fun and freedom and I'm retired now. I've got 3 kids...2 are in australia and are better off there, rather than staying in broken Britain. The one still here in scotland is not into cars, so he's not bothered. Oh well, I guess we had the best of it eh?

[@jcfallows]

At least we have our memories ! Which is more than the youngest drivers of today!

[@Sion_Jones]

So as the Macmaster said. An EV for popping to the shops and charging from home is ideal. For company cars/vans and people who do big miles, forget it. I had no idea that public charging was so expensive until the Macmaster started pointing this out, so this was very informative and backs up his claims. Thank you. We know that cheap charging at home is not going to last. The taxman will want his share as more people are forced/persuaded/conned into an EV. We are also seeing requests not to use high powered electrical items at peak times, so that won't be long before we are restricted to how much electricity we are allowed to use in our homes and when we are allowed to use it. Being forced into having to buy an EV by 2035 is frightening. The grip on our freedom of movement is tightening.

[@djtaylorutube]

What makes you think you're forced into buying an EV by 2035? There's no such requirement.

[@Sion_Jones]

@@djtaylorutube if you buy a new car in 2035 it has to be a zero emission vehicle. So after 2035 only second hand ICE cars will be available. People who are lucky enough to buy new or who lease will be forced into EVs. Simple.

[@djtaylorutube]

@@Sion_Jones Yes but nobody is forced to buy a new car, subtlei know but that's the reality. From what I read in comments on various channels, the majority aren't buying new cars anyway and prefer £3000 cars? 😉

[@Dilbert-o5k]

​@@djtaylorutubeyou are splitting hairs. If you buy new you will have to buy electric after the cut off date. Anyone who buys second hand will probably buy ice because second hand EVs will not only have the usual old car problems but the potential for an expensive battery problem. The older they get , the more likely it is to happen. If you have to replace the battery it will be expensive, often around half of the new car value. On a second hand EV after all the depreciation, the relative cost is much more exorbitant. Ice cars on average last longer before the final killer fault comes along . So you may get some second owners for EVs, but third and fourth owners? Probably not, it would be getting too much of a gamble by then

[@Richard_Barnes]

Very honest video. Thanks for sharing the costs. 🙂👍🏻The next annoying thing is, when a high percentage of people have ev’s, do we all honestly think the charging prices will get cheaper? Of course not. Same as petrol they’re gonna rip us off. Just think back to the recent energy prices we’ve had. It’s horrendous. Same as petrol now. Prices are being kept high in U.K. always will be.

[@newage3]

"There was a way I could of saved some money" - Yes you could of bought a BMW 330D - @ £1.53/L and I get 560-580 miles of range so I could drive from John o' Groats all the way to Birmingham before my first fill up up which would take 20 mins including buying a sandwich then another 290 miles and I`m in Land`s End - if I went in my wife X6 I get even more miles out of a tank.

[@matthewthorp4727]

As much as evangelists hate him, Lee (macmaster) shows the reality of owning and running an ev, he doesn’t hide anything or sugarcoat it & you get to see what the experience is really like from the perspective of someone who uses his car to travel around different places - outside of the normal range of the car and all that that entails in terms of costs, getting to chargers and they’re all full with folks waiting, or they’re not working, or they’re slow chargers etc etc & the costs involved! I don’t think anyone can argue with how poor the current charging Infrastructure is, things really do need to get significantly better if mass ev adoption is going to become viable. When you add everything together, cost of charging on public chargers, the poor current infrastructure, the time it takes to actually charge (assuming you can just drop on the chargers without having to wait about) then for me ev’s don’t make sense if you regularly travel outside of the range of the battery &/or you can’t charge at home, not when you also add in the ridiculously high initial purchase price of the cars too!

[@oneeyedgirl617]

Let’s be honest, “evangelists“ is just made up BS to fire up the the base. As for Macmasters “ reality, “ if you really believe he has nearly frozen to death in it, locked himself in it, nearly had to buy a £40,000 battery for it, didn’t finish the JOGLE in it because of his mental health, had PTSD from Covent Garden to Worcester in it, and has to bear the massive depreciation on his Taycan, despite leasing it, then sure, he doesn’t “sugar coat” anything. 😊

[@Gosportinfo]

As someone who has never learnt to drive (in my mid 60s) I watch the other channels partly for the old cars and the EV but also the entertainment. I felt your video was very fair and can see that you could have saved money, but I always find that in hindsight when I spend money. I think the agreement is if you can normally charge at home and don't travel over your range each day an EV maybe worth looking at( unlike the people in my road of Victorian terrace houses) where if during the week if home after 5pm may not be able to park in the road let alone outside your house. I think a lot will change in the future some good, lower cost better cheaper batteries. I understand around half the cost of petrol and diesel is tax, so how long will the Government put up with 20% or 5% for home charging. We are all supposed to have smart meters and those who charge EVs a smart charger, so how difficult would it be to add different tax levels depending on what you are using the electricity for. From that I feel channels like yours and others I watch will be important in this time of change and perhaps sometimes a lack of trust in what we are being told. All the best.

[@catalinomocea6986]

The government could theoretically try to tax you more for the electricity that goes through your home car charger but what would stop you plugin in to a normal socket and charging a bit slower? How would they know then? That's what I would do if they tried that.

[@philhartley7564]

Changes in taxation are inevitable and they will be at a level to match or exceed taxes on fossil fuel and road tax. It s the way of taxation, it won't go down and as soon as EV ownership tips the balance (actually before it tips the balance) taxes will increase to compensate for loss in fossil fuel tax. Which is why I take advantage of the tax breaks, BIK benefits, road tax benefits etc while I can (I have owned an EV for 33 months) and save the money while I can. Before long it will be to late and everyone will have an EV without the financial benefits that are still available. I'm happy f everyone else stays in fossil fuel cars, the financial benefits may stay longer.

[@marcsroberts]

I'm still watching but your cat is the star of the show :P

[@theadvocatesails]

Well done on taking up the challenge and your balanced videos. Our experience is even more dire here in Australia, and our trips tend to be a lot longer. I think there is some merit in Lee's assessment, backed up by some of your observations from this trip, and it will be a long time before EVs are suitable for a lot of people here. Add in the cost and depreciation of EVs over ICE and it really is prohibitive. Thanks again for the vids!

[@AlanRambler]

Times money at an average of say £20 + per hour lost time waiting to charge, car depreciation at thousands of pounds per month and sky rocketing insurance costs, plus a new battery in about 5 years at a cost of £20000. Must be mad to consider an ev.

[@ModernHeroes]

😂

[@grahamleiper1538]

5 years for a battery would be great. That's 3 years inside the warranty period.

[@Brian-om2hh]

Why might you need a new battery in 5 years when it has an 8 year warranty? Remember, it's a *warranty* not it's lifespan..... and if you lease, you don;t suffer any nasty depreciation shocks.

[@AlanRambler]

Because the range as in all batteries will be halved in five years but won’t be under warranty for this only a major fault that’s not repairable. Good luck with that.

[@ModernHeroes]

@@AlanRambler”will be” is doing a lot of heavy lifting you can’t substantiate there - plenty of high mileage EVs around with high % SoH.

[@Kevin-dp1vy]

I don’t know why people thing public charging should be cheap. The companies building and running these sites have to get their money back for the massive investment that they are making and there are only two ways that this can happen. Either the Government pays, which means higher taxes for everyone, or the person charging their EV pays. Worcester University has recently opened 100 charging points at their site. They were awarded £3 million in a grant from the Council to do this. That works out to £30,000 per charger, assuming that the University didn’t put any money towards it. They charge (no pun intended) 79p per kWh for rapid charging, so if each charger was occupied for 24 hours per day it would take over 4 years just to recover the installation cost. Given that it is extremely unlikely that the charger will be in use 24/7 if we took a 10-hour usage per day that means that each charger installation will take over 10 years just to recover the cost.

[@declanosullivan8749]

Doesn't this prove MacMaster was indeed correct in saying that EV's are great as run-arounds when your fortunate enough to own a home and can home charge, but as a replacement for ICE on long journeys they are not suitable right now, too slow and too expensive? They've marketed EV's all wrong from the beginning and given them a needlessly bad rep, they should have produced cheap run arounds and made ICE the luxury vehicles, not the other way round.

[@dereknicol5284]

Unless you've got a Tesla which has its own excellent charging network at reasonable prices. Why is no other car maker building their own charging network, Tesla has set the example but nobody wants to put their hand in their pocket.

[@declanosullivan8749]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@dereknicol5284That option is gone now as well Tesla sold the charging network to British Gas in the UK 2 weeks ago It will be an open network to all EVs Tesla exclusive charging is over sadly

[@ModernHeroes]

That didn’t happen, I’m not sure what you read but it absolutely wasn’t that. EG Group (Asda owners) announced a deal to buy charging hardware from Tesla a couple of weeks ago, mind…..

[@dereknicol5284]

@@declanosullivan8749 I think you misunderstand. Tesla are selling chargers to other companies for them to install in their sites, not selling the Tesla network.

[@grahamleiper1538]

​@@declanosullivan8749Asda bought charging hardware from Tesla, for their own charging network. We have some of the worst click baity journalists on the planet in the UK. God forbid a headline tells the truth.

[@BritinSchleswig]

Cat fell off the shelf when it heard how much it costs to charge on the road :)

[@chrissmith2114]

There is a massive Elephant in the room with EV running costs, and it is the vertical depreciation that EV suffer - which is part of the ownership costs. It is because of the vertical depreciation ( and lack of secondhand market ) that many lease companies are not offering EV any more, it is killing their business model, driving up both the monthly payments and the final payment to unaffordable levels. Don't even mention insurance costs because of high costs of EV parts.. I just hope ICE drivers are not subsidising EV drivers through higher insurance, ( because the EV has already been subsidised by taxpayers through EV purchase subsidies ).

[@TestTest-hl8ny]

I think your video was balanced. The costs for non home charging are eye watering. While a lot of journeys can be done within home range there will always be these longer journeys as thats part of life. The thing is that when doing these journeys EV owners have to think about things that wouldn't even need to cross an ICE owners mind. Life is busy enough without the charger route planning faff, the additional time and the cost. I very much hope i can end my motoring days in an ICE or non plug in hybrid.

[@mattt3302]

Your honesty is appreciated. The extra cost of buying an EV, and realistically not being cheaper to 'fuel' than a petrol or diesel based on your numbers, adding to that the insurance generally being more expensive, and the wasted/inconvenience of time in charging, not to mention the monumental depreciation costs, I still believe EV's are not the answer. Even if there was a slightly higher cost in owning an ICE car, which it doesn't appear to be much, if at all, I'll stick with it. Just not worth the hassles of what I see EV owners go through.

[@petertraveller6421]

Maybe that's UK problem, here in Finland we have prices like 15, 17, 33 and 35 euro cents/kwh, and there might still be few free chargers somewhere. Then we have more expensive chargers, but I never use those.

[@ModernHeroes]

Absolutely does seem to be a UK problem at the moment, I agree.

[@bigfist255]

Your home energy prices are also cheaper presumably .

[@ouethojlkjn]

Probably probably because like so many other things. The UK is on regulated and the government is asleep at the wheel. No pun intended!

[@user-oz4mx1di7t]

Thank you for your honesty and as someone who cannot charge at home or at work I will hold on to my diesel

[@graeme_78]

Great summary and I fully agree. Thanks for a clear and honest video. I’m glad to be able to charge at home, and would still be in my diesel if I could only use public enroute charging. 2000 miles in my Model Y charging at home is about £50, Vs about £300 for my diesel. I keep the math simple by assuming 45mpg, so £1.55/litre is 15.5p/mile (love U.K. unit chaos MPG efficiency and litres dispensed!!). For electric I divide cost/kWh by 3 mile in Winter and 4 in Summer. By this logic 46p/kWh is my diesel equivalent break even cost in Winter, or as much as 62p in Summer - it’s too expensive to charge on anything other than the Tesla network for me, but with 24000 miles per year maybe only 4000 is long road trips, so I’ll take the diesel cost parity (or maybe a smidge more) for the road trips if it gives me 3p per mile on my 20000 miles worth of commute, savings of £250 per month over diesel are hard to ignore.

[@brucet000]

Good, honest video. I've had an EV for 4 years and use home charging 98% of the time. I would charge in the wild more if I needed to but they are making it very expensive to really TRAVEL with an EV.

[@kellyeye7224]

Horses for courses as the saying goes! My weekly round trip for shopping is 60 miles - easily possible in an EV. But a round trip to the in-laws is 300 miles (overnight a 'must' but no charging facilities at the destination) and to visit my brother is 'impossible' as it would take TWO days in an EV - one way! Unless ICE vehicles are a permanent possibility (despite claims to the contrary, EV battery performance has NOT improved to any significant effect) then it seems as if visiting relations is going to be 'banned' by default.

[@markstarmer3677]

There are too many complications in travelling with an ev. The constant fear of being able to charge. Are the chargers working? The constant downtime involved in waiting. The cost, which you don’t get a receipt for ! To me, they are totally impractical. What can be easier than filling up with diesel or petrol ? A 3 minute task ! I will stick with diesel with both my car and van for ever thanks.

[@TanksRock]

I owned a Seat Mii electric for 2 years and only ever charged at home, mostly for 5p kWh. I could not run an ICE car anywhere near as cheap. I now have an MG4 which will be charged mainly at home for 9p kWh. So whilst I know (and accept) public charging is expensive, I know overall I will be saving hundreds compared to any petrol/diesel.

[@gimble447]

@TankRock , for now!! We shall call this the “encouragement “ phase from government, once take up gets high enough the government will want their fuel tax losses replaced and you will be on different tariff for “automotive use “ electricity, only 2 things are for certain after all, death and taxes, then also your every move will be monitored too when they bring in pay per mile road tax for everyone, no more zero road tax for electrics, enjoy ice and electric transport while you can I say as this really is the beginning of the end

[@jimmarshall807]

I really appreciate your honesty, most EV coverage either unashamedly gushes over the positives our damns the negatives. For me the Byzantine mess of apps, cards and tariffs is a barrier - I don't have to take my ageing Mondeo to a Ford pump to fill it up (indeed, nobody's stopping me putting diesel in my petrol tank if I really want to). I live in a small, traffic-clogged city so cycling and/ or walking makes sense fit most local journeys, leaving the Mondeo for longer journeys so it's a 'no' (or at least, a 'not yet') from me on EVs.

[@ianchalklen1047]

If you are able to charge at home then the running costs are undoubtedly cheaper, however currently initial purchase cost and depreciation need to be considered along with servicing etc. I think the elephant in the room is currently the taxman collects 52.95 pence (+vat) on every litre of petrol and diesel. As people swap to BEV’s this “loss” will have to be made up from somewhere.

[@ModernHeroes]

Maybe, but I’ve never understood the “wAiT unTiL tHeY tAX it” thing - if you can benefit from massively lower running costs right now why wouldn’t you?

[@crumbschief5628]

Great to show the detail, fits with what I find. 30k a year driving with one trip over 2k miles a year to south of france (where the electricity is a lot cheaper but still more than home charging) and several to see the in laws at about 250 miles return with driving around and last year my first staycation with a weeks driving around. Generally find that my monthly fuel bill has come down about £180 however February and August are a bit of a shocker. Probably spend no more than £40 a month on the road and £30 at home.

[@matthewjenkins1161]

Thanks for the honesty, which agreed with the basic fundamentals of the MacMaster's experience. On long journeys EVs take longer and cost more than comparable ICE cars. Oh and at public charge points you topped up a total around 291kwh, which is more than my home use (Edwardian 2 bed terraced house with electric cooker) in a whole month. Electricity prices will rise for all exponentially with demand, if EV sales continue to rise.

[@breseler]

Fair play on your 'experiment' and for not spinning the results. That 838 mile journey in my Volvo V50 1.6D would have involved one stop to refuel and would have cost around £105 at current pump prices. I drive from East Anglia to North Scotland to visit family on a regular basis and comfort breaks can be taken when needed, with the driving split between two, rather than being forced to stop for 45 mins due to the need to recharge. Until EVs can match an efficient diesel for range (~650 miles for my V50) and charging times don't involve sitting around for 40 mins or waiting for a charge bay to become available to start your 40 minutes wait, I will continue to drive my 'polluting' diesel ( with VEL rate of £0 ). Still cannot believe it only cost £20 a day for the Polestar!!!...

[@Enoch-powell]

Wait until they do away with off peak.

[@stevebeever2442]

Wait until everyone is on smart meters then do away with off peak and slap duty on electric used for propulsion like they currently do with fuel

[@djtaylorutube]

@@stevebeever2442 Trivial to circumvent smart metering for EV charing though.

[@djtaylorutube]

@@ohyesitsme I don't have a smart charger. Mine's dumb as f*k. Similarly people could install a commando outlet and still get 32A or just use a granny charger. No issue.

[@Brian-om2hh]

@@djtaylorutube Exactly. That's what people will do if they try charging silly money for home charging.

[@hughjardon3538]

I'm pretty sure that nearly everybody agrees that the fuel cost of an EV is lower than a diesel when you charge it at home, but the argument was about the cost on a long journey, when you're at the mercy of whatever charges you can find conveniently along the way, and you found out that it was worse than you thought. The two downsides of doing such a journey in an EV are the lack of convenience and the cost of charging. It's too complicated and stressful for most people, including me.

[@judebrown4103]

I have no home charging but we do have a bp pulse charger close by so we're on a subscription, £7.50 a month, 55p a kWh. Car is Ioniq 38kWh we dont do enormous mileage as a rule and the Ioniq has great economy so were still paying way less than our old 1.2litre petrol. We also have an Octopus Electroverse card but rately have to use it. No home charging, no problem here and the Ioniq is so much more pleasant to drive and travel in peace👍

[@ScatManAust]

Trouble is that 847 miles -1360 km trip is micky mouse for a lot of people. Add to that the dam inconvenience of having to stop and waste time to charge all the time, there's the extra added costs of all the junk food and drinks you waste money on that most people typically do while waiting. Time is money as they say, and if I was an employer, I would never pay an employee to sit around being totally nonproductive at my expense and as such wouldn't even contemplate an EV. The extra costs of charging on the road and the wasted paid time would never be able to be recovered. It simply would never make sense having an EV in most cases especially in Australia. Those roadside stops are ridiculously expensive for food n drink, and I never stop for the sake of stopping. Out here 1360km is not even decent days drive out bush. And of course, if you are towing something, then it's a total non-starter. EV's for many people are expensive to own and operate regardless of where and how you charge. Cost is not just the purchasing the vehicle and pumping it up. It's the total cost of ownership people never take into account like parts and servicing and insurances. People are obsessed with the idea that there is far less to an electric car compared to an ICE vehicle. Reality check here, EV's have as much stuff in, on, and around them as ICE vehicles. Brakes, suspension, tyres, cooling systems etc. they've all got them, and they all need regular replacement and servicing. EV's do have their place and it's in the shopping trolly run and city use. And this totally ridiculous idea of "HAVING TO TAK THE KIDS TO SCHOOL" What ever happened to push bikes or two feet?

[@elbuggo]

MacMaster was right!

[@garryjackson9161]

All the money you’ve saved on fuel will be just eaten up by the massive depreciation and the high costs of buying the thing in the first place 😢

[@ModernHeroes]

Buy used if you’re worried about depreciation 🤷‍♂️

[@stuartgoddard4805]

I was looking at an ev i do about 1100 miles a month i cant change at home no drive way i own my petrol car outright so the price of a used ev plus the public charging rip-off i would be like 400 plus a month out of pocket so will keep with petrol for as long as i can.

[@shineyboots]

I regularly run from my home in Wales to Anstruther in Fife in my trusty Peugeot 3008 1.6 diesel. The milage is 420 (half your journey) My car does the journey at 47 mpg overall and uses 9 gallons @ £7.00 a gallon. The tank holds more than enough fuel for the journey so i stop only for comfort breaks. This is £63.00. For the technical i run the car at a 70 ish MPH and due to the high gear ratios (6 gears) of these cars the average RPM is aprox 2650 rpm. Its got 187000 miles on the clock and as with many diesel vehicles will cover many more miles when serviced and maintained. How could i even justify an EV, it's just money down the drain. Thank you for the Vid. It is excellently presented.

[@bernardhilton3527]

I have the Octopus Go tariff at home and use it for about 85% of my charging. When on holiday touring or driving to Heathrow from Lancashire I use whatever is available when I need it. This increased cost is part of the holiday and I want convenience, speed and reliability. When i had a diesel Juke I would use motorway service stations. TBH driving an EV is a much more relaxing experience that driving fossil car and for that reason alone I am not going to change. Thanks for your video.

[@martinbuddery1345]

Very thorough and thoughtful piece. I'll be interested to see how pricing evolves over the next 5 years.

[@chrissmith2114]

It will only get worse, your smart meter at home will know when charging an EV and adjust the cost accordingly, with a slice going to the government... There is no way that any government will give up car drivers as a cash cow, they are just waiting until more people have an EV and are trapped, they they will spring the trap, Your smart meter will get a signal from a wireless chip in the vehicle.

[@johnfryer6643]

I think an issue that needs to be addressed is the VAT on public charging. 5% VAT for domestic use and 20% VAT on public charging, seems the government don't walk the walk 😂. If the network provider has battery storage, therefore charging the battery off peak and selling during the day, in the future, after capex is completed, we should see public charging become more competitive. You just need to look at the queues at Costco petrol pumps to see what strong competition can do.

[@richardphillips6971]

Your miles per gallon for a Diesel are way out unless it is a Range Rover, most diesel vehicles on a long motorway journey achieve in excess of 40 miles per gallon, I have a diesel SUV which on a journey from mid west Wales to Cumbria, a mixed road journey, achieves 45 miles per Gallon that is keeping between 70/75 on the Motorway, I do this 256mile journey with no stopping with a full tank at the start which takes approximately 5 hours. So please don't understate diesel mpg. However I wish to thank you for your honesty with all the other information. In answer to your question yes the cost of public charging is way over the top, also I prefer to do a journey with minimal or zero stopping. Question:- How much extra did you fork out for Drinks/Food when you stopped to charge? or did you take things with you. This is an additional cost that you may not make when using a non EV, since your stopping times may/will be less. Cheers for the insights again 👍

[@ModernHeroes]

🤦‍♂️ once again, I didn’t at any point say anything about the economy of a diesel vehicle

[@richardphillips6971]

@@ModernHeroes Sorry I thought you did when listening, I shall re-listen at some point.

[@keelferm]

I have not yet bought an EV despite desperately wanting one and believing they are the future because I can't charge at home...there needs to be workable solutions to allow people with no off-street parking the opportunity to use their own electricity supply to charge their cars. And it's eminently solvable as an engineering problem.

[@MikeHarEV]

I've just had a Kurbo pavement gully installed by Nottingham County Council. Not sure if this is a solution that would work for your home, but it may be worth checking if your council are trialing these types of solutions yet.

[@keelferm]

@@MikeHarEV thanks Mike

[@keelferm]

@@MikeHarEV oh also, I'm an Aptera reservation holder, so there is that solution in a couple of years

[@keelferm]

I've just checked out the price, £999 for installation of the channel. Are they having a laugh? I came up with this idea long before they were a company, but of course I didn't want to jump through all the administrative hoops or launch my own manufacturing business.... that's a silly price.@@MikeHarEV

[@chuckbradley1]

EV car sales have almost ceased in the USA. Tens of thousands of EV vehicles sre sitting on lots. The EV lie is being realised.

[@mickapps3153]

So many EV issues including depreciation are a uk problem. Here in Spain it’s a different experience

[@grahamleiper1538]

I did Aberdeenshire to London, and back, in September and I was £106 on superchargers. The more the Tesla network opens up hopefully a price war starts. According to my charge stats in the last year 88% home charging. Add superchargers for Tesla owners being half the price of other networks and I'm quite happy with my cost per mile over the last few years.

[@dave6018]

how happy are you with your depreciation on your car? have you factored that in? or insurance costs?? i couldn't make the numbers work for me

[@justgetatesla]

@@dave6018they only depreciate when you sell them. Can’t be as bad as the 2/3rds my Volvo S90 diesel lost in less than 3 years

[@grahamleiper1538]

@@dave6018 I'm rural Scotland and parked off road. I pay £300 less for insurance on my Model 3 than I spent 30 years ago for a (far less quick) BMW 635. I bought a car new - it wasn't an investment. It's a car. It's quick and has some of the cheapest running costs on the planet (even road-tripping because Tesla). Why would I be selling it?

[@stephenmcdermott4435]

It is also very important to realise that at present there is no additional taxes on EV fuel as in petrol and diesel. This does have reinforce my conviction that now is not the time to buy an EV. The same journey would have cost me £91.50 in my diesel car.

[@ciupak7932]

At the beginning of EVs electricity to charge was FREE and NO road tax. Just to get you in. Now - you got Home charging tariff and Public (normal) price. Soon EVs will pay Higher Road Tax (weight) and already higher insurance. Depreciation of EVs, waste created (lifespan)... I can't get discounted price for petrol or diesel. That was the whole point of EVs....cheap to run and save the planet....how misleading.

[@IvermectinFTW]

Very clear and concise presentation. Thank you! In my modest, not particularly efficient 2016 1.6 petrol vehicle, I can still easily average 48mpg on a long run at 60mph/motorway speeds. That's around 14p per mile at current pump prices. I can't charge at home so if I were to trade it in for an electric car, not only would long distance travel be slower and prohibitively expensive, the huge environmental cost involved in manufacturing that EV would dwarf the emissions made by my vehicle over the next 10 years. If you already drive a relatively modern and economical ICE car, save the planet by keeping it on the road!

[@jp6975]

Forget the cost. The bigger question is... is it too early for Xmas jumpers?

[@ModernHeroes]

Absolutely not!

[@NigelsModellingBench]

Very honest video. Thank you. I personally think the cost of charging at home will rise once EV's are plentiful on our roads and the Government needs to raise revenue. Put it this way.. you have stated that transportation is cheap if you can charge at home.. the powers that be will not allow this to continue. I remember having an LPG Jeep Cherokee, it cost pennies to go anywhere.. then the Government realised they could increase the duty and low and behold.. it became pointless. What ever we do, Petrol, Diesel, Hydrogen, EV, the Government will sting us.

[@avidviewer1]

You're on to something, using your delightful cat as your co-presenter. Loved it. And, as an EV driver who covers longish distances and can't charge at home, I loved it even more. Thanks so much!

[@cosmicpop]

Before I bought my ID.3 in Feb, I kept a little spreadsheet with my old Skoda Yeti diesel vs ID.3 charging costs. It was obvious even then with more expensive fuel prices, that parity between diesel and public charging was reached at around 65p/KWh, and anything over that would result in a journey being more expensive for an EV. I think your numbers are bang-on and I'm not sure what can be done about it other than huge subsidies from central government. The initial buildout of the infrastructure needs to be paid for somehow.

[@cliveprocter3698]

The EV market already has huge subsidies from the govt (or more correctly tax payers) They chose to subsidies new EVs via virtually zero company car BiK tax and salary sacrifice ontop of £0 VED. This means well paid employees are being given lots of money to drive £30,000-£100,000+ new cars. A more equatable method would have been to remove VAT from EVs so the private motorist got a look in and did not have to wait for the photocopiers sales reps cast off 3yr old car to enter the 2nd hand market. Not subsidising the infrastrcuture eariler has lead to all the predictable bad publicity about queuing and expensive charging that puts a damper on the move to EVs.

[@FranklinYoung-s9d]

Well balanced and truthful, no axe to grind. That is the information that should be put out and considered.

[@devonbikefilms]

This is our reality at the moment. I have a 500 odd mile journey coming up this week and while the vast majority of my charging is at home, it makes trips very expensive. I do wonder if this is a play by the fossil fuel industry to slow down the transition by charging the charging companies, noting many of them are funded by oil companies. It makes having a Tesla even more attractive. I have even seriously considered selling my eNiro and going back to a small petrol car. It’s only because we have solar at home and can home charge that I haven’t. For anyone who can’t home charge or travel for work I can’t see the attraction. I’ve had my eNiro for two years already and remain very pleased with it as a car. I should add that charging in France is significantly cheaper and more widely available.

[@rhynvideos]

If you can home charge (plus the solar) you've already saved way more compared to petrol than a one-off 500 mile run will cost. If you really are concerned about it, the alternative is not to go back to petrol permanently but to just hire a diesel for this one trip, doing long runs between cities is what diesels are best at, just like shorter runs in town is what electrics are best at

[@mayreausailing]

I think what everyone is forgetting, is that a couple of years ago, the price of electricity, and public charging was about 1/3 what it is now, yet petrol and diesel was similar prices to now. At that time, the same trip would have been way cheaper compared to a diesel, which at the time was getting close to £2 per litre. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, which pushed the price of gas through the roof and electricity prices went up with it. Once gas prices come back down, or the cost of electricity is decoupled from gas, then the charing prices will also come down. Tesla is already showing that other networks are charging twice as much as they need to.

[@douglasmorris8364]

I was not at all surprised at how much your trip cost! I think you ought to have added the £120 for the car hire. Just saying. I do have an EV and use it only for local trips doing actually doing more mile per year than my oil burner which I use for long trips. My Pug 508 diesel returns 64mpg on a long run and would have done that journey on just less than one tank full at around £100, one way of course. That's around 8p per mile. In the winter (now) my leaf does about 3m/kwh normal driving. That means I'd be lucky to get 23p per mile at 69p/kwh once my home charge is used up. So that would be north of £160! I bought my EV never intending to use it for long trips and public charging anyway. I knew the high cost before I even thought about getting an EV however I have loads of solar in the summer so that is free traveling for me. Thanks for your honesty with figures because so many EV evangelists are not!

[@ModernHeroes]

I mean it’s 10.9p a mile at £1.54 a litre, but yes.

[@DavidJohnston58]

I can charge at home and it's waaay cheaper than running an ice car and I really like driving the car locally. Road trips however are way too stressful given the lack of public chargers here in Ireland and the associated problems that caused us to cancel upcoming road trips We bought a new petrol car last Thursday (new to us 2022) which will relegate the EV to local trips and hopefully mean enjoying longer trips once more. However, we have found the public charging costs here (so far) have not been that far removed from costs of diesel in previous car, mostly a few quid either way.

[@mbak7801]

As a tesla charge member I can get power as low as 35p per KWH. That I understand significantly reduces the number of cars visiting nearby non Tesla charging stations. Why pay 50p per KWH over the going rate? The only problem is charging in North East Yorkshire is a desert. A good sized Tesla station would kick the competitors up the jacksie good and proper.

[@Jaw0lf]

I have told many friends that if you park off road and can charge at home, then an EV is a no brainer for most people. Over 90% of my charging is done at home with only a few longer trips needing a top up of enough electricity to get me home. I feel that the Government and local councils have let down anyone without a driveway as they have been ignored. There needs to be a way for those living in a terraced house to still benefit from cheap overnight electricity. Only then is it fair for all. Rapid charging costs are crazy and not to be half the cost.

[@terrymackenzie6784]

With charging infrastructure unlikely to outpace EV adoption in the next few year I can't see any reduction in cost of fast charging on the motorway anytime soon. For people that have solar and can get nominally zero cost of electricity for six months of the year it's a bit of a shock when you make a 400 mile round trip to a friend and find it cost you more than you have ever paid for electricity for the car in the previous 12 months of ownership but it hasn't put me off, when I first got my EV I keepted my ICE car but after 8 months of it sitting on the drive and less than 500 miles I sold it and I'm now looking for a second EV. Let's hope that Tesla open up more of their super chargers to non Tesla cars to get a bit more competition

[@marktoby8113]

Again good honest video. As an EV owner in Ireland, how on earth is it so expensive to use public chargers in the UK! Those prices seem insane.

[@alasdairfinlayson]

Because the operators know the people who've bought these cars under duress from the government and greens have no alternative , so they take full advantage,and bleed them to their hearts content

[@tobycolin6271]

The biggest shock is the lack of green energy we have had this last week has averaged 5GW and between 270 and 300g of Co2 per kWh. With generation to road efficiency of between 65% to 50% the emissions per kWh could be as high as 450g Co2 per KWh charged. I don’t know what the efficiency of the poles star was on your journey but at 3 mile per kWh the Co2 per mile would be 150g of Co2 per mile.

[@djtaylorutube]

Seems more reasonable to use an annual average than a day by day or week by week. This coming week is decidely shite for solar prospects (nil!) but could be better for wind. I took the car out on Saturday for just local shopping. Everytime I went into shops, I made sure the climate control was on "keep". Have to say, the energy efficiency was absolutely tragic for the day but on the upside, the car was REALLY toasty each time we got back in and that's what mattered to us.

[@grahamleiper1538]

Which is why EV tariffs push overnight charging into the early hours. (When the grid is greenest, solar excepted)

[@elbuggo]

In the meantime, in China, they burned 100 million tons of coal last week. They need cheap energy to produce cheap batteries for the EVs you know.

[@djtaylorutube]

@@elbuggo China also leads the world in installation of renewables. Every journey has a cost, no point cherry picking the bad highlights without recognising the long term good ones eh?

[@tobycolin6271]

@@djtaylorutube the yearly average is 168g of Co2 but this is made up of mostly 200g Co2 days 240g Co2 nights. September has been the only month where the green energy aceraged 10GW 25 % of the total green capacity and 35% of the total average Co2. One very good month in the past 12 with Co2 as low as 30g of Co2 per kWh. Plus solar is zero at nought and wind is 20 to 30% less than the 1600 peak.

[@dorsetandy3873]

I’m fortunate to be able to charge both my EVs at home using Intelligent Octopus which provides at least 6 hours of off peak charging at 7.5 p kWh which works out at under 2p per mile. Done over 1500 miles of road trips recently in my Tesla with the most expensive cost,using Tesla superchargers being 45p kWh equating to 9p per mile - in reality with home charging at the start and finish and a small amount of free destination charging the actual cost was less than 5p a mile. I never had to wait to charge and my main problem is the Tesla charges too quickly that have to move it to avoid idle fees before have finished a comfort break and queued for a coffee etc. Thanks for an honest appraisal of the pros and cons of EV ownership.

[@K12beano]

Here’s my perspective. If your worst-case scenario is that you do 800 miles once or twice a year in a large-ish car, but otherwise can be down to 2.5p per mile, then this is great. I’m another of the non-home-charging people. Public charging is expensive, but I carry out at least 80% at Tesla (membership) pricing. So the odd, more-expensive charge (which would be done for closer to “all-I-need-to-do-to-get-to-a-cheaper-chargepoint”) is a fair balance of convenience versus cost. I also have a very basic model, but one that in practice delivers 5 miles per kWh. Not forgetting the TCO (total cost of ownership) aspect. And the overall driving experience and lack of polluting the air. These are also “costs”, but some might discount those. Then there’s the “price” to pay for convenience of pre-heating and defrosting. people don’t factor that into ICE cars, but I expect the latest tech like that is available in ICE cars (does that mean they somehow need more fuel to feed the drain on the battery system? 🤔 I don’t know) Overall, you’ve not demonstrated that you have to actually pay *more* when choosing the BEV option over combustion options. Now that might not be “good enough” for some people. But if your capital costs are on a par, as we know that they now are, and your running costs are certainly no worse, then the pleasure of the drive in a BEV is significantly higher than its alternative. And, it’s at least a convenient and comfortable journeying experience. But, of course, YMMV 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@bonehead2412]

my diesel old get 70mpg 970miles on a full tank at 90ish pounds

[@malcolmfowler8972]

Very good explanation of the massive difference in costs between home charging and public charging. I'm saving £2,000 a year in fuel costs because nearly all my charging is at home at 7.5p kWh. If I had solar I could save even more. Whereas for someone who is unable to charge at home, there are very little if any savings in fuel costs. The Government could help by reducing the VAT on public charging to the same level as home charging. (5%)

[@ModernHeroes]

I’m not sold on a VAT reduction being the silver bullet - Dan Neidle/Tax Policy Associates’ analysis of this is pretty interesting.

[@paulbuckingham15]

You don't pay any more at peak rate now. The charge point is a one off and will cover all your future EVs or multiple EVs.

[@malcolmfowler8972]

@@ModernHeroes Definitely not the silver bullet but it would help. His main argument seems to be that he doesn't believe the VAT reduction would be passed on in full. But I know Osprey have promised to pass on any VAT reduction in full. Hopefully other CPO's would too?

[@gavjlewis]

Would having solar really drop the costs much considering your high yearly mileage? Is the car at home enough to take advantage of it?

[@mickinmerton8053]

why would you spend a grand on a charger then charge at peak rate? surely you would charge overnight at 1.5p/mile@@MrDead1975

[@Petelmrg]

If you factor in servicing costs over the ownership period that can change things a bit as well.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

Yes no-one mentions the cost of annual servicing of and ICE car do they, our Range Rover Sport was between £500 to £750 a year at JLR, the Tesla is ZERO, it was cheaper to buy too !

[@adamodavis]

EV servicing ranges from cheap…..to non existent. Our ePeugeot was £89. Our Tesla was zero.

[@danielsteven7555]

I would like to see you doing some videos with the Mac master and Geoff buys car

[@alistairlambert3275]

Never wrestle with chimney sweeps, you might get dust on you.

[@mrmick4757]

Well done for your honest trial!

[@AdamJermaneJones]

Nice mic. The sound is so much better these days. This channel gets better and better

[@markarmstrong9550]

That is a huge cost for a car that is expensive in the first place! A fifth of people live in flats in the UK. That is a huge percentage who might struggle to charge at home. Plus anyone who has a house with no drive (lots of them too). This unfortunately seems like technology that is out of reach for a very large number of people.

[@steve_787]

One thought I did have on those who can't charge at home. I have seen that some home chargers have RFID cards. I wonder if there could be a system that would allow a neighbour to tap their card (linked to their home tariff) and charge that way. There are already services that allow you to rent your drive via an app so just need a system like that to book a slot. Then the charger owner could get a few quid for renting the drive/charger. You could block out times when you needed to charge but would be a way for housing estates where you have a mix of houses with drives and flats to share their resources. There shouldn't be a split in the future between the haves/have nots where those with a drive can drive for 3-4 times less than those without. Just a thought.

[@JohnAdams-kc8wx]

Electric cars now only make sense as a commuter or town car.

[@Brian-om2hh]

Not necessarily. If you use the same charge network regularly, a subscription to the network can offer savings.....

[@animal355]

Thanks for doing this, it just makes the choice of keeping my 12 year old diesel Peugeot a lot easier for now, the public charging is so expensive. I appreciate you taking the time to do the job TV motor journalists seldom do. I have to say KZbin is far better for consumer reports like this,; and are a lot more informative and show real life scenarios.

[@peterkent2138]

Good honest video, thanks. The waiting time was less than I expected, well within the standard "comfort" break time. One point I would like to make, home charging is cheap but at some point soon, when enough EV's are on the road, tax WILL be added to the charge tariff. Tax on petrol is around 54% so expect an initial tax on EV of around 20 -30%. Suddenly not so cheap. I know some of your subscribers will challenge this but simply look back at diesel a few years ago!

[@mickinmerton8053]

Yes, but completion between suppliers will bring prices down, Tesla are showing the way as they open up their network.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

Tax is already levied at 20% on the electricity used from these 'commercial' chargers whereas at home its just 5% so in effect a 15% EV charging tax

[@grahamleiper1538]

There's a balance of payments issue with imported petrol and diesel that doesn't really apply with predominantly home grown electricity.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

@@grahamleiper1538 yes we are definitely having our collective legs lifted by these greedy power suppliers, why link the price of electricity to gas ?. I bet if gas prices suddenly dropped like a rock they would link it to something else, maybe gold ?. Government refuse to do anything effective as they gain a higher tax revenue, golden goose syndrome

[@presstodelete1165]

This year I did 10 trips of over 850 miles in a single day, at a fuel cost of under 90 pounds each time. So a day, a hotel, extra meals and significant fuel costs saved each trip. The saving covers all my other fuel costs, servicing etc for the year. Yes my other use is very low and would be ideal for an EV, but I need to do those long trips to earn a living.

[@ModernHeroes]

I didn’t split the journey over two days because of the fuel type, I’d have done the same in a diesel 🤷‍♂️. Not sure what you’re doing that means you need to spend 16+ hours driving on a regular basis but it doesn’t sound much fun.

[@stephensalt6787]

Regarding filling up on motorway services, I’ve done it once in 47 years of driving and I drive down to Cornwall and Hampshire quite a lot from Staffordshire. I’ve filled up on more services abroad than in the Uk as there doesn’t seem to be the cost penalty abroad.

[@Hubbycat]

We got our EV about a year ago. So far we only charged once on a supercharger and Tesla gave us 6000 free miles so it did not cost us anything. To fully charge our model y at home costs us about £28. To fill up our previous car (Lexus RX 350) was about £100. Both cars have similar range with Lexus having a bit more not more than 30 miles. In our case it’s not brainier. But from what I hear some charging providers charging very high prices.

[@pauldenney7908]

If you can charge at home then an EV makes sense so buy one for all your local journeys. For the occasional long journey hire an ICE car or as I used to do a Tesla. If you make regular longer journeys then keep a second diesel car. This will all sort its self out in time but till then it's horses for courses.

[@mrgrummpy29]

Dont forget that people with electric cars are not being hammered by the government with 2p on every litre of petrol and diesel when the budget comes around and EV's are being heavily subsidised.

[@dn744]

Not yet 😂

[@Brian-om2hh]

There are no subsidies on EV's now... And where has the money come from to fund the £billions in subsidies handed to the oil industry for decades?

[@billhanna8838]

To be honest i couldnt stand sitting for an hour waiting to go a couple of hundred miles & do it all over again , Whats the saying about repeating the same insane thing ?

[@ModernHeroes]

Didn’t “sit for an hour waiting” at any point in this entire journey though? 🤷‍♂️

[@catalinomocea6986]

Done 2 x 500 mile round trips to Luton airport last month only using open to the general public tesla superchargers and it cost me around £120 more or less and that's including the £10.99 monthly fee. If I would have done the same trip using other charge providers like gridserve (which I actually like a lot just that they are very expensive) it would have cost me probably at least double so £240. So moral of the story: it's worth paying the £10.99 fee and going with Tesla even for trips as short as 400-500 miles. But I guess everybody has to make their own calculations. Good video though!😊

[@ModernHeroes]

Yeah it’s great if you have plenty of open Tesla chargers on your route, I agree.

[@bigfist255]

Yeah I'm sure once everyone knows about that there won't be any queues 😂😂😂😂

[@davidpiper3652]

I don't think the Polestar 2 is really comparable to a diesel car, more a high end petrol SUV. I almost never public charge and I often charge for free, I just know where to go and when to charge. Interesting statistics. I do think public charging is expensive. Your journey is not typical, most drivers would start a journey fully charged at home, and have one or two public charges on a journey. Overall my motoring is cheaper with our new EV than with our former petrol Focus.

[@ModernHeroes]

I think it’s pretty comparable to something like a 320d - especially in LRSM guise. Company car drivers and rental firms certainly seem to agree.

[@chrisbarron5861]

Skoda Superb Estate, 2016, 2.0 Tdi, 66L tank. £110 to fill Genuine 55mpg at 70 mph = 790 mile range. Over 800 mile range possible at 60 - 65 mph Cost of car £5600, Insurance £320 (including business use), £20 road tax. I have had to drive 450 mile in a single work day, and typically go 20,000 - 50,000 miles per year, so range means everything to me (charging time costs money) Well done with a balanced video

[@nevillebagley4166]

May I ask how much did your electric car cost? How old is it,? What is its value now? How much is your insurer quoting as of today? Thank you

[@andrewthornegeo]

To sum up: charging is most expensive for those who can least afford expensive charging. Nothing new there.

[@sirbum1918]

Thumbs up for the kitty! 🥰 Just wait until they start to tax EV mileage, and they will when the fuel tax revenue decreases.

[@Brian-om2hh]

The taxation on mileage will apply to *ALL* vehicles, not just EV's.....

[@sirbum1918]

@@Brian-om2hh What I mean is that they will tax EV's just like any other car in the future because they want the money they will lose on ICE cars.

[@p6picasso]

Fantastic series of videos....I charge my Model Y at home using intelligent octopus go, therefore the admittedly high cost of public charging has only a tiny impact on my annual usage, and is largely irrelevant to me and many others. You elucidate this scenario extremely well. Home charging an absolute must in my opinion. Reducing the 20% VAT rate for public charging would be a good start.....

[@benday1218]

So, any government worth their salt, would be thinking about how to reduce the unit price of electricity long-term.....in theory!

[@djtaylorutube]

You mean a government that had the country as its main interest and not themselves with their criminally corrupt back hander deals? I wonder what such a government might be like?

[@kipperdog7950]

How things have changed - when I got my leaf 5 years ago a lot of public chargers were still free. If you found a rapid charger that was 30p per kWh it was really expensive! Home charging was 5p. Electricity prices have now gone up by 300% across the board and even my off peak charging is 15p. Absolute rip off!

[@stevenjones916]

Yet we have spent billions on windmills which was supposed to bring us clean, cheap, renewable electricity.

[@colinblick8946]

I’ve watched your trip ….. and I think your assessment was very fair and truthful…… driving a diesel I don’t have problems with EV’s….. it’s a shame the suppliers of the charging points seem to want to shoot themselves in the foot regarding costs. I’d be fortunate if I went EV as I’ve access to charging at home but as you say a lot of people have not.

[@alundavies5171]

i did the journey in a 1.6tdi passat with a 70 litre tank one full tank of diesel each way! at the time diesel was cheaper 100 quid a tank it cost me! and no anxiety of run out!!

[@stulop]

Did you stop at all?

[@alundavies5171]

@@stulop yes once both ways! overnight

[@stulop]

@@alundavies5171 My bladder won't make is past 4 hours, my stomach also. I'd want at least a 45 min stop during each leg.

[@alundavies5171]

@@stulop 2013 was a lot younger then couldnt do 2 hours now without a pee stop

[@alundavies5171]

only reason i did it was cos Vw advertised the passat at the time as being able to do it in one tank! so i took it on!