Hybrid cars.. and home charging..

  • Thread starter Thread starter vkurup
  • Start date Start date
V

vkurup

Guest
Starting to research the hybrid market... what is a good car that you can take to work, meet clients, but will also take a big Motocaddy bag/trolley to the course without needing to throw the seats down. I was looking at the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV... its sounds interesting, anyone got any experience with it. The journey would be about 30 miles round trip, but there will me plenty of occassions to do 100 miles (hence the hybrid rather than full battery). The Outlander also looks interesting from a company car perspective as the BIK is way lower than others.

For those with electric cars.. does anyone have a charging point at home? The Govt grant makes it interesting, but am interested to know what it does to the domestic electricity bills. Also, can all cars use the same home EV?
 
You will need a new circuit on your distribution board. Not all cars use the same connector type, but some charging stations you can buy multi lead outputs (if that makes sense) There are two types, you take a gamble like VHS versus Betamax! Rumour has it, type 2 will win over. This is used by most of the Euro made cars, type 1 seems to me more APAC manufactured.

A standard 85kW battery would cost about 11-12 quid to charge based on 12p per kW and taking into consideration some loss for the efficiency of the charger.
 
Saw some comments on other forum about the Outlander where one poster had them as part of a fleet at work. Initial thoughts were good but economy drops dramatically when you do distances on motorways. Fine when doing short electric only journeys but 70mph on a motorway, in winter in particular, can take you down to single figures. That scared the life out of me. I'm guessing that may be extreme but even so longer journeys seem to take you into the mid 20's territory. If most of your trip are short then this is not an issue but if you do longer journeys, as I do, then it is a killer.

I will be in the same boat as you in a years time so I will be following this with interest.
 
If you did not fancy going the whole hog with the home charging, I have had the 508 RXH for a while now. Used to have a good BIK. Not largest of boots but takes my bag and trolley fine. Find it fits with my moods, can still pick up a decent pace when needed, but when stuck in jams I can feel less angry as I watch the MPG go up.
 
I've been thinking about a hybrid, looking at the Prius, which doesn't require home charging, is that old hat now?
Not sure I can bothered with home charging.
 
IainP said:
If you did not fancy going the whole hog with the home charging, I have had the 508 RXH for a while now. Used to have a good BIK. Not largest of boots but takes my bag and trolley fine. Find it fits with my moods, can still pick up a decent pace when needed, but when stuck in jams I can feel less angry as I watch the MPG go up.
Click to expand...

did not know that Peugeot did a hybrid, just had a look at the review, but looks like the 'only electric' range was 2miles!! looking for something longer. The other option seems to be the Lexus Hybrid.. but way too expensive

Lord Tyrion said:
Saw some comments on other forum about the Outlander where one poster had them as part of a fleet at work. Initial thoughts were good but economy drops dramatically when you do distances on motorways. Fine when doing short electric only journeys but 70mph on a motorway, in winter in particular, can take you down to single figures. That scared the life out of me. I'm guessing that may be extreme but even so longer journeys seem to take you into the mid 20's territory. If most of your trip are short then this is not an issue but if you do longer journeys, as I do, then it is a killer.

I will be in the same boat as you in a years time so I will be following this with interest.
Click to expand...

By then the Tesla model 3 should be on the UK roads... and in the 30-35K (or lower)... I cant wait for that one to come around and shake a few players.
 
I (perhaps wrongly) inferred from your OP that the BIK was your driver here not driving miles on full leccy. Sorry.
The flip side I don't suffer the long journey issues Lord Tyrion mentioned
 
If its just a low BIK and decent family car, best car i have ever owned was a BMW 320d Efficient dynamics. The Tax (as a company car) was lower than a 15k focus! And mine was 27k list as my work signed off every extra i asked for! MPG was 65+ on the motorway, and i few times i cracked over 900 miles from a tank!

Where full on electric is still very much in its infancy here, i would stick to a low emission diesel personally. This is coming from someone that really wants a Tesla Model X!
 
Rooter said:
If its just a low BIK and decent family car, best car i have ever owned was a BMW 320d Efficient dynamics. The Tax (as a company car) was lower than a 15k focus! And mine was 27k list as my work signed off every extra i asked for! MPG was 65+ on the motorway, and i few times i cracked over 900 miles from a tank!

Where full on electric is still very much in its infancy here, i would stick to a low emission diesel personally. This is coming from someone that really wants a Tesla Model X!
Click to expand...

My wet dream too..
 
I see teslas every day. Nearly as common as Lamborghinis, and I see loads of those too. Nice looking cars (either!), but not my thing.
 
I drove a Model S whilst in the US a few years back. Phenomenal car!

Surprised the UK grant has reduced from £5000 to £4500 though.
 
vkurup said:
did not know that Peugeot did a hybrid, just had a look at the review, but looks like the 'only electric' range was 2miles!! looking for something longer.
Click to expand...

After owning several French cars inc Peugeot, they have trouble designing a functioning electric window, so in my opinion they have absolutely no chance of producing a reliable electric car.
 
vkurup said:
did not know that Peugeot did a hybrid, just had a look at the review, but looks like the 'only electric' range was 2miles!! looking for something longer. The other option seems to be the Lexus Hybrid.. but way too expensive



By then the Tesla model 3 should be on the UK roads... and in the 30-35K (or lower)... I cant wait for that one to come around and shake a few players.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't recommend the Lexus RX400H for MPG, but a good car for room and comfort, HID has had two. She only does around 6000 miles a year mostly short journeys , Pm me if you need more details :thup:
 
Got dragged to the shops on Saturday, and regularly the local car dealers have their latest model on display and a rep, normally the new MIni, or a merc etc. They had a Model S there on saturday and its the first time i have seen people actually paying attention to the car on display! There was a queue to sit in it and talk to the reps!

Cheapest way if you want a ride in one, is fly to Amsterdam, every other taxi there is a Model S, one driver was telling me the grants and discounts from the Gov there to drive electric are huge, charge points everywhere too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Oddsocks
Company car verses opting out allowance.
2
Replies
21
Views
5K
Oddsocks
Oddsocks
D
Plug in hybrid thread
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Oddsocks
Oddsocks
Lord Tyrion
Plug In Hybrid Cars - Experiences?
4 5 6
Replies
110
Views
13K
hovis
H
thesheriff
Used car recommendation (SUV)
Replies
19
Views
2K
Lord Tyrion
Lord Tyrion
1
West Coast Golf Trip
Replies
12
Views
7K
patricks148
patricks148
Top