Plug In Hybrid Cars - Experiences?

[Lord Tyrion]

My current car is a Skoda Superb. Brilliant family car, swallows golf gear, people and luggage. Ideal for my current needs. I lease it through work and the lease ends at the end of June. I've looked around and nothing can beat it for what I want, cost etc I have a choice though:

1/ Buy the car myself at the end of the lease

2/ Lease the exact same car again, 2.0d, auto

3/ Lease the new plug in hybrid version.

The diesel version has a good lease rate, high BIK (tax) hit. The hybrid has a high lease rate, great BIK. The overall cost of the hybrid comes out slightly less than the diesel (it is my company so it is still my money paying the lease)

It then comes down to the cost of fuel, please no moralising at this point. It will come into it but not on this post. I do 20k miles a year. 150 per week commuting which would largely be covered with pure electric. Based on Golf and Passat GTE version it costs around £1 a night to charge. £5 for the weekly commute is clearly a winner compared to 3 gallons of diesel (I get 52-55mpg). If that was all I did, plus other localised driving it would not be an issue. I also do, and will do for the next 3 years, trips of 200 mile round trip and 400 mile round trip. In both instances I will not be able to charge at the other end and 15 minutes in a service station, assuming I can find a charging point, will not make a difference. For those journeys I will be largely petrol only or mild hybrid (not fully sure how it works) This is the bit that worries me.

I know people with the Mitsubishi Phev and it has been a disaster. The car is too big for the motor, the range is poor and the petrol only mpg is awful. I am wary of getting caught in the same trap, stuck for 3 yrs. I have been looking on VW and Skoda forums but experiences are still sketchy. Anyone know people on here with plug in hybrids and know how they compare on longer journeys.

(before people kindly suggest other alternatives, I have pretty much checked them all out and they don't suit for one reason or another)

 

[bobmac]

Have you looked at zap map?
https://www.zap-map.com/statistics/#location
Tells you where the chargers are.

Also Fully charged is a great source of all thing EV/hybrid
https://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Have you looked at zap map?
https://www.zap-map.com/statistics/#location
Tells you where the chargers are.

Also Fully charged is a great source of all thing EV/hybrid
https://www.youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow

I understand chargers will be dotted around but if I am doing a long journey I don't want to be spending time searching for a charger and then sat like a lemon when I just want to be back on the road. I am happy for some compromise but I want my eyes to be fully open before I dive in.

I will check out the Youtube site, thank you.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Just in case you don't realise, have you seen the soon to be passed, new benefit in Kinds rates for Electric and Hybrid cars? Electric only would be 0% and some hybrids 0% for 1 year.

Going to be some big changes come April and of course the current incentives/breaks that are available on vehicles and business at work charging points and capital allowances on such vehicles.

Sorry don't know about ranges, as don't have one myself as yet but am looking, so following this with interest.

 

[lobthewedge]

Just starting the process of renewing a dozen cars in our business, so i feel your pain. BIK rates are killing off company car schemes, while the added costs of going electric/hybrid to a company cannot be ignored. Its a delicate balance.

I have gone for a BMW 330e, but we got a great discount on the lease and my daily commute lends itself perfectly to the 30(ish) mile electric range. The boot is pretty small, but luckily it passed the golf bag test, partly due to me having a cut down driver.

We are also looking at the Skoda hybrids due for release, and I have literally just come out of the Peugeot garage having had a look at the new 3008 plug in hybrid. Just awaiting lease prices, with a view to spreading them over 48 months instead of our usual 36 in a hope to dilute the added costs.

Until a few years ago we had a car fleet of 22, but most have gone for a commercial option instead, taking advantage of the tax loophole this presents.

 

[drdel]

We have run a Mitsubishi PHEV for several years. Totally reliable: a full charge (£1.10 for 22miles) and tankfull (£37) gives us a range of 325 miles for a non-stop trip. Tows quite happily.
When just on local runs we just use battery power from an overnight charge so get very cheap transport.

Hybrid cars need matching to your trip characteristics.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Just in case you don't realise, have you seen the soon to be passed, new benefit in Kinds rates for Electric and Hybrid cars? Electric only would be 0% and some hybrids 0% for 1 year.

Going to be some big changes come April and of course the current incentives/breaks that are available on vehicles and business at work charging points and capital allowances on such vehicles.

Sorry don't know about ranges, as don't have one myself as yet but am looking, so following this with interest.

Printing off the BIK rates for the next 3 years is the first thing I do when I am changing cars. I have to say I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the current one. I had not realised the jump that had occurred . It has certainly influenced the cars I have been looking at but sad to say the options are very limited still if you want anything bigger than a small family car

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Why not just buy your current lease car off the lease co, and run it until the other options are less "pioneer"?
I know we bought a hybrid Yaris for my wife last year, and she gets on average 68mpg total, but when I changed from my beloved diesel Barge to the petrol Mazda 3 it was because of the persecution of all things diesel, hybrid and electric options weren't anywhere near enough or within reasonable budget.
Personally I think it's going to be at least 10 years before long term alternative options are out there, so in that respect I would keep your Barge mk3 and enjoy it

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I have no grandchildren and thus don't fear the inevitable planet under water.
Plus, by global standards, petrol/gasoline is cheap in the US.

So electric cars have to become much more convenient before I'll consider them.

 

[Britishshooting]

I understand chargers will be dotted around but if I am doing a long journey I don't want to be spending time searching for a charger and then sat like a lemon when I just want to be back on the road. I am happy for some compromise but I want my eyes to be fully open before I dive in.

I will check out the Youtube site, thank you.

I have a Tesla Model X I never would have gone the full electric route personally and to be honest never looked into it previously however it was bestowed upon me as a company car so I had little choice in that regard.

I was very much of your mindset with full electric, and it's going to be different for every use case and the charging options available and the efficiency and personal requirements. However I would have only contemplated hybrid as a personal car mainly due to usability and charging restrictions.

I was VERY concerned as projects I work on can see me travel a few hundred miles each way several times a week. This is what actually lead to the Tesla being selected, most other options (from my boss's research) didn't have the range, efficient charging facilities etc. to make it a viable option.

This lead to the Tesla being selected as it has a very high range, very efficient supercharging at a lot of service stations with supercharger facilities.

It works well for me I can drive good distances, park up at a supercharger and have a walk, make calls and send e-mails for half hour whilst it juices up. Something I never factored in before and I do believe to be good for my general well being as a work car. I don't think I could physically make an electric car that charged at a much slower rate work for me however and genuinely don't know how people with a range of <200 miles and non supercharging facilities make it work for anything other than general pottering about and a typical work commute.

I have to be careful if i'm only commuting I don't charge it too often as I have a charge point at home and the office ant it's recommended ideally to charge up when it gets to the 20% mark rather than keep the battery constantly topped up and never run down. This in itself can be an issue for some people as if in say a normal electric car you are considering battery life and something comes up which means you urgently need to drive somewhere you may not have the time to charge it up from that point if you have run it down to 30% lets say.

I must admit I miss filling up with petrol/diesel it seemed a much simpler time and I never felt exposed. Now i plot my journeys via superchargers and dependent on site location have to factor in more time for long range journeys. I've not been caught out yet but I've been very close, in anything with a lesser range I doubt I could make it work.

Cracking car though, I've had 500bhp cosworths and evo's in my mid 20's and this thing in would eat them alive, in ludicrous mode there is no comparison. It's easy to forget as it does feel so refined in comparison. My old man absolutely adores it. He's been a mechanic all his life and this thing just baffles him but I guess electric cars are other worldly to old school mechanics.

 

[Hacker Khan]

My current car is a Skoda Superb. Brilliant family car, swallows golf gear, people and luggage. Ideal for my current needs. I lease it through work and the lease ends at the end of June. I've looked around and nothing can beat it for what I want, cost etc I have a choice though:

1/ Buy the car myself at the end of the lease

2/ Lease the exact same car again, 2.0d, auto

3/ Lease the new plug in hybrid version.

The diesel version has a good lease rate, high BIK (tax) hit. The hybrid has a high lease rate, great BIK. The overall cost of the hybrid comes out slightly less than the diesel (it is my company so it is still my money paying the lease)

It then comes down to the cost of fuel, please no moralising at this point. It will come into it but not on this post. I do 20k miles a year. 150 per week commuting which would largely be covered with pure electric. Based on Golf and Passat GTE version it costs around £1 a night to charge. £5 for the weekly commute is clearly a winner compared to 3 gallons of diesel (I get 52-55mpg). If that was all I did, plus other localised driving it would not be an issue. I also do, and will do for the next 3 years, trips of 200 mile round trip and 400 mile round trip. In both instances I will not be able to charge at the other end and 15 minutes in a service station, assuming I can find a charging point, will not make a difference. For those journeys I will be largely petrol only or mild hybrid (not fully sure how it works) This is the bit that worries me.

I know people with the Mitsubishi Phev and it has been a disaster. The car is too big for the motor, the range is poor and the petrol only mpg is awful. I am wary of getting caught in the same trap, stuck for 3 yrs. I have been looking on VW and Skoda forums but experiences are still sketchy. Anyone know people on here with plug in hybrids and know how they compare on longer journeys.

(before people kindly suggest other alternatives, I have pretty much checked them all out and they don't suit for one reason or another)

I'll be in a very similar situation to you soon, currently have a Passat diesel company car which we use when we go on long journeys in the UK but looks like a hybrid will be the way to go for my next company car, probably the Passat or Superb.

Mrs has a BMW 2 series hybrid and she's pleased with it. Gets about 25 miles from the electric and then uses the petrol engine which is more than enough and is relatively efficient as long as you don't drive like a hooligan. The tank is not massive but you can get pretty much anywhere you'd want to go on one tank of petrol. She's worked out that she is about the same financially when it comes to cost of fuel/electricity between her old car which was a diesel Golf and this one. But the BIK savings are much more. But of course that depends on your main journeys, hers are usually 25 miles or so to work and back but if you are doing long journeys a lot then I expect the cost of fuel will be more as the electric will run out pretty soon a lot of the time. But again modern petrol engines are getting very efficient if driven sensibly.

 

[Wolf]

I'd avoid the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV like the plague if your doing that sort of mileage. Friend of mine is sales manager at one of their dealership and said the only reason so many got them was for the initial BIK. They're great if you never do a journey over 30 miles which is last time I spoke to him their full range off a full charge. The problem is the engine its not that its not powerful enough as its a 2L Evo petrol engine, its the fact it drains your tank quicker than Usain Bolt runs 100m due to the size & weight of the lump that is the car and batteries. So much so his dealership won't let anyone have them as a company car because it was rinsing the fuel cards. His exact words were great as a Chelsea tractor school run car, no good for business thst do many miles and charge fuel..

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Why not just buy your current lease car off the lease co, and run it until the other options are less "pioneer"?
I know we bought a hybrid Yaris for my wife last year, and she gets on average 68mpg total, but when I changed from my beloved diesel Barge to the petrol Mazda 3 it was because of the persecution of all things diesel, hybrid and electric options weren't anywhere near enough or within reasonable budget.
Personally I think it's going to be at least 10 years before long term alternative options are out there, so in that respect I would keep your Barge mk3 and enjoy it

If they offer it at a fair price I suspect this will be the road I go down. Sometimes they can be daft but hopefully not on this occasion.

 

[Sats]

I like the Lexus SUV's - mind you I've not driven them I'm purely going on looks. The only hybrids I've driven have been at work so Prius, Ionic and the i3. The i3 is like a golf cart and fun especially running around London but I don't know what it's like to own.
Mind you BMW are releasing the 5 series, X1,X3 and x5 as hybrids.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Mind you BMW are releasing the 5 series, X1,X3 and x5 as hybrids.

The new 1 series is now front wheel drive, and that frees up room for hybrid/electric options in the future.

 

[Hobbit]

I had an engineer who had the Golf version. Great car, no real problems etc. Another had the Mitsi, what a pain.

Here's a thought, bit off the wall. If 99% of your journeys are going to be local, short stuff, why not get the plug in but hire a decent diesel/petrol car for those odd trips down to the University...?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I had an engineer who had the Golf version. Great car, no real problems etc. Another had the Mitsi, what a pain.

Here's a thought, bit off the wall. If 99% of your journeys are going to be local, short stuff, why not get the plug in but hire a decent diesel/petrol car for those odd trips down to the University...?

If it was 99% of journeys then I would look at this. At the moment however the ratio is not that one sided still. One of the purposes of one of the 400 mile round trips is to visit my mum. She is getting older, getting a little more frail and so that trip is going to be a little more frequent.

Your comment is one that is valid and should be looked at by many more. I'm sure it would work for many.

Thanks for the Golf comment. Same engine and set up so hopefully comparable. The Mitsubishi really does seem well intentioned but not up to it. Yet to hear a good comment about them.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

We have 7 VW demo vehicles at work including 2 Passat Demo plug in hybrids.
We loan the cars out to various companies on behalf of VW.
The 2 Passats are always out and booked weeks in advance, lovely to drive, but only have a range of about 35 miles in full electric mode.

However this would work for 90% of my current car usage and it’s just a button to return to petrol mode.

We move cars for Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Vauxhall, Hyundai, BMW and Mercedes and the driver feedback on the new electric VX Corsa’s and Peugeot 208 / 2008 is very good.

In fact Peugeot has really got its act together in the last 2 or 3 years and is now producing some seriously good cars.

Our drivers fave is the Hyundai Ionic, great until you try to get someone over 5 ft 7 into the back seat as the roof slopes down and rubbish rear headroom

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I looked at the Hyundai. Agree about the rear, boot is too small for me and the interior looked cheap. Apart from that..............................

Interesting comments about the Peugeot, I haven't looked at them yet.

With regards to the Passat, how does the mileage go when the electric runs out?

 

[bobmac]

I looked at the Hyundai. Agree about the rear, boot is too small for me and the interior looked cheap. Apart from that..............................

Interesting comments about the Peugeot, I haven't looked at them yet.

With regards to the Passat, how does the mileage go when the electric runs out?