To rent or not to rent...

[aminorjourney]

But what about the everyday motorist, who wants to own an EV but can't because it's almost a requirement of ownership that you're a techie or a geek?

[ChrisB]

But why does NOT having batts on a lease stop Mr and Mrs Everyday from having a EV ?

Its no different from any other vehicle if it was to go wrong, they would take it to a garage to get it fixed, its like if a ICE was to go wrong, some folk would repair themselves while others would DIY it

Having to lease batteries is like having to lease your engine in a normal vehicle it dosnt happen and I dont see why it should happen for EV's.
The option should be there for folk to buy the vehicle out right if they want
If people want to lease the batteries then that should be an option too, but I just really dislike the whole lease thing, I want the choice

ChrisB

[aminorjourney]

Yeah, having a choice would be cool

I'm glad I brought this subject up

[ChrisB]

Yeah its quite a good one to chat about

Its also cool to have folk who are not techy on here as well as full blown anorake's on the forum

ChrisB

[MalcolmB]

Yes, choice would be great. What I'd really like is to be able to buy a car without a battery pack – just an easily accessible space to put them in. There's no reason to buy your fuel from the same company that builds your car. It seems likely that battery technology will improve rapidly over the next ten years, so I don't want to be tied in to any agreement. Buy the smallest pack I can manage with now and then add to it as prices come down, or upgrade as better technology comes along. One of the great attractions of electric vehicles for me is that you free yourself partially from the marketing machinations of big corporations. Tying myself into a lease agreement would go against all that.

What would be good to see is the development of standard interfaces for battery packs, BMSs and onboard displays, so you can pick and choose which modules you want (or build your own) and just plug them together

[marktime]

The problem is that there is no requirement for todays motorist to actually understand how their car works other than stick fuel in the tank and take it to the dealer if the red light comes on. The same can be said of Honda and Toyota hybrids.
Running an EV needs a bit more understanding and partisipation. Putting the car on charge after every short journey would be wrong, complete discharges would be bad, failing to water or equalise would be wrong.

This degree of understanding is still in the realm of geeks (that term is used in a complementary way).

Vehicle producers cannot risk users abusing batteries and complaining to the mainstream media about their disapointment.

Lesing and serviceing deals give the producers the chance to monitor use/ abuse and help to educate the user if required.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just seeing it from the other side of the fence.


MarkTime

[wattson]

Very interesting debate!
I have just purchased a Peugeot 106 without batteries as the batteries were on contract. The car is seven years old & has covered 16000 kms - about 10000 miles. The batteries cost 150 euros a month which means that this car has cost 1 euro per km!!! I figure ten times the cost of regular fuel. There are many electric cars here in France without battery packs because of this. I just need to find an alternative supplier.

[electricvehicles]

Very interesting debate!
I have just purchased a Peugeot 106 without batteries as the batteries were on contract. The car is seven years old & has covered 16000 kms - about 10000 miles. The batteries cost 150 euros a month which means that this car has cost 1 euro per km!!! I figure ten times the cost of regular fuel. There are many electric cars here in France without battery packs because of this. I just need to find an alternative supplier

WELL SAID THAT MAN

[jonathan jewkes]

The choice depends on how much of a geek you are.
Any company offering a leasing contract will have to factor in the cost of batteries being killed off by abuse by uneducated drivers (probably unfair to call them ignorant). So if you have any understanding of how to be kind to batteries you would be better off buying the batteries - even perhaps with a loan - and replacing them when needed.
Also if you do not need maximum range or performance, you may be prepared to carry on with ageing batteries, whereas you would expect a leasing company to replace them at an earlier stage (and of course this will have to be factored into the leasing cost).
Buying your own also opens up the option of changing to a new type of battery when they become available/affordable. With a lease you might be locked in to one technology for several years.

[jonathan jewkes]

OOPS - I voted for option 1 when I really meant option 4.
Though I'm not quite sure of the difference - I suppose that in the option 1 scenario it is only possible to replace the batteries with the same type that were originally supplied with the vehicle, whereas in option 4 you do a DIY retrofit of a different type.