Battery Vehicle Society

Hi all,

Here for some advice.

First of all, the parking space at my house is down an allyway and in communal parking. Say about 20-30ft away from the house.

How much would it cost me to get a charging point installed? (I would add that I am in the UK).

Very rough estimate, are we talking 1000s here?

Second, the Renault says that the new Zoey will be price based on an equivalent diesel car, excluding battery, and after the government grant (5000).

But how pricey is the battery going to be, and how long is it going to last?

As we are not exactly flush with money, this would be a very expensive purchase for us, and thus we need to know if it's doable.

Any help would be greately appriciated.

When you take delivery of the ZOE the Charging Station hardware will cost somewhere between £100 and £500. However, the most expensive and difficult part of this install is the cable across communal parking and for that I'd have a conversation with the land owner and some local electricians.

The most well informed ZOE discussion that I have seen is over on the TMC forum... here are some photo's that I took of the ZOE last week (go forward and back through the forum to get answers to your questions).

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/4573-Renault-Zoe-ZE/page15?p=120532&viewfull=1#post120532

Hmm, thanks for that. Not impressed. The price initially looks fantastic, but when you factor in the battery lease its way beyond the normal public. Not to mention costs of the charging station.

Not blaming renualt. Someone has finally produced a pretty normal looking hatchback for a seemingly doable amount. But the monthly battery cost will mean an automatic no for many, including me.

Batteries cost what they do, just unfortunate that its out of range of many.

If it really was around 14k, many people would go for it. Would be the kick start to ev no doubt.

How much do you spend on petrol a month?

Around 60. How much does it cost to charge the car, full charge? I know this depends on cost per unit, around 13p per unit I think.

Thing is, we can only afford so much per month, and with the car on finance (could not afford it outright) so the extra for installing the charging station and battery would put it out of reach.

Its a real shame, because my partner and I are keen to get away from fossil fuels. Not to the extent of growing our own mushrooms and having the hippy hair, but in as modern 'nomal ' life way as possible.

Look around on the second hand market, the little Citreon C1 conversion is really nice (there are a couple of reviews here), does about 40-50miles on a charge, costs about £1.50 - £2 to charge up depending on your electrical supplier and can be bought for less than 10k these days, charges off a normal 13A socket no need for any fancy "charging station" just a lockable box with a 13 or 16amp socket in it.
Or if you dont mind a Van then the Berlingo is another great vehicle which now can be picked up for well under 5k , although finding a good one is really hard these days and keeping one running can be tricky.

One of the main issues I suspect you will have is trying to get permission to get the cable to your parking area I suspect

ChrisB

Thanks we kind of wanted a newer more hasslefree car for that sort of money though. The range is just far too limiting as well. Our families are about that far away.

We do have free access to ecotricity's charging points (as we both work for Ecotricity and get our power from them), but something with more than 50 miles would be needed.

I guess what we all really need is some form of battery evolution. We are still working off of what is basically a big mobile phone battery.

If you can find the initial investment of £13,650 then you can drive for 'free'.... the £70 per month battery lease is about the same as you are paying for petrol today...

The ZOE can also 'fast' charge in 1 hour on today's Ecotricity 22kW Charging Stations and will be able to charge in half that time when Ecotricity upgrade to 43kW Charging Stations

Some of my non-BVS friends have been asking advice on buying an EV, having seen the Renault adverts on TV. I usually advise them to look carefully at how many miles they drive (on journeys the EV is capable of) and do the maths to see if leasing batteries is sensible for them.

For myself, I don't do enough miles to justify paying rental while the car sits idle. The numbers only work if you drive a lot of miles (but only around 12,000 I think). Below that, paying more for a Nissan Leaf makes better sense and own the batteries outright.

Ok well let's talk tco.

Sorry if this is in another thread...

What insurance group is it?

MOT - I guess a normal garage can't do it, where and how much would it cost?

Likewise for a service?

How much to charge from empty (not that it would get totally empty) on 13p a unit?

Battery lease, the car finance, and the out lay of the charging station and installation.

Have I missed any other costs, some sort of wear and tear im not aware of for EVs?