We are asked all the time to help people make sense of the Price to Value balance between Electric and petrol cars. The way the two types of cars work is quite different so it is not always straightforward.
To help, Fuel Included have today launched their Total Cost of Ownership calculator and information service to help you look at the actual costs associated with owning an electric car and comparing it to the actual costs associated with a petrol or diesel car.
This is available for both private and fleet enquirers
Our Total Cost of Ownership Calculator takes many factors into account, including the following:
Lease costs
Deposits
Comparison with petrol alternatives
Benefits (savings) of electric cars where you live i.e. congestion charge, parking
Different forms of charging (home vs public and rapid vs standard)
We know that cost is only part of the story, but now you can at least answer the cost part simply and clearly.
We provide access to a simple form on-line, that will provide a straightforward Total Cost of Ownership Report to help you make the right decision.
If you want a more detailed assessment, we will work directly with you to refine your circumstances.
The Nissan vehicles at our Electric Car Day were the Leaf Tekna electric car and the e-NV200 electric van. We’ve sold lots of Leafs but it was nice to see the more unusual e-NV200 ‘in the flesh’; we can supply these too so don’t hesitate to ask us if you want to know more.
Under warranty I took my Renault ZOE into my dealership for a repair following an amber light warning of an electrical fault. I later had a call to say my ZOE would need a new part that was on back-order. It could take up to 4 weeks to get my Electric Car back and whilst I waited I would be sorted out with a regular petrol car arranged through a hire car company.
Renault ZOE showing electrical fault
With no Electric Car solution available, I was given a small, manual transmission, Renault Twingo. I really didn’t want to drive a regular petrol car, not only would I not be driving ‘Green’ but I would also be liable for some hefty parking fees at my place of work and of course the cost of petrol. Parking is usually free for an Electric Car in the city and charging is payable monthly and costs me less than £15 for the month.
Renault Twingo, Hire Car
Having totalled my estimated 4 week spend on parking and fuel at around £250 I asked the dealership if they would cover these costs, incredibly they said no but at my request they gave me the number of Renault Customer Services so I could raise a case with them.
Thankfully the person I spoke to completely understood the situation and took swift action to make sure I had a car within an hour, also agreeing and confirming that all associated costs (parking and fuel) would be paid back to me at the end of the rental (subject to supply of receipts). Phew! – that was at least something.
It’s not ideal, I would still much rather be driving an electric hire/courtesy car, every time I turn the key in the ignition and the engine rumbles to life I can’t help but feel incredibly guilty for my short journeys’ CO2 emissions, it also feels strangely old fashioned.
When explaining the situation to someone they said to me
“well it’s like asking a vegetarian to eat meat for a month”
Our BMW i3 on charge at Corley Services (Image: T. Larkum)
Once you’ve had an electric car for a short while you’ll want to venture beyond its initial range and you can only do that by charging away from home. The most popular method is to use one of the network of Ecotricity rapid chargers, their ‘Electric Highway‘; there is at least one located at virtually all service stations on the UK motorway network.
In advance you need to have installed the Electric Highway smartphone app (available for Apple and Android devices) and set up an account with Ecotricity to allow you to use it. Ecotricity home customers get 52 free uses per year, otherwise the charge is £6 per half hour charge.
Step-by-Step Guide
Here is your guide to charging your electric car at an Ecotricity rapid charger:
1. On arrival, park up so the required cable can reach the charge socket on your car. Typically that means facing forward if your car has the charge point in the nose (e.g. the Nissan Leaf, Renault ZOE or Kia Soul) but reversing in if the charge point is near the rear (e.g. BMW i3, Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai IONIQ or Tesla Model S).
Rapid Charging Step 1: Access the Rapid Charger (Image: T. Larkum)
2. Get out of the car and check the screen on the rapid charger to confirm it’s working. Assuming the charge point is not already in use, the rapid charger will show a screen saying ‘Welcome! To charge your car, use the Electric Highway smartphone app’ or ‘Welcome! Select the correct charger for your vehicle’.
Rapid Charging Step 2: Welcome Screen (Image: T. Larkum)
3. Start the Electric Highway app on your phone. If it has been correctly setup it will show your car type at the top. The screen will say ‘What would you like to do?’ with two big green buttons labelled ‘Charge: charge your vehicle now’ and ‘Find pumps: find compatible pumps’.
Rapid Charging Step 3: Choose to Charge (Image: T. Larkum)
4. Press the ‘Charge’ button. The screen will change to say ‘Charging your car’. Press the ‘Get Started’ button.
Rapid Charging Step 4: Get Started (Image: T. Larkum)
5. The screen will change to say ‘To start, scan the pump’s QR code or enter the pump ID’. Here ‘pump’ is Ecotricity’s term for a rapid charge point. For simplicity we’ll choose the latter – press the ‘Enter pump ID manually’ button.
Rapid Charging Step 5: Identify the ‘Pump’ (Image: T. Larkum)
6. This will bring up a box to enter the pump identification number; selecting in this box will bring up your ’phone keyboard. Type in the four digit number as written below the screen on the charge point.
Rapid Charging Step 6: Enter the Pump Number (Image: T. Larkum)
7. The app will look this up and specify the location of the rapid charger with that number. If the number matches your location press ‘YES’.
Rapid Charging Step 7: Identify the Pump Location (Image: T. Larkum)
8. The screen will change to allow you to select the appropriate cable and connector for rapid charging your car. This is essentially straightforward: the Renault ZOE uses AC rapid, the Leaf, Outlander and Kia Soul use CHAdeMO and most others use CCS. You should know the connector type for your car, and the app will also exclude the ones it believes are incompatible. However, you should be aware that most cars can use the AC at low speeds as well as the DC at high speeds and so you may accidentally use AC but find your car charges only very slowly. In other words, use CCS and CHAdeMO in preference to AC unless you have a ZOE.
Rapid Charging Step 8: Select the Connector (Image: T. Larkum)
9. At this point control of the charging moves from the app to the charge point itself. Once initialised the charge point screen will show ‘Connection: connect your vehicle’.
Rapid Charging Step 9: Connect to the Car (Image: T. Larkum)
10. Plug the connector into the car, remembering to remove the secondary dust cover if you have a CCS socket. So long as the car is set to charge (i.e. you don’t have the charge timing override set) the car and charge point will ‘negotiate’ the fast charge they can both support, and charging can begin. The screen will show ‘Initialization: Please wait whilst your vehicle connects to the charge point’ and will highlight the charge point going through a number of check steps: Start communication, Isolation check, Precharging, Charging.
Rapid Charging Step 10: Initialization (Image: T. Larkum)
11. At this point charging starts, and you can usually hear the distinctive high pitched whine of rapid charging underway.
Rapid Charging Step 11: Car is Charging (Image: T. Larkum)
Monitoring the charge progress, and ending the charging session, are covered in Part 2.
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