Mileage and costs creep up
14 June 2022
Electric vehicles (EVs) have recently been a focus of much interest, especially as the price of petrol and diesel reaches record levels. So I thought it was time to catch up with Genquip Groundhog’s Peter Beach for an update on his EV experience as part of the blog’s ongoing unscientific but real-life appraisal.
Peter has driven a Jaguar I-Pace (above) since March 2021 and as our previous conversations have shown, he loves the car but has at times been frustrated by the limitations and uncertainties of the charging infrastructure, particularly on motorways.
However, one of the positives seems to be the tyres.
“I clocked up 31,000 miles the other day and I realised I hadn’t replaced any tyres yet, so I went to my local Kwik Fit to get them checked over, " Peter told me.
“They said the tyres were fine. Apparently they have 8mm of tread depth when new and mine still have 5mm left. That’s phenomenal: the car weighs 2.1 tonnes! It must be because I primarily do motorway miles.”
Tyre wear on EVs was mentioned earlier on the blog.
Peter says more charging points are becoming available but believes there are still not enough at motorway services, and that “another consideration is that, while more ‘superchargers’ are being installed, my car can only draw a maximum of 90kW.” Indeed, some systems can be as high as 350kW. Perhaps more cars in future will be able to use them.
Last month Tesla, which has its own dedicated charger network, announced a trial enabling drivers of other brands to use them. However, only 15 of its sites throughout the UK are available at this stage, according to the manufacturer’s website.
“I’ve also noticed that the cost of charging has shot up,” said Pete. “Even at home the EV tariff has doubled from 9p per kWh a few months ago to 18p. And I used to get an off-peak rate all weekend but now it’s just available between 9pm and 6am, like weekdays.”
Perhaps when the electricity price cap is reviewed again in October, prices might go up even more. If so, the savings from running an EV compared against a petrol or diesel vehicle might be eroded further. And as already mentioned on the blog, the government has already passed legislation that could enable it to charge the equivalent of fuel duty on electricity consumed.
● The government has just announced today that it is closing the plug-in car grant scheme to new orders, making the purchase of a new EV more expensive for many.
