Leasing an electric car

[W4E300]

I happened to be in the Merc dealership today and had a look at the B-Class Electric - great thing all round by all accounts [Autocar road test etc] and I'm booking a test drive. Principal reason I'm interested is my tedious 75 miles round trip commute, which I do three times a week. The E63 loves a guzzle and I'm currently sloshing about £3k's worth of Shell's finest down it's gullet every year....

So, my question is has anyone looked at leasing an electric vehicle...? Saving £2-3k a year would cover 80% of the lease premiums on a 'normal' car - and if there are minimal/zero fuel costs, it would seem to be a damn fine idea. My business premises has sh1t-loads of three phase power to hand so I'd charge the thing up there and aim to do a complete work/home/work run between charges.

Have I missed something somewhere....?

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[gIzzE]

Bigger deals to be had on the C350e at the moment. Can be had for around £320 a month including vat with 6 months down.

If you can do commute on full electric they make loads of sense.

 

[W4E300]

Bigger deals to be had on the C350e at the moment. Can be had for around £320 a month including vat with 6 months down. If you can do commute on full electric they make loads of sense.

Sadly can't fit in the things - 2m tall....(!) I've looked at the E400 Hybrid as well as the B....

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[NDFR]

I had a Nissan Leaf on test for a week recently. I liked it a lot. The drive was pleasant if not exiting and the only real downside was the limited range. If that's not an issue for you the I'd say go for it.

Rapid chargers that will charge the car to 80% in 30 minutes are very expensive to install, a more reasonably priced charger that charges in 4 hours is around £200. The Government contribution of £5000 will likely end towards the end of the year.

There is apparently a step change in battery technology due next year where the range will increase to something around 200 miles on a charge, at that point I will look again.

 

[st13phil]

A guy who works for me has run a Leaf for almost two years and while he's been happy with the reliability and performance of the car it only just comes out on the right side of the line economically by comparison to IC technology. Considering that there's no VED to pay and that electricity is cheap vs. hydrocarbon fuel, that's not a great recommendation. Having said that, the giveaway lease deals on them that are available now weren't on offer when he went into the deal so the numbers would look better today.

The OP's 75-mile round trip commute would be pretty much on the limit of the Leaf's realistic range, so he'd be in a permanent state of anxiety as to whether he'd get home or not unless he has access to a charge point at his workplace. A hybrid would be a better bet at this time, imo.

 

[wemorgan]

From what I've read these cars make more sense if either bought or leased through a ltd company due to lower BIK and some other tax offset allowances.

 

[Mike Walker]

There are posts on this topic previously iro Renault Zoe. It seems that they are the only ones where you rent the battery on a monthly basis. Talking to a salesperson recently their way of doing things means that a failed battery will be replaced by the Manufacturer . With others you have to pay and new batteries are not cheap outside of the warranty period.

 

[GordonTarling]

I think you'd also need to allow for some sort of charging facility at home, so factor that into the equation if you haven't already.

 

[Mike Walker]

True^^ Renault have an arrangement with British Gas to install the charging equipment at your home.

 

[wywywywy]

With others you have to pay and new batteries are not cheap outside of the warranty period.

All electric cars on the UK market offer 7 or 8 years of battery warranty don't they? So it's unlikely to be an issue for most people.

 

[W4E300]

All good points - specifically about the battery life. The attraction of a three year lease deal and giving the thing back after that time asks the question - what's the second hand market going to be like for these vehicles....?

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[Mike Walker]

All electric cars on the UK market offer 7 or 8 years of battery warranty don't they? So it's unlikely to be an issue for most people.

Not too sure about that tbh but certainly worthwhile checking cost of rental a la Renault against purchase, if needed, from other makers. Suggested cost of a new battery was > £6k I think but again can be checked.

 

[st13phil]

All electric cars on the UK market offer 7 or 8 years of battery warranty don't they? So it's unlikely to be an issue for most people.

This (plus the fairly rapid development cycle and other uncertainties) is what is hitting residuals for EV's very hard. OK for the first owner, not good for the second and by the time the car's 6+ years old it's worthless because no one is going to pay £6k for a replacement battery pack.

 

[wivenhoe]

Couple of things - I have ordered a C350e for delivery on the 1st September. I have had a C200 petrol on demo and can say that as long as you go with the pano roof there is lots of headroom and I am 6' 1" tall - it has more headroom than my CLS and the E Class Coupe I had before the CLS.

The demo achieved an average of 43 mpg with no hybrid and my CLS 350CDI on the same journeys (av speed cameras & gantries reflected) is about 50 mpg. Allowing for the cheaper petrol versus diesel and the benefits of the hybrid then the C350e should work out far more economical. I, like the rest of the world, think the government consumption of 134mpg to be ridiculous but I expect it to be around 70 on a mix of town / motorway.

All of the electric system, including the batteries, are covered by a full replacement Merc warranty for 6 years or 62,000 miles.

The car attracts the £ 5k government subsidy and so full list is significantly less than the the C300 Diesel Hybrid. I achieved a very significant discount even part-ex'ing my CLS - I am looking to get out of the CLS now as despite being a 2014 model it is Euro 5 and I think the residuals of these will start to degrade due to the 'anti diesel' brigade.

100% of the the C350e purchase price can be set off against corporation tax in the first year and the personal tax is a negligible 5% this year.

The government pay 75% of the cost, up to £ 750, for a home charging point so the average cost is below £ 100.

The C350e is marginally quicker 0 - 60 over the 350CDI - 5.9s versus 6.3s plus it comes with Airmatic as standard.

I think Merc and the government are solving most of the concerns over switching and I think it is the way forward as the anti-diesel brigade will become far more voluble and I believe the temptation will be too great for the government to put a great wack of duty on diesel - I hope I am wrong.

 

[tron]

The used car market will be very good because people are stupid enough to think that electricity is a suitable fuel for cars.
It has not been for 120 years and it is not now.
If the energy density breakthrough was going to have happened, it would have happened by now. The 24 different Lithium chemistries are the best we currently have and the next big thing has been round the corner since La Jamais Content ran 100KPH in 1899.
It isn't going to happen. We have 500 mile range and five minute recharges. Until you can do that, you are not going to be at the party.
My boss had a Prius. I had a BX.
2008 Prius v1994 Citroen BX estate: BX 9MPH faster, 3 seconds quicker to 60, 200Kg more payload and another nine MPG.
If it was a good disco they wouldn't have to give away free body debit cards.

 

[addbuyer]

The wife has just taken delivery of a top of the range Nissan Leaf with all the toys and comfort you could want. It drives very well, range is about 70 miles but if you can plug it in at work then you have no problems.
Its charged at night on ecomomy 7 so is pence to run. Just set the timer in the car and it turns on the charging system at midnight and its ready for the next day. Its no slow coach either.
Its on a flex scheme which means the battery is hired and the whole package i.e. car rental plus battery over two years is £230 a month with nil deposit
No brainer really
Plus she offsets my C63 carbon foot print lol

 

[hybridlover]

The used car market will be very good because people are stupid enough to think that electricity is a suitable fuel for cars.
It has not been for 120 years and it is not now.
If the energy density breakthrough was going to have happened, it would have happened by now. The 24 different Lithium chemistries are the best we currently have and the next big thing has been round the corner since La Jamais Content ran 100KPH in 1899.
It isn't going to happen. We have 500 mile range and five minute recharges. Until you can do that, you are not going to be at the party.
My boss had a Prius. I had a BX.
2008 Prius v1994 Citroen BX estate: BX 9MPH faster, 3 seconds quicker to 60, 200Kg more payload and another nine MPG.
If it was a good disco they wouldn't have to give away free body debit cards.

Interesting then given Tesla and future product development?

I'm just the average man on street when it comes to technology but you lost me when you compared a hybrid to the Citroen BX

 

[C350CDI]

The used car market will be very good because people are stupid enough to think that electricity is a suitable fuel for cars.
It has not been for 120 years and it is not now.
If the energy density breakthrough was going to have happened, it would have happened by now. The 24 different Lithium chemistries are the best we currently have and the next big thing has been round the corner since La Jamais Content ran 100KPH in 1899.
It isn't going to happen. We have 500 mile range and five minute recharges. Until you can do that, you are not going to be at the party.
My boss had a Prius. I had a BX.
2008 Prius v1994 Citroen BX estate: BX 9MPH faster, 3 seconds quicker to 60, 200Kg more payload and another nine MPG.
If it was a good disco they wouldn't have to give away free body debit cards.

Depends on your usage - my wife drives between 30-50 miles day, all city traffic. Our 350CDI does between 27-32mpg in these circumstances. On A roads and motorways, 46-52mpg is the norm. We just leased a new Leaf, £1000 down , £136 pcm. 10k miles pa. Running cost £1.45 a day (40 miles), the 350 will be circa £7.30, over a year about £2000 saved. Even lower running costs if you're on E7, which I'm not.

BEV are perfectly suited to town driving. The energy density of LI-ION batteries is perfectly adequate. Plus it's plenty quick enough, initial torque is more than a E63 .....

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Depends on your usage - my wife drives between 30-50 miles day, all city traffic. Our 350CDI does between 27-32mpg in these circumstances. On A roads and motorways, 46-52mpg is the norm. We just leased a new Leaf, £1000 down , £136 pcm. 10k miles pa. Running cost £1.45 a day (40 miles), the 350 will be circa £7.30, over a year about £2000 saved. Even lower running costs if you're on E7, which I'm not.

BEV are perfectly suited to town driving. The energy density of LI-ION batteries is perfectly adequate. Plus it's plenty quick enough, initial torque is more than a E63 .....

Does £136 include the cost of the batteries? Seems good value if it does.

 

[C350CDI]

Hi Bobby,
£50 (Acenta, 6.6KW charger) + £86 (battery) pcm flex for a total of 20000 miles.
So £136 includes the battery. Yes, that's why I got it to do town driving. It's perfect for that.
We get a tad over 80 miles range with the AC on.

The tech and packaging is changing rapidly, I reckon the next Leaf will do 200 miles, may be there'll be a Lexus version. Perhaps a C class BEV is 2 years time when the lease is up. Perhaps BMW will come out with a 3 series + REX ....