Shall I purchase a hybrid 🤔

[Wagon]

That's why they put in the chargers at work .. no way the sales team would charge at home as the journey to work is classed as private miles.
Anyway , would I buy one , prob not a MB one , a Golf GTE would work

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Understand all that. My point was that "I know a variety of company car users who are on mandatory hybrids because of the tax break. Virtually all of them never plug in because they don't want to use personal home electricity to power their company car - and can't quite be bothered. From memory, surveys of hybrid users - possibly from Fleet News but may have been Department of Transport - found the same pattern of usage."

I know that plugging in is easy, and I'd be more than happy to do it, literally daily.

Not everyone can recharge home costs and charge for free at the office.

Do they have fuel cards for personal mileage? If not, then do they charge it for personal use?

 

[DITTRICH]

Quoting hybrid mpg from the car's computer means mixing the miles/litre and miles/kwh (if you are at least in part using the battery (charge or discharge). A bit like claiming battery usage is 0g C02/mile when we all know that the mix of power generation and weighted averages mean that a Kwh from the grid isn't 0g C02. Apologies if this isn't the case, but I think it is the case from what I have seen of claims in car adverts.

 

[philnewmerc]

It takes approx 6hrs to charge on a 3 pin plug so isn't that expensive , plus I can claim the kwh I use back from my company as I'm a peripatetic worker .
Parking in Islington/Camden etc is cheaper as its phev , the diesel surcharge in Islington is currently £6:50 per hour on top of your parking cost , approx £14 per hour to park..
My old Kia Sportage 1.6 d only ever averaged 44 mpg average over the 4 yrs and 140k miles
We also have chargers at the office to the sales guys who work there can plug in ...today I averaged 68.4mpg over 101 miles of motorway and B roads..

Have you checked this figure brim to brim? I am very doubtful it does that if you rarely charge it, unless you're going very sedately. Many of my neighbours also have phevs as company cars for tax reasons but also never plug in! At least they'll feed into the second hand market though I suppose. I had a Golf GTE as a company pool car for a few weeks. Stated range 30 mi, actual more like 15-18. Mpg was around 37 mpg so less than what 1/4 of what VW said! and about the same as a 2.0 (it was a 1.4)

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Do they have fuel cards for personal mileage? If not, then do they charge it for personal use?

Dunno, guv.
I suspect a mixture.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Do they have fuel cards for personal mileage? If not, then do they charge it for personal use?

Here’s one of the sources pointing out that hybrids don’t achieve the mpg and environmental benefits that are claimed - mainly because they aren’t plugged in as much as expected, and mis-report their energy usage (mpg). This is why Government has only given them a limited future.

Ban on plug-in hybrids from 2030 recommended in climate report

There are plenty other sources out there…

 

[Smart320]

My daughter find her Golf GTE very economical, charges it up daily at home which covers the cost of the 11 mile commute and most local shopping trips , the motorway average apparently into the high 40‘s , combined with lower road tax and insurance compared with her 400 E she is finding it a lot cheaper . Never mind the sale of the Mercedes via Motorway for over £42 k and the Golf then costing less than half of that. The plan is probably to purchase a new one in about another 12 months before the battery warranty runs out, assuming the next 12 months is as pain free as the last year or so.
In the end it depends what you want and expect from your car , in her case the hybrid works for her particular situation

 

[BTB 500]

the motorway average apparently into the high 40‘s

We get 45-46 mpg on the motorway from our C300 though (a significantly bigger estate car with a plain petrol engine).



But I get the convenience of having a single car that can do short electric-only runs and still give reasonable fuel consumption on longer trips. And obviously cheaper road tax is good.

 

[DITTRICH]

We get 45-46 mpg on the motorway from our C300 though (a significantly bigger estate car with a plain petrol engine).

View attachment 149534

But I get the convenience of having a single car that can do short electric-only runs and still give reasonable fuel consumption on longer trips. And obviously cheaper road tax is good.

I have had 62 mpg out of my 2016 S205 C200 (7 speed auto) 16" rims on motorway jaunts of 200+miles (in Eco mode). I always had to struggle to get 37mpg out of my 1999 w202 C230k (5 sp auto) 17" rims on similar journeys. The 1994 s124 E300D (4 sp auto) 16" rims used to manage 45mpg on similar journeys.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Dunno, guv.
I suspect a mixture.

If the car is fully expensed so they’re personal mileage is covered by a fuel card then I can see the logic of not charging it, on the ground that they don’t pay for petrol and diesel at all, so why pay for electricity.

If not fully expensed then the logic isn’t so clear. If they have to pay for petrol or diesel for personal use then why not pay for the electricity go personal use too, especially if it saves them money. People are strange.

 

[BTB 500]

I have had 62 mpg out of my 2016 S205 C200 (7 speed auto) 16" rims on motorway jaunts of 200+miles (in Eco mode).

That's amazing!

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

If the car is fully expensed so they’re personal mileage is covered by a fuel card then I can see the logic of not charging it, on the ground that they don’t pay for petrol and diesel at all, so why pay for electricity.

If not fully expensed then the logic isn’t so clear. If they have to pay for petrol or diesel for personal use then why not pay for the electricity go personal use too, especially if it saves them money. People are strange.

And for some they'll claim by the mile, so actually have an inducement to use electricity rather than fuel.

There's definitely still a "thing" about "wimmin" not plugging in, and about people not being bovvered to plug in every time when they can just drive it on fuel, and especially in wet weather. Makes no sense, but since when did people make sense?

 

[Wagon]

Have you checked this figure brim to brim? I am very doubtful it does that if you rarely charge it, unless you're going very sedately. Many of my neighbours also have phevs as company cars for tax reasons but also never plug in! At least they'll feed into the second hand market though I suppose. I had a Golf GTE as a company pool car for a few weeks. Stated range 30 mi, actual more like 15-18. Mpg was around 37 mpg so less than what 1/4 of what VW said! and about the same as a 2.0 (it was a 1.4)

No I've not done that yet so the quoted mpg is probably different , its not like the VAG group ever lie about anything is it
Mines the same powertrain as the GTE but with a bit less oomph .
Drove from home to Bedford Hospital and back today and let it use all of its battery in hybrid mode , it ran out 10 miles from home , if the indicated mpg is anywhere near what its saying its a win for me..

p.s it costs £3:60 to charge from flat at home..

 

[DITTRICH]

That's amazing!

Doncaster to London. I was surprised too. I did pump the tires up, kept the a/c off and used eco to disengage the auto box and coast downhill at 700 rpm. Basically granny driving. Mixed driving returns 45-50 mpg. The north circular gives about 35-40mpg.

 

[mercmancdi]

Never had a mb hybrid but had new Toyota rav hybrid totally rubbish. Fuel drinker , noises. Hated so bad only kept it 7 mths or so. Not for me unless I live long enough to be forced into one.

 

[philnewmerc]

No I've not done that yet so the quoted mpg is probably different , its not like the VAG group ever lie about anything is it
Mines the same powertrain as the GTE but with a bit less oomph .
Drove from home to Bedford Hospital and back today and let it use all of its battery in hybrid mode , it ran out 10 miles from home , if the indicated mpg is anywhere near what its saying its a win for me..
View attachment 149558
p.s it costs £3:60 to charge from flat at home..

This is not a criticism but your real mpg is about 57 mpg:
85 miles total, according to VW it's supposed to do 34 mi on electric, so that's 51 mi on petrol.
The trip meter shows 96 mpg so: 85 miles / G gallons = 96, that gives G=0.89 gallons to do 51 miles, so 51 m / 0.89 gal = 57 mpg
Still very good but nowhere near 96.
If you charge at home on cheap rate or get free electricity then the effective cost to you is very low. If you never charge or use standard rate chargers you may as well have a ICE car (unless this is a company car).

 

[BTB 500]

If you never charge or use standard rate chargers you may as well have a ICE car (unless this is a company car).

Yup an IC only version would be lighter, not having a drive battery and electric motor(s) to haul around. Hybrids harvest energy under braking of course, but I'm not sure how efficient this is and they have more mass to accelerate when they pull away again.

 

[whitenemesis]

Hybrids harvest energy under braking of course, but I'm not sure how efficient this is and they have more mass to accelerate when they pull away again.

Very efficient. I have a long hill to descend to my home and if the hybrid battery is almost empty it is fully charged by the time I've got home. Keeping the brakes gently on all the way down to keep within the speed limit. All that energy would be wasted in heat generated by the mechanical brakes

 

[AEKostas]

But then you have to push the batteries etc uphill. I don’t know where the balance falls, but there is a balance.

 

[pioneercollector]

There certainly is a balance! One of our regular trips is a route from base to a town 20 miles away, If we drive on a specific route we actually have more range than we left HQ with, You guessed it! If we drive back we loose all the extra and many miles miles as well ..... This is with a full EV van.