HELP.Confused.com 50,000 miles a year....is the Phev for me

[76delboy]

Hi All...Really need someone who is a good mathematician!!!
Currently doing 50,000 miles a year in a Seat Exio that runs @ 42mpg.
70% of what I do would be motorways....
Self Employed....
On Finance lease, approx £7500 down payment, it'll cost me £650 per month tops to lease.

Is it economical for me to use this for my many many miles!!!!!!!

 

[jaapv]

I do not think so. An economical Diesel would suit your needs better imo.
If you have the habit of driving long stretches without recharging, especially at higher speeds and through traffic, you would be doing very well to attain 35 MpG. 28 would probably be closer to the mark.(UK values)
After all, you will be driving a petrol hybrid weighing nearly 2000 Kg and with the frontal area and CX value of the average parish church. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but you get the idea.
This car is at its best driving shortish distances and being charged regularly.

Having said that, it is a wonderful long-distance car to drive. I find that I feel even more fresh after having driven, say, 700 KM Autobahn than I ever did in my Jaguar X-type, despite that being quite a comfortable motorway cruiser.

 

[WattCar]

Having done around 220 miles in the first week of ownership with most of that being 170miles on the M25/M23 and the ave mpg showing 51 (before it disappeared) inc a couple of charges I can make an early comment that diesel is your better option.

So far I love driving it, its quiet and comfortable, but for 50k a year (do you really do that?) diesel must be a better option. I'm about to retire and I doubt that I'll do more than 5-6k a year mostly short runs so this PHEV is ideal. Incidentally, I had also had a diesel x-type for 8 yrs and loved it. Great engine the 2.2.

So far my only complaint is getting the app to work but I'll get the dealer to do it some time.

___________________
Outlander PHEV GX4h
Frost white
Rear sensors added

 

[maddogsetc]

I agree with others, cannot see it will be economical for those miles. Sorry.

 

[buickanddeere]

Your country, price of gasoline, diesel and electricity?
If that is 200 miles a day with a full charge every night and an hours charge during lunch? It maybe a do-able at a break even............Do haul any sort of product or cargo? Will driving an EV warmup any customers and increase sales ?
"Motorway" sounds British but "miles" hints at American?

 

[jaapv]

The car will only be available in the USA in 2015....

 

[maddogsetc]

"Motorway" sounds British but "miles" hints at American?

Last time I checked we were still using miles here in England too

Incidentally, what's the price of electricity in the US? I'd have thought that the cost of gasoline would probably invalidate the cost benefit of these cars anyway, unless the $/kWh is also way below European levels :?:

 

[PHEVclub]

On my visit to the dealer the first questions they asked was the use and mileage for the PHEV I was enquiring about. Second question was regards the charging station and location availability for charging the vehicle.

Not sure if this is part of the standard dealer training, but Mitsubishi Reading UK didn't want to sell me a car that would not deliver on my expectations.

I can't see the PHEV matching the any diesel for such a high mileage driver. Not unless you stop and charge every 25 miles. Not realistic.

Now back to the second question the dealer asked. For those in the UK the Sunday Times had a review this week on the PHEV. It was not great reading for anyone considering or anyone who has actually ordered a PHEV. However the main problem really was that the reviewer had no way of actually plugging the car in to charge it. Living on a street with no driveway. Why did Mitsubishi Marketing UK let someone without a location to charge the PHEV review the car in a national paper? I would think that the Marketing Department had a call on Monday morning. It could have, and should have been a good review by a reviewer who actually fitted the criteria for a PHEV. After all this is a vehicle that does not suit everyone.

 

[buickanddeere]

"Motorway" sounds British but "miles" hints at American?

Last time I checked we were still using miles here in England too

Incidentally, what's the price of electricity in the US? I'd have thought that the cost of gasoline would probably invalidate the cost benefit of these cars anyway, unless the $/kWh is also way below European levels :?:

Electrical rates vary widely across the Canadian provinces and the American states. Ontario electrical prices have more than doubled since a Liberal Government embraced subsidized "green energy". The solar, wind and gas turbines were all installed with and are still be paid incentives above market rate. Coal and nuclear were running 4-6 cents per Kw and hydroelectric 1-2 cents per Kw. Solar is getting 80.2 cents per Kw and wind 14.5 cents per Kw. Some gas turbine contracts were 16.5 cents per Kw.
My last power bill averaged 19 cents per Kw with the off peak, mid peak and peak usage.
87 octane gasoline is running $1.36 per liter. Diesel $1.42 per liter.

 

[maddogsetc]

That's interesting, so that's a cost ratio of about 1litre:75kWh compared with nearer to 1Litre:10kWh in the UK. So whilst the quantitative saving running on electric is not so great as here it's still significantly cheaper to drive on electricity compared to fossils.

 

[WattCar]

I also read the Sunday Times review and knew it wasn't realistic when the "reviewer" was taken by surprise that she had nowhere to plug it in! Fancy that, an electric car needing a charging point. Also, she couldn't start it and had to "reboot it". Perhaps no one told her to press the brake pedal when powering on. Makes you wonder about the credibility of some motoring journalists doesn't it?

Sorry, just seen she's "an aspiring eco-driver". Nothing wrong with that. She must have done sociology so not much common sense.

 

[thegurio]

That's interesting, so that's a cost ratio of about 1litre:75kWh compared with nearer to 1Litre:10kWh in the UK. So whilst the quantitative saving running on electric is not so great as here it's still significantly cheaper to drive on electricity compared to fossils.

I can't even begin to work that out but I'm sure its easier than I'm trying to make it...

Could you tell me what the answer is when I have fuel at about $1.70 and power at off-peak $0.18 and $0.22 on peak.

 

[jaapv]

I also read the Sunday Times review and knew it wasn't realistic when the "reviewer" was taken by surprise that she had nowhere to plug it in! Fancy that, an electric car needing a charging point. Also, she couldn't start it and had to "reboot it". Perhaps no one told her to press the brake pedal when powering on. Makes you wonder about the credibility of some motoring journalists doesn't it?

Sorry, just seen she's "an aspiring eco-driver". Nothing wrong with that. She must have done sociology so not much common sense.

She is at least as credible as Jeremy Clarkson. There are simply some people who are either too lazy, too ill informed or too Luddite to see the adavantages of an electric vehicle properly used. Just compare to the debate about climate change. There are flatearthers everywhere.

 

[maby]

Seems to me that there are many possible reasons for buying an Outlander PHEV. We're realistic about the running costs and don't expect to reach the highly optimistic figures that are quoted in some places. We have a much loved but now very tatty Toyota Landcruiser and have been driving large SUVs for many years. We had been getting very despondent about being able to replace it with something acceptable - decent size, 4WD, good load carrying etc. at a price that was even remotely acceptable - the Outlander seems to fit the bill. It really doesn't have that much to live up to as far as we are concerned - the Landy can manage about 25mpg if driven very gently! Most of our journeys are relatively short and they do include a fai number of trips into London, so the Congestion Charge exemption will be useful.

 

[Hypermiler]

Sounds perfect for you, maby. Have you got one on order then?
H

 

[maby]

Sounds perfect for you, maby. Have you got one on order then?
H

Later this week. ..

 

[king01]

Deffinately not for you mate. The PHEV is suitable for somweone that does about 15k a year with combined usage. If you are a high mileage user and predominantly motorway, i would be choising diesel. The other side of the arguement is that the charging point infrastructure is betting better by the week. you can now get FREE electricity at Ecotricity charging points which are at Moto services, Welcome Break and Ikea. You can plan your route and actually drive from London to Scotland on free electric.

 

[Hypermiler]

:lol: King
London to Edinburgh on ev? I think I must have misunderstood you.
you'd be stopping every 20 minutes to charge for 1/2 hour!!! Actually I'm not sure you could do it all on free electric (perhaps you could in a Leaf?) as there are still quite large expanses of the motorway network without chargers as far as I can see from looking at the various maps. You'd be doing so many detours to find a charger, it would be like 1 step forward 3 steps back! Made me laugh though .
H

 

[maddogsetc]

Yes I thought that a bit 'optimistic' too :lol:

Even if there was a fast charger every 30 miles it's about 7 hours charging time alone :!: