We’re thinking about changing the car soon. Last time we bought a car the options were pretty much petrol or diesel. Now there seem to be a multitude of options and plenty of info online on how they all work. However there seems to be very little info on which one to actually choose.
We live in a rural location and cover about 10k miles per year. Most journeys are probably less than 50 miles, but there’s also a weekly trip of around 100 miles, plus the occasional 400 mile round trip to relatives.
Another consideration is that some manufacturers anticipate selling cars with solid-state batteries within the next few years. Potentially this could be the long-promised game changer but could also make it difficult to sell the current generation of hybrids and EVs on the used market.
So which would you choose? And why?
I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
Comments
A plug-in might be a good plan if a good proportion of your journeys won't exceed its range - and you can charge it at home or work where the power is cheap. I may well be out of date, but it used to be that at least some of the plug-is didn't have regenerative breaking, so once you'd used the battery up it was dead weight. I'm not sure that's generally true any more though.
So it's about the "character" of your journeys as much as it is about the distance.
No worries or concerns about having to stop and charge up or worry about the performance of the batteries.
We ended up with a late model, low mileage Kuga petrol vs a hybrid CRV or RAV4, for about 5 grand less for equivalent mileage and year. We hope to keep it for at least 5 years, and I’m open to keeping it longer if it’s still not causing maintenance issues.
Unfortunately we have a new car market dominated by SUV style vehicles which are large, heavy and inefficient whatever you stick under the hood. Oh and lots of people can't park them properly (UK parking spaces just weren't designed with these in mind).
Unless your long journeys are time sensitive then the range anxiety issue for EVs shouldn't be a real problem and as long as you can do home charging.
I have looked to change cars multiple times but drawn back. If you gave me £25k to go to a dealership today probably I'd buy a Toyota hybrid, although if you said buy an interesting/sexy car they wouldn't make the list.
Sub 18K to buy
Weights less than a ton so it's 26kWh hour battery gives around 120 miles of range ... by my maths that means around 4.5 hours on a 30 amp radial to charge up at home
I know the build quality will be poor and the fit and finish compared to Skoda, Ford etc but I don't care. As long as it goes and stops and I never have to get covered in oil fixing it I will be happy.
The broader question, I'm very happy with my Toyota Hybrid. Routinely get 60mpg. I would like a plugin down the line (so many of my journeys are less than 50 miles but with weekly 200 mile jaunts so PHEV is perfect) but when I purchased my current car the only Toyota plug-ins were the Prius, which was only four seater at the time, or the RAV4 which was out of our budget. Unlikely to change my car for 5 years or so but when I do it'll be a Toyota PHEV or BEV.
I wouldn't touch a mild hybrid, don't see the point in them.