Using a PHEV without chargers

[nomiswest1]

Hello

I am thinking of getting an Outlander PHEV as my next company car, primarly to save on car tax.

But i'm in the position of been unable to charge at home, I park on the road away from the house and work will not pay for my electric costs.
Also when I get to work, work will not provide a charging point.

I generally drive 60 miles to and from work a day (urban/Motorway). 1-2 times a week I will go on motorway trips upto 400 miles a day.

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?
Will charging from the motoway driving charge the battery up sufficiently?
Is there any harm to the battery by not using a charging point regularly?



Thanks for your help.

 

[anko]

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?

Depends on what you value more. Your wallet or planet Earth :|

 

[maby]

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?

Depends on what you value more. Your wallet or planet Earth :|

Not strictly true! The OP is not particularly refusing to charge the car, he says he cannot. It's not a choice between driving a PHEV without charging, or not driving at all, so the question becomes whether or not it is worth buying a PHEV to use as a pure petrol car. In terms of running costs for his pattern of usage, a diesel Outlander probably makes more sense, but it will not be as tax efficient as the PHEV. Diesels are also being increasingly criticised for their environmental impact despite the fact that their CO2 emissions tend to be better than petrol equivalents.

A PHEV being driven as a pure petrol car can do better than 40mpg provided you have a reasonably light right foot - that should compare pretty well with other cars of a similar size on a petrol engine and automatic gearbox. If the OP drives at 80mph on motorways, this will come down to more like 30mpg - still not bad for a large petrol car. It does not charge significantly on motorway runs, so he will be using it as an electric transmission, petrol engined car. I've not heard any stories of the battery suffering damage for not being charged - the car never actually lets it go genuinely flat anyway. If the OP is going to do a lot of motorway runs, he can always make time once or twice each month to get some charge into the battery on a rapid charger.

So, I don't think it is as simple as Anko is suggesting - using a PHEV in this way is probably no more damaging to the environment than any comparable sized pure petrol car and you will get the tax advantages.

 

[gazter76]

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?

Depends on what you value more. Your wallet or planet Earth :|

Not strictly true! The OP is not particularly refusing to charge the car, he says he cannot. It's not a choice between driving a PHEV without charging, or not driving at all, so the question becomes whether or not it is worth buying a PHEV to use as a pure petrol car. In terms of running costs for his pattern of usage, a diesel Outlander probably makes more sense, but it will not be as tax efficient as the PHEV. Diesels are also being increasingly criticised for their environmental impact despite the fact that their CO2 emissions tend to be better than petrol equivalents.

A PHEV being driven as a pure petrol car can do better than 40mpg provided you have a reasonably light right foot - that should compare pretty well with other cars of a similar size on a petrol engine and automatic gearbox. If the OP drives at 80mph on motorways, this will come down to more like 30mpg - still not bad for a large petrol car. It does not charge significantly on motorway runs, so he will be using it as an electric transmission, petrol engined car. I've not heard any stories of the battery suffering damage for not being charged - the car never actually lets it go genuinely flat anyway. If the OP is going to do a lot of motorway runs, he can always make time once or twice each month to get some charge into the battery on a rapid charger.

So, I don't think it is as simple as Anko is suggesting - using a PHEV in this way is probably no more damaging to the environment than any comparable sized pure petrol car and you will get the tax advantages.

I had an issue charging for the first few days with my car, and i seemed to be getting high 30s low 40s on average. So if you are happy with that, go with it, its a great car.

 

[Grigou]

There is a note in the owners manual, page 3-4, saying : "to maintain the capacity of the drive battery, the following is recommended :
- fully charge the vehicle in normal charging every 2 weeks
- do not repeat charging near the full charge level"

No problem for you with the second recommandation, nomiswest1, but what do you think of the first one ? :roll:

 

[jaapv]

I refuse to believe the OP has a house without electric plugs and there are public charging point as well. I do not know about the UK but over here councils will facilitate charging points o request.However, if all fails I would get another car. There are plenty of normal hybrids out there.

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?

Depends on what you value more. Your wallet or planet Earth :|

Not strictly true! The OP is not particularly refusing to charge the car, he says he cannot. It's not a choice between driving a PHEV without charging, or not driving at all, so the question becomes whether or not it is worth buying a PHEV to use as a pure petrol car. In terms of running costs for his pattern of usage, a diesel Outlander probably makes more sense, but it will not be as tax efficient as the PHEV. Diesels are also being increasingly criticised for their environmental impact despite the fact that their CO2 emissions tend to be bettser than petrol equivalents.

A PHEV being driven as a pure petrol car can do better than 40mpg provided you have a reasonably light right foot - that should compare pretty well with other cars of a similar size on a petrol engine and automatic gearbox. If the OP drives at 80mph on motorways, this will come down to more like 30mpg - still not bad for a large petrol car. It does not charge significantly on motorway runs, so he will be using it as an electric transmission, petrol engined car. I've not heard any stories of the battery suffering damage for not being charged - the car never actually lets it go genuinely flat anyway. If the OP is going to do a lot of motorway runs, he can always make time once or twice each month to get some charge into the battery on a rapid charger.

So, I don't think it is as simple as Anko is suggesting - using a PHEV in this way is probably no more damaging to the environment than any comparable sized pure petrol car and you will get the tax advantages.

 

[maby]

I refuse to believe the OP has a house without electric plugs and there are public charging point as well. I do not know about the UK but over here councils will facilitate charging points o request.However, if all fails I would get another car. There are plenty of normal hybrids out there. will get the tax advantages.

The OP reports that he cannot park outside his house. It's a common problem for would-be EV owners living in cities where off-road parking is rare.

Few, if any, hybrids will get the same tax advantage, I think.

 

[Andy]

If you have a fuel card and you pay tax on fuel then yes worthwhile for you but perhaps not the company. If you claim business miles then I would expect it may just cover the costs of your fuel. Depends what you drive now.

Look at full life P11d on company car will increase in 2016 to 7% then 9%

I have done 3k miles in first month, doing 120 miles to London on M3 & M25 results in around 35 to 40 if your lucky without a charge.

In my 90 mile round commute charging home and at work I can get 80mpg, but have also seen as low as 60.

Having just had first month pay packet with new tax code I'm very happy

Great car to drive and happy with my switch from Passat and previous V70.

 

[jaapv]

I refuse to believe the OP has a house without electric plugs and there are public charging point as well. I do not know about the UK but over here councils will facilitate charging points o request.However, if all fails I would get another car. There are plenty of normal hybrids out there. will get the tax advantages.

The OP reports that he cannot park outside his house. It's a common problem for would-be EV owners living in cities where off-road parking is rare.

Few, if any, hybrids will get the same tax advantage, I think.

That is what public charge points are for...

 

[jdsx]

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?
NO - in my opinion you don't want to be dragging 200kg of battery around with you the whole time, whatever the current tax savings may be for you personally

Will charging from the motorway driving charge the battery up sufficiently?
NO - at least you COULD recharge the battery while driving, but you're better off just using petrol

Is there any harm to the battery by not using a charging point regularly?
PROBABLY NOT

 

[jaapv]

And the petrol tank is too small.

 

[maby]

I refuse to believe the OP has a house without electric plugs and there are public charging point as well. I do not know about the UK but over here councils will facilitate charging points o request.However, if all fails I would get another car. There are plenty of normal hybrids out there. will get the tax advantages.

The OP reports that he cannot park outside his house. It's a common problem for would-be EV owners living in cities where off-road parking is rare.

Few, if any, hybrids will get the same tax advantage, I think.

That is what public charge points are for...

That does assume that there is one near you. In London, the majority of public points are in commercial parking spaces and will not be suitable for residents. People living in the suburbs without off-road parking are unlikely to be able to plug up a car.

 

[MarkShelley]

From a tax perspective alone the PHEV cars are a no brainer. See if you can hang out for one of these. A much better car if you don`t need a big vehicle.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/golf/86198/volkswagen-golf-gte-2014-review

 

[Olibol]

The golf might be, and probably is, a better car in every respect other than for load lugging and off-road use, but it's a lot more money to lease and you pay an extra £1700 for nav. A GX4h will cost me about £1500 less per year, which will help make up for the hateful multi media.

 

[MarkShelley]

The golf might be, and probably is, a better car in every respect other than for load lugging and off-road use, but it's a lot more money to lease and you pay an extra £1700 for nav. A GX4h will cost me about £1500 less per year, which will help make up for the hateful multi media.

Funny, my colleague has just got a lease quote on one to check it is within his boundaries and it came in cheaper than my G4. This is a company car.

 

[Grigou]

Without charging is it worth getting an Outlander PHEV?

Is there any harm to the battery by not using a charging point regularly?
PROBABLY NOT

... and indeed, PERHAPS YES

(read my last post on this thread)

 

[jaapv]

]

I refuse to believe the OP has a house without electric plugs and there are public charging point as well. I do not know about the UK but over here councils will facilitate charging points o request.However, if all fails I would get another car. There are plenty of normal hybrids out there. will get the tax advantages.

The OP reports that he cannot park outside his house. It's a common problem for would-be EV owners living in cities where off-road parking is rare.

Few, if any, hybrids will get the same tax advantage, I think.

That is what public charge points are for...

That does assume that there is one near you. In London, the majority of public points are in commercial parking spaces and will not be suitable for residents. People living in the suburbs without off-road parking are unlikely to be able to plug up a car.

A bit of catching up to do there.... :evil:

 

[maby]

]

...

That does assume that there is one near you. In London, the majority of public points are in commercial parking spaces and will not be suitable for residents. People living in the suburbs without off-road parking are unlikely to be able to plug up a car.

A bit of catching up to do there.... :evil:

The question is how an adequate public charging infrastructure could be funded? To meet the needs of city dwellers with no off-street parking, you would need to install pole mounted chargers in significant numbers along the kerb side - each one costing thousands of pounds to install, and a non-trivial amount to maintain. These will not be free - because whoever installs them will need to recover the costs - and, if it succeeds in bringing up the level of EV ownership, the cost of the electricity supplied will become high.

It's a very large investment and involves a lot of disruption to the roads and pavements - and the number of electric vehicles in use is still pretty small. Of course it's a chicken and egg situation - while the number of EVs is small, it's impossible to justify the investment, but the number of EVs will remain small until the infrastructure has been built. Look all over London (and other major cities) - there are miles upon miles of residential roads full of houses with no off-street parking! We here, tend to focus on how we will get a charge while we are away from home shopping or going to work - it is a far greater problem for all those people who have to park their cars overnight wherever they can find a space, possible a long way from home.
Well, it was not much of a problem over here. There are literally thousands of chargers all over the country and they were fitted in a couple of years without any noticeable disruption. If you need one near your house you just call the council and they will help out.

 

[pkulak]

The PHEV transmission is fantastic, even if you don't plug it in. What other SUV will get you high 30 mpgs? And if something changes later, you can start plugging in then. I'd still get the PHEV.

 

[pkulak]

In fact, part of the reason the PHEV is such a great car for me is that where I'm renting now I can plug in, but if I need to move at some point, I don't need to freak out about finding a place with off-street parking just so that my car will work.