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Good video but crikey a LOT of adverts...

My question is, why is the insurance much higher than a combustion engine equivalent?

Spot on with the sheer ease, comfort, smoothness and stress free driving experience - the car and the electric motor were made for each other, why did it take over 100 years before it happened? I can never contemplate going back to the vibrating, whirring, noisy and jerky IC engined car with red hot parts and 2000+ barely contained explosions every minute. And with improving technology, the BEV can only get better.

My Model Y has a HEPA on the HVAC system, it still surprises me every time I get out how polluted the air is.

Small correction - a UK 'granny charger' will only put out 10A not 13A so 2.3 - 2.4kw (or really slow!)

Another great video Gary, balanced and well though out. My only surprise was its taken you this long to move to an EV. For those considering an EV, these are my costs for running the car over the last 12 months. I do have a PV system and 17.5 kwh battery storage and have never had to use a public charger, I thought I would, but I haven't travelled more than 300 miles in a day since I've had this car. I use British Gas as my energy provider, as until very recently, Octopus wouldn't accept a Zappi (Car charger) and a Mercedes on Octopus Intelligent but would on Octopus Go. However, for me 4 hrs (which is what they used to allow on Go) charging isn't sufficient. (If you need long charging times at cheap rate, Eon do a 7 hour cheap rate tariff). Anyway costs. For 11,000 miles I have spent a total of £156.54 on charging it, all of it has been done at night on an off peak tariff. I also pay £22 a month for a service plan off Mercedes, its just been in for the service and they tell me my brakes aren't that different from the day I picked the car up. I work from home a lot so it is regularly on "Eco charge" on the Zappi so it charges the car and the house batteries at the same time. My advice to anyone looking at an EV at the moment is buy a used EV, mine has depreciated an unbelievable amount (40%) since it was bought a year ago, fortunately it goes through my business rather than my own pocket.

Tesla open to all - and there are over 60 sites available are by far and away the best value from 25p/kWh to 50p/kWh depending on time of day (basically avoid between 4pm and 8pm if you can) :)

How can the Tesla Powerwall 3 benefit from DFS events in the UK?

I’ve had Teslas for 6 years, never want to go back. I considered that in reality Tesla had little competition, but that’s changing. I’ve just leased the new Renault Scenic which matches Tesla for technology, has a massive 87 kWh battery (and will get around 330 real world motorway miles) and costs half the amount of a Tesla Model Y LR to lease, it’s also half the insurance cost. The market is finally catching up to Tesla. I just cannot believe it’s Renault who have come up with this car. I get up to 280 miles in my Tesla currently, costs me £4.50 to charge. Tesla chargers are by far the best, many others are simply a rip off. Tesla has about 25% of its UK chargers open to other cars in the U.K.

Your examples ignore the cost of the battery. Let say you opt for the Powerwall 3 that costs about £7000 installed, you're paying £0.19 per kWh over the life of the battery to amortise the cost, based on the warranted total aggregate throughout of 37.8 MWh. That more or less absorbs any gains from time shifting your grid imports.

If we assume the installation cost is £750, a PW3 then costs £7000. At 37.8 MWh total throughout (warranty spec) that's £0.19 per kWh plus the amortised cost of the PV array used to charge the battery, let's say £0.29 all up. How does that compete with grid kWh charges?

I wonder if they do testing the power walls being in humidity… My garage is incredibly humid at least three months out of the year and I always am concerned about moisture getting into things overtime

Thanks for this Gary. Here in New Zealand my wife and I went solar + EV (Kia e-Niro, 2022 model) in 2021 and I have been following your channel since then. I do not assume that I know it all, so try to keep up. Hence I tuned into this latest about EVs, where you cover a lot of good stuff. It was interesting to hear how you installed your Zappi charger a year before getting your BEV! Our experience was the reverse. We installed solar a month or two before the Kia arrived, and over the next couple of years progressively installed a MyEnergi suite of controls, including replacing our almost 20-year-old gas-fired hot water cylinder with a dual-element electric one. But inscrutable government bureaucrats had been holding up signing off the Zappi-2 until 2023, so we waited a year for that! We love our e-Niro... Had to use its granny charger till the Zappi arrived. Most of our driving is around the city, so this initially needed three nights a week, and with the Zappi we charge once a week (maintaining charge between 40% and 80%, as currently recommended for longest battery life). All of this is on a Contact Energy plan with free charging for 3 hours at night, so our total of about 13,000 km has almost all been free. Much of our hot water is also free, apart from the 5 winter months when I schedule a brief daytime boost of the hot water via our Eddi control box. For 7 months of the year our solar generation means that winter schedule is not needed. In the next few months I will do a comparison of Contact Energy vs Octopus Energy (the latter being a relative newcomer in New Zealand). Our charging network down here has been expanding at a slower rate than in the UK, but even so I had been planning for over a year to do a road trip from Wellington, via ferry across Cook Strait, down south as far as Dunedin. As you say, careful planning would have seen us doing overnight charging at a couple of hotels, and just a few quick top-ups en route. But recent mismanagement of our ageing ferry fleet has put the lid on our plans. There was one loss of power of a ferry in stormy weather, and a recent grounding as a result of a fiasco from fumbling the autopilot controls. Luck was with them both times, but we all remember the Wahine disaster of 1968. So we are confining long-distance travel to the North Island for the conceivable future. Keep up the good work, Gary! 😀

Thanks Gary - another great video. I'm potentially looking for a battery only solution with Octopus Intelligent Go but install may have to be outside. Do you have any thoughts on how that could impair performance? I know my EV car range degrades significantly in cold weather and wondered if the same applies here?

This looks quite appealing-and I agree with your “wait till next year” recommendation. In the meantime I’m going to have to see how I can connect my existing AC solar power feed directly into the unit -so I can retain that 40p/kWh FiT kick back I get. Alternatively: work out if/how I could use metering within the powerwall to measure the exact amount of energy supplied by DC coupled solar. Given our inverter is about 13/14 years old I should be planning for that soon anyway

What size solar system for 1 powerwall? I have a 12.4kw system and I was told I need 3 powerwalls.

Thanks Gary for sharing that useful experience. We got an EV in February and won't ever go back! Expect we will only have charge away from home once or twice per year. Used the Tesla chargers on our annual long journey and they worked a treat (and much cheaper than rivals). You do have to do it through their app though (though maybe some will take card payments in the future).

Great video from a human perspective who has no idea how to live with an EV. Just a few points HEV not only charge from regenerative braking but predominantly charge by the combustion engine. Also one pedal driving refers to coming to a complete stop without touching the brake. Many EV's don't have this. Nissan LEAF was the first as far as i know. Personally I had a diesel estate car and looked into EV's in 2018. I took about 9 months but in that time learnt how to charge with the different charge point providers which in 2018-19 was limited to about 2 in the south. Now there are many more operators with all different prices. Currently for rapid charging Tesla are the cheapest (use their open to all chargers for non-Tesla drivers)

I missed what ev you got or are getting

Another great video, Gary. I've had a BEV (MG4) and charger (Zappi) for over a year and finally managed to get my solar and battery installed at the beginning of this month (very long story; don't ask). You will know that we've had a funny old summer in the UK this year so for the benefit of full disclosure I'll just make the following comments regarding my experience of charging at home. The solar can't be used if there is less than 1.4kW being generated; I seem to hit this limit frequently because of frequent cloudy days. I shouldn't have installed my Zappi on a south-facing wall as it will overheat in the sun and restrict the charging current. Fortunately the flip-top on my recycling bin makes a great sunshade. Seriously - who would think that a nice sunny day is not a good time to charge your EV.

Great video Gary, nice to see such a positive ev discussion. Comments from your subscribers excellent. Must have watch too many videos from Geoff Buys Cars and Macmaster, where they stir up so much anti ev misinformation.

I bought an EV last week off the back of a different youtube channel - after watching your videos i've now bought a home battery. Thanks for your content, i cant believe how big the savings are. I bought a kia E-niro that is basically free over 4 years due to the petrol savings and is fully warrantied for the next 5 years!

Buying a reasonable cash petrol car cost around £10,000 over 5 years, in petrol and servicing. A simple BEV (say Citroën) will cost £2,500 over 5 years... A second hand BEV can be purchased and entirely pay for itself in savings.

Gary - another good video. I have had EVs for nearly five years and would never go back to petrol or diesel. Mine have been Kia Niros (on my second). I bought new - the first time because there were incentives / grants and the second time because I lost only about £3k in depreciation in three years on my first Niro (a quirk of post pandemic supply v demand). I expect to lose a lot more in depreciation on my second Niro as the EV market starts to reflect “normal “ car markets meaning prices are coming down both new and second hand. I have found the Niro has a good range (200 - 270 depending on weather/ speed etc). Insurance costs are low (but shop around) as are servicing costs (I buy a three year plan from Kia). Fuel costs are very low as I have solar, battery storage and like you am on Octopus cheap nighttime rates. I also use Electroverse for long distance driving / charging. A recent 300 mile trip cost me £16 using a public charger plus charging before I set off at home. I tend to go for chargers slightly off motorways preferably near a cafe so my wife and I can use it as a rest break. On this last trip I found a fast charger and we hardly had time to have a cuppa and a sandwich at a lovely village cafe before the car had reached just over 80%. The car app tells me how quickly my car is charging. If I do change my car it will probably be for the Kia EV3. The only reason being that it will have a bigger battery/longer range - but I have to test drive first. Depreciation just like with any car will determine if I do change as my current car does all we require (big enough for us , grandkids, dog etc but not too big for parking in a City centre which is free for EVs). My wife also went electric last year trading in a petrol Fiat 500 for a second hand electric convertible 500. She loves it and so do I when she lets me drive it! The range is lower than my Kia (140 miles or so) but it only does short trips and a relatively low number of miles a year. They are cracking cars to drive and significantly cheaper second hand. I persuaded my brother in law to go electric for his car for commuting but have still to persuade my son and daughter - they think I am just an oldie fixated on going green whereas I think I am an early adopter reaping the benefit and helping to save the planet.

Gary.... on charging the BEV, you forgot to mention that no matter what your vehicle is, you can use charge at certain Tesla stations.

Great video thanks.... Having driven a few BEVs I did find that MG as a BEV brand is the low quality end of the market. They do not give the range they state and their onboard software is very poor.... Meaning they have very little clue of where the charging stations are..... Thus giving Range Anxiety. Other Brands Volvo, BMW, Renault, Citroën etc have far better software.

This is not a "sharing experience" video, this is an ad. And, what is worse, full of falsities. Let us start with the last one: EV sales are not only minuscule despite all the incentives the governments are pushing worldwide, but they are also FALLING. The bubble is exploded, and all the major car manufacturers have stopped the investments and are switching back to ICE cars (they finally accepted the fact that nobody is buying EVs). Additionally, real/practical EV range is ridiculous (250 km max), while a diesel car can go in excess of 1200 km. With my diesel car I can go from Milan to Rome and back, non stop 1200 km, and still have fuel in my tank. With an EV car you have to stop twice even to arrive to Rome. A so called ”fast charge”, not only takes an hour (!!!!!), but it is ridiculously expensive and you only recharge to 80%, so your next ride is even shorter than the already embarrassing full range (that anyway will tax the battery to a full charge and deep discharge reducing its lifespan). By the time you have arrived the business/holiday day is over. And time is money (for example one more night at the hotel/restaurant because your travel took so long). The range will also become shorter and shorter as your battery age (the more you drive and use it). Batteries, unlike some women, NEVER age well. You never know if you will find a recharge station, especially in small towns/villages, and for sure you will have to do long detours and wait a couple of hours every time. An horse drawn carriage is faster. Last month I have driven for 2000 km in Brittany countryside (France) and I have never seen a single recharge station. The insurance costs of EVs are much higher than ICEs. Did I say MUCH? Check with your insurance company. Maintenance is costly as well and moreover it is difficult to find someone that can repair your car. If you have a problem outside big cities your only option is to be towed for hundreds of km to the nearest official repair shop!! On the used market your costly EV will depreciate quickly because simply there is no demand. The battery represents 60% of the vehicle cost, and you never know how much life is remaining, so nobody is willing to take the risk ..... The EVs are also a big hit for the environment, they simply move the pollution from the vehicle to the grid power station that is called to produce the ADDITIONAL energy required. Even if you always recharge at home you will NEVER save enough to compensate for the MUCH HIGHER upfront cost of an EV (simple math). Additionally: 2/3 of fuel price are taxes. If tomorrow magically all ICEs disappear and everybody is going electric, the government have to find a way to take the missing taxation from somewhere, for example the kWh for EV recharge.

Also it's not a good idea to charge to 100% every day, especially NMC battery, once a week for LFP batteries. This degrades the battery quicker. If you're driving small distances, it's better to keep the SOC near the middle, like charge to 60% then discharge to 40%. If you charge to 100% for a big trip, make sure you are ready to go soon after getting to 100, minimising stress on the battery. Constantly charging to 100 on a road trip is also not always necessary. Gary, are you considering V2G or V2H then to grid. Have you bought an EV yet. I like the sound of octopus payment card. It'd be more civilized if there was a queuing system for chargers and some info on how long people will be charging for.

Still rocking our two paid off 55mlg diesels. Both still in very good health. Our combined annual mileage now less than 4,000. Happy to 'sweat' what we have now and wait until 2026-27 for the dust to settle. Jealous of the fact they geg access to the IOG tariff with that 15p export rate. Just not Jealous (or financially foolish) enough to switch just for that 😊

Your T shirt gives the show away!

We're in the process of getting the Eco4 grant for solar & heat pump. This grant doesn't permit hybrid inverters or batteries. So I'm looking for ...perhaps the Powerwall? Will V3 be able to do some diverting to an immersion heater for HW?

Now with 2 EV's (one Tesla M3 and Hyundai Ioniq 5) in the household I will not be changing back to an ICE. The driving experience of EV's is far better, smooth and relaxing. Like all cars you pays your money and takes your choice but our 2 have good range and comfort. As for running costs we have 9 KW of PV and for about 8 months of the year we can charge for free and just take the hit mid winter and on longer journeys using public or Tesla charging. Yes they are bit more expensive to buy and insure but overall its so much cheaper. Just take the plunge Gary but choose wisely, which I am sure you will do..

Tesla supercharger is a huge advantage as I’m sure you’ve heard. You input a destination & your car works out charging stops required on route for your car/battery level - inc Europe destinations - also updates you on available chargers, can redirect you if busy at chargers & will preheat your battery automatically for faster charging. No effort. We had a family road trip across Europe around Norwegian scenic routes 5k, epic, easy simple & cheap miles 😀

It’s not LFP. I’m not putting anything else inside my garage.

"Switching to an EV" only if you have an IQ of 3.

I think EV's are, or could be, the gateway drug to 'doing solar'. Having got a used EV over 3 years ago, I've finally spent nearly the same as the cost of the car on panels and a GivEnergy AIO for the house, my wife is planning to get an EV next and I am looking on how to get the gas out of the house totally once the (expensive) boiler reaches the end of it's useful life.

Been driving an ev here in New Zealand, current wheels is a 28kwh ioniq. Love it, over10k kms. I have 36 panels on my roof. 20 of them are bifacial, I also have a byd LVLbattery. I have a Evnex smart EV charger with solar diversion. I’m also an electrical inspector so I was able to install all my gear ,self and get a workmate to sign it off. I’m all in and get some shit from workmates and others for having a ev etc, but I’m all in and I know this tech is the only thing the future holds, weather people winge or not

Great video Gary, i have owned a Tesla Model 3 standard range + with the LFP battery for 2 years which requires charging to 100% regularly, i have had a home solar and battery set up for the last year following my positive EV experience. (And your videos!) I usually drive on fairly local journeys so well within my range from home on 100% charge but occasionally travel further afield so this set up suits me fine and i have no need for a long range version of an EV, like you i was initially a little anxious on my first long journey from one side of the UK to the other and then leaving my car in an airport for a month in the depths of winter. On what should have been the worst case scenario it actually worked out fine, there were plenty of chargers en-route and the lost little from the battery whilst parked up. (Top tip i had prior to this was don’t go checking the cars app whilst you are aware to see the battery condition as the constant waking and sleeping uses up those precious electrons1 Equally don’t leave the cameras on as in the Tesla sentry mode as the constant passing of pedestrians and vehicles again uses a lot of the battery). I recently drove up to Heathrow from SW Wales left on a 100% stopped at Membury to use the loos and put in a charge (the Tesla superchargers were being upgraded and out of use which was a shock but no issue still arrived in LHR with about 35%) left the car for 2 weeks no issues stopped in Reading services on the way home to use loos, get some essentials and use the V4 Tesla chargers which are for open all vehicle use arrived with about 12% charged to 80% whilst we were in the services about 25-30 mins cost of £14.80 and arrived home on 21%. The initial 100% charge at home and subsequent charge on arriving at home both cost less than £5 each so less than £25 in fuel costs for a 350 mile round trip. I could go on and on in relation to the ease and comfort of driving an EV over an ICE car, currently planning a two week road trip around Europe for next years holiday and not concerned in anyway about charging and range..although as others have said ticking that box for accommodation with EV chargers is a no brainier to wake up with 100% every morning. Keep up the good work very informative and entertaining.

Great insight on buying a ev Gary I have been contemplating buying one for a while and you explained it great thanks

I’d advice people who can wait a year or two to do so. The cost of PW3’s will reduce significantly and guaranteed there will be some glitches with the first year or two’s models that need ironing out.

NO.

Nice presentation.

You do an extended EV discussion without mentioning Tesla… I now wonder who is paying you.

This is a great explanation of what it is like to have an EV. All the misinformation from fossil fuel industries seems pretty much baked from the very 1st EV to exist and they just kept pushing it and people believe it. However reality as you said is very different as there have been massive updates to the charging infrastructure alone. Just over 3 years ago charger numbers were much lower, generally 50kWh and max of 2 chargers. Now it is a much better picture with 150 to 250kWh chargers and 10's of them at each location. I like you looked for a minimum range of 200 miles whaever the weather as 100 miles out and back was the most I could see me doing in a day. Glad you are happy and worked out your questions from the information you thought you knew. Reality is owning an EV is incredible.

Good balanced video on switching to an EV, I had solar PV and 15kwh of home batteries installed a year ago and signed up to Octopus Go, I then sold our Audi Q3 and bot a new Audi Q4 last September and switched to Intelligent Octopus, although the depreciation on the Q4 has been brutal and car insurance expensive, its been good to be able to charge the EV at 7p per kWh at home and the driving experience has been great, I've managed about 3 miles / kWh so far mainly city driving which is respectable, although having a driveway to home charge is a must.

Very good video Garry. You've calmly described your experience and through doing so have shown that EVs are not something to be scared of and charging is far better than most would want to believe. I've had an EV for 5 years now (purchased new in 2019) and included in the savings you mentioned (which I am blown away by everytime I think about it) is that in these last 5 years, and because of regenerative braking, I haven't needed to change my brake disc even once. The car has been for its service twice now and every time the dealership (those that normally push for these sort of things to be changed) have reported that the brake discs are still at 70%. We've covered approx. 46k miles including a trip from London to the north of Norway via the European continent, and still I've never need to change the original brakes. The other belief is that after 5 years the owner has to change the cars main large battery because it will have stopped working. what utter nonesense. Our car has done 46k and at the recent service I asked the dealership to perform a battery health check and they reported that the health of the battery is still at 96%, which means the car can easily do 150-200k miles before we'd even need to think about changing the battery, even at all. Now some poeple will want to point to that and say "well at that point, the cost of a battery replacement is going to be huge" I say, indeed, but in all honestly, how many petrol/diesel cars have you driven that even reached 150-200k miles, and what did you do with those; i guess sell them and buy another car. Would that be far more expensive than simply replacing the main battery, if you decided to take such drastic actions anyway?

Their still too expensive for the average earning household 😢

Nicely done introduction to EVs kept basic, general and simple to understand , that takes some skill with all the elements you covered.

Hi Mr Gary, very informative talk, thank you very much.. lot of useful information. Wonder if you could guide me a bit please? I just had a quote for Perlight N type 435w and 9.4k Hanchu batteries. I couldn’t find much info online about the panels or batteries. Hanchu 9.4kW Lithium Blade battery- are they any good ? Many thanks

How do you manage to charge your car, only when your solar panels are producing more power than the rest of the household load. I have solar on the roof, a dedicated charging point in my garage. I can set my car to charge between 9:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon, (winter here at present) during the hours that I would otherwise be sending excess power to the grid at a very poor return and setting the car to charge between these hours almost amounts to the same thing but I would like for my EV to be balancing my load by only using power in excess of the rest of the load.