[Plankton]

Cost of replacing batteries/life span? How do you work out the electric usage for tax offset etc.

[Plankton]

Susan, why do you have (1st clean) written as part of your name? Purely out of interest...

Business name?

[windowswashed]

Trouble with electric cars is how reliable the batteries are and the cost to replace the battery packs, not for me, I'm out for the next 21 years and then I'm retired and won't care anyway 

[dan paton]

I think in time to come electric vans will be the standard. However for the moment I'll stick to diesel.

[Spruce]

Cost of replacing batteries/life span? How do you work out the electric usage for tax offset etc.

From the 1st of July all new power charge points installed at owners homes using a grant need to be smart meters. So I'm sure you will know exactly what your electric charging costs will be a year so you can aportion a percentage to private and the rest to business.

[Spruce]

Why the big push for electric vehicles?
What about the power stations?wont we need loads more to power all these vehicles?electric vehicles still give off pollutants into the atmosphere......just different ones that's all....

Its a case of moving the source of pollution to another part of the country where pollution levels are lower or aren't monitored. So its a ticking boxes exercise. As for London, the emission zones is a major revenue source.

From the 1st of July each charge point fitted to the owner's home has to be 'smart'.  The benefit we are told it that the grid can switch these charging points off at peak energy draw times and switch them back on during times when energy is cheaper in the middle of the night.

As far as I can see, smart meters will only benefit the electric grid and will hit the users the most with increased electricity costs. I heard once that the country needs 5 new power stations. If they dramatically increase the cost of electricity used during peak hours (morning and evening) then they believe they only need to build 3.

[Richard Groves]

A gardener mate has one of these vans. He's a bit of an eco warrior. He leases it and so always has a decent battery as part of the deal and gets new more efficient ones as they come out.  £500 a month though   

[tlwcs]

Ok. Picked it up last night and was told I could keep it until Monday
I returned it this morning.

Positives,
A higher ride than the Ford connect
Great low down acceleration
On collection the range said 145 miles, drove it home and on a 16 mile run the regen gave me 155! Very low running costs
Battery guarantee is 15 years

Negatives
Same size as the L2 connect but smaller cab and load space. Could only get the SLX35 in the back on a diagonal
703 kg payload, less me @110 doesn’t leave much when a 400 litre tank is 430 including the tank it’s self. There’s still a 115 battery and electric reel to add
Mid spec is 34k less 6k as a government rebate, but would only cost £100 per more than what I was paying for the Ford. Very well equipped but very plasticy
Very little storage in the cab
Would struggle to bolt down as the batteries are under the load bed
Can’t trap the hose in the doors to work with it locked

For me for now, it’s not the right vehicle. But, when I choose to slow down and use 300/350 a day just on domestic, I may just revisit with a view to a nearly new one.

Big thanks to Dave in Sussex who has owned one for 4 years raves about it and took time to show me how it works for him

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

Susan, why do you have (1st clean) written as part of your name? Purely out of interest...

Business name?

thats right  about ten years ago the admin wanted us all to put business names in as well as your own name i just never bothered taking it off

[Dave Willis]

Posh milk float innit

[advanced]

You are going to give yourself a whole lot of trouble mate  , all unnecessary
Wait till electric gets better