Electric Peugeot? I think not.

[PureJoe]

I read this report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11985866 on electric cars and considered what an uneconomic proposition they were.

If there are any treehuggers around, electric cars are not particularly ‘green’. Unless the electricity is either from renewables (presently 1% of UK energy production) or nuclear, the best that a powerstation can offer is 42% which means that over half of the oil/coal burned is wasted before it becomes car fuel.

Nine electric cars will be eligible for subsidies

Details have been released of the first nine electric cars that will be eligible for grants of up to £5,000 in a government subsidy scheme.

Under the £43m initiative that starts on 1 January, buyers will get a 25% discount up to the maximum £5,000.

However, only three of the nine cars will be immediately ready for delivery, with others following as late as 2012.

The government also said that a further five areas were to install charging points after bidding for funds.

The additional locations getting a share of £20m to build plug-in points are the Midlands, Greater Manchester, the east of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

They follow after London, Milton Keynes and the north-east of England.

'Convenience'

"Anyone who's filled up at a petrol station recently will realise that the ability to recharge overnight at 1-3 pence per kilometre is extremely attractive," Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC News at the launch.

The Mitsubishi is being advertised for sale from £24,000, after the £5,000 government grant. The Smart and the Peugeot electric cars will initially only be available through four-year leases.

The Nissan Leaf and Tata Vista will then follow in March, while the Citroen CZero is currently only confirmed for "early 2011".

Cars and availability dates

Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Jan 2011
Smart fortwo electric drive: Jan 2011
Peugeot iOn: Jan 2011
Nissan Leaf: March 2011
Tata Vista: March 2011
Citroen CZero: Early 2011
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid: Early 2012
Chevrolet Volt: Early 2012
Vauxhall Ampera: Early 2012

The C-ZERO, the closest to a Peugeot, is the French version of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. However, if you look at a 107 Urban 2-Tronic 1.0, it has an RRP of £ 9,795 and a street price of £8,230. Assuming that the C-Zero is similarly priced to the Mitsubishi, this gives a price difference of £21,770 before subsidy (which you pay through VAT and income tax) and £16,770 after; a price difference of £8540. This is enough to buy 7,000 litres of petrol, which, at a modest 50mpg, is equivalent to 77,000 miles of motoring.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond says the fuel costs of the electric vehicle will be ~2p/km, (= 3p/mile ) Presently, at 50mpg (= 11miles/litre) and with petrol costs of £1.20 a litre, fuel costs 11p/mile.

So now, to break even, you have to work on getting the price difference of £8540 paid off at 8p/mile. This means doing 106,700 miles in that car and remember, it has a restricted range, so 8,000 miles a year would seem generous – so we are looking at over 13 years motoring.

And this is before you think of replacing the batteries as you will have to do at least once within that time.

So, if you have more money than sense, it looks like an electric car is for you.

[kaostheory]

Electric cars are really in their infancy at the moment aren't they more of a gimic than anything.

I do however think that in the future more efficient batteries will be produced enabling further trip distances and prices will come down once the uptake in sales has begun.

Renewable energy has to become more widespread as oil supplies are depleted so its either electric or some other fandangled water/hydrogen car design that has been flying around for years that will be the future.

[chopper1192]

I've just bought my 107 for £6200, and I've seen one dealer selling new lites for £5995, making no financial argument whatsoever in favour of any electric car or hybrid.