I am about to take delivery of a new company car, a Cupra Formentor Hybrid. I currently have a Ford Kuga 2.0 ltr diesel, 95,000 miles on the clock and 3 years old on 6th May. My choice of new company car is two fold, BiK tax being the primary reason. Whilst it churns my stomach and gets me angrier than a pit bull on methadone, paying BiK tax on a car I barely use for private use, it’s unavoidable. But I can significantly reduce how much I pay, currently £167.00 per month, by changing to a hybrid, £73.00 per month for the Cupra.
The second reason I chose a hybrid over a fully electric, petrol or diesel, is because the infrastructure is not in place for a full electric car, my car is parked approximately 100mtrs from my home, legally I am not permitted to run a cable from my home to the car, crossing two public footpaths, down a communal alleyway and across a grass verge, not practical, so the hybrid will be run largely on its 1.4ltr petrol engine, taking advantage of energy charging points when at head office, a supermarket or the few other places that offer the service.
My company offers no incentive to offset the cost of the ever increasing cost of electricity, so I’m not going to go out my way to charge the car at home anyway.
I attended a fleet exhibition at NEC Birmingham a few years ago, there was promise of under road charging, interchangeable battery packs, fast charge batteries (less than 10 minutes), lamppost chargers etc. etc. I have seen little or no evidence of any of the innovations, with 8 years left before ICE cars cease to be manufactured, I find it very hard to believe that this won’t get extended to 3035, or even 2040, we simple won’t be ready as a country to flick a switch overnight, and I haven’t even mentioned the increase load on the National Grid, and the building of power stations, wind farms etc. or the impact building electric cars has on the environment, compared to fossil fuel, the offsetting of carbon etc.
So, I am very sceptical of electric vehicles, and the lack of thought into infrastructure.
The second reason I chose a hybrid over a fully electric, petrol or diesel, is because the infrastructure is not in place for a full electric car, my car is parked approximately 100mtrs from my home, legally I am not permitted to run a cable from my home to the car, crossing two public footpaths, down a communal alleyway and across a grass verge, not practical, so the hybrid will be run largely on its 1.4ltr petrol engine, taking advantage of energy charging points when at head office, a supermarket or the few other places that offer the service.
My company offers no incentive to offset the cost of the ever increasing cost of electricity, so I’m not going to go out my way to charge the car at home anyway.
I attended a fleet exhibition at NEC Birmingham a few years ago, there was promise of under road charging, interchangeable battery packs, fast charge batteries (less than 10 minutes), lamppost chargers etc. etc. I have seen little or no evidence of any of the innovations, with 8 years left before ICE cars cease to be manufactured, I find it very hard to believe that this won’t get extended to 3035, or even 2040, we simple won’t be ready as a country to flick a switch overnight, and I haven’t even mentioned the increase load on the National Grid, and the building of power stations, wind farms etc. or the impact building electric cars has on the environment, compared to fossil fuel, the offsetting of carbon etc.
So, I am very sceptical of electric vehicles, and the lack of thought into infrastructure.
