Should I buy an electric car?

[Kermit]

Should I buy an electric car? On average I drive about 8 miles a day and need to transport two small dogs and nothing else of any bulk. There is the very occasional 30 mile trip. I have a couple of bikes for long holiday trips and if I really have to drive a distance there is a hire car depot just down the road. I do almost no business mileage anymore.

Has anyone already worked out the economics? Lease? HP? Outright purchase? I’m told it’s 100% tax deductible when purchased by the business but only if it’s new. Cheapest new EV is about 16k. Second hand about 6k. Thoughts would be most appreciated.

[Doomanic]

Yes. Your usage profile sounds ideal.

[graham_hk]

What EV is 16k?

[Kermit]

What EV is 16k?

Skoda CitiGo

[colinicky]

I normally only do 15 miles a day max , but unless I buy a Tesla an electric car is useless as most cannot tow a trailer , even the new Mercedes EQ range can only tow 750kg ! Tesla seams to be the exception to the rule. This is going to be the next big milestone for electric vehicles. Being able to tow caravans & trailers still keeping sensible range is critical to their success. Otherwise there will be a last minute rush of people buying petrol/diesel vehicles.

On second thoughts the Tesla doesn’t work as I can’t fit 3 metre lengths of pipe in it or 3 very large dogs !

[Steve Clark]

I imagine you could fit the pipe or dogs in a Tesla X. £80k. 670 or 1020bhp. 7 seats. Will tow 2.2tn. Up a hill. Very easily.

[Stuart Keasley]

Should I buy an electric car? On average I drive about 8 miles a day and need to transport two small dogs and nothing else of any bulk. There is the very occasional 30 mile trip. I have a couple of bikes for long holiday trips and if I really have to drive a distance there is a hire car depot just down the road. I do almost no business mileage anymore.

Has anyone already worked out the economics? Lease? HP? Outright purchase? I’m told it’s 100% tax deductible when purchased by the business but only if it’s new. Cheapest new EV is about 16k. Second hand about 6k. Thoughts would be most appreciated.

Re buying it through the business, offsetting a car for privatee use against tax depends on how you buy it.

- contract hire/lease hire then the contract hire charge plus 50% of the vat (based on you using it as a private vehicle). [This bit removed, thanks JamesP for making me look a bit closer]
- hire purchase/outright purchase, you can't claim the vat back on the purchase, full value Inc vat is registered as an asset, then written down across useful life, the write down becomes an expense.

You can offset the full value of an electric car against profits in the first year if you wish.

https://www.gov.uk/capital-allowance...ear-allowances

All other expenses, ie insurance, servicing, repairs and maintenance will be picked up by the company.

The other tax break is benefit in kind: electric vehicles are 0% of value at the moment, rising to 1% from April and 2% in 2022, so the personal tax hit is tiny.

Thoughts?? I'm seriously considering it....

[Stuart Keasley]

I normally only do 15 miles a day max , but unless I buy a Tesla an electric car is useless as most cannot tow a trailer , even the new Mercedes EQ range can only tow 750kg ! Tesla seams to be the exception to the rule. This is going to be the next big milestone for electric vehicles. Being able to tow caravans & trailers still keeping sensible range is critical to their success. Otherwise there will be a last minute rush of people buying petrol/diesel vehicles.

On second thoughts the Tesla doesn’t work as I can’t fit 3 metre lengths of pipe in it or 3 very large dogs !

VW ID.4 can tow 1000Kg

https://www.whatcar.com/news/2021-vo...%20to%201000kg.

[Ken]

If I still worked through my own limited company I would probably buy one as a tax avoidance scam. Likely a VW ID 3 or 4 or the Kia. Not a retro fit like the golf etc all of which have terrible range.

I would of course not buy a Tesla. Just yesterday this was in a presentation I was at https://iacr.org/submit/files/slides.../55/slides.pdf Slides two made my skin crawl. Slide 11 confirmed the feeling. This is the month Which has a car buyer supplement on cars, particularly electric cars and hybrids this year, and they also report on the poor quality of Tesla.

TBH I think it is too soon still. What we need is something with the range of the better Tesla but made by a proper car company.

[steelemonkey]

I am looking at getting a steam powered vehicle.
This is obviously the fuel of the future.

https://www.edie.net/news/11/Cumbria...three-decades/