I’m curious to know what others think of this.
I’m personally for keeping it as I see the benefit coming in a few years having many more EV’s available in the second hand market. Currently it’s pretty much dominated by mainly Nissan Leaf’s at the lower end of the secondhand market.
I know of a few people as well who have bought EV/Hybrids recently that would not have even considered going for EV’s or even hybrids without the rebate.
We currently have two cars, so it would be replacing one of them. Honestly with how little we drive, buying a decent second hand hybrid might be the best (most cost effective) way forward.
Yeah, exactly what we were thinking for solar as well. Make sure that everything is compatible with batteries if we wish to do so in the future.
If you plan on using it for long trips I would say so. Only downside in my view is that hybrids still have all the same basic service costs as a normal car. Still needs oil and filter, spark plugs etc. if you can do basic servicing yourself you can save even more. I do all of ours for our hybrid.
Hmm good point re/ servicing. With your Leaf, whats the servicing look like? There must be some unique stuff that needs to be done for EV’s?
Well we’ve only just got it, but from my understanding it’s just brakes, brake fluids, tyres, maybe cabin air filter? I guess you could count wipers and wiper fluid? There is no combustion engine, fuel system or transmission. General things like checking over suspension, wheel alignment, CV boots etc. But this is the same as any normal car.
Brake pads wear slower on hybrids and EV’s due to using regen braking (if you don’t have a lead foot). Only reason I’ve replaced the pads and rotors on our hybrid was the dealer stuck real cheap ones on that cracked and were noisy. There was still a ton of pad life left. Was also a learning experience for me to do it myself. You can buy cheaper, but quality parts from places like RockAuto too.
I think it boils down to EV = less interacting components, less servicing requirements, Hybrid = same as a petrol car.