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Can You Reduce The Costs Of An E-Car?

Even though the British government has made it clear that the future is not in fossil fuel powered vehicles, a lot of households are still debating the advantages of an electric car. Indeed, at a time where most people need to commute on average an hour to go every day, it’s easy to see how an electric car could make it difficult to maintain a healthy work/life balance. After all, who’s got time to put their car on charge for 12 to 18 hours to be able to get to the office on the next day? You can’t just top it up at the pump in a matter of minutes like you would with a diesel or an unleaded petrol engine. Additionally, there is no denying that electric vehicles have not yet addressed all the issues that environmental and legal institutions have complained about regardless fuel-powered engines. So the question remains open for now: If there a way to reduce the many costs of an e-car?

What are the hidden costs of electric cars?  

Electric cars are expensive

For the time being, buying an electric car is an expensive purchase. For a start, even the best selling electric vehicle in the UK, the Nissan LEAF, costs on average £8,000 more than the best selling family favourite car, the Ford Fiesta. For a family budget, £8,000 is not the kind of expense that can be easily ignored. Besides, you need to add the running costs of maintaining an electric engine. A 1.2L petrol engine will need a refuel after roughly 300 miles, and you can expect to pay between £35 and £40. But the Nissan LEAF will need charging after 100 miles, which means that you also need to check for charging stations along your route.

But things will change

Additionally, if you’re looking for a cheap auto insurance, you’d better stick to the Ford Fiesta for now. Electric cars are indeed around £330 more expensive to insure at the moment. Admittedly, it doesn’t mean that you should ignore the option of buying an e-vehicle as you can expect that technology will improve rapidly. Along with the legal incentives, it’s likely that within the next 10 years, electric cars will become cheaper to insure compared to fossil fuel engine, as we’ll get closer to the 2040 deadline set in the UK.

There are already eco-friendly actions

There has been a lot of discussion in the recent years about the green benefits of electric vehicles. Indeed, it’s impossible to ignore the cost of production on the environment. Indeed, the lithium contained the car batteries come from environmentally destructive mines, which are linked to the creation of highly toxic chemicals that are regularly dumped back into the environment. In other words, until this process can be improved, it’s hard to think of electric vehicles are green cars. However, there are green actions that can help to improve their running costs for your wallet and the environment. Indeed, Smart Green Batteries SARL has patented charging stations using recycled oils to charge your car.

In other words, e-cars still come at a high cost in terms of environmental protection, financing, and practicality. However, there are indications that this cost can be decreased through technological progress over time.

Maintenance Musts: Essential Steps Every Electric Car Owner Should Take

Every car owner should take steps to keep their vehicle in tip-top condition. If you’re prepared to look after your car, you’re likely to save money on repairs, and your wagon will be worth more if you ever come to sell. Electric cars are a different proposition to traditional motors, but this doesn’t mean that maintenance is any less important. Here are some essentials for every electric car owner.

Picture credit https://www.pexels.com/search/electric%20car/

Servicing

All cars, regardless of the type of technology or fuel they use, need to be serviced on a regular basis. Servicing involves a series of basic and routine checks, which are designed to ensure that the car is running well and reduce the risk of problems developing. You have to pay for a service, but keeping up to date with services could save you a huge amount of money in the long-term. Servicing an electric vehicle is often more straightforward and therefore cheaper than traditional cars, as there are fewer parts and the mechanisms are simpler. If your car is due a service, look for local garages that offer maintenance checks for electric cars.

Cleaning and polishing

If you’re a driver who takes pride in the appearance of their car, microfiber car wash towels are an excellent investment. Cleaning won’t prolong your car’s life expectancy, but it’ll make the car look more attractive, it will enhance the driving experience, and it’ll make the vehicle more marketable if you come to sell. If you use a car for business purposes, cleaning and polishing the vehicle will help to give off the right impression and enhance the appeal of your brand.

Taking care of your battery

There may be different guidelines for optimum charging for different makes and models, but it’s important to take care of your battery regardless of the type of car you drive. Nissan recommends charging the battery to 80 percent, rather than 100 percent to prolong the life of the battery. Check with the manufacturer so that you get the best out of your battery. While it may not always be the best option to drive with a full battery, it’s certainly not advisable to run your car on empty. Avoid getting to the stage where the battery is on 1 percent.

Tire tips

All drivers should check their tire pressure and tread depth on a regular basis. If your tires are worn, or they’re under-inflated, this can affect the driving experience, as well as putting you and other drivers at risk. Check the air pressure before long journeys and take a minute to inspect the surfaces of the tires. If the pressure is running low and you’ve only just pumped the tires up, you may have a slow puncture, and it’s worth trying to repair the tire or replacing it with a spare.

If you own an electric car, it makes sense to try and keep it in pristine condition for as long as possible. Taking good care of your car will enhance safety, save on repair costs and boost the value if you choose to sell.

The Nissan e-NV200 Combi: Big Car, Small Emissions

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Most of the hybrids and electric cars you see today or either the small models that hardly contain three people or they are massive, like the ones that Elon Musk is pedalling at the moment. But the Nissan e-NV200 Combi is one of those cars that is bridging the gap between small and large. It is the world’s first 7 seat MPV that is all electric. The idea for this model is to cater for shuttle services as well as appeal to large families. In this respect, the NV200 is catering for quite a niche market, so let’s put it to the test.

Nissan was one of the first firms with a mainstream EV, and this model, based on the NV200 van, is pretty much cut from the same cloth as the Nissan Leaf. As far as its power is concerned, the electric motor has a decent 107 bhp, as well as 187lb ft of torque, meaning that its modest power lends itself well to the family contingent. And while the NV200 model is considerably bigger than the Nissan Leaf, it has the same 24wHk battery that the leaf has. So if you’ve got a small family but opted for this car, you may find yourself heading to a used auto service to trade it in. And as the somewhat a limited battery power is felt at higher speeds, despite the larger front than the Leaf, the official range for the vehicle is only 106 miles.

Despite its somewhat limited range, it comes with two different charging options in both versions of the car, the Combi and the Tekna. The two charging options, the Rapid, and Rapid Plus, and while the Rapid version can take 4 hours to charge, the Rapid Plus version has a high speed 6.6Kw AC option for charging onboard. There isn’t much difference between the Combi and the Tekna, save for the 15-inch alloy wheels, as well as climate control, and the usual features like Bluetooth and so forth. The benefits of both models are that it has the Nissan Carwings Infotainment System, which includes satellite navigation, as well as a DAB radio.

The one thing you notice when taking it out for a spin is that it’s so quiet, as well as it being without a diesel engine, and no manual gearbox. This means that negotiating heavy traffic is easy work. And while the van is able to keep up with other high-speed traffic, the top speed of 76 miles per hour can be a bit of a problem. It’s also important to remember that other factors will drain the battery. The one major issue is that if you are driving in hot weather, the climate control will put a lot of pressure on the battery.

But, as far as a family car is concerned, this is certainly one of the front-runners in the category of “driving five or more kids to the game”, but with its limited capabilities, it appears more useful in shuttling people back and forth, rather than long, strenuous journeys.