Would you buy an electric car if it was a BMW?

My biggest concern with an electric car is the deterioration of the battery, whereby it holds less charge after repeated charge cycles. It’s bad enough when a mobile phone’s battery deteriorates over time, requiring a replacement after around two year’s use. Unlike a mobile phone, replacing the battery of an electric car will be a substantial expense, running into the thousands.

If it is a second car, it’s worth a look. But the range is too little otherwise for when you might want an unplanned longer journey. The addition of a motorcycle engine as a limited range extender is OK, but I’d rather have a hybrid car that can motor on indefinitely when necessary.
There is a lease option of around £3000 deposit and around £4300 a year for 3 years.
Electricity still comes from gas in the main and presumably is cheaper than petrol largely because of no duty and only 5% vat. So I don’t see it as particularly ecofriendly unless perhaps you generate your own from solar panels. If electric vehicles were to become very popular more grid generating capacity would be needed – already under threat.

It is apparent from traffic observations that few people are purchasing electric cars. I have yet to see a charging point actually being used. None of these cars make economic sense and as Malcolm R says they are usually running indirectly on gas (or coal). Their pricing seems bonkers as apart from the expense of their batteries, electric motors are surely cheaper to produce than internal combustion engines. When they have a range of 300 miles I might be tempted..

The BMW i3 does not match up to the Vauxhall Ampera, which is also bigger than the BMW.

Ampera’s 45 mile plug-in range, plus a further 300 miles when the car’s 1.4 litre generator automatically clicks in, means the Ampera remains the leading choice.

It is awkward that Ampera still costs about £30,000 new even after the £5000 government grant.

Many people would buy the Ampera if it were priced at £20,000 which it now is in America, its place of manufacture (where it is badged Chevrolet Volt).

Incidentally the Vectra-sized Ampera is manufactured at GM’s Hamtramck Cadillac plant. So its quality is similar to a BMW anyway.

Personally, I would not have a wholly electric car even if it was made by Rolls Royce! There are questions about the reliability of batteries added to which I am not wholly convinced that the original manufacture of them is particularly friendly to the environment. The main problem, though, is the range – or rather the lack of it – and the time it takes to re-charge the batteries. Although I, like many others, spend most of my time on relatively short journeys a quick succession of these can mop up range rather rapidly. Murphy’s law guarantees that after a succession of short journeys there will be an unexpected need to make a longer one for which there is insufficient charge!

A hybrid car offers the ability to cope with longer journeys, whether or not expected, but its only real advantage is reduced air pollution when driving on battery power. As soon as the auxiliary engine is fired-up this advantage is lost. To get a given mass from A to B under a specified set of conditions will need the expenditure of a particular level of energy. In the case of the hybrid car on a long journey, the major source of energy will be the auxiliary engine (there will be some benefit to be offered from regenerative braking, but this may not be significant on, for instance, a long motorway journey). This being so, it would seem to make more sense to use the engine to drive the car directly rather than to generate electricity to charge batteries which are then used to drive the car. In fact, the electric car will be at a disadvantage because it has to lug around the rather high mass represented by the batteries.

As a second car with the batteries leased , an electric car can make sense especially for urban driving. Sure I have seen some statistic that the average car journey is only around 20 miles.

The BMW i3 like the Vauxhall Ampera (and Chevrolet Vault) has only four (not five) seats.
For some buyers this could be a problem.
It ids very disappointing for a car at this price point to only have 4 seats.

The alternatives.

Toyota Plug In Prius – true battery range about 10 miles in autumn /winter, about 13 in spring / summer, backed up by a 300+ miles petrol tank. 5 seats. Petrol engine starts up if heating is required (no pre-heating option at home). Petrol engine starts up if screen demister used. Front tyres wear out at less than 10,000 miles.

Vauxhall Ampera / Chevrolet Volt : battery range maybe 25 miles backed up by a petrol tank range (I guess) of over 200. Only 4 seats )like the BMW i3). Larger dimensions make it too big for a typical domestic home garage (despite being longer and wider than 5-seater Prius). Fifth seat (rear middle) lost because centre console front & rear housing the battery.