Case study: Ashley switched to electric and hasn’t looked back since
Ashley has just taken out a lease agreement on the ultra-affordable Renault Zoe, and he couldn’t be happier with its all-electric performance and cheap running costs.
“My Renault Zoe will be my second leased car. We used to buy used cars, keep them for 18 months, and slowly upgrade. Then a couple of used cars cost us a lot of money in repairs: a clutch, engine faults, and just being unlucky I guess.”
Prior to leasing, Ashley had realised that “the older the car, the less efficient it seems to be”. So, he decided to lease a brand new Mokka. “We leased this over a two-year contract with no troubles at all, only two small services due to low mileage. The car went back with no issues.”
This was the tipping point for Ashely and he said goodbye to buying. “During the 24 month agreement, we knew to the penny how much the car was going to cost us. So there was no hidden surprises.”
Here’s how Ashley said goodbye to buying
“Next came our latest car, the Zoe. We knew that our second car required a low mileage, as 90% of our journeys were local. We took to Leasing.com, recommended by a work colleague, and filtered by EV cars, in which the Zoe rose to the top. I then did my calculations in terms of range, efficiency, charging time.”
Ashley then proceeded to customise his lease plan by selecting the initial payment, contract length and annual mileage that suited his needs. “We put down around £500 as initial payment and are currently paying £216 per month with an 8,000 miles p/a mileage allowance.
“The rest was plain sailing through Leasing.com partner Zen Auto. Very easy to deal with, great communication and since my car, two of my friends have leased after comparing prices and finding a deal through Leasing.com.”
A stumbling block for some is the struggle with charging. Ashley didn’t have a home charger at the time but the local infrastructure, although not perfect, was workable. We can only see charging points being more accessible in the future. Why? Because electric is the future. The government has brought forward its ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel powered cars and vans to 2030. If you want to read more about this, click here.
“After a few months our electricity bill had barely moved but the £45 a month in fuel we used to put in was saved,” said Ashley.
Ashley has given a real-world example of how to live with an EV. “We often go for a 90-minute walk with our dog around our local town while we charged on a 7KW supermarket charger for £1.20, then if we were short on time, there are two 22KW chargers not to far and close to a dog friendly garden centre.”
Octopus energy was their chosen provider. “Insurance was less, servicing is less, and we can defrost the car and pre-heat before we drive. The whole experience is so much cleaner.”