Tesla in Harrods

[dave200]

Hi there, I've been skulking on this forum for a while so hi to you all, I'm thinking that my next car will be a Tesla. So.... I'm heading into London this weekend, child free just the wife and I .... Apparently Tesla have a popup shop in Harrods so me is thinking I'm going to make a visit and check it out. First introduction to Tesla for my wife.

Currently I'm running an Jag XFS diesel with 120k miles, great car but the problem is its running a treat so no man excuse available to simply change it out. Any purchase will be a private one with me adding 25k miles pa. Am I a typical Tesla owner I wonder ?

 

[MarkScott]

Definitely do it, but beware -- chances are you will get sucked in and then you will have to buy one.

Harrods. I'm not sure how much scope there is for test drives around Knightsbridge, so you'll probably want to book another drive someplace where you can experience the launch :biggrin:

 

[bryand]

Hmm. Taking an unfamiliar car out into Christmas Shopping traffic in central London isn't a recipe for a good test drive. Might be a few supercars available for traffic light GPs, though.

 

[Belly Buster]

There's a regular Tesla stand in Touchwood in Solihull, but it's just a display model to sit in and some staff to answer questions. If you want a test drive, you book it through Birmingham.

 

[dave200]

So, met the very helpful chap on the stand, after some in depth discussion on the merits of Tesla, he offered a test drive, which of course I accepted. 10 minutes later, a fantastic black 85d P. It was a slow drive up Park Lane and then via Hyde Park. I also had the insane button and was blown away with the acceleration, up to 30 only of course. Just got to figure out the best way to get my hands on one of these.....

 

[MarkScott]

You were warned...

 

[WannabeOwner]

Any purchase will be a private one with me adding 25k miles pa.

My sums were also done on the basis of 25k miles pa. and also assuming current MPG was not amazingly Eco, and having Economy 7 electricity to charge overnight and intention to charge a decent proportion of the time at work and/or Superchargers etc. and on that basis I calculated the saving between Diesel and Electricity to be £ 100 per month for each 10K miles per year. My commute to work is 40 miles each-way so I could easily do round trip and only charge at work, so maybe in I will save more. If your Jag is thirsty the figures might work better for you There is perhaps?? [depending on how much Man Maths you can get away with!!] another £25-50 a month for congestion charge, car tax reduction, etc.

So ... doing 25K miles pa I took £ 250 per month off the HP payment to decide how affordable it was.

20K of my 25K miles is private, so £200 (of the the £250) per month is after-tax and mine is a company car, so the £250 extra on the finance will be a company-cost. There is also 100% first year [electric vehicle] write-off available (if you can buy in as a company vehicle). Of course for a private purchase the monthly fuel saving will only count 1:1, but its still fairly significant; in my case I have previously changed combustion-engine cars every 3 years (75K miles being my comfort-point before expecting to incur mechanical issues), whereas I think 150K or maybe even 200K is perfectly reasonable for electric motors, so finance of 5 years, and allowing for the £250 per month, might well get you 2x as much purchase-price compared to a combustion-engine car.

For a private vehicle, if you will be doing some business miles that will be recharged to the company, it would be interesting to consider if the standard X-pence-per-mile will apply - clearly that will be far more than the fuel-cost, so would also help offset higher initial purchase price.

 

[MarkScott]

For a private vehicle, if you will be doing some business miles that will be recharged to the company, it would be interesting to consider if the standard X-pence-per-mile will apply - clearly that will be far more than the fuel-cost, so would also help offset higher initial purchase price.

I do some volunteering with the National Trust, and they pay travel expenses for electric vehicles at the same rate as for ICE -- 33p per mile.

 

[lolachampcar]

dave200,
Yes, you were properly warned. The Tesla grin is enjoyable.

 

[dave200]

I have some key areas to investigate now especially as I would use this as my private vehicle but with 20k miles pa on business which is paid out at the 45/25 ppm, that's a £6500 pa contribution assuming my employer and HMRC allow ICE rates for EVs.... The gets more interesting the more I look at this.

 

[DJP31]

I have some key areas to investigate now especially as I would use this as my private vehicle but with 20k miles pa on business which is paid out at the 45/25 ppm, that's a £6500 pa contribution assuming my employer and HMRC allow ICE rates for EVs.... The gets more interesting the more I look at this.

The HMRC rates you quote do apply to EV's. HMRC don't make any distinction between how the vehicle is powered, petrol or otherwise. I'm in the same position as you and checked it out for myself.