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Electric Vehicles and reduction in Diesel

S

Simon Fletcher

Active Member
Hi all

Really keen on owning a MP or VW Ocean and have been looking with intent for years now. We hope that in the next few months we maybe able to have the available funds to take the plunge. Our intention is to own for 5-10 years, depending on use and the interest of our kids, and then sell to recoup some of the initial costs to help pay off the finance that is enabling us to fund the van.

However, just wanted to see what peoples thoughts are with regards to the governments plans with reducing the use of Diesel and quantity of Diesel vehicles on the roads in the next 20 years or so. The car market appears to be having a large increase in electric based cars which has lead me to think about the use of electric for vans/campers in the near future.

Has this crossed anyone else's mind whilst purchasing as this could surely massively affect the resale of vehicles in the next 10 years? At the moment I see VW California 10 years old selling for 30k with 80k miles which is an excellent return, I hope this will be the same case for MPs in the future. Are there any folk out there that work within the car industry that know about developments for vans for the future?

Thanks

Simon
 
It's crossed my mind too, however I think we shouldn't be too worried as by definition, a camper should be able to do long distances - it's a requirement.

500-750 miles in a day with a couple of drivers isn't really feasible with an electric vehicle + massive range anxiety being in unknown countries/ recharge facilities.

Diesel isn't going anywhere anytime soon as it's the very cheapest of fuels to move our goods around in HGVs.

Being euro 6, to the best of my knowledge the MP is allowed everywhere and to be fair, many owners don't want to camp in cities where some of the more stringent measures are being enforced.

With all things considered, I think residuals will be fine - the key reason we're seeing a fairly large % drop in the existing used MP market is that all of these ex-demos have been specced with the wrong heater (aux water which is not what the UK market wants - we need the aux hot air) + the late '17 and 2018 orders have the sparkly dash mood lighting and extra cup holders - early demo examples won't have the same premium as the higher specced vehicle - so no-one is buying the early ones.

Buy one and have the time of your life, I don't think the residuals will disappoint after all the fun you've had in 5-10 years.

Carwow are still giving good discounts on new.
 
Thanks for you response DonnyMac. The long distance travel was what was the stumbling block in my mind for the transfer to electric just didn't see how it would work. Good point referring to the HGVs hasn't thought about that.

I had seen numerous Mps on the cheaper side with no heater or the water heater, to be honest that was where we were heading as they seemed such fantastic deals and we weren't sure on how much we would use in the winter, more spring to autumn months I'd guess.

Thanks for your info
 
Simon Fletcher said:
Hi all

Really keen on owning a MP or VW Ocean and have been looking with intent for years now. We hope that in the next few months we maybe able to have the available funds to take the plunge. Our intention is to own for 5-10 years, depending on use and the interest of our kids, and then sell to recoup some of the initial costs to help pay off the finance that is enabling us to fund the van.

However, just wanted to see what peoples thoughts are with regards to the governments plans with reducing the use of Diesel and quantity of Diesel vehicles on the roads in the next 20 years or so. The car market appears to be having a large increase in electric based cars which has lead me to think about the use of electric for vans/campers in the near future.

Has this crossed anyone else's mind whilst purchasing as this could surely massively affect the resale of vehicles in the next 10 years? At the moment I see VW California 10 years old selling for 30k with 80k miles which is an excellent return, I hope this will be the same case for MPs in the future. Are there any folk out there that work within the car industry that know about developments for vans for the future?

Thanks

Simon
Click to expand...

You might want to pop on to the sister forum to this one, the California forum, where this subject has been discussed ad nauseam.

On the other hand you might not want to, for after millions of words and tons of virtual ink the answer is that no one has a clue :D

currently residuals on the Cali are incredible, and no reason to believe that the UK Marco Polo will not be the same. VW are planning to drop the petrol version in the future and be solo diesel, although talk of a Transporter hybrid is looking credible. To ban diesel short term from City Centres en masse is simply not feasible. Nothing will ever get delivered. To ban diesels on a widespread basis and to shunt everyone to petrol until electric becomes remotely feasible simply means screwing up the planet even more with CO2 emissions.

I suspect that despite the rhetoric from politicians the reality will be far more benign for the diesel engine and residuals will continue to bump along somewhere like they are now. Even if the Cali hybrid is introduced in 2021, as rumoured, is an instant success and solves everyone's problem with ICE it is still going to take a long,long time before there are sufficient quantities in the second-hand market to be an influence.

Meanwhile, think of the fun you will have missed :D I bought a new vehicle last November. I have no idea how much longer I am going to live for but if I am still on this mortal coil by the time French and British politicians have to live up to their promises made 23 years earlier to stop the manufacture of diesels, there will still be millions of them on the road.
 
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Certainly can't get them delivered ..... Mid February release now stretching into mid march :D
 
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