Battery swaps are, in a word, stupid. It is super expensive and complicated. Mark my words that this idea will be a big fail.
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[quote]
My tip is: if you can charge at home, buy an EV. If you can’t, wait until you can, then buy an EV. If you can’t wait, buy a used gas car.[/quote]
^ this. TCO for EV’s are much less (for the first 10 years at least, then you need a battery pack worth of 20k 
), but they are expensive to buy.
The “Home Charging Initiative” will come in the next 2-3 years in Switzerland, mandating a load management system in every garage, at that point anyone can go and buy an EV. Now it’s only the first 2 people per garage who are lucky 
So for @1000000CHF I would drive that Octavia (fix the AC!) until you can charge in your garage - or if you park on the street, do get a garage spot at a time.
Renault has tried this and indeed it was a big fail. You can still buy a Zoé with a “rented” battery though, 100CHF a month, forever. Kinda kills the low-cost-EV myth, though.
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Thanks @Bojack for you answer.
From what i’ve read, in Norway you can swap your batterie twice for free per month, any additionnal swap is charged 10 euros. With their BAAS you also make sure that you get a brand new batterie anytime you go for a swap. So less stress about the performance of your batterie as it get’s older.
But it must be understood that the swap service is rather intended for large cities, where access to a charger per household may be limited or non-existent. This is what I mean when I say that swaps could be an interesting alternative to tesla supercharger.
I recently saw this video commenting on Nio’s battery swap:
When I look at it, I don’t just consider the convenience for the customer, but the overall cost and complexity of the system.
Think how much it restricts the car’s construction, if the battery has to be easily swappable. Think how much space this “garage” takes. Think about all the batteries in circulation, how many, at a given time, are waiting in the storage for the next customer?
And we are already talking about CATL coming with batteries that you can fast charge in 5 minutes, which is faster than the entire swap procedure. I think as the tech develops, battery swap will look more and more cumbersome.
In the meantime, I’ve learned that my parents want to buy the Mercedes GLC SUV PHEV. My dad thinks:
- Tesla is ugly inside, has a much less premium vibe to it than the Merc
- he wants to have the convenience to go anywhere he wants without looking for the chargers (for short trips they can charge at home)
- he thinks the charging infrastructure in Poland will be bad for a long time
- he thinks Poland will fail to increase electricity supply for the growing number of EVs, so the price per kWh will skyrocket (also induced by the Russian war)
- he wants to spend the money, because he’s afraid of inflation, that’s why they go for an over the top car
Can’t fault your dad in his thinking. Tesla quality is subpar to all German manufacturers (they are also that much cheaper, though, in their own EV category) and the charging infrastructure is going to be subpar in CEE for a while. In Hungary for instance it’s a catastrophe anywhere you go East of Budapest.
Electricity prices will not skyrocket as Poland is self-sufficient from coal. CO2 values will skyrocket, though, and everyone dies sooner - but that’s another thread. 
Splurging on a Merc is definitely not mustachian, especially new, but if they need a new car and don’t want a full EV, only the PHEV line remains, which combines the benefits of EVs and ICEs (but also, looking at the other angle, combines the disadvantages as well, but this might be mitigates by cheaper labor in Poland to service the car).
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I decided to stay with the Octavia (I still need to fix the AC though). I use my car only for shopping and weekend trips, so I’ve realized it makes no sense to throw a lot of money into a new vehicle at this stage. I’ll think about it when (if) I start driving more, perhaps when my kids grow older.
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Congrats - can I go next then, please?
I have noticed the HUGE price difference between Hungarian and Swiss prices on BMW’s, thanks to the ultra-low currency rates of the Hungarian currency. Think 25-30k CHF on the same car (i4-40 + regular Swiss extras - like EVERYTHING 
)
I’m currently sitting on an ICE bomb (performance tuned 3l inline-6 BMW) that could throw me a 2-4000CHF ticket virtually any time. Though it’s a hell of a lot of fun on the hillsides.
The i4 would be a total non-necessity, but I love the car’s form and tech, it’s as fast as the current car I own, charges quickly, goes further on electrons than my ICE with petrol, but it’s totally silent (as in very low noise levels while driving, even among the EVs). I can’t charge in the garage and won’t be allowed to do so anytime soon as there is no load management system in the house. We drive really few km’s (<10k) a year.
- Yes, I DO need the car as I love driving.
- No, don’t want a Mobility.
- No I don’t want a Tesla (I prefer more premium if I buy)
The Pros for swapping is
- new car with 5 years warranty / 8 yrs on battery
- silent, new tech, great looks
- more space (albeit, by not much)
- not a SUV
- low maintenance
- about 25k cost advantage with reimporting vs buying “Swiss”
The Cons for swapping
- no real need to splurge out that much money (about 60k)
- the ICE BMW could actually not have any issues for years
- no home charging
- all the reimport hassle
- delivery takes 1.5-2 years (haha well done BMW )
Any comments / ideas / challenges welcome.
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Hard to say without any information about your current cars age/mileage.
Every machine could brake in moment x. Why do ypu think it is realistic? Are there any known issues woth your model?
Maybe check autoscout to see at which mileage some examples from your model are still alive?
Your idea sounds to me like a expensive insurance for not having any repair costs (altought your dream car looks a lot like fun)
From a Mustachian point of view, if you absolutely have to buy this car, get it as cheaply as you can.
Make an estimate of the time and the cost involved and then make a calculation if it’s worth your time reimporting.
Some thoughts:
- You can outsource the hassle part to someone else (found this link here, not affiliated, no experience: Import-Butler.ch). You have the hassle once, but the savings forever.
- Used or dealer car: If you find one now, you can also save money and you won’t have to wait that long.
- Check if other countries have shorter delivery times.
- Also, I am not sure when you have to pay for the car (now or on delivery?). If the payment is when receiving the car, you can’t be sure that the exchange will be same. Might be better, might be worse. Maybe change half the money now, half the money later.
so, just ran a non-perfect calculation on the following assumptions
- buying the EV new with some reasonable discount (BMW) or list price (VW, Tesla)
- running it for 8 years (exhausting the battery warranty) @10-15t km a year (variable)
- using 2 sets of summer/winter tyres
- having minimal yearly service costs
- then selling at around ~30% of new value
vs my ICE car that still comes out hands down better, even though I’m assuming significantly higher repair and service costs
Also, the Tesla 0-down 60 month leasing numbers seem quite favorable in comparison.
@Bojack can you pls validate the numbers?
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Hi everyone!
Just to offer my personal experience and ideas:
-
with very few exceptions (ie you have a society yourself or you have incredibly high fleet advantages with your enterprise), I would never buy a new car. too much of a loss value within very few years, with no advantages
-
even with the fossil fuel prices rising, i’d recommend to take a close look to natural gas cars, I bought one a few zears ago (audi A3 Gtron) and I find it perfect : quick charge (literally a few minutes more than petrol), can work with petrol if you can’t find gas nearby, very low fuel consumption (around 30-33 km/kg gas), and for an unknown reason CH has decided not to rise gas prices, so I still pay 1kg around 1.4CHF.
It was particularty advantageous before the war, since in Italy - where I come from - methane price was a few cents per kilo less than 1 €…but even now, it is still slighlty etter than petrol, and around the same as diesel.
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