To think there are no real perks to driving an electric car?

I think not contributing to air pollution in the local area is a positive.

I agree.

No ULEZ or congestion charge in London

We get free charging at work, so no fuel costs (as mainly used for commuting). It’s quieter. It’s lovely to drive. We have less exhaust in our local area. More space internally and no annoying hump on the floor for the person squashed in the middle on the back seat.

I don’t know if there is enough data yet, but it’s my expectation that newer electric cars will last longer and cost less to maintain than fossil fuel cars.

I do think hydrogen vehicles may replace them relatively soon, though.

What's the insurance like?

I absolutely love my electric. So easy to charge at home. A dream to drive. The only hassle is having to charge on a very long journey but that is rare as I get a good 200 mile range. You just need to Google where the charging stations are but there are plenty of them now.

I'd never go back. The massive saving in fuel is reason enough.

We really like ours. We pay around £30 a month to charge it at home - we were paying twice that weekly for our previous petrol car.
We use public charging on road trips and even though it costs more than charging at home it is still cheaper than the petrol car.
Servicing is cheap - no expensive parts.
We wouldn't go back to a petrol car.

They are so much more expensive to buy than petrol cars - I have solar panels so could charge the car v cheaply at home but the purchase cost was still too high.

The infrastructure where I live (the Highlands!) is also just not good enough to have an EV as your only car.

i consider it a perk to plug in to next doors charging point!

I’ve had my EV for almost 4 years and I mostly charge at home. The public charging infrastructure has improved a lot in that timeframe and on the occasions when I needed to charge en route I’ve always found a bank of empty chargers.

I would hate to go back to an ICE car, they’re sluggish to accelerate and more expensive to run, not to mention the fumes.

Shocking. The lease companies are asking for taxpayer support.Worth looking at on eg YouTube Geoff buys cars

Nicer to drive
Cheaper to run in terms of fuel
Big perk as a company car with regards to tax
Don't have to go to a petrol station
No clean air charge (in cities where this is a thing)

No. They are/will be owned by car or fossil fuel companies

Actually, I think the long range direction of travel will be to use EVs to improve the grid. Certainly Octopus has been trialling the use of car batteries to feed into the grid when it is low and discharge into cars when there is too much energy for capacity in the grid.

Or something like that.

What is the resale value like?

Yeah, I get that but if everyone had an electric car or 2, which is the direction we’re headed, then the demand goes through the roof during the day and night.

Dunno but ours is always charged overnight at 8p/kwh when there is very little demand on the grid.

I can't wait until the povvos like me can own an electric car. Even if I could afford the car, I live in a flat so no chance of a home charger! I wonder if the cost of using a public charger will come down once the infrastructure improves?

A major part of infrastructure that needs sorting is those who can’t have smart meters because they don’t work where they live or have a smart meter but it only works in dumb mode. I have a smart meter that is no longer smart, they won’t replace it because they don’t fit 3 phase smart meters, so I cannot access any time of use tariffs.

I love ours. They are really nice to drive and electricity costs about 1-2p per mile when we charge at home. We will only need to charge from a public charger on holiday. A few years ago I was standing next to a busy road in a busy city breathing in all the pollution and thinking how our cities will be so much cleaner when all cars are electric.

The problem is surely the grid itself? I used to work for a business that did a lot of electrical stuff and were branching into selling EV installs. All the electrical engineers said the national grid is a long way short of being able to cope with the potential increased load.

Best car I've ever driven.Would never go back to petrol.And don't miss smelly petrol stations. We do have solar panels and home charging but have never had a problem charging or reaching destination.

You just blasted someone who is agreeing with you!

To sum up:
It appears that the vast majority of EV drivers here absolutely love their electric cars and wouldn’t swap.
A lot of people who don’t have one can only see problems which in real life aren’t a problem.
There may be certain circumstances where an EV might not suit someone, and that’s ok, don’t buy one !

• Cost pence to recharge at home
• 8 year warranty on two year old car
• I can pretend I'm in Knight Rider or Tomorrow's World
• It's so fast, fun to drive and so comfortable
• Smug halo of superiority

Constant planning? I put my journey into the satnav, it tells me where all the chargers are along the route and at what point I'll need to use one. I can add preferred charging networks, and set the battery level I don't want to drop below.

And the EV electricity tarrif doesn't just give you cheap power for the car - you get cut price electricity for everything overnight, so can run washing machines, dishwashers etc for much less.