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

This conversation is very interesting! I am thinking of getting a hybrid, but concerned about a lot of what has been said already.

Also, I am very aware of the green washing of EVs, that electricity (mostly) comes from power stations which operate on fosil fuels, plus these lithium batteries are not very eco friendly.

But, I agree with some one up thread who mentioned that the infrastructure is improving.

I’ve just bought a Fiat 500e and I moved from the petrol version and my insurance has gone up by £60 for the whole year

It's not that bloody long ago that the government were encouraging people to use diesels rated than petrol as apparently less emissions. Then flip flopped. So how can we trust them to not change their minds on what is the " right " car to drive. I had a diesel that was £20 a year tax based on emissions. So hardly that polluting. I now have a 1 litre petrol for working. I'm a food delivery driver and some of the few insurance companies that cover it won't insure electric cars.

Also drive a hybrid. Yeah it's nicer to drive but the low mileage range (31 max) negates the point of the electric really and on longer journeys have to use the 2 litre petrol engine

Some cars you can. Some you cant

It is research proven that they are not cost effective for everyone, because you have to take into account the cost of the car versus the number of miles over the course of the years you own it. If you do t do plenty of long runs they cost more. Although from a green perspective they are unarguably better.

@NoBinturongsHereMate Deprnds if you are staying at the hotel or bnb. Public chargers are sporadic.

I'm not at all.concerned about Cornwall - both ZapMap and my car app show heaps of chargers (but thanks for the article, @mafsfan - useful to have a written list as well). And plenty of hotels and B&Bs have their own chargers these days, as well as the public ones.

@irregularegular How old a EV is really matters. Some older models definitely won’t do 220 miles. Especially in winter. I’m not sure I’d trust my year old BMW to do that. It’s surprisingly “thirsty” on motorways. It’s ok if you know you can charge cheaply and easily. If you cannot, and chargers are in use or out of order, it’s quite stressful. Then there’s the cost. These days, charging rates can be so high, they are no better than petrol. The cost of a EV car is often higher too. Therefore it is not a straightforward decision on cost if you do not have your own charger. We have solar panels and batteries and air source heat pumps. Ev is good for us but I’m still not taking it to Cornwall.

If you must use commercial chargers and pay the new tax, it’s not very attractive. In London you probably won’t be charging anywhere near your flat. Congestion charge coming in on 25 December too. It’s not a saving over petrol for everyone.

Charging in France is super easy - don’t worry about that! We’ve been 3 times in our Enyaq, never had to worry. We used a combination of the chargemap app and google maps but generally it was v easy. Motorway signs will also tell you if there are chargers at the service station.

I think your range information might be out of date? We can get to our son at Uni in Lancaster 220 miles away (usually 5 hours drive given traffic) without charging. We then charge fairly cheaply on campus or in the council car park over night. We don't normally drive any further than that, though we are planning on driving to France this summer which may be interesting! We bought our car about a year ago.

@CrownCoats Some have very low distance in winter.

The initial carbon footprint of an EV is higher than that for an old fashioned ICE vehicle, but the break-even point, depending on vehicle, is between 30k and 40k miles. After that, the EV has a lower carbon footprint, and over the typical lifespan of a car emits 20% to 30% less CO2. Furthermore, the emissions generated from power generation are not in populated areas, whereas the emissions from burning petrol and diesel tend to be emitted in populated areas. And that’s before we come on to the problematic particulate emissions from diesel.

You’re not burning fossil fuels in a combustion engine. Petrol/diesel doesn’t need to be produced and shipped around the world. In the past 12 months 42.3% of the electricity in the UK has come from renewables, and this figure is predicted to keep going up, so you’re car is partially running on wind/solar energy which is emission free.

What car is he driving that only does 100 miles on a full charge?!

Also, the battery hardly runs down at all when you’re stuck in traffic because, aside from air conditioning/heating/listening to the radio, you’re not using any energy while you’re stationary.

They produce zero emissions. Even including their entire lifestyle, from manufacturing to disposal, they have less environmental impact than a petrol powered vehicle.

Ours is brilliant and we’d really struggle to go back.

Charging is a breeze
Dramatically reduced costs
Serviced Infrequently
No faults in over 2 years
Better acceleration

I would be concerned my insurance will go up a lot, have people noticed this, I pay about £200 a year at the moment and wouldn't want to be paying about £500 or something like that as my mileage is so low, well under 2k a year, also tax going up as well would wipe out any savings, my car is £20. I do have a drive to charge on. They seem to be more for people that do a higher mileage to make the savings. I have thought of buying one, only a small one like a Fiat not a Tesla or anything like that.

https://www.cornishsecrets.co.uk/guide/where-to-charge-electric-car-cornwall/

Ok how do they actually save the planet? please explain in detail the parts, batteries, how they are charged every aspect of them and how together it actually makes a difference to the planet?

I love driving past a petrol station, seeing the price of petrol and saying to my DH we don't need to do that any more! It costs us about £5 a week to keep our car charged as opposed to about £40 in petrol for our old car.

I love not having to think about what gear I need, being able to nip out of junctions when there's a gap, and being able to accelerate up steep hills.

@NoBinturongsHereMate Good luck with Cornwall. Charging desert.

I like mine - I only do local trips so although it's an older one with a lower range it suits me fine. I charge almost exclusively at home on overnight electricity, so very cheap to run. I'd already switched to an automatic due to ankle problems. Not having to get petrol is a big plus too. It's from 2016, I've had it nearly 4 years and other than electricity I have only spent money on lights and tyres.

We are not near public transport so DH has his own ICE car which we use for longer trips.

Admittedly I can't do a round trip to my parents without a recharge at their house. But that's between Hertfordshire and Northern Ireland, so I'm hardly going to do there and back in a day whatever I drive.

We did a five-nations trip last summer: Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, NI. This summer we're doing Scotland to the tip of Cornwall. Hardly 'little commutes down the road'.

Except that simply isn't true. You can drive 250+ miles on a single charge, spend as long as you want with your kids while your car is on charge and then drive home again.

Yeah I mean I think it's mostly worthwhile if you can charge it at home. So you need a driveway really. I wouldn't be sitting in a supermarket car park! Some areas have on street charging now though.