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

The information about short battery life is from in house testing rapid charge followed by rapid discharge - in real life most charging is done slower overnight or from energy recapture on braking or going downhill so actually the batteries last longer.

Diesel cars dont tend to catch fire

Yeah it's a bloody cheek. Entice people with these benefits then remove them . Not 100% but think they might be charging for Dartford tunnel as well

Agree @BlueTitShark is talking pure rubbish

our car does 330 or so miles to visiting a family member 100 miles away, and getting back again, is no problem.
and if I need to charge it, I find a rapid charger and in about 8 minutes I’ll be back to 90%. I’ve sometimes gone to the loo and got a coffee and it’s been 100% in the time it’s taken me to do that.

oh and we drove it to the south of France last year, and back, and it was no hassle whatsoever

Makes them a great used buy

Total electricity load has dropped by about 15% from a peak around 2005, and continues to drop due to energy efficiency. Typically the overnight load is around 50%of the day time load, There is plenty of electricity available

This is yet another non-problem

I love mine and I’m not funding some of the most hideous regimes on the planet by buying petrol/oil.

Both myself and my DH have just converted to electric. Benefits for us are

No fuel costs - we charge up at work
Cheap ev tariff for home electric, so when we do charge up at home, it’s only 6p a KWh.
We also use this time for our white goods so it’s actually reduced our monthly electric costs
l ove driving the car too. I always have been a bit of a petrol head and thought I’d hate driving an electric car, but I love it. They are really quick, the power delivery is different and I love the regenerative braking.

I live remotely and I’ve never had issue charging on long journeys, plug it into a fast charger, go for a wee and grab a take away cuppa and it’s ready to go. 20 mins for 80% charge

I'd love an electric car but sadly we don't have off street parking so not really possible. My car is so old it still has handles to wind down the windows so I'm ready for a new one!

Petrol burns too, in fact the energy density in petrol is far higher (that's why petrol cars can go further) so there is much much more energy in the fire.
Petrol engines wear out too, people I know who have replaced an engine quote figures in the 10-20K region
I charge on cheap overnight energy, roughly 2p a mile, or free from solar over summer
I charge on my drive, no problem with cables
I start every day with a "full tank", unlike a petrol car so 200 miles is plenty

These are the reasons we don't mention these things, they aren't actual problems

So get a car with a long range. It's just not true to say they are only good for short journeys and they need a half-hour charge. I can do 3 hours in mine (and everyone needs a break after 3 hours). Charge for 10 minutes (anywhere! The Dog and Duck in Little-Arse-End-of-Nowhere. A service station on the M11. A garden centre carpark) and be on my way.

Pleased to see the positives comments (from
EV owners). I’m waiting for my EV to arrive over the next few weeks, can’t wait. It’s a lease scheme through work which covers all expenses (apart from charging). Wouldn’t be able to afford to buy one, sadly.

Yep. December 25! What a great Christmas present.

Only till December

It can be true in a car with a low range. Some don’t actually go very far!

Except none of this is true. Did you just make this up in your head?

Just charged mine with 200 miles for £1.50. It's also beautifully smooth a quiet to drive. Plus I'd say not polluting the atmosphere or using fossil fuels is a perk of sorts?

You can charge quickly if the chargers are working. Although whether the car is fully charged is another matter according to research.

Time taken to drive anywhere is irrelevant in many ways. It’s speed that matters and whether it’s freezing cold or not. We are trying a 2 hour drive tomorrow. We will see what it needs but it’s non motorway and probably slow traffic. Hopefully no stops!

@Dymaxion An awful lot of EVs lose shed loads of money in the first 6 months. We didn’t buy new. However if sales stall (and they have) then fewer second hand are around but ours was an ex demonstrator. Garages sell them off to meet the quotas to try and avoid government fines. They discount them. Probably not a sustainable position.

I forgot to say that it’s anticipated we need 250,000 chargers to meet demand after 2030. (Or 2035?!) and at the moment we have 77,000. Not enough,

I don't think it would be cheaper for me, I only do 1k -2k miles a year, I would probably get one if I did more miles but it doesn't really seem worth the outlay. DH always fills it up so I never go to the petrol station anyway. My tax was £0, going up to £20 this year, I think EVs are more than that

Slight prang to a risk area and the batteries will need replacing. If they get compromised, you can end up with a massive fire!

I understand they are cheaper to run once you have one, but youve got to have the money up front to buy one to start with and from when Ive seen they are incredibly expense to buy which for most people (me included) means that they cant afford to buy one.

My last car was 3 years old when I bought it - £15,000 with 18,000 mile on the clock - I luckily had savings to pay for it. When it goes to car heaven (I always run my cars until they no longer work), will I be able to buy a nearly new electric car for around £15K?

I dont want to get a loan or get the car on finance and dont want to spend more than £15K. What can you get electric for that money? I wouldnt mind an electric car but the long term investment isnt something most people can afford up front.

Thank you @BlackBean2023

Another issue is that you need a charging point at home.
Great if you have a house with a drive. You can set up your electrical point just for yourself, out of the way etc….
What if you live in a flat? No personal parking space.
What if you don’t have a drive? Need to park on the road etc…..

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️
Youll have to tell that to the people selling EV who had nice posters explaining that on average, you can drive 2 hours and a full recharge takes 1/2 hour (fast speed).
They even were trying to sell it as ‘you need a break every two hours anyway so it’s great that you need to recharge your batteries’.

Tyres are more expensive , but not sure how often you have to change them in comparison to a normal car ? I go through a full set each year.
Also there was evidence that due to being heavier, electric cars cause more wear and tear to the road surface. The road surfaces round here are shagged anyway due to lack of maintenance, not sure we can blame that on the uptake in EV ownership ?
For me its the initial outlay cost and the fact that it would be tricky to charge at home due to renting and not having a drive.
I would definitely consider a hybrid as a lot of my driving is town driving at low speed and this would mean less pollution in built up areas ?