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Original poster

people with plug-in hybrid or fully electric cars...

59 replies

fucknuckle · 30/08/2020 20:39

...what made you choose one and how do you manage it?

i have a self-charging hybrid and find myself idly wondering what people who need to plug in and charge do.

have you had an outside charger installed at your house? how do you know where public charge points are? do you pay to use them? what do you do about long journeys?

i know it’s not very interesting but i thought i’d ask! there are loads of tv ads for fully electric or plug-in hybrids and it always makes me wonder who’s buying them and why.

OP posts:
Twigaletta · 30/08/2020 20:47

DH has one. He plugs it in our garage when he gets home from work. He doesn't have a fast charger it's just an extension lead to normal plug. He's fine to do it.

ItsTimeToPlayTheMusic · 30/08/2020 20:53

Buying an EV shortly and we intend to have a ‘proper’ charging plug point installed outside on the house. We’ll be ok for most long journeys we do on the model we’re looking at, but have a bigger car that we are demoting to second place / keeping for further afield and for holidays.

JoJoSM2 · 30/08/2020 20:59

My next car will be a plug-in and I should be able to do 95%+ of my driving on electric. The intention is to have a charger on the drive as the garage is full of bikes, kayaks and other kit.

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Cars & vehicles
BrrrrrrWentTheAlarmClock · 30/08/2020 21:17

We had a charge point installed on side of house (installed with a grant- I think still available). We are fortunate to have a driveway so this is possible.

Our fully electric car has a large range so we'd never need to charge it away from home unless we go on a v long journey.

For long journeys we use The Zap-Map app, which shows all chargers and their types. Eg to Devon we planned our stops at faster chargers and spent 30mins having our lunch/loo while it charged. We only needed to charge once on a 5hr journey, but depends on your car range.

Lolalovesmarmite · 30/08/2020 21:21

We have a plug in hybrid and had a charging point installed on the driveway using the grant. Really quick and easy to do and much easier (and safer) than running an extension out to the car from a normal plug.

Jojoanna · 30/08/2020 21:23

I had an EV loved it. Had a home charger installed by a grant

TomBradysLeftKneecap · 30/08/2020 21:23

We have a Tesla and have a charging port at home. We have to plan longer trips by knowing where the super chargers are but it’s pretty easy.

Mercedes519 · 30/08/2020 21:24

Charger on the driveway for our plug in. Chose that as we mostly do short journeys so all on electric. Petrol engine is only used on longer journeys and I don’t charge it on the journey as it’s just too much faff. Best of both worlds really....

whatisheupto · 30/08/2020 21:27

There are apps telling you where chargers are (and users rating them/ reporting any problems).

flatoutpanic · 30/08/2020 21:33

Has anyone found their electricity bill has gone up massively? We have a hybrid and an electric car and our bills have doubled...

In terms of charging when out and about, I prefer the hybrid as you don’t need to factor it in the way you do with the electric.

JoJoSM2 · 30/08/2020 21:44

@flatoutpanic

Should still work out as a small fraction of the cost of petrol/diesel?

Legoroses · 30/08/2020 21:50

Charge in estate car park. Drive in London mostly so no range anxiety.

Must say that the charging infrastructure is a FUCKING DISGRACE.

lightningstrikes · 30/08/2020 21:55

We have 2 electric cars and had a fast charger installed with the grant on the garage. We do still have a petrol car for longer journeys, but we usually just take an electric car and charge on the way tbh as they are so much nicer to drive. The range is so good on the newer ones that it just isn't an issue. We plan to sell the other car. As pp said we use zapmap or the satnav in both cars will tell you where the charge points are and alert you at the start of your journey if you won't have enough charge to get to your destination. As to cost it depends on the car and how you drive it. Mine has a range of roughly 130 miles city driving and costs roughly £4 for a full charge. When I was driving for work daily I needed to charge once or twice a week. Due to covid I'm now only charging once fortnightly, if that. No car tax which is nice and far fewer maintenance costs. They also hold their value very well so far.

PrayingandHoping · 30/08/2020 21:56

What made us choose one?

Car suited us size wise and it's £0 road tax! When I solely use the car I can only use electric (in fact car had meltdown during lockdown as it hadn't had any new fuel put in it for so long. It stopped using the battery until fuel used and refilled.... its to do with engine preservation)

We haven't yet put a fast charge point in. We slow charge it off a normal plug. It's on our to do list. (Had the car 2 years!). We do occasionally plug it in when out but not often. It switches to fuel, it self charges when braking and u can charge it off the fuel by pressing a button.... if u want to.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 30/08/2020 21:57

I have a plug in hybrid arriving in a few weeks. I'm going to get a charger installed on the side of the house. I will get up to 50 km per charge on the electric engine and I do about 25 km on a normal day. When I do a longer journey I'm just going to let it go to the petrol engine and won't stop to charge.

Original poster
fucknuckle · 30/08/2020 21:59

ok, i take it back. this IS interesting!

so, if you get to a public charge point at a service station and it’s in use, how long would it take to charge the person in front of you? i don’t like the idea of adding time to a journey when i could just put petrol in.

it’s a moot point for me as i already have the self-charge and mine decides for itself when to run on battery and when on the engine. i get around 60 miles to the gallon - it’s cheap as chips to run.

@flatoutpanic how long did it take to realise
your bills were rocketing? are you now planning to switch back to petrol?

also, how much does a public charge point cost?

and why choose a plug in over a self-charge? mine’s a motability car so i get a lot of car for my money. is there a big cost difference when buying?

OP posts:
PrayingandHoping · 30/08/2020 22:02

"and why choose a plug in over a self-charge? "

Ours does both. So it gives u more choice.

OnlyBejoking · 30/08/2020 22:03

We have an EV. We have a charger at home and charge it every week or so of normal use. We've done a few long journeys over the summer and used a super charger while we've had a wee and grabbed a snack en route. You can see on satnav and zapmap app where you can charge. It has been fine.
We have a petrol car we could use too but choose to use the EV even on longer journeys. It has a range of 280 miles and it is is rare we go further than that in 1 journey anyway.

stayingaliveisawayoflife · 30/08/2020 22:11

We have a Tesla and it is plugged in to a charger. We also have solar panels so it runs for free. We also use super chargers on longer journeys at services and use the time for loo breaks, a Starbucks etc!

H1978 · 30/08/2020 22:49

We have a Tesla too. It’s like others have said you plan your journey so you can charge but that’s the downside of an electric car, the time it takes to charge so you always need to add extra time to your journey.

Original poster
fucknuckle · 30/08/2020 22:51

thanks all. i live a very dull life! it’s been on my mind as since i’ve had my car all i notice on the roads are compact SUVs/electric cars/hybrids (confirmation bias like when you’re pregnant and suddenly all you see is pregnant people) and was pondering the differences.

OP posts:
Original poster
fucknuckle · 30/08/2020 22:51

jealous of all the Teslas out there..

OP posts:
MoonriseKingdom · 30/08/2020 22:52

flatout who is your electricity with? Have a look at Octopus if you are not already with them. We were previously on Octopus Go which has a cheap rate between certain hours overnight. We have an old Zoe and a newer Tesla 3. Both can set the charger on timer to charge during cheap rate. We are now on Agile which requires a smart meter. Prices are set hour by hour and most hours outside of 4-7pm are cheaper than the usual flat rate.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 30/08/2020 23:00

I was planning to get an all electric car, but couldn't find the right car at the right price. The longest journey that I ever do is to our holiday cottage which is less than 250km, and recently the range of electric cars has expanded so that I could comfortably get to the cottage without having to stop and charge. I never want to stop at all on the way there, mostly because the dog is happy in his crate in the car so long as it's moving but gets very upset if the car stops. As I got a plug-in hybrid instead I'm not going to put a charger in the cottage, we don't really go anywhere while were down there.

Bassettgirl · 30/08/2020 23:01

We charge on our driveway using solar when possible, or on a cheap tarif overnight if not. Less expensive than putting in petrol. We are on holiday and it cost £5 to get here. Having said that for most holidays we use a petrol car which we only use for long journeys because a) it's bigger and b) our EV only goes 90 miles before needing charging. This gets tedious for more than 1 stop per long journey. When away from home you can charge at many supermarkets, park and rides, museums etc using various apps. For short journeys near home it's perfect.