Go electric or get one last petrol car?

[Orangeinmybluelightcup]

Has anyone tackled this one yet? 13yr old estate is now borderline unsafe. Would ideally like to go electric. Most charging could be done at home, so constraint 1: need to investigate getting a charging point installed. Constraint 2 is looking like getting something big enough for X2 kids in car seats and larger sized dog in the boot. Constraint 3 is the price, looking second hand but bigger electrics are newer technology still so look like £25k! Hybrids are an option but from the reading I've done the petrol kicks in soon and when they're running on petrol they're less efficient because they're heavier. But getting one last petrol car seems like a shame... Has anyone else had this debate, what did you do?

I think it will be petrol for us.

A friend has just bought an MG Estate EV.

@Orangeinmybluelightcup ah ok, just a lot of NHS trusts will have the salary sacrifice lease scheme.

We have had electric cars since 2016, they are way better now (more mileage range on a full charge) and loads more charging points everywhere now. Around here in a normal town not near a city almost every supermarket has free charging points.
I have a Nissan leaf.

We're going to stick with petrol for as long as possible (and will probably buy a new petrol car in 2029 so we can have petrol for as long as possible)

The following things put me off electric currently so would need to change before I consider buying electric (Before i'm forced);
-Charging infrastructure, wonderful if you own a drive. If like me you park on the street wherever theres a space it becomes an issue, couple in the fact that theres probably about 3 street lights down the entire road (I know that was the plan at one point to put the chargers in street lights)
-The cost...For a comparable car the electric version seems to be between 10-20k more expensive (I get why but it's very offputting)
-Coming back to charging, you're just going to end up with wires going all over the pavement as everyone charges, and if you are on the street whats to stop a neighbour just unplugging your car because they need to charge theirs instead?
-Charging time.. Currently my car takes what 5 minutes to charge if that? We're moving over three hours away and will be coming back on a semi-regular basis...don't really fancy sitting at the services for half an hour waiting for a car to charge..but a battery can't charge that fast..

I get the initiative behind it but i'd personally wait as long as possible for them to sort the infrastructure out.

Yeah my issue is the long journeys I make that would be a struggle without recharging and I don't usually stop.

That was meant to say *Five minutes to fill not charge

@TheVolturi

We have had electric cars since 2016, they are way better now (more mileage range on a full charge) and loads more charging points everywhere now. Around here in a normal town not near a city almost every supermarket has free charging points. I have a Nissan leaf.

What's the boot like on a leaf? Would a tall dog fit, or is it really slopey?

We've just got the Kia e-Niro through salary sacrifice at work. We got the home charge point fitted for free. We love it so far and it is great in particular for shorter journeys during the week. We're still undecided about taking it long distances in the summer for holidays - mostly our reservation is the number of fast charge points and the gamble of arriving at a services when all the points are occupied.

With reference to you saying you wanted to be able to drive the length of the country, every motorway services has a rapid charge point, and by the time you've grabbed a coffee and nipped to the loo you've recharged.
A lot of electric cars do 300 miles on a charge now.

Watching with interest as I discussed this with DH today. We have a young-ish diesel engine and it could easily be the last combustion engine we own. I also reckon the charging infrastructure is going to ramp up, as the demand does.

We were out off by the fact that a lot of new electric cars have a decent range but not a lot of second hand ones, so we’ve gone for one last (far more efficient than the 12yo one which gave up) petrol car. I have a work scheme but you had to use a specific insurer which was very expensive so the sums just didn’t quite work, plus we park on the road (with no charge points yet) so charging would be tough.

If you have a drive and do a lot of short journeys it would be ideal though!

I've had an electric car Nissan Leaf for 3 years and I've absolutely loved it. Pre lockdown I charged it at work where we have 20+ charging stations, happy days.
During lockdown not such happy days anymore. We stay in the city in a flat with on the road parking. We have about 10 charging stations within walking distance. Biggest problem is that people with non-electric cars seem to think it's ok to park in those charging spots. It's driving me insane so have traded my car in and getting Toyota Corolla Hybrid.

Don’t most affordable electric cars only go about 50 miles before they need recharging?

Imagine if you had to drive to Durham from London to check your eyesight- that would be 5-6 stops of up to 30 minutes to charge each way.

It's too soon for me. I don't know what will happen in 5 or 10 years time when they say I have to cover the cost of recycling the batteries. Who knows what that will be.

Plus I don't know how they will generate enough electricity to supply all electric vehicles. More nuclear power stations I guess.

Personally I going to wait and see... It is not long ago 'they' were encouraging everyone to buy a diesel vehicle... we did and look what happened.

Never really pays to be an "early adopted" with tech. Let others discover the flaws (whether the car itself or the charging infrastructure) and wait for them to be fixed, then go electric when there's a critical mass.

Another vote for electric, unless the places you usually drive are completely free of charging points (just in case).

I wanted a hybrid but couldn't find one that would fit my dcs wheelchair in the boot. So annoying

@TheVolturi

With reference to you saying you wanted to be able to drive the length of the country, every motorway services has a rapid charge point, and by the time you've grabbed a coffee and nipped to the loo you've recharged. A lot of electric cars do 300 miles on a charge now.

Not if there are already other car(s) charging at the charging point. I was at a M'way service station a couple of weeks ago and there were a couple of cars queuing to get into the 2 charging points. Ultimately, if we're to go fully electric, every car parking space will need to be a charging point at service stations.

I’ve considered it but we’re sticking with our ICE cars for now. We have to park on-street in a city centre and there are no charging points on the road presently, and no plans to put any in. (We live in a flat so can’t run a cable out either.)

I feel like I want to wait until ranges have improved a little more, and maybe reduced the CO2 manufacturing premium so it’s at least on a level with petrol/diesel engined cars. Also the cobalt thing really bothers me.

The compromise I’m making is trying to make the older cars we already have last for (hopefully) another 10 years, so at least they don’t get scrapped before they need to be.

There are not many that will do up to 300 miles on one charge especially when you start reading reviews rather than manufacturer claims.

This is why our car is now 10 years old and I’m not changing it. Feels like it’s not quite time for an ev but petrol feels like I’d need to replace sooner than I’d want. Currently have the oldest car in my office and one of the oldest on the school run. Mind you, keeping a car going feels more environmentally friendly - it’s our 4th car ever (I’m 39).

I wanted to stretch mine out too @m0therofdragons but it's disagreeing!!

For a usable large family car (plus a dog)it probably isn't going to be affordable for you, or most people just yet, but, we're not far away.

Ive got a model 3 via salary sacrifice at work, so if you have the option (or a company) to run it through that, you can save around 40% of the cost.

I'd buy a decent second hand petrol and wait for abit.

@littlejalapeno

Don’t most affordable electric cars only go about 50 miles before they need recharging?

Imagine if you had to drive to Durham from London to check your eyesight- that would be 5-6 stops of up to 30 minutes to charge each way.

My leaf does 165 actual miles on a charge. I can drive say 50 miles and the range goes down by almost exactly 50 miles. The older version leaf only did 80 miles to a charge, and you were pushing it to actually achieve that. I mostly do local running around and I charge mine every fortnight, if I am going on a longer trip I plug it in the night before to give it a full charge. It's possible to get some ev on personal lease with a small deposit upfront and relatively low monthly payment. Depends if you want to own the car in the long term.