Electric/hybrid car advice

[Retrievemysanity]

Been wanting to switch to an electric car for a while but I’ve been put off by stories of people running out of charge, lack of charging points etc. but I need to change my current car this year so might need to bite the bullet. Someone mentioned hybrids to me as a possible halfway house. Trouble is, I’m totally clueless about cars in general and I don’t know where to start. So, anyone able to help?!

There’s me, DH and our two DD’s (11 and 13). I usually use my car for 11 year old’s school run but as of September, she’ll be making her own way to high school so I’ll just be driving relatively short distances for their activities and friends etc. Occasional longer journeys to see friends. Long family journeys will be in DH’s car which is big with lots of storage so my car doesn’t need to have loads of boot space etc, just needs to be reliable. No limit on budget but because it’s just intended as a run around, i don’t want to spend loads if I don’t have to. Fully electric or hybrid best? Any grants available? Eldest is in receipt of DLA but only lower rate mobility so we’ve not had the motability grants. Thanks in advance!

I’ve had a golf gte and now an Audi A3 hybrid and I love them both. I can get to work (15 miles) on a single charge in the winter then charge at work to get home. It wouldn’t work so well if my commute was all fast roads . If you have generally town driving or travel at 50mph mostly it can be really economical . The tanks are only 40 litres and my mileage record in the golf was 1152 off one tank . Only too and from work though - I do approx 200 miles a week on motorways and get around 35-40 mpg depending on how heavy my right foot is. I couldn’t go fully electric but will praise hybrids to the skies 😁😁

I've just bought a Hyundai Ioniq hybrid because my car needed replacing and I didn't want to have to keep paying the ULEZ charge to visit family. I found most hybrids are automatic which is something I'm really going to need to get used to.

I have a Toyota Yaris hybrid. Like you it's our second car and I'm very pleased with it. It's just right for shop/gym/local runs but has enough oomph for occasional motorway trips. Small and nippy with lots of power. I got it 2nd hand for about £12,000 from Cinch.

We have a 2017 BMW i3 that we bought second-hand for £15,000 in September. It has an electric range of around 110-130 miles. We usually charge it once every couple of weeks using an extension lead out front window (scheduled to get a proper charger on the drive soon).

For longer journeys, we've found it takes a bit of planning, but it's basically fine. You have to have a Plan A and a Plan B and preferably a Plan C for what you'll do if a charger is out of action. Best app for charger locations is Zap Map.

One advantage of electric cars is they are easier to maintain because they have far fewer parts to go wrong - people are predicting they'll last far longer, in a reliable state, than traditional cars. You wouldn't get that benefit with a plug in hybrid.

Our car has a range extender. Which is basically a petrol powered generator that can charge your battery on the go. It clicks on when the battery gets low and keeps it charged at a steady level, and gives you another 50miles of range in an emergency. Normally the generator is off, but when it's on you're still driving off the battery, and the car doesn't have an internal combustion engine to worry about maintaining. We've had the range extender on for about 10mins ever since we got it. But it's there as a back-up plan. Maybe something like that could work? The car model had "REX" for Range EXtender in it.

I believe newer BMW i3s don't have them because the battery range has improved so much, it makes it a bit pointless. Plus, as of recently, they aren't exempt from the London congestion charge as they aren't pure electric.

Mind you having re-read your OP. I think you'd be fine in a pure electric. I mean how often would you do over 100miles in a day really? Seems like the perfect fit

@BocolateChiscuits yes I’d never do 100 miles in a day. I think I need to get over the psychological barrier I have about pure electric!

@Everydaydayisaschoolday that sounds perfect! Is it an automatic?

Thanks everyone. I’ll have a look at all these 🤞🏻

@Retrievemysanity. There's some technical name for what it is but essentially it is an automatic. You just put it in Drive and off you go. I think all hybrids are.

DH has a BMW i3 and we both LOVE it. We don't have the range extender thing mentioned by a PP so must have a newer model. There's really no need to worry about running out of charge if you're just driving locally. I much, much prefer DH's car to my hybrid - though that's quite old and doesn't get much battery life. When my car dies I will definitely be going completely electric.

We got a 5-year old Renault Zoe in the summer and love it. Because of its age it has a shorter range than a newer model but does about 105km on a full charge in summer and 90km in winter. This is plenty for me - I do lots of 15-25km round trips so I charge 2 or 3 times a week (at home on overnight electricity from a domestic plug). It's 'my' car and DH still has a petrol one - we use the electric one for local trips and petrol for longer ones. It's comfortable to drive and the ride is smooth as long as the roads aren't too bumpy. It has a slightly raised driving position (because of the battery using some underfloor space) which suits me as I'm short! There is plenty of room in the back and a decent sized boot for a relatively small car. The only thing I don't like is the moulded non-adjustable headrests.

Not in U.K. so price/deals probably different - but it cost us slightly more than a petrol car of similar age/condition/mileage (€6.000). We lease the battery for €59 a month which is about the same as I was spending on petrol. We looked into leasing a new electric car but even with a government rebate it was pretty steep - you see deals for €130 a month but I don't think anyone ever gets them! The garage offered us €329 a month with a payment upfront of a couple of thousand, I think.

I’m on my second Yaris hybrid , and do a 100 mile each way commute 4 days a week every week . I love it . Does nearly 500 miles to a tank which is about £36 at the moment , nippy , very manoeuvrable , yet enough boot space to move DS between uni and home.

Thanks all. The BMW i3 looks fab!

I have an VW ID3 and I love it. Like you, most of our miles are around town - nursery/in laws/shops/gym and so they're not long journeys.

I've also used it on a few longer journeys, it has a longer range when it's not freezing (200ish vs 150ish) and the range drops quickly on motorways which has caught us out once or twice but now we've got the hang of charging out and about it's easy - there's plenty of apps showing chargers and if it's a 50kw quick charger then it generally gets enough charge whilst we go to the toilet/exercise the toddler/have a coffee

We have a 2021 Toyota Yaris Hybrid. Amazing fuel efficiency (we've only filled it up twice in 1000 miles). Good little run around, reasonable oomph, all mod cons (sensors all over the shop), automatic (as most lower end hybrids are). We mainly use it for in-town driving, but it handles motorways fine.

We would have gone for a fully electric car but there aren't enough charging points locally.

We got a Hyundai Kona fully electric last year as our only car and it’s been great. We have only had an issue charging once when we drove from Manchester to west wales in the summer and there were queues to use the chargers.

I've got a plug in outlander. On the surface of it, it's useless but it works really well for me.

It does about 20 miles electric, so that's all my usual miles to the shops, out and about on a day to day basis.

When I go further afield, to visit relatives or on day trips, I need to use the petrol engine- efficiency isn't bad, given that it's a hybrid.

For us, it's brilliant- big boot, comfortable, usually runs on electric. Economical when it has to use fuel.

Another vote for the BMW i3, I've had one for 2 years and can honestly say I love it, something I've never said about a previous car I've owned.

Personally with the mileage you mention I wouldn't bother with a hybrid I'd just get an electric one than has a decent range, there are loads about now that can do over 150 miles even on a cold day.

Go and test drive a few models, the driving experience on an EV is so different to a traditional car it's quite something.

We intended to just have the one EV and DH would keep the diesel 4x4 that we need for towing, however he's so taken with mine he's now considering getting a Tesla model X as they have a decent towing capability.

Oh, and definitely get a home charger, it's so much more convenient that petrol stations and much cheaper as well.

I have a 6 year old Leaf - there are various sizes of battery which have corresponding range - mine is a 24kw which does 70 miles in the summer and probably about 55 in the winter - however in the winter I do use up the battery a lot by using the remote pre-heat.

It charges from a normal 3 pin plug overnight a couple of times a week and more than does my work commute (20 miles a day) and other trips to the shops / gym etc.

It cost me £7500 a year ago, but prices seem to have shot up as WeBuyAnyCar keep emailing me offering me almost £10k for it.

DP (I'm useless at maths) calculated that the cost of electricity meant it was running at the petrol equivalent of 130ish mpg [wow]

There are a few public chargers locally that are free which makes it even cheaper.

I haven't taken it on a very long run before but it is certainly do-able - I am on a Leaf facebook group and lots of them travel the length of the country charging en-route.

Do you have off street parking where you could plug in an electric? If so, don't even think about a hybrid. You aren't doing even close to the distances where you would justifiably have to be concerned about range. Not ever having to fill up is a joy. We have been driving a BMWi3 for a couple of years and have now bought a BMW iX which is fully electric as we realised we don't need anything else. It's great to have 2 cars we both like to drive

@turnaroundtime yes we have off road parking.

Just been looking at some prices, they’re so pricey aren’t they, even second hand ones cost a lot!

They do seem expensive to buy, but the running costs are low - there are no moving parts in the engine to seize up, no gearbox etc.

And the fuel savings are huge.

DS has an electric & is full convert... sounds like full electric would suit OP very well.

I have a hybrid Kia Niro, have had it for 6 months and am pretty pleased with it. A neighbour has recently bought a fully electric car and is struggling to find anywhere to charge it (doesn’t have a charging port at home). I think I would be too worried about running low on electric, mine is self charging and has halved my fuel costs.

I have a plug-in hybrid BMW 3 series touring. I initially wanted a fully electric car but a hybrid ended up suiting my lifestyle better. I get 50km on a full charge in warm weather and about 29km at this time of year.

I plug it back in every time I get home, so you do need to be that type of person. I heard someone say that if you're the type to always eject your memory stick before removing it, you don't have lots of notifications on your phone and hardly any unread emails then you'll be fine with a hybrid. Otherwise you're better off full electric or full petrol.

Most of my journeys are local and I only really use petrol if I'm going outside my city or if I'm accelerating hard (that's really fun, both the electric and the petrol engines kick in at the same time). So I fill my tank when it's at the halfway mark, and that can be between 3 and 6 months with my normal usage. I don't get great milage from the petrol engine on long journeys, but it's not terrible either and because I don't do very many long journeys it's fine.

DH is probably going to trade in his car in the next year or two and may go full electric, but it will need to be able to get to our holiday house even when it's cold without stopping to charge so the range available might have increase a little first. Plus, we'll have to install a charger down there as it's in the middle of absolutely nowhere so we couldn't charge it nearby.

I got a kia eniro in October and love it. My commute is about 6 miles and I only have to charge it every 10 days, if that. Done a few 40 mile trips, really lovely on the motorway.
We do have a petrol estate that I'd take if I was going anywhere more than a daytrip though.

I have a Toyota Yaris self charge hybrid too, it's great and much cheaper than an electric car. I probably use 1/3 less petrol with it.

I paid £11K for it - the equivalent-ish electric car at the time would have been £26K.