Help finding a family car - electric?

[troublegum]

My car is about to bite the dust, we need a new one and I'm finding it so hard to find the right car. We need:

• Lots of space in the rear seats - 3 kids aged 10-13 (2 still in HBBs, probably not for long, but then they will be big and fighting lots so rather not be squashed in)

• Big boot (camping holidays etc)

• Roof rack potential for bike racks/ roof box.

• Not too long – need to park on street in front of house and limited length between neighbour’s drive/telegraph pole.

We bought our current car - Citroen XSara Picasso - for £5k 8 years ago, it was 6 years old at the time. I assumed we would do similar this time but when I look at equivalent cars they are upwards of £14K.
I’m having to rejig my ideas of what use cars cost, and with the impending environmental catastrophe I’m starting to think about getting an electric car instead. I’ve been reading over threads on electric cars to get an idea of what this would entail and think I’m becoming convinced… either way, I cannot find THE car which fits my requirements above! Any ideas?

How do you propose to charge it?

Was about to say the same, if you don't have a drive it's not really feasible, non plus in hybrids are a better option. If you can fix your current car enough to last another yet hopefully the chip shortage will be over

What is your budget?

I'm in a city so was hoping to use just public chargers. Wouldn't be using the car for commuting, just ferrying kids around/supermarket etc. Is this not feasible?

Budget: if we did go electric, I'm wondering about leasing rather than buying. I guess if we bought a car then our budget is around 20k. But leasing, maybe 400 per month all in - so that would have to cover insurance and charging.

Honestly, I think you'd struggle to find an electric car of the right size within budget. For seating three kids across the rear bench Citroën have some of the widest models around at the moment; the C4 Spacewagon and Berlingo both have three separately moulded seats and will provide all the space you need.

The new Dacia Jogger also has more than enough space (it's actually a seven seater which can genuinely fit adults in the third row, and the rear bench has three distinct seats) as well as a roof rail which converts to a roof rack without any extra cross bars needed. It has just gone on sale and you could manage a top-spec brand new one within your budget, easily. However, it is only available as a petrol model, although there will be a self-charging hybrid from next year (no idea of price as yet). It'll be about 20cm longer than your Picasso.

In your position I think I would consider a hybrid, security of fuel in case of no charge point available but a regular electric range for local running around

We have a Mercedes’ B class and it’s been great so far, locally we run on electric but DH has the security of petrol if he can’t find a charger on longer journeys

I have a Hyundai Kona EV and no off-street charging. It gets around 280 miles to the charge, but I usually charge it when it gets to around 20%.

Very few of my journeys are longer than 10-15 miles and it sounds like yours will be similar. Look around your area for chargers in lampposts, Shell and BP have fast chargers at many of their petrol stations and there are lots of other networks. Check Zapmap for the ones around you.

I actually rented an EV first from On.To for a month to make sure it would work for me and the charging. I have an EV on order but in the meantime I still drive the rental (includes all charging and insurance costs).

I will say that it does NOT have a big boot, and the rear seats are ok but not enormous.

In your situation I would get a small EV for the daily run-around, and rent a much larger car for your camping holidays.

The alternative is to get a hybrid estate, I know the Skoda Octavia and Superb both come as hybrid.

I bought a fully electric Audi last week, it’s pretty big but way over your budget. We had to wait seven months for it to arrive.