Can someone explain electric cars, hybrid and any other options

[m00rfarm]

I am honestly not a stupid person, but I really cannot get my head around what I should be looking at purchasing. I find something that looks interesting, then find there is a hidden battery cost per month for example.

I really want an SUV type electric vehicle (well, I think I do). But would a hybrid be better?

Any simple explanations would be greatly appreciated.

That’s good to know. I may have to switch. Only driven Ford Fiestas!

It is not brand new (and I live in portugal anyway!) - it has done about 7k miles, and is the pro performance with the better range. But there are about 10 available second hand in the whole of Portugal - so not easy to get hold of!

That is interesting - I liked the ID3 but I needed higher seats as I have a problem with my knees getting out of vehicles that have a normal height seat.

Whereas im short and don’t want to feel like a child getting into a high vehicle 😂
Hopefully there’ll be choice.
(though not with Ford annoyingly)

@Rummikub
Steep learning curve around public charging. On longer cross-country journeys here every charger works differently, sun shines on screen so you can't read instructions or no instructions at all, access to public chargers designed by idiots, apps and credit cards erratic etc etc.
Car itself easy and a fabulous drive.
Car App a friggin' nightmare.

If you really want to try an electric car, try the Peugeot e-208. I went from a fiesta active to this and I love it, had 2 fiestas in the past and I prefer the 208. But you're still low down if that's what you like and it's also compact.

Thank you for that suggestion. I might go have a browse and consider options. I’m not looking to get one immediately but my petrol costs are 300/month and I could use that for finance.

This makes sense. I watched someone trying to figure out the charging point. No canopy overhead. In the rain. They tried several times, must’ve taken 20 mins to figure it out!

Before more charging points appear they should consider a universal system.

My favourite charging point was the one that said "put your card on the screen and follow instructions." Um - I can't see them because the card is over the screen.
in small towns here in France you get the impression that there is a grand opening ceremony by the Maire without anyone thinking about how you actually access the thing. Quite common to find one way access so if your charging point is on the other side you have to stretch the (inevitably too short) cable over the bonnet. 😱

I have a fully electric bmw. Been speaking about it for years but decided to take the plunge. I'm loving it so far, the car and the drive are fab, the range is good and suits my needs for work and personal use. As pp have said public charging is not the easiest option and I tend to stick to home charging due to issues I've had with public chargers not working, difficult to use etc. DH vehicle is not electric, he doesn't need it for work as works abroad so not used a lot but he does need it when home and if we were going a longer journey, which is rare, we would definitely use it.

Personally, I prefer a hybrid because electric cars are still a 'raw deal'. There are problems with drive time, a certain discomfort with refuelling and battery disposal is also environmentally disastrous. But I like the idea of an electric car, so a hybrid is a great transition.

@HowardPol - I don’t think the drive time is a problem at all. No one is got to be driving all day without a break. I just drove dh to an airport in a different country ( we are mainland Europe), 150km approx each way ( took about 2hrs each way with traffic). So 4hr drive, 300km and i still had plenty of charge left in car on return.

I love it - still not entirely convinced about the charging bit - or may have been the person showing me who kept trying to do it with his card which was clearly not working. When I used the app it was charging away quite happily. Sooooo easy to drive. And comfortable. Hopefully it will continue this way. And looks so pretty as well 😁

Does anyone suffer from motion sickness and still do ok in an electric car?

Aww it’s good you love your new car!
I do hope charging is sorted out.

I was reading about 2 different schemes. - one in Sweden using rails to charge while driving and another in America which has some sort of magnetic charging.

@Penguintears how did you find the visibility for the rear window?

I do and I'm mostly fine. My DH has a Tesla and it's better as a passenger than the petrol Audi A4 he used to drive. When I drive it myself it's not a problem at all.

We test drove the electric SUV style cars from Skoda, VW, Kia and Audi too. The VW was the only one I wrote off within minutes of the test drive. I think the salesman must have left it in sport mode. My head was glued to the seat and I felt sick. We only chose the Tesla above the others because it had a much shorter delivery time.

Thanks for replying @superdupernova
glad to read that it doesn’t happen when you’re driving.

Absolutely fine. It's a lot smaller than my old car but it has a reversing camera that is really good so reversing is very easy. Good visibility in rear view mirror as well. I find it hard to fault actually. Love it so much.

I have the Jag E pace hybrid and I love it!! I love driving in electric. I had the ipace as a curtsey car so fully electric and I hated it! Hybrid all the way for me

Final update - I still love the ID4. I still have to charge at Lidl two or three times a week, because I do a stupid number of miles, but it is by far the nicest car I have ever had. It makes my life behind the wheel so simple. Everyone should have one!

So 12 months later the car has gone. No more electric cars for me. Or Hybrid. I am back to a "normal" car and cannot wait for it to arrive on Friday. I was driven mad by not being able to hurtle from one end of the Algarve to the other without stopping to charge twice. Yes - a range of 500km, providing I drove in towns and did a lot of braking. As soon as I was doing motorway or dual carriageway, the consumption went down so instead of 300km I only got 100km.

Since selling it last week, I realise I had massive range anxiety when I was driving, as I am still continuously looking for places to charge as I drive around in my petrol hire car. I have driven 400km and not had to refuel yet, and that was a motorway drive all the way from Lisbon to the Algarve, and several motorway trips along the coast.

I adored the car. I still do. But for me, the driving distances I do made it untenable. I loved jumping in and pressing the button to drive - it was comfortable and had lots of great gadgets (apart from the air con where I definitely prefer buttons to a complicated menu with too many options - I had to resort to telling it my feet were too hot/cold so it would do it for me).

Oh - and the tires cost me 1380 euros for a set. Ridiculous. 20,000km and I am a careful driver. So until these cars can comfortably travel 800km on a single charge on a motorway, I am not going to buy another one.

@m00rfarm - €1340 for a set of tires seems high. We bought winter tyres for ours last winter (we have to have legally due to location) and they were like €200 each tyre, and on 4-3 from vw direct so €600 for a set of winter tyres for id4. I think they are continental and dh researched a lot for decent quiet ones.

Surprised by your range. Our id4 is fine, we often cross all over Austria, Italy, Slovenia regularly and it’s never been an issue. It’s currently -7 today and the range hasn’t worried me.

In the Algarve if I wanted the recommended tires (which I did as I was selling) this was the best I could get. We often pay a premium for things like this due to the location. I crossed all over Portugal regularly, but it drove me mad having to stop to charge so regularly. The maximum range is 500km on 100% charge and I usually charged (as recommended) to 80% which reduced it down to around 420 or so. So I can't drive on a motorway at motorway speeds for more than 175km (usually less). It is the speed that destroys the mileage. I have researched subsequently and this is entirely normal for this vehicle. How many km on a motorway can you do without charging? I was always against the clock going from appointment to appointment. When I was driving to Lisbon last week, I stopped to charge and had breakfast which was fine - I left an hour earlier than I needed to so I had plenty of time. But unfortunately my life is rarely like that as I am driven by appointments and therefore always rushing!

Your range numbers are very odd! Motorway driving is the most efficient (assuming you're still going at a 'sensible' (ie legal) speed). I find it very odd that you only got 100km (60 miles) on a full battery. That's definitely not normal.