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Original poster

EV for the main family car

109 replies

Ticketybloop · 22/01/2023 13:55

If you have made the transition to electric for your main family car, how has it been? Do you regret it or are you glad you made the switch?

We have been sorely in need of a new family car as our old diesel is on its last legs. Really wanted to go electric with this one, but with 3 kids and periodic live-in grandparents, we also needed something large and practical. When the Volvo EX90 (aka electric XC90) came out, we took the plunge and ordered one for 2024 delivery.

I am now second guessing our decision and am worried about how we will fare as a family on pure electric. 600km
on a charge seems okay to me, but now we have family members now telling us we will regret it. For day to day use I think it will be great as we can charge in our driveway or garage. We chose electric over hybrid for a number of reasons, and maybe by the time it’s delivered in 2024, the charging infrastructure will be better, but now I am worried we have made the transition too soon.

Would love to hear personal experiences of making the move to EV for your family car if you have done so!

OP posts:
Caspianberg · 22/01/2023 13:57

We have the Vw Id4 as our only car. We love it.

ReviewingTheSituation · 22/01/2023 13:59

All depends what kind of journeys you do, and whether you can charge at home. If you do loads of long distance stuff, where you need to charge on the road, you'll need to get into the mindset of careful planning (but if they're the same journeys then you'll soon work out the best places to stop).
Mainly smaller journeys- no issue at all.

Original poster
Ticketybloop · 22/01/2023 14:00

Caspianberg · 22/01/2023 13:57

We have the Vw Id4 as our only car. We love it.

That’s good to hear! How has it been for you on road trips? Do you find the charging much of a pain, or has the adjustment been okay?

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Caspianberg · 22/01/2023 14:04

Never been a problem. We have a 2 year old so would never be doing 6 hr journeys without stopping anyway. So we just plan a stop somewhere they can run about and eat, exactly the same as we would have done with our Petrol car.

Most of our journeys can be done without needed any extra charge tbh. It not often we do more than 500km in one go

Looksonthebrightside · 22/01/2023 14:08

It’s a massive pain in the bum! We only have electric cars now, and day-to-day it’s fine but when we want to do longer journeys it’s not great. For example, yesterday I drove to a city less than 100 miles from home. I had to charge when I got there and then stop on the way home (at midnight) to charge again. Usually it would probably do both journeys on one charge or with just a quick charge somewhere but the cold temps made the range plummet.

We’ve also had loads of issues in the past with struggling to find a working charger or having to wait for ages to access a charger. It’s also a pain having to wait 40 mins to charge on a long journey - with a non-electric car it takes 5 mins to refuel. I’m very conscious of the environment which is why we’ve persevered with electric cars. But I’m fed up with the hassle now so am looking at replacing one of our cars with a hybrid. We’ll go back to electric for both cars when the infrastructure is better and when it’s possible to charge more quickly.

Riverlee · 22/01/2023 14:08

We have and it’s fine. For longer journeys, it does involve a bit more planning, and maybe an extra stop but you get used to that. My dh has actually found taking that extra break helps and keeps him refreshed better for longer journeys.

statetrooperstacey · 22/01/2023 14:09

Not family car but our work fleet has just changed to ev and there are massive problems in less than a year.
Biggest one being the batteries no longer retain full charge, they only charge to about 2/3 of their capacity. We travelled 8 miles the other day and because we had the heating on it burned through 80miles of electric .!!!

sometimes they just don’t charge at all. We plug them in over night , the little light comes on to say it’s connected and charging, then in the morning…. Nothing. My DH travelled 25 miles the other day in his work ev car and it used 90 miles of electric and they were stuck for 3 hours trying to charge at a public charge point before they could return ,they were in eco mode the whole time.
they’re absolute Shite and not fit for purpose .

m00rfarm · 22/01/2023 14:11

I have the ID4 as my only car now. I do cover some miles, and currently do not have a charger at home. Longest trip was 280km which was mostly motorway, which tends to get through the battery quickly. Stuck at 110km per hour on the motorway and still had 100km left when we arrived.

Original poster
Ticketybloop · 22/01/2023 14:11

statetrooperstacey · 22/01/2023 14:09

Not family car but our work fleet has just changed to ev and there are massive problems in less than a year.
Biggest one being the batteries no longer retain full charge, they only charge to about 2/3 of their capacity. We travelled 8 miles the other day and because we had the heating on it burned through 80miles of electric .!!!

sometimes they just don’t charge at all. We plug them in over night , the little light comes on to say it’s connected and charging, then in the morning…. Nothing. My DH travelled 25 miles the other day in his work ev car and it used 90 miles of electric and they were stuck for 3 hours trying to charge at a public charge point before they could return ,they were in eco mode the whole time.
they’re absolute Shite and not fit for purpose .

Yikes!! Which cars are these, out of interest?

OP posts:
Original poster
Ticketybloop · 22/01/2023 14:32

Caspianberg · 22/01/2023 14:04

Never been a problem. We have a 2 year old so would never be doing 6 hr journeys without stopping anyway. So we just plan a stop somewhere they can run about and eat, exactly the same as we would have done with our Petrol car.

Most of our journeys can be done without needed any extra charge tbh. It not often we do more than 500km in one go

That’s good to hear. Which car do you have? Do you find battery degradation has been much of an issue?

OP posts:
Caspianberg · 22/01/2023 14:40

@Ticketybloop - vw id4 pro. No problem with battery either. Yes it does slightly less when cold, but nothing that causes an issue, and we live 750m up a mountain in the Alps, so it’s cold 5 months of the year.

wonkylegs · 22/01/2023 14:47

We have a Jaguar iPace and have had it for 2.5yrs - it's been a great car so far
We do also still have a ICE car (it's still works and doesn't need replacement yet) but the iPace is used the most.
Most charging is at home which is absolutely fine and we've had no issues with that and we were already used to using it and charging away from home as we had a PHEV vw golf before it.
A lot of owning an EV is just about getting used to doing things slightly differently rather than it actually being difficult. Those with long ranges are easier for this than smaller range EVs .
Generally they are more convenient than ICE due to most charging at home but on long journeys you do have to actually think/ plan more than you are used to.
Had a few broken chargers over the years (mainly the free ones in Newcastle or Darlington) but otherwise not an issue.
Charging infrastructure away from home can be a bit confusing but again it's about getting your head around it and also being aware that it may be busy (if you travel in the busiest day of the year through the main routes for example) and plan accordingly.
Most people make multiple stops when travelling anyways and I've been doing a few long cross country drives recently for a family emergency and every-time I stop there have been plenty of charging capacity available.
There are lots of EV owner forums (Facebook) which can give you a more balanced picture by people who are actually using them.
There will always be some bad experiences but there are for ICE cars too. EVs are getting better with each iteration as well, my iPace is fairly old EV tech now but I still rate it as a lovely car to drive and own and it fits my huge great big teenage DS in the back comfortably too so that's always a bonus.

Wishiwasatailor · 22/01/2023 14:48

No problems here in deepest Devon which isn’t exactly swamped with chargers. Regular long journeys to London and Birmingham haven’t been a problem and can do them on almost full charges. Charge at home mostly but also at work if forgotten to plug in.

Avacadoandtoast · 22/01/2023 14:54

Love our electric - just a little bit more planning on longer journeys but I quite like it and means we stop for a proper lunch / break somewhere

monitor1 · 22/01/2023 14:55

You need to halve the range for real life use, maybe a bit better than half in the summer. So the question is will you ever need to go more than 300km in one journey?

Blankscreen · 22/01/2023 14:59

This is our dilemma.

Friend have an etron and it does there head in on a long journey.

Queues at the chargers, broken chargers.

Think we are going for a hybrid instead.

NotMyDayJob · 22/01/2023 15:00

Nissan Ariya with a big battery here. You can do about 250 miles on a charge, even in winter although it would be cutting it fine. We have a vw golf as a second family car (we live semi rurally so need two cars). We debated a second electric but couldn't really afford it and did think a petrol would be useful as a back up just in case. We can charge at home. No problems with long distance journeys and good for ferrying the family around town

WeAreBorg · 22/01/2023 15:03

I have an EV - had it for two years and it’s okay for pootling around for work and school but the thought of going on long journeys is pretty off-putting!

Only times I’ve done one I’ve had to wait for chargers or sign up to some different provider or download some app, as opposed to just filling up and leaving.

My battery doesn’t seem to like the cold either - I’m charging it every other day and my bills are enormous! Im not a massive fan tbh

mobear · 22/01/2023 15:06

We have a Tesla Model Y as our main family car and I love it. We never use our other car now. We don’t have a drive so I was apprehensive but for day to day I charge it overnight on a lamp post charger near home once a week and it charges really fast on a 22kw or Supercharger as an alternative (we have a Supercharger near us). Defrosting and heating the car remotely has been very useful recently!

Amuseaboosh · 22/01/2023 15:14

Tesla Y - brilliant car. Full charge is about 300 miles for us which means no stopping during journey's to charge.

It's more spacious than our other car, Mercedes E class and the remote access via the app is brilliant.
Heating the car, locking unlocking it, checking its location (if needed), video surveillance. We're now looking at changing our Mercedes too.

We went with Tesla purely because of the battery range.

Amuseaboosh · 22/01/2023 15:16

Amuseaboosh · 22/01/2023 15:14

Tesla Y - brilliant car. Full charge is about 300 miles for us which means no stopping during journey's to charge.

It's more spacious than our other car, Mercedes E class and the remote access via the app is brilliant.
Heating the car, locking unlocking it, checking its location (if needed), video surveillance. We're now looking at changing our Mercedes too.

We went with Tesla purely because of the battery range.

Oh, we can also get it to fart on tap. Total crowd pleaser with our kids and their friends.

Swimmingpoolsally · 22/01/2023 15:20

I’d not. The cost to charge right now is higher than combustion and of course in extreme weather, cold or heat they can often only operate at about 30 % of their battery, there is also an inherent fire risk , if you crash and the battery is pierced it will combust and the firebrigade is unable to put it out, it burns to hot. You need a fast exit plan if you have one, and of course always charge away from the house and not in an integrated garage.

as batteries degrade any over charge could also see it combust.

it would be a no from me.

FuckabethFuckor · 22/01/2023 15:26

Well, you're spending £100,000 on a car so it needs to be right.

What kind of driving do you do? That new Volvo is at the bleeding edge of tech and range so you're at the better end of EVs I'd say. But if you do a lot of long journeys, it might still be a bit of a nuisance.

That said, if you don't live in the UK (since you said km rather than miles, I wondered if you were in Europe) it might be a different story. The UK's public infrastructure for EVs is a bit lacking. But if you're in Norway, France or the Netherlands you'll probably be much better off.

EATmum · 22/01/2023 15:28

Love ours (Renault Zoe) but it takes an adjustment for sure. We are currently sat in a service station charging - and in the 2 years we've had our EV that's definitely improved but it has huge potential to be better. In the very cold weather the range is compromised, but generally it's been such a good transition. And we don't have charging at home, so rely on the various networks.
That is one thing I would love to see changed - one payment system for all the charging networks. We must have 10-15 different apps and log ins for different networks and some are much better than others. I rate Mer, Podpoint and Source London where we are, and there are others I'll avoid altogether. Zap Map is essential.
Good luck! We certainly don't regret ours.

Original poster
Ticketybloop · 22/01/2023 15:34

FuckabethFuckor · 22/01/2023 15:26

Well, you're spending £100,000 on a car so it needs to be right.

What kind of driving do you do? That new Volvo is at the bleeding edge of tech and range so you're at the better end of EVs I'd say. But if you do a lot of long journeys, it might still be a bit of a nuisance.

That said, if you don't live in the UK (since you said km rather than miles, I wondered if you were in Europe) it might be a different story. The UK's public infrastructure for EVs is a bit lacking. But if you're in Norway, France or the Netherlands you'll probably be much better off.

We are indeed in Europe. On our last road trip we actually took note of all the charge places on our usual motorway in France and they seemed pretty plentiful. I also wonder if we might end up changing our driving habits on road trips to perhaps break up journeys with an overnight stay, and in the process get a good 5ish hours of evening driving when roads and chargers are clearer.

I’d say 90% of our driving is around town, with maybe a short day trip 45 mins away here or there, so I doubt we’d need to use local chargers much. I’d say we do maybe 4-5 longer road trips every year, but out hope is that the range is enough to do those trips with maybe 4 stops instead of our usual 3.

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