Would you buy a electric car?

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So I need a car for my new job after only having one car that my husband uses, I can only drive a automatic, so debating a electric car, would you get one?

I would for a second car. We're holding off for another few years until the infrastructure improves but that's only because we have one car between us. As long as you have one petrol/diesel for long distance family stuff I'd definitely go for it.

No.

No.

Our neighbour has 2 and is selling 1 and is replacing with petrol. He says it costs twice as much to run now than it did when he bought it. So he's getting petrol. Of course they'll still have their electric second car.

I would if I just drove locally.

As we have to travel to ferry dc to and from universities and to visit family I will wait a few years. We only have one car as well.

My parents bought 2 electric cars but are struggling with lack of charging infrastructure because they travel long distances so are looking to switch one to a hybrid.

We have a zoe. I love it. I wouldn’t get one if my commute was over 100 miles. On a very cold day that’s the max range. But in summer it goes 240miles.

Yes, we've got 2. I'll never look at petrol again.

I currently have a plug-in hybrid and I'm about to trade in for full electric. The plug-in hybrid has been pretty good, I've had it for 2 yrs and 4 months and I've done just over 20k km, of which 17k km was using the electric motor since most of my journeys are short and local. I only need to put half a tank of petrol in every 3 or 4 months. I am the type to always remember to plug it in every single time I come home, if you're forgetful or easily distracted then there's no point going plug-in hybrid. Also, the handling is noticeably heavier when it switches over to petrol, the electric is much more fun to drive.

A few things to consider. The official range that car companies give for their cars is absolute la-la land, you will never get anywhere near that especially when it's cold or you're doing motorway driving. My longest journey is 220km and my new car will have an official range of 480km, I need my range to be more than twice my journey to be sure of getting there. So, a return trip to your parents is 80 miles, you would need a range of around 180-200 miles to avoid range anxiety.

Also, you will need to have a cheap night rate to maximise your savings, if you charge during the day you won't save as much and if you charge at a public charger you might even end up paying almost as much per mile as petrol would be.

You would preferably need a long battery warranty, my new car will have an 8 year warranty which stays with the car not the owner, so anyone who buys my new car second-hand in a few years will still have the warranty.

You need enough space on your driveway for the electric car to be always near the charger, it would be a pain to constantly need to move your DH's car if him getting home before you means that you can't reach the charger (although you can buy a longer cable if needed, I have a 10m one).

Just ordered a hybrid. We’re in central London so don’t have offsite parking and can’t have a charger installed, but work do so can park and charge, or the local supermarket and petrol stations have charging points - also have them in the street! We’ll probably use an electric for short journeys but petrol for holidays. It’s a good company car offset too compared to my last car!

I have a BMW i3 and it’s ace. The range isn’t great though but I only make short journeys round town. I charge overnight using a normal plug at home (we don’t have a charger) and that works fine. DH has a big, petrol car that we use for long journeys but he prefers my i3 for the day to day stuff.

No . They are too troublesome at the moment and the infrastructure is not there .

I'm getting an electric mini on a lease. My usual journey to work is about 4 miles each way. If I need to make longer journeys, which is rare, I can use DHs car.
I am excited about it but it will take some getting used to.

No, my Mum has one and hates it. But she does live in rural France.

I don’t think so, not for a few years. The infrastructure isn’t there yet, the energy prices are still weird, I’m not at all sure about the batteries and being reliant on materials not sourced in the UK and from what I’ve heard the range isn’t anything to write home about in many models (I’m a cold person 🤣)

I’ve also noticed that at our leafy school, the number of shiny Teslas has dropped right off so I think the leased ones have been going back in favour of other things…

I’ve had a Tesla for 18 months, and wouldn’t change it for the world! My SIL had a Leaf which she uses for her daily commute, and she loves it. With your mileage I’d definitely consider it - take a test drive and see what you think!

We have one and absolutely love it. Charge at home overnight on EV tariff cheap 10p rate. Also have appliances timed to use the cheap rate too so it saves us loads.

Defrost/Pre-heat (or cool with air con in summer) from app on my phone. Dream to drive and has 300 mile range in summer and about 220 this time of year.

We won’t go back.

We have a hybrid. I love it and prefer driving in electric. I hate charging it though. I shouldn't but I just cba half the time. J couldn't be trusted with a fully electric

No.

We're very rural with barely any public charging points. We also have no off-road parking and often have to park 6-7 houses away up the road.

If I was only doing short journeys then yes. But not if I regularly did more miles in a day.

I work with a number of people who have them and if they have to charge half way there, that's when it causes issues. One person had to drive from Essex to Harrogate, didn't charge up the car at his hotel as they stations were all full. It took him nearly 9 hours to get home, as half the chargers were broken, he couldn't get a fast charge and as a result has to charge twice on his way home

I’ve got a Zoe and I love it, it’s so fun to drive and on a cheap overnight tariff it costs me £2.50-£5 a week (we are on Octopus Go), we also have solar and can get a fair few miles a day for free on a sunny day. My commute is fairly short but I drive as part of my job so do a reasonable amount of driving.
The range on my 22 model is 250 in the summer, and about 160 at the moment. I have taken it on longer journeys, it just takes planning, have a look on ZapMap which will show you what’s local to you. Octopus also have an app that gives a 10% discount on public charging on loads of networks for Octopus customers.
One thing to bear in mind with a Zoe is even the ones with rapid charge (and I wouldn’t get one without if you will be doing long journeys, non rapid chargers aren’t as easy to find and obviously take longer) won’t charge as fast as other models because they are very protective of their batteries, a full charge on a rapid will take at least an hour. It’s never been much of an issue for us as generally we’ll go and eat whilst it charges so an hour isn’t an issue.
And the preheat function is my favourite thing about it, open my phone, press a button and ta-da! Warm, defrosted car!

I would say they are much cheaper than petrol or diesel if you can exclusively home charge on the right tariff.

Mine now costs less than £25 a month whereas my petrol car 2 years ago was costing over £200 a month for a similar mileage.

I drive a 2016 Leaf. It’s a perfect car for family with 2 kids that does a lot of local mileage. I wouldn’t do long journeys though as I have an old one with a smaller battery and I’d need to stop and charge too frequently.

Have a look at a plug in hybrid then. We have a Ford Kuga which has a range of 35 miles and we love it.

All of this.

Not until I can buy a nearly new one capable of towing a large caravan a good distance for under 20k, preferably under 15k at that. I drive a diesel 4x4 for the purpose. I bought our current one for 10k in 2008.
I use a small petrol car for more economical journeys but will swap to a bike in the next couple of years if my work circumstances change.

When you can charge from 0 to full in the same time as you can fill from 0 to full in a petrol, maybe.

Absolutely love mine! Can't see myself ever going back to petrol.