Please tell me about your experience with electric cars

[electricsix]

Thinking about going electric, purely for the BIK/p11D saving as I don't rate them too much myself. I do a lot of business miles a month but never more than a full charge in one day - probably even allowing for the real life reduction of performance. I've seen a few threads here about electric cars so was hoping I could piggy back off your experiences and not make a massive mistake because I'm uninformed.

My concerns are
The increase in my electricity bill - how much does it cost to charge yours from empty to full as I will be doing this almost every day?

Range anxiety but I imagine I will get used to this?

Those rare occasions we go on a family holiday to somewhere really far away - what are the chargers like at services, reliable etc? And in Devon, Cornwall, Scotland middle of nowhere, are there public chargers??? How much of a faff is it?

What electric car do you have and can you tell me pros and cons?

Are you happy with your choice or do you regret?

Anything that I haven't thought about that you think I should know.

Long time user but I always name change if I start a thread just in case. Cancel the cheque etc.

Thank you wise mumsnetters

DH has had a Hyundai Ioniq 5 for work.

We're on an EV tariff, it costs only a few pounds/pence to charge at home overnight. Absolutely nothing compared to petrol. It does cost more to charge out and about, but still less than petrol.

It has around 200 mile range (more in the summer). If you follow the ABCs (Always Be Charging) and plug it in every time you stop for the loo/pop to the supermarket you'll have no trouble.

I did know someone who got a second hand leaf with a pitiful range though. Don't do that, get a modern EV with decent range and it'll be fine.

We live in west Devon. It's fine. There are map apps with all the chargers on. You plan your journey around the ABCs.

We love ours and are sad to have to give it back after DHs redundancy.

We’ve had one for two years. It’s brilliant. Acceleration is amazing and it’s the best car I’ve had.

We have a Kia Niro and it has a range of between 250-323 miles. Range is affected by how many extras you use (heated seats/lights/AC) so think about your own preferences. Range is also affected by outside temperatures as the batteries are less effective when it is cold.

We have never had a problem charging. I used to deplete the batteries in a day for some jobs, and I handled it by having a 30 minute coffee. If you are going long distance the trick is not to try and recharge it to full as you go - it takes us about 30 mins to get it to 80% on a fast charger and as with any other battery it’s charging that last 20% that takes all the time.

You need a proper charger installed at home- they are not as speedy as many of the public fast ones, but you don’t want to be trying to work off a trickle charger if you need it to charge most days. Different chargers provider different amounts of power - 7kw chargers need a long time whereas a 100kw chargers does the job fast.

yoy need to download Zapmap, BP Pulse and InstaVolt to identify where the chargers are in the areas you want to go to.

We have an e-up. It's great, and costs around £15 for a full charge which is about 150 miles.

Never given any issues, but only had it 9 months.

We also have an ionic 5. Absolutely love it. Have had no issues on long journeys both in UK and driving in Europe, we've always needed to stop for ourselves for toilets/ food before the car has needed to charge, so range anxiety has not been an issue at all.

It does obviously increase the electricity bill at home, but by much less than we were previously spending on petrol.

I think it's important to mention that my petrol is currently covered by work but with an electric, I have to cover initially and then I get a pence per mile coverage back. I'm not sure if this will put me in a sticky situation. I read yesterday a specific car cost just under £30 to charge from empty to full and I panicked that I'd be left shortchanged.

We are getting a BYD Atto 3, and cant wait. In paper it is great.

Personal mileage not covered but I don't have any outlay for fuel. It's recovered from my salary at x pence per mile.

I’ve got a VW iD3 (same size as a golf). I get 200miles from an 80% charge in the summer and 170 at this time of year. mainly use it for pottering around locally and commuting but have taken it on a couple of longer trips. Apart from once on the A1M when I got there and the chargers were broken I’ve never had charge anxiety.

I’d never heard it called ABC before but yes on a bigger trip that’s exactly what you do. If you stop you charge. Although there’s nothing quite like the rage you experience when someone parks in a charging spot at a service station!

You won’t be short changed unless you only charge at motorway service stations.

We have had that issue with DH work mileage so he he hasn’t switched to electric too. Gets 56p/mile for petrol which covers it plus wear and tear etc but would only get 4p/mile for electric. My car costs about 8p/mile to run.

I’ve never paid £30 but I imagine it’s possible if you have to rely on public chargers for a full charge? Home charging is much cheaper, so we use that mostly and only do top ups where necessary.

£15 for a charge? Are you using a public charger?Thats an insane price.

I've had an E-Golf for nearly 5 years. The range isn't great compared to newer EVs but it's the perfect commute car.
I charge at home on a pod point most nights. Costs around £3 with octopus ev tarriff.

@OctogenarianDecathlete sorry about your husband's redundancy. That can be a really tough time. I hope he's ok.

Would be not still get the wear and tear pence per mile with an electric? I thought it didn't matter what you had if you do it that way in your own car?

This is their car so I get a fuel card, all covered and then I pay back depending on engine size and fuel type so it wouldn't be a raw deal like you'd get but I think potentially still a raw deal.

Thank you all so much. Please keep them coming. Especially with examples of what cars you have as this is really helpful. I have older kids and a dog so needs to comfortably fit us all in.

Ioniq 5 here and we have a variable tariff with Octopus so we get a cheap tariff overnight. On this it costs 7p a unit and about £3.50 for a full charge which does 200 miles. My previous petrol car did 400 miles on £80 of petrol so the difference is massive.

I have an 80 mile round trip for work and as long as you make a habit of charging overnight its fine. We also have a charger at work (which is 14p a unit so I try not to use it!)

I don't much like the ioniq 5 itself as its like parking a skip and it beeps constantly about this and that, but I love the electric aspect.

And we can easily fit 3 adults and 2 child seats in! So 5 adults and a dog would be a breeze.

I have a nissan leaf - its great -really nice to drive also have an ev tarriff - so long i remember to plug in the charger every night (its on a timer) it works brilliantly

DH has a VW ID4 - huge boot and plenty of room in the back so 5 adults could travel pretty comfortably in it. We’re on an EV tariff with our energy provider so to charge it costs a few pounds.

PILS have a charger installed but aren’t on an EV tariff, charging at theirs costs about £15.

We’ve been on holiday in it, to Europe and back and not had any issues. Public chargers are very easily accessible in France, and reasonably priced. We haven’t had need to use many in the uk, but there are maps online and you can look up the price and kWh rate of the charger ahead of your journey to decide which would be the most convenient/economical.

Ioniq 5
you need a cheap overnight tariff eg with octopus who have a rate specifically for EV owners. Perhaps £7 empty to full but ours is rarely empty and we only charge to 90% unless need all the range as it’s more efficient. We also put on washing machine and dishwasher etc overnight too so our electricity bills are actually less than they were pre EV.
I also get to sometimes charge at work for free.

easily 260 miles range, not far off 300 in summer

we don’t do high mileage generally but have taken EVs all over the UK the last 4 years on holiday. And to Europe. Never had a problem. Things are definitely getting easier with multiple charge point charging Zones (eg with 10-20 chargers) popping up at motorway services al over the place now. These are expensive and only a bit cheaper than filling up with petrol however fine for convenience a handful of times
a year

we’ve got solar installed which brings the bills down further. But we work from home most of the time which means it can sit there Charging on sunny days (charging direct from solar is slow. But free!)

4 years in. Would never ever go back. A lot harder if you don’t have off street parking for a charger though

We had an eGolf for 4 years, until we replaced it with a BMW i4 last year. We have a charger at home and a good tariff (from Octopus). We also have solar panels at home, so charging is cheap.

The eGolf was a great car with a range of about 150-180 miles. At that point many of the public chargers were free and we didn't ever pay to charge it. However, all that has changed now!
The BMW has a much larger battery. We can do about 300 miles. This makes an enormous difference to peace of mind! It's also helpful to think about long journeys and how you can charge without wasting time. For example, we recently drove from North Yorkshire to Poole. We'd used about 40% of the battery by lunchtime, so we stopped in Warwick and charged it back up to 90% while we had lunch. There are apps to help you find the fastest chargers when you're away from home.

That's the only time I've checked the cost.😀

We're not on an ev Charging rate as we don't charge enough compared with daytime usage to be worth the one we were offered. It's not as low as £3 though, I'm sure.

Even the £15 is considerably less than our petrol one though.

Ps Ioniq 5 is very roomy but a bit of a tank and a bit too high tech for me (everything is via screen, very few buttons and nobs).

for a decent sized family car I’d look at Kia Niro or Skoda Enyaq. Nissan Leaf is smaller but excellent new- my BiL bought one of the very earliest ones second hand which can only manage about 50 miles. Goodness knows now he manages but he does.

I have a Tesla model 3 - easily big enough for us and the two kids. It's a saloon so I guess no good for a dog but a model y presumably would be (I think - not a dog person!).

We have an EV tariff with octopus which automatically charges the car overnight at very cheap rates. Charging when you're out and about is much more expensive.

The biggest thing that impacts range for me is cold/wet/windy weather but never to the extent I'm worried about getting places - the car works out (very accurately) where it'll need charging en route and plans it into the journey.

This is my second model 3 and I'll never go back to petrol for my main car.

I have a BMW ix3 and I love it. Via NHS Fleet, so a total bargain.

its brilliant and the ABC is a very good tip.

I can charge at work for free (super helpful)