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Please tell me about your experience with electric cars

130 replies

electricsix · 04/11/2023 06:34

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

OP posts:
electricsix · 04/11/2023 10:02

TooningOut · 04/11/2023 10:00

@Validus range isn't really effected by heated seats or lights, they run off the 12volt battery. AC will effect range though.

Is that true re heated seats? I've always heard they affect it. Would be great if they don't as if the car has them, they will permanently be on. I love a warm bum.

OP posts:
Galliano · 04/11/2023 10:04

Tbh I would have got the xc60 if it was a few years ago and I was doing school runs

Galliano · 04/11/2023 10:06

Also I have heated seats and steering wheel constantly on now - haven’t observed a significant drop in economy since summer

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Galliano · 04/11/2023 10:07

Also sorry for stream of consciousness but be aware the lowest spec Volvos don’t have them…I went for the top spec primarily for the heated seat 🤣

InMySpareTime · 04/11/2023 10:29

I've found the simplest way to eke out the mileage is to try to avoid too much braking and accelerating by sticking the cruise control on when on the motorway and stick nearer 60 than 70 if possible. Might just be our car though (Peugeot e208) but we can get about 5-10%more miles than it says we have by doing that on long journeys.

electricsix · 04/11/2023 10:44

Galliano · 04/11/2023 10:01

i went with the charger my electrician recommended - if I’d done more research I could have got a compatible one.
My children are adults with their own cars - 2 DSs 6ft 2 and 6ft 1 and DD 5ft 10. We have done odd journeys with them all in the back and it was doable but not ideal. Two of them in the back is completely fine - actually had that last night coincidentally and the two DC were commenting on what a vast improvement on the previous car.

Thank you! That's perfect to know. 90% of the time it's just me but I cart around a lot of people of all ages so comfort for them is a big thing as I have had small cars and felt awful for the people that are squished. I'm not 100% convinced by the xc40 but the more of them I see, I think they're lovely and I hear they're super safe.

OP posts:
Validus · 04/11/2023 10:45

electricsix · 04/11/2023 10:02

Is that true re heated seats? I've always heard they affect it. Would be great if they don't as if the car has them, they will permanently be on. I love a warm bum.

It’s what the garage said. But if not, great. It’s not something I looked at further as I don’t like heated seats!

Validus · 04/11/2023 10:48

You can also increase mileage by using eco mode as it uses the braking to generate charge. It’s always fun to go down a long steep hill and watch your available mileage go up.

Longma · 04/11/2023 10:51

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines. at the request of it's author.

Pasithean · 04/11/2023 10:54

Friends got one and took it back as they could not get across the country to their weekend cottage as there where no chargers.
friends 2. Went up in flames with faulty battery.
me and mr my horse where injured by one as neither of us saw or heard it come round a corner behind us .
The controversy over the manufacture and items used to make the batteries.
Therefore neither DH or I will never ever ever have one.

xlexiix · 04/11/2023 11:03

I have a Renault Zoe get about 250 miles on a charge in the summer and about 200 in the winter.

I do a lot of miles a day/ week and have noticed a significant saving in terms of cost I have gone from £90 a week in petrol to £110 a month in home charge plus about £60 a month in public charging.

This has been my first year with one and I massively rate it although I will say the infrastructure north of Nottingham isn't as brilliant as South but I have never really had any issues there just seem to be less of them so need a bit more thought or waiting whereas in the South I have found there is often more than 2 chargers in a location so I'm not waiting to charge

SomethingFun · 04/11/2023 11:05

Tesla model y here. It even has a dog mode so I presume it is good for dogs 😁It’s an amazing car and I love it.

It’s been to France and back and it was absolutely fine. As a pp mentioned, Whitby has like two chargers but we muddled through. I was on a Spanish island and they had more chargers outside our hotel than there is in Whitby, so I do think it’s the uk and our inability to make anything happen that’s the problem, rather than electric cars themselves.

FlyingFlamingo · 04/11/2023 11:40

electricsix · 04/11/2023 09:49

This is a car I'm considering. Can I ask why they're not compatible? How big are your back seat passengers and do they have enough room?

Not all cars and chargers can connect to the Octopus servers basically to allow them to control the charge. They will only permit the car to charge at times of excess power on the grid. The last few weeks have been really windy which means there is more green power available so I am getting really long slots earlier in the day which is great for my electricity bills!
The compatible chargers are Ohme and Wallbox with Zappi going through beta testing. The list of cars will be longer, I’m sure it’ll be online somewhere. I connect using the charger and from reading around this is more reliable than relying on the car manufacturer’s servers. Ohme’s customer service is great as well.

D20 · 04/11/2023 11:48

Pasithean · 04/11/2023 10:54

Friends got one and took it back as they could not get across the country to their weekend cottage as there where no chargers.
friends 2. Went up in flames with faulty battery.
me and mr my horse where injured by one as neither of us saw or heard it come round a corner behind us .
The controversy over the manufacture and items used to make the batteries.
Therefore neither DH or I will never ever ever have one.

Ah! There it is. Took longer than I thought but I’m sure there will be more along shortly.

oddgirl · 04/11/2023 11:49

We have 2 electric cars: a Fiat Red and an ID4. Charge easy for us at home as we have a charge point. As PP have said it’s cheap with Octopus overnight tariff. Love both cars: would never ever go back to petrol. I’ve rarely needed to charge away from home but there’s an increasing number of places I’ve noticed. Also got Zapmap etc which are useful apps

electricsix · 04/11/2023 11:52

@FlyingFlamingo this is really informative so thank you. I don't really understand - what do you mean when there's excess power? What if there isn't excess power for a night? I get that there used to be a surge when all the kettles boiled during breaks of popular tv shows. Is it like that? What if I really need to charge my car?

I will have to charge it every night excluding weekends. From my current usage at least from 50-100%.

OP posts:
Cranberriesandtea · 04/11/2023 11:57

Get one with a big battery otherwise you'll spend winter charging your car.

I have a 100kw battery...newer cars can offer 200-300 (very pricey for 300lw) but it makes a MASSIVE difference to your range and the comfort of the car. We are doing motorway driving 46 miles both ways. Our battery full gives us 180 miles. Does it shite. We get half of that if we are lucky. The colder weather drains the battery as it needs to heat the engine. Even putting the heating on in the car will drain it. If you have longer drives, always take the smaller roads, it may mean a longer journey time but it's worth it.

D20 · 04/11/2023 12:01

electricsix · 04/11/2023 11:52

@FlyingFlamingo this is really informative so thank you. I don't really understand - what do you mean when there's excess power? What if there isn't excess power for a night? I get that there used to be a surge when all the kettles boiled during breaks of popular tv shows. Is it like that? What if I really need to charge my car?

I will have to charge it every night excluding weekends. From my current usage at least from 50-100%.

If all the cars wanted to charge full pelt between 12 and 2am there might not be spare charge but if you’ve plugged in ready at 11:30pm and don’t need to be fully charged until 10am then octopus will turn the charge on and off during this period to ensure you have full charge by the time you want to set off whilst maximising the grid utilisation.

FlyingFlamingo · 04/11/2023 12:01

electricsix · 04/11/2023 11:52

@FlyingFlamingo this is really informative so thank you. I don't really understand - what do you mean when there's excess power? What if there isn't excess power for a night? I get that there used to be a surge when all the kettles boiled during breaks of popular tv shows. Is it like that? What if I really need to charge my car?

I will have to charge it every night excluding weekends. From my current usage at least from 50-100%.

You get the 11:30-5:30 slot overnight regardless, but if you plug in earlier Octopus can give you extra slots on top. For example, I might plug in this afternoon at 3pm and I’ll get an alert to tell me what times they will charge, which could be straight away. So if I need 50% that takes around 4 hours so as long as the car is actively charging every appliance in the house will also cost the lower rate for those 4 hours. Basically I tell the charger what I need and by when and it takes over. Sometimes it’ll just charge overnight, sometimes at several slots until my end time, sometimes one long slot over the afternoon/evening.
We only got an Ohme by chance because we just went with a local company but I am so glad I did, I thought the intelligent tariff was far too complicated at first but once you learn to trust that it works it’s great! There are really helpful Facebook groups out there as well to help you get your head round it all.

Blanketpolicy · 04/11/2023 12:07

We got a EV in July so still very much on the EV learning curve and a bit nervous about our decision. Range 281 miles. Our home charger was installed 2 weeks ago. We had to change car because my diesel was not ULEZ compliant and I could no longer use to get into Glasgow.

We bought using an EST 0% interest used EV loan (just 2000 miles on the clock) and got a £400 grant towards a home charger (Scotland). So we are saving a lot of money in interest.

We dont usually do long journeys, 20 mile each way commute and friends, family, socialising all within 20-40 miles so range not really an issue so far. Ds did first longer drive this week 90 miles each way at night in rain (so using lights, aircon) and he got home with 14% left so a less than published range even for winter, though some of that might be down to 19 year old non economical driving style.

It is an absolute dream to drive, and I didnt realise just how much until I borrowed ds's ICE car the other day, which I previously thought was a great nippy wee car, but now seems sluggish pulling off and on gear change and just a hassle to drive.

After ds's long trip it cost £3.50 to recharge at home with a smart tariff. They gave us a charging slot of 17:30 - 00:30 which meant all electricity in our house was 7.5p/Kwh between these times while the car was actively charging so my oven/hob (dinner, batch cooked + baked a cake!), dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer were all running and during that slot we got a load of towels and bedding washed and dried. We get cheap electric at 7.5p/Kwh from 23:30-05:30 every night so now time delay the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer to run during those times. Will see how this works out £s wise over time as the daytime rate is sightly higher.

Most chargers in our LA are currently free until 2025 so we can charge away from home for free and did that for the first couple of months, but now with home charging so cheap + the bonus of cheap smart charging schedules sometimes within peak times it isnt worth the inconvience. Every smart charge we have done in the evening so far has started immediately and we have had cheap electricity in the evening - think this might be because it is winter/windy and they have excess electricity in the grid (but I might be wrong).

Insurance has rocketed this year. My previous insurance was £270 for my ICE car, it wasnt much to add the EV and ds for the last 3 months but the renewal for dh and I has come in £500. It is difficult to gauge how much of that is the high increases everyone is seeing in insurance this year and how much is because it is an EV. Adding ds(19) takes it up to £800 (some insurers wouldnt add him at all) - but he uses it a lot in the evenings/weekends too so the fuel saving is worth the £25/month, we will hopefully get a small saving on his own car if we reduce the mileage.

I am told service costs are much cheaper as there isnt an ICE engine to service, so that will offset the insurance cost a bit, but we havent had one yet.

We have two cars at home, my EV and ds's ICE (dh has a van). I primarily use the EV for my commute but whoever is doing the most miles take the EV at night or at weekends and anyone else can use ds's car if just popping out locally.

My biggest concerns are probably depreciation compared to an ICE which we will only see in time, and parts availability if anything goes wrong, but just now I would say the pros are outweighing the cons.

electricsix · 04/11/2023 12:08

@D20 sounds like that could be a real problem in the future!

@FlyingFlamingo so it's not like economy 7 and I have to wait until the small hours for the cheap rate? This is perfect! This is the stuff you don't know about.

I'm thinking Tesla model 3 long range which I think said 390 miles or the xc40 dual engine one. They also have a coupe version which looks really nice. Think they have about 370 miles. Sounds like I should expect 300 at most.

OP posts:
StillWantingADog · 04/11/2023 12:25

Yeah you won’t get 350 miles unless on an entirely flat and straight road at the same speed the whole way! (Eg in some of the US). But 300 is realistic .

Blanketpolicy · 04/11/2023 12:25

You are not guaranteed cheap slots outside of 23:30-05:30 but so far for me they have been and it started charging as soon as the car was plugged in.

I plug the car in to charge, say how much I want charged by 7am (or whatever time you need the car by the next day) and it decides when it will charge and sends a message. While the car is ACTIVELY charging all electricity at home is the cheap rate.

Please tell me about your experience with electric cars
electricsix · 04/11/2023 13:31

Blanketpolicy · 04/11/2023 12:25

You are not guaranteed cheap slots outside of 23:30-05:30 but so far for me they have been and it started charging as soon as the car was plugged in.

I plug the car in to charge, say how much I want charged by 7am (or whatever time you need the car by the next day) and it decides when it will charge and sends a message. While the car is ACTIVELY charging all electricity at home is the cheap rate.

Edited

That's so clever! What car did you get? Who is electricity provider and charger provider? Thank you

OP posts:
Blanketpolicy · 04/11/2023 14:01

I have a MG4 Trophy. The car isn't compatible with Intelligent Octopus so we got the Ohme Home Pro charger which controls the charging schedule instead of the car. Cost around £1k to install, but we got a £400 grant towards it (we were eligible because of the EST loan available in Scotland).

If you plan to change to Intelligent octopus ask family or friends on octopus and they can give you a link and you both get £50 credit. Or if you dont know anyone on it yet I will very happily send you mine!