Electric cars

[Choccolatebar]

Who else has no desire to buy one?

I have been wanting a brand new car for some time, but Honda, my preferred make is now moving heavily to hybrids and EV.

I think I will probably get a low mileage, 2 or 3 year old petrol Honda instead.

@SoSad44

How do you keep your autistic child amused generally on a long drive?

He travels really well. Moving is not an issue. Stopping is.

our kids watch netflix while the car charges, no need to be overdramatic. You can plan to charge just how you need to plan to get petrol.

I'm not being dramatic I'm explaining why it doesn't work for us - getting petrol takes minutes, charging an EV takes longer. If an EV works for you, great, but please don't be calling me dramatic because my disabled child won't settle down and watch Netflix if we stop moving

Absolutely no desire to own one either! I live in a flat and have nowhere to charge it. At least with petrol you fill up and go, you don’t have to sit and wait for it charge, or wait for a charger and then wait for it to charge!

Genuine question - how often do you travel 250 miles+?

@mafsfan

I'm not sure why that matters?

Because you'd only need to stop to charge if your journey is further than that. I'm only asking because if it's a big reason not to get an EV, I wondered if you regularly did those journeys. You may do, I don't know.

For me, we visit family regularly (100-120 miles away and my DH works 160 miles away. None of these journeys would require charging en route. It's only really an annual journey during the summer where we rely on chargers on the road to top up mid journey.

@mafsfan

It's a shame people can't accept that it would not work for me. I'm not here to say they are awful and no one should have one, simply that they don't work for my family.

All evidence shows EVs are no more likely to explode or catch fire than any other type of vehicle.

Going to the toilet only takes 3-4 mins. If you can charge a car in that time. I'll get one.

@mafsfan I agree. Most people work and live within 20 miles of no idea why suddenly people are freaking out about not being able to drive 400 miles without the need to stop

Aren't EV's pricier to insure and service?

There's not much that needs servicing on an EV. There's no engine as such.

Yes you can't move for bloody exploding EVs can you!.

We are the same. I would need to go sit in a car park twice a week for an hour (if they have a rapid charger) twiddling my thumbs.

I'm loving mine right now. Set my departure time and it's all nice and toasty when I get in. Then I just cheerfully drive past everyone scraping the ice off theirs

About once a week, usually part of a long working day that I have no desire to make any longer by needing to charge a car.

Electric cars are fine if you don't have appointments to make on time, and are also happy to pay service station prices for electricity, likewise for all this coffee that people seem to be buying.

I compared the price of an otherwise identical small petrol and electric cars and it would have taken nearly a decade to break even on the extra price of the electric car compared with petrol.

And that was charging at home using discounted electricity.

We got our first EV a few months ago and I would never go back. We installed a
charging point at home so no inconvenience for whatsoever @Choccolatebar

Well we've have had our very low range electric car for 2 years.

I love it and wouldn't go back, yes I'd like one that does 250 miles rather then 95, but most people don't drive very far in a day so don't need a huge range. We still have one ICE car as DH has a longer commute and can only take mine in the summer (temp does effect range). But when we can aford it we will get a longer range one.

They are lovely to drive. For those worried about environmental cost of batteries, there are 6 different companies working on sodium(salt) based batteries one company in Germany already producing them for home electric storage. These will make electric cars much more eco friendly in the future and the batteries cheaper.

It didn't cost me anymore to insure then my last ICE car. Servicing doesn't seem any different.
We get to charge ours off our solar panels making it even cheaper to run. Oh and the fire department has invent a way to put them out if they catch fire. But only a few involved in accidents have, which could happen to any ICE car.

Something else, if you have an electric and an ICE, the one thing I noticed after driving mine for a few months was that when you get back in an ICE car they smell off fumes. I think you get used to it driving an ICE car and don't notice the smell. But after driving around an electric for a while then getting back in the ICE car we have, I can really smell it. We've been breathing in those fumes for years without even thinking about it.

I've got no idea who told you this but it's total bollaks.

Electric cars have to have sealed in batteries, regulations, could you imagine if an electronic car was stuck in flood water and it wasn't sealed. Everyone would be at risk of electric shock. So they have made them sealed in, Tesla's are even drive through a flood test facility when they come off the production line in order to double check for leaks. They are far safer and easier to drive through flood water, I've recently taken mine through very deep water due to local flooding. You can't do this with an ICE car as you would flood the engine.

I've a lowish range electric and I love it. I do mainly do drives that are within its range, and it is slightly more of a hassle charging on a longer journey but I have found it manageable.

Mine costs roughly the same to insure as my previous diesel. It costs me about £7 per week for ordinary school run and local stuff running. I do have an EV tariff. My old diesel used to cost more like £60 per week for the same driving.
My last service - a minor service - cost £67 all in. My old diesel used to cost £240 base cost and always had extras needed which added £100s each year. The major service is approx £130, where diesel was £360 base cost with aforementioned extra work always added.

Granted a diesel wasn't appropriate for the type of driving I do, which is probably why my service extras were always so expensive, but even excluding that the EV is so much cheaper to run.

They're so incredibly easy to drive, like all the best bits of manual and automatic combined - responsive and totally within your control but without the faff of gear changing.

However, if I lived in my old place with only onstreet parking I wouldn't have one. They don't work for everyone with our current infrastructure. I'd hate to not be able to charge whenever I need to on my own driveway.

Oh yes - I've driven through much heavy rain and many many large puddles with no issues at all. (Hopefully not famous last words - off to find some wood)

Quite often for that kind of journey there are 2 drivers
5 min toilet, swap keys and off you go.

Also how long you can drive depends on the person.
If you can't drive more than a couple of hours should you be working an 8hr day then driving home?
Should truck drivers only drive 2hrs at a time?