Have you regretted getting an electric car and if so why?

[willieversleep]

Just as the title says really.

I live rurally and am considering an electric car as a second car. We have a diesel mild hybrid Volvo XC90 so it would be the smaller run around.

Live very rurally. Two hours away from a major scottish city and 18 miles from the nearest town. We have a Toyota Hilux and an EV. Right now it’s a Cupra but we’ve had others. No regrets whatsoever. For the first three years with an EV we didnt even have a home charger. We’d plug it into the three pin socket and just let it trickle charge or we’d charge when we were in town/ city.

If you dont have your own charger and/ or you live rurally, the key is to get into the mind set of “filling up” when you have the opportunity, rather than waiting until you’re “on empty”.

I’ve just been away with a friend who drove an EV. What an utter faff, we basically had to stop every hour to charge the thing.

My only regret is not getting it sooner. If you want to stick with Volvo, I highly recommend the EX40/XC40 electric.

We live rurally and use a standard 3 pin plug to charge it (moving soon so not worth getting a charger installed in the current house). Never had an issue with charging (it’s our second car so my mileage is not super high).

Every hour? 🤥 What EV is this?!

I know, I couldn’t believe it. I think it is a Leaf? (an old one). Something doesn’t seem right with it if you ask me - she panicked even having the de-mister on as it drains the battery.

That doesn’t sound right? I can do 200 miles minimum between charges and mine isn’t a long range EV!

I’ve got an MG ZS official range 270 but we get around 240. Charging point at home and in the last couple of years have only used a charger away from home 3 times. Love it

What does 3 minutes have to do with it? He is anxious about running out not about how long it takes to charge.

edited to add I just realised you are not even the poster I asked so how could you possible know what her DH thinks?

That is quite strange, we can go 4 hours or so with the aircon blasting before needing to charge.

Got a Kia EV6 a couple of months ago after driving an old diesel Passat for 12 years. Would never go back. It's got character in the way that the VW (and its Golf predecessor) never had. Charging at home on off peak electricity costs a tiny fraction of what it cost to fill up the Passat, and the one time I had to use a public charging point, the high speed charger added 50% capacity in less than the time it took me to go to the loo and get a take-away drink.

We have 2 and no not at all.

Because if you are running low on petrol you are always within a couple of miles of a pump that you can fill up quickly at, before getting back on your way.

If you are running low on charge you have to find somewhere with chargers, hope they aren’t being used, and then spend a long time waiting for it to charge and get on your way again.

The anxiety of running out of fuel on your way to a job interview, work shift, flight, school pick up, is never going to be as high as it is for an electric vehicle because of the amount of time it takes to rectify each issue…it’s just not comparable in time.

What do you man the hybrid was not economical?
I was thinking maybe of getting a hybrid for my next car... just normal hybrid though, not plug in...

Just seen your edit, but I thought that the ‘probably’ part indicated that I’m not the person who said it and that I’m making a reasonable assumption based on what a person would be worried about.

Thought they were great in theory until the taxi company I use when traveling to a relative’s house got some. It’s small country roads and every time they use an electric car, I get travel sick. The penny only dropped recently, then I saw a recent newspaper article talking about it being a problem for people 🚗 🤢 😢

Absolutely love mine.
But I mainly do short distances. If I did daily long distances it would not be so great.
Costs barely anything to charge.
Get the longest range you can afford.

I use a friends Fiat EV. Lovely to drive etc BUT they had a small accident that damaged the front. It took months for parts to arrive. Cost a fortune hiring cars, insurance only covered a week.
Repair shop were embarrassed at delay and gave another week or so.

Like everything nowadays, check after sales reviews before a purchase.

I have a Mini Cooper E. I love it. I drive 50miles a day and then cost is about £50 maximum a month. I would be paying that weekly for a petrol or diesel car. I would like a bigger range for weekend and holidays and am trying to convince DH to go completely electric.

It seems that a number of posters have two cars - one EV and one diesel / petrol. Having an alternative to an EV might well prove useful if we have a problem with electricity supplies....

I live very rural - have an electric mini - 100% love it - sorry no regrets!

No regrets here, our first EV from 2019 is still going strong as our second car, it doesn’t have brilliant range but as I don’t manage 5000 miles a year is fine for me. This was our main car until 2023 and did London to Edinburgh happily Our main car now is another EV with better range around 300 but not ultra far as for day to day use that would be overkill and when we do the longer journeys charging just isn’t an issue.

We even did a touring holiday in Europe this year with an EV hire car again with a standard range.

I had to drive a pertrol car earlier in the month on a trip and hated it, there is no way we will go back.

In my experience most families that convert to EVs change both cars once they see the benefits.

A few friends of mine have hybrids and they are gorgeous. They run so smoothly. I keep suggesting to DH that we get one.

I've got an electric Mini Cooper. I can get about 100 miles out of it before it needs to go on charge. OK for a runabout, but probably inconvenient for longer journeys, holidays etc.
I drive quite a lot for work so need to charge it every three days or so. We have a home charger.

The old leafs were a nightmare, complete range anxiety. It is such old technology compared to new evs.