To buy an electric car?

[Jobjobjob]

I can't see a reason why I wouldn't?

What have I missed, what are the downsides?

I'm going to book a test drive too

Another Leaf driver here! I love mine, it is lovely to drive. For 90% of the journeys I do I don't have to worry about charging away from home, where I have a home charger fitted, which cost me about £130. I charge overnight most nights. I recently added up the cost of the electricity I had used to charge it over 3 months and it was £85. I used to spend £100 per month on fuel.

When I do need to charge at a service station, which is generally when I go to see my Mum in London, a full charge costs less than £5 and takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

In cold weather the range you can expect is lower. Another down side is that there are still not enough chargers around. Also each type of electric car seems to need a different type of charger. There are quite a few charge providers and each needs there own app or access card.

My Leaf will go very fast, but the faster you go the less your range, so to maximise your range you need to drive economically.

So there are downsides but the situation is improving. New models have higher ranges, new chargers are being installed. And it is the future, so it makes sense to embrace it.

Titty - knocked down multiple times?? Really! Do electric car drivers wear a blindfold?

I'm seeing more and more chargers popping up in my local area. I don't think it will be long before they are far more commonplace. I think when more 'Clean Air Zones' come into force (2020?) then that will tip the balance greatly.

I have a Leaf. I love it. I haven't run anyone over yet either.

As a Leaf driver, I will say that I’ve had a few near-misses with pedestrians walking out in front of me - more than with a fossil car. There are some people who only use their ears when walking out into traffic. It’s baffling. I’ve learned to be a bit more cautious in car parks etc.

We have a Tesla and love it - lots of charging points where we are though it does have a good range (we got the bigger battery). It’s got great acceleration!

We have had people wandering around In the road (mountains)and they don’t hear you so you have to crawl along until they do or beep - haven’t hit any though

Jobjobjob probably the same blind fold other fuel car drivers wear, they seem to knock down plenty of people on the pavement each year

Do it. I love my Nissan Leaf.
Very fast, nippy, great acceleration, cheap to run and maintain.
Brilliant for two kids in back. Good boot space. I live in a cold climate and it's one of the most popular cars here even though there's snow and ice all winter and minus degrees for 6 months.

Love love love my electric car

I might get one next time I change my car. I tend to just do shorter journeys anyway for holidays and stuff we’d use our bigger car. I always just get a small car.

I’d have to go top of the range Tesla.

probably the same blind fold other fuel car drivers wear, they seem to knock down plenty of people on the pavement each year

It tends to happen when people aren’t sure where they’re going and they’re looking for a door number whilst driving down the pavement. (Our estate has a funny layout.)

Another Leaf owner here, also saying yes, do it. The best thing about having a Leaf is when you're at traffic lights next to a boy-racer, you can take Eco mode off and watch the look on their faces in your rear-view mirror as you leave them far behind I may need to grow up a bit

The new model has a much better range, but we have the old model which has around 100 miles - so really it is much better if you have a second non-electric car or you very rarely do long journeys. By the way - it is only silent if you take the "fake" noise off (i.e. the car doesn't need to make a noise - but there is a noise unless you turn it off)

I'm surprised it's legal to have silent cars. They can be lethal to those with sight or hearing problems.

They make a noise to warn pedestrians at low speeds, so not completely silent. At higher speeds, the noise of the tyres is enough.

We have an BMW i3 and it has about 80 mile range but also has a 'range extender' which is a small lawn mower engine which acts as a generator to power the battery. so if you do get caught short the range extender will come on automatically.

Its a really nippy car - about 170 BHP

DH does about 70 miles a day to work and back but can charge at work. he's done over 40K miles in 2 years and saved £££'s in fuel.

I use it whenever possible and love it

We have been on longer journeys and stopped off for a coffee and a charge. Its not really a problem to us as its not done often.

Another Leaf driver here -2015 model so a lower range than newer ones. Agree with everything paddyf0dder said. For us, it's a perfect second car as it's so cheap to run. We live in the middle of nowhere so very few public chargers available. The only public one I've used is at Sainsbury's about 18 miles away which is currently free. I charge it at home in between uses and I pay 10p per kWh with outfox the market. Currently I get 3.8 miles per KWh so allowing for a small amount of transmission loss, about 2.5 pence per mile, a fraction of what a petrol car would cost to run. Should get better in the summer as I'm expecting to get over 4 miles per kWh when the weather warms up.

I also love the fact that I don't have to detour to the petrol station every other week to fill up. Instead I just plug in when I get home or when my charge drops below 50% ( I like to keep it topped up to this level or above in case of emergencies).

I can recommend having a look on the forum SPEAKEV for finding out anything you want to know about electric vehicles. Friendly bunch on there too.

Those with battery concerns - our Ampera is now 5 years old and still holding same charge as new and it came with a lifetime battery warranty for the 1st owner and a free charge station at home.

Ampera also has a petrol engine but that runs to charge the battery so not a hybrid per se. Battery alone does 30 odd miles (depending on if you have AC on or it's cold) and then the petrol kicks in to recharge it as you go along. Fab for motorways too - 0 to 60 in about 8 secs.

We love it and will buy electric from now on. Hankering after a Tesla especially after having an X Ludicrous for a weekend, but doubt it'll happen. Now that thing shifts! Never actually put the pedal to the metal as just too much for me.

I'd like an Outlander PHEV, as we occasionally do long hauls to remote parts.

Itsjanuary are you in the Lakes/Yorkshire Dales? I met a Tesla near the Old Dungeon Ghyll Valentine's before last and thought it wasn't a part of the world you dared run out of juice.

They make a noise to warn pedestrians at low speeds, so not completely silent. At higher speeds, the noise of the tyres is enough.

I think that has to be activated, and isn’t available on all cars. Certainly the leaf, the PHEV and the BMW I’ve come face to front grill with!

disgrace. No Switzerland though pretty similar :-)

You can charge the Tesla with a normal plug if you need to - doesn’t charge fast but it’s ok in an emergency. Think it does about 300miles on a charge - you can do more if it’s flat / depending on how you drive

I can't wait for my car to be up for renewal so I can move to electric. The new leaf looks great, but I'm holding out for an electric version of the Qashqai to become available in a couple of years time.

There’s lots of rumours that Nissan are going to put the Leaf architecture into the Qasqui, Juke etc. I hope they do. The Leaf is just a damn good car and the core technology works so well.

BIL had a Renault Zoe which he's just sold after a short time. His problem was constantly trying to use it for longer journeys, which necessitated him going out of his way to charging points and sitting waiting for an hour. Not to mention points that were out of order or already in use when he got there. I'm sure what he saved on petrol it cost him in meals and snacks hanging about. He wasn't at all popular with the DC. Ruined many a day out.

Zoe batteries dont last. Three years in and it will do 36 miles on a cold day at full charge. Most charging stations don’t work half the time. Battery rental is a pain.

I’d love one but can’t imagine constantly having to find somewhere to charge it. That’s just day to day driving. On holidays we do a lot of driving, a lot of 9hr stretches as there are long stretches of nothing but the odd side of road pit toilet between towns. Normally we go about 500miles on a tank

Trigger post .... so can’t imagine spinning ng days like that out by waiting around charging even if they did put a charging station at each toilet stop.