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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Electric cars - so worried

488 replies

Northernlurker · 11/04/2022 18:28

I keep worrying about being forced to buy an electric car when I change my car in a few years.
Reason being the long journeys and (mostly) self catering we love. In Scotland.
We need a range around 50% higher than the current max. It's no good saying charge it on the way if there are no fast chargers. Been looking at details today, even the fastest chargers need just over 30 minutes. Thousands of people drive UJ the Highlands and Islands annually. There won't be anything like enough chargers to cover that. We can charge overnight using an ordinary plug but it's not going to hit the max. Feel like we will spend the whole time worrying about finding a free charger in the middle of nowhere.
How is this ever going to work? It takes two Minutes to fill up a tank with petrol, electric is going to take hours!

OP posts:
user1497207191 · 12/04/2022 10:54

What is is about people that enables them to imagine future problems, but not future solutions?

It's called life experience!

user1497207191 · 12/04/2022 10:57

@etulosba

and are planning to replace one next year and the other in about 5 years time, both will be petrol, so that should see us right throughout the 2030's

Petrol will become harder and harder to find as petrol vehicles become less common. Diesel is likely to be more widely available for longer as the switch to suitable alternative fuels for heavy vehicles and plant poses more of a challenge.

Yes, but not within relatively short timescales. Modern cars can easily last 20 years so petrol stations will still be common until the mid to late 30s. I'd suggest it will be well into the 40s before people start finding it hard to fill up with petrol.
user1497207191 · 12/04/2022 10:58

And hybrids aren't being banned (under current rules), so people will still need petrol for their hybrids, especially the non plug in ones!

Getoff · 12/04/2022 11:00

i think this is the difference between successful entrepreneurs and inventors and regular folk. Some people just aren't wired to be able think abstract or distant concepts through to solution (even unrealistic ones).

I've seen over and over, just perusing mumsnet. People worrying about some future "problem", yet somehow unable to imagine the (to me) blindingly obvious other future changes that make the problem a non-issue.

In the past I've thought it's because some peoples only ever think one step past reality. People care about cars, they therefore bother to imagine electric cars increasing in number, but it's too much to ask them to go to step two and imagine everything needed to facilitate electric cars increasing at about the same rate.

I've even wondered if there's some emotional reason for this. Maybe people are evolved to imagine bad things, because they need to avoid them, but imagining neutral/good things, well there's no need for the brain to wear itself out thinking about things that aren't a danger.

Getoff · 12/04/2022 11:08

Also, I think people just don't like change so will find all sorts of issues to avoid changing the way they have to do things.

Yes, I think resistance to the idea of change has been a huge thing on some of the threads I have in mind. Someone poses an idea of one thing that could be different, and poster after poster will respond giving reasons why it can't happen. Even though it would only take one second and one imaginative step for them to demolish their own objection, they appear to dislike the OP proposition, and simply post the first issue with it that comes into their head, their thinking stops there.

lameasahorse · 12/04/2022 11:16

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

BottleBrushTree · 12/04/2022 11:18

People probably felt this way when cars started to replace the horse and cart. How will you find fuel? What if the road is shite? What if you break down?

I really don’t think you need to worry about something that has not yet happened and won’t happen for a few years. Maybe think about sustainability and what will happen to the world your children will inherit if people aren’t “forced” to buy electric cars and the giant shite show of changing temperatures and weather patterns, that’s something way more worthy to stress about.

Infinitemoon · 12/04/2022 11:19

^^ Exactly

WTF475878237NC · 12/04/2022 11:22

I've even wondered if there's some emotional reason for this. Maybe people are evolved to imagine bad things, because they need to avoid them, but imagining neutral/good things, well there's no need for the brain to wear itself out thinking about things that aren't a danger.

^ from an evolutionary perspective there is no survival advantage to positive thinking although there certainly is for problem solving (being favoured by and therefore offered status in the group, but also the intrinsic value of being able to find solutions).

There is also a lot of evidence that people with certain adverse life events are more likely to just get stuck on potential issues in their mind and cannot move past them without help/support. Parts of the brain that respond to threat and emotion are over activated in these people This is where hopefully Mumsnet comes in to help people see the other perspectives.

user1497207191 · 12/04/2022 11:23

@lameasahorse

I have lived through so many technological changes that did not live up to the hype or brought new problems. Maybe you are just too young and inexperienced and so trust the vision being given.
Well said. It's just life experience!
Infinitemoon · 12/04/2022 11:24

Sorry I meant ^^ for the previous post.

I don't believe EV are the future. I think we need to stop using cars altogether if possible and have excellent public transport systems put in place. I think people should start working locally etc. The use of cars for personal use needs to be phased out - and I love my car.

We need to completely rethink our transport system. For people to say we cannot be inventive just because we don't believe EV are the future is ludicrous quite frankly!

MrOllivander · 12/04/2022 11:28

@lameasahorse

I think the 78% is lower as well. It is a dedicated parking space. My brother has this, it is not next to the house.
Same. I have a parking space. There's no room to fit anything. On the left of me is a garden, on the right is a garden and a fence in front of me. None of it belongs to me except the parking space
Ifailed · 12/04/2022 11:29

There are 8,400 petrol stations in the UK, lets say with an average 20 pumps, so 168,000 petrol 'charging' points.
Average time to fill up with petrol is 5 mins, compared with 30 mins to 'top up' an EV, so it takes 6 times longer. That means we will need 1 million fast charging points to replace PFS.

There are currently 5,400 rapid charging points in the UK, so we need a further 994,600. Each charging point is roughly 8 m2, so this will take up around 2000 acres of land. Hands up who want one built next to their house?

Lunar27 · 12/04/2022 11:29

@lameasahorse

Since industrialisation, every technological advancement has brought a combination of solutions and problems. You simply cannot extract resources from the earth without causing problems.

Noone is under the illusion that EV's will solve all of our problems. But they will reduce our reliance of petrol/diesel to an energy source that we can generate from renewables. Not all but that's a whole lot more than drilling for oil till there's none left.

This is the thing I don't get with people arguing against EV's. Do you think that we'll just carry on with petrol and diesel forever, when there's only a finite amount left? If not, what do you think will happen to personal transport and what technological solution will replace oil?

CapMarvel · 12/04/2022 11:33

@Ifailed

There are 8,400 petrol stations in the UK, lets say with an average 20 pumps, so 168,000 petrol 'charging' points. Average time to fill up with petrol is 5 mins, compared with 30 mins to 'top up' an EV, so it takes 6 times longer. That means we will need 1 million fast charging points to replace PFS.

There are currently 5,400 rapid charging points in the UK, so we need a further 994,600. Each charging point is roughly 8 m2, so this will take up around 2000 acres of land. Hands up who want one built next to their house?

The difference being that demand for charging points is not the same as for petrol stations.

Every single ICE car needs to visit a petrol pump. With home charging this is not the case at all for EV cars. For many people doing the daily commute they will just charge at home, drive to and from work and never need to use a public facility to refuel.

Yes, it takes longer to charge an EV (but with better battery tech and ultra-rapid chargers this getting faster all the time) but conversely there are far fewer cars that need to use them compared to petrol pumps.

Lunar27 · 12/04/2022 11:38

@Ifailed

Some seriously flawed maths there unfortunately.

I have a charger on the side of my house so rarely ever use the public network. Many millions of other drivers will be the same so the numbers you're quoting are innaccurate.

30 minutes is also a number people are quoting but this is variable. Can be 10 minutes, could be hours, depending on how you want to charge your car.

PermanentTemporary · 12/04/2022 11:42

Apparently there are already 300,000 private charging points in the UK. Seems a suspiciously round number but I don't doubt there are a lot.

PermanentTemporary · 12/04/2022 11:44

As if last July there were almost 25000 public charging points in the UK.
gov.uk link here

etulosba · 12/04/2022 12:40

Average time to fill up with petrol is 5 mins, compared with 30 mins to 'top up' an EV, so it takes 6 times longer. That means we will need 1 million fast charging points to replace PFS.

My neighbour has has had an electric car for two years. So far, she hasn’t charged it anywhere but at home.

FloBot7 · 12/04/2022 12:41

@PermanentTemporary

Apparently there are already 300,000 private charging points in the UK. Seems a suspiciously round number but I don't doubt there are a lot.
300,001. Ours just got installed this morning Grin To be honest, we don't even need it. We've been using a regular plug socket in our porch and the car has fully charged overnight. The only time we'd need to charge on the network is on a very long journey and that hasn't happened yet. We can comfortably drive just over 2 hours and back when we visit DH's family (around 80-90 miles each way depending on the best route at the time).
etulosba · 12/04/2022 12:43

And hybrids aren't being banned (under current rules), so people will still need petrol for their hybrids, especially the non plug in ones!

They are. 2035.

Nelliephant1 · 12/04/2022 12:49

We've got two electric cars are each run big mileages with no bother.

It's amazing how easy it is to find fast chargers, you stop for a break on a long journey anyway so charge your car at the same time, apart from anything else, they save a fortune in fuel.

We've travelled abroad with too and never ever had a problem, easy for me to say but you're really worrying over nothing. 💐

cakeorwine · 12/04/2022 13:02

@Nelliephant1

We've got two electric cars are each run big mileages with no bother.

It's amazing how easy it is to find fast chargers, you stop for a break on a long journey anyway so charge your car at the same time, apart from anything else, they save a fortune in fuel.

We've travelled abroad with too and never ever had a problem, easy for me to say but you're really worrying over nothing. 💐

Let's hope it's as easy for you to find a fast charger when a lot more people are looking for a fast charger at the same time
FloBot7 · 12/04/2022 13:02

@etulosba

And hybrids aren't being banned (under current rules), so people will still need petrol for their hybrids, especially the non plug in ones!

They are. 2035.

New ones or banned altogether and wiped off the face of the Earth?
user1497207191 · 12/04/2022 13:27

@etulosba

And hybrids aren't being banned (under current rules), so people will still need petrol for their hybrids, especially the non plug in ones!

They are. 2035.

That's even further away than the 2030 deadline which will be kicked back anyway. Still means there'll be lots of petrol cars on the roads throughout the 30s and 40s all needing petrol stations.

I don't think there'll be as many electric cars on the roads as people seem to think, especially in the early 30s. ICE cars still make up the majority of new car sales and the ones registered this year, for example, will mostly still be on the roads in 2030 (and beyond).

The average life of a car is 13 years so most of the ones registered in the 2020s decade will still be on the roads in the 2030s