Electric cars - so worried

[Northernlurker]

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!

I agree with most of the above, but to be fair, those people asking who is forcing you to buy an electric car: OP has said about when the time comes, not now; and once petrol and diesel cars are no longer legally able to be sold, if you want/need a car, you will be forced to buy an electric one.

You could say the same about the current energy price rises - nobody is forcing you to pay the high prices; only if you want to use a cooker, a fridge, lights, heating etc.

That said, even if the current date of 2035 is kept to, there will be a huge rush of people buying a new ICE car just before (assuming that companies can keep up with the demand) - buy a good one and maintain it well, and that might take you up to 2055 - and there will still be the second-hand market, although we don't know how market values will soar as fewer and fewer ICE cars are available, if demand is still high.

Also, as if the tax on petrol and diesel isn't already buttock-clenchingly high, prepare for it to increase astronomically as time goes on. Much more politically expedient to allow people free access to something, but put it far beyond their means, rather than ban it outright: it tends to have pretty much the same effect in the end.

You could buy a new car in 2034 and legally it could still be petrol or diesel. However the issue would then be furling you your ICE car as there will be less fuel stations! The infrastructure will be much better by then, i'm just 5 years the maximum range has more than doubled.

Also I had an electric car for a week when mine needed some bodywork repairs (reversed into a lamppost) and it was really easy to drive, it handled my week of journeys (mainly motorways etc) getting to work and the kids school and I didn't need to charge it once, it was definitely above the range it stated. I think the battery was at 32% by the sunday I gave it back.

I'd put money on the "deadline" banning 100% IC cars will be pushed back - it's just a "nudge" to get manufacturers designing electric/hybrid cars and willing/able consumers to buy them. So, get as many cars fully electric as possible by 2030/35, basically the easier low hanging fruit (people with drives etc). Then push the difficult bits into the long grass.

Anyway, from my understanding it's only "fully" ICE new car sales that will be banned. There'll be an active second hand market for another 20 years and non plug in hybrids will be allowed (i.e. mostly driven on petrol/diesel with a bit of "support" from regeneratively charged batteries). So, lots of options for people who don't want to go fully electric easily until 2050 and probably beyond.

Non-issue, it’s easy. We regularly drive long distances and to remote places. Just takes a bit of thought.

@Bentley123

Also unlike filling your car up you can charge at home so most people won’t be using chargers except for long journeys so the demand for chargers won’t be quite the same as petrol stations.

I wouldn't be able to Apartment. My parking is nowhere near my home How are people in apartments going to charge? Terraced housing with on street parking?

LMAO I live in deepest darkest Cumbria and have an EV.

I'm sure future generations will be happy to give up climate stability just so you can holiday in Scotland though

Options would include chargers like
Lampposts

Also, even if there are plentiful charging points available and if it does 'only' take 30 minutes for a charge - if that's what we decide we have to do, maybe we have no choice; but let's not pretend that it isn't lowering our quality of life and our freedom to an extent.

People will say "Ah, but you'll be needing to stop for a break anyway", but I'd rather choose when it suits us to have a break than have to work around the car's needs and when it dictates that we must have a break. It's a high-tech spin on the old 'Sabbath made for man or man made for the Sabbath' scenario.

What if you're a taxi driver on a long journey and 5 miles from your fare's destination? Do you have to make them wait for half an hour for the sake of the last little bit of their journey? The reason they chose a taxi in the first place over a train or bus was for speed and convenience. And that's not even mentioning the effect on your own time and earning ability as a taxi driver.

I know, in the scheme of things, it isn't the end of the world, but it is a lessening in our convenience and liberty - let's not pretend that it isn't.

Very few things generate the same amount of “whataboutery” than charging EVs it seems.

I'm sure future generations will be happy to give up climate stability just so you can holiday in Scotland though

I haven't flown anywhere for 24 years, but I do have reservations about wanting an electric car - does that make me more virtuous, less virtuous or is it.... complicated?

@CatDogMonkeyPOW

LMAO I live in deepest darkest Cumbria and have an EV.

I'm sure future generations will be happy to give up climate stability just so you can holiday in Scotland though

Could you be any more pretentious

@Northernlurker

Ok good to read views. Yes it is a specific anxiety. It something I'm anxious about. Telling me I shouldn't be anxious about it doesn't really work.

I have no faith in the charging point network keeping pace with demand. 1 rapid point taking 30 minutes can charge no more than 27 cars in a 14hr period eg 8 am to 10 pm. That's allowing a couple of minutes to change over. The same number of cars could refuel at a petrol station in no more than 2 1/4 hours - a d that's assuming they were all very slow. This is going to be the issue, the rollout of chargers must be huge, has to be. Do we think the government can actually deliver that?

The UK is banning sales of new petrol or diesel from 2030. That's not a decade away. That's less than 8 years. And furthermore some manufacturers are moving more and more over to electric in advance of that deadline so choices will narrow and the price of second hand cars rise from this point on really.

The oft quoted line is that range isn't an issue because most journeys are short, I do short journeys in my bike. This line is just going to allow range to be minimised in development of the technology.

And I know people with electric cars, one recent,y took nine hours to do a Four hour journey because of charging.

Re Scotland and anywhere - chargers won't just be used by people passing through, locals will want them too. And won't be chuffed with waiting three hours whilst four people in front of them charge.

In that case, knock yourself out and get progressively more wound up about it 🤦

Not much point people trying to allay your fears with sound logic if it won't make a jot of difference, so not sure what you're after.

IMO it's not an issue. You can buy any number of purely petrol or diesel cars at the moment and these won't disappear in the next few years. Or buy a hybrid.

Of course the real headmash will come when petrol stations start to dwindle

I also think electric is a bit of a pipe dream so many houses / flats do not have any driveways or parking where are all this people going to charge them
They should of just encouraged hybrid to start until technology catches up

Saying it's fine on long journeys NOW isn't actually the point either. Yes you can plan your charger use because the number of cars is still low and the number of chargers rising slowly. But if 80% of the cars at the services want the charging points it will become much less fine. Unless there are a huge number of points - and the slowness if rollout of broadband and mobile reach in remote areas says that bit of infrastructure will not keep pace!

The plans to upgrade infrastructure are ramping up.

I live in Scotland and wouldn't buy an electric car yet. But once the infrastructure is in place then yes will do.

Expect big changes in the next 3-5 years.

How many of you that own an electric car don't have a drive though?

Re Scotland and anywhere - chargers won't just be used by people passing through, locals will want them too.

But most of the locals will be charging at home? We've had our EV without an EV charger and have just been topping up from a standard plug in the porch. We haven't come close to running out. In fact, I've had to remind DH that the car doesn't need charging everyday. An occasional overnight charge on a standard plug is plenty to get it back to 100%.

@Northernlurker

Oh yes and pavement parked cars. How will that work as another poster asked?

One of the things that is being looked at is using lampposts as charging points.

This is quite a niche thing to be worrying about so much.

@FloBot7 millions of people in the uk don't have a drive though
Around here people park on roads several streets away at times
Big city high rise blocks have minimal parking
And it won't be free or cheap when its all we have , there already worrying about the loss of car tax
They should of concentrated on all new being hybrid first of all at least people have options them
Electric cars are expensive as well and again it will be the poor that suffer
Not sure electric is better for the environment either , do you know how they mine for lithium , the power used to charge and the spent batteries needing disposal
Trying to run before they can walk

In the nicest possible way you really need to get help with your anxiety.

The majority of people drive long distances several times a year.

They will sort out the infrastructure for residents in the larger places and government will say OK job done, everyone can charge there car now at home, then 10 years later they will suddenly say we need to level up as they realise they have forgotten the smaller towns

Or we could vote for some better politicians

If anyone knows where to find them