To ask if you have an electric vehicle? Would you recommend it?

[LordGribeau]

Just that really. We are looking at replacing our current mitsubishi outlander with an EV. Possibly a Kia Niro or Peugeot 2008. If you have one, would you recommend it? Are they good as a family car? DC are no longer in booster seats, so fit a bit more comfortably in the back.

I have a Tesla Y and DH has a Tesla 3. Both fantastic cars and really happy with them.

I have a Skoda Enyaq, I absolutely love it. I would have another one in a heartbeat. It's so easy to drive. I've never had major problems with charging. I'm a single parent so it's our only car.

I don't have one but I would be very cautious of buying one. The depreciation in them is ridiculous. A friend of mine paid £25k for a corsa E last year and it's worth half of that now. I have never seen a cars value drop so much.

There is no question it is a brilliant idea for a 2nd car and a shopping/school runaround.

If you travel any distance and need to charge Tesla are the best way to go, by far the best charging network....

We have a Kia and a Tesla and always use the tesla for distance.

This is like I've slipped into a parallel universe! I've got about 6 colleagues with EVs, boyfriend is also a mechanic, and Every single one of them hasn't got a good word to say about them. Its put me completely off. My bosses range has decreased from 240 to just 120 miles per full charge over winter. 2 colleagues have literally just dumped them back on the forecourt and are in standoff talks with the dealers. Its the complete opposite of everyone here who seems to be in love with theirs. Strange, but I guess reassuring. All hope is not lost!

Yes. We have enyak which I really like. Our other car is a diesel though so we take that in the rare ish long journeys we go on .

Another yes! We have a Kia e-Niro on lease. The range is utterly true and it is a dream to drive; I now really resent driving diesel - it feels like such hard work! We were quoted £2.5k to put a home charger so trickle charge; takes 12 hrs to charge 50 miles which is slightly more than I need for my commute, and plan wisely or use a public point if we’re using it for a longer journey. I loathe charging on long journeys; the points are often broken or massive big bucks, and it’s a pain to break up an already long journey. We don’t have a decent local point - as others have said, the infrastructure is genuinely really poor atm. We therefore only drive within range and use our diesel for anything longer. For this reason I wish we’d got a Tesla.

We also got it for occasional commuting to London; when the congestion charge exemption comes in at the end of the year this saving will be sorely missed. Councils have also mostly removed their free charging, as has Tesco. With energy prices as they are, I’m not sure I save much £, but it is soooo lovely it’s completely worth it.

Finally, space. It’s ok for two in the back. Three is a squeeze, and there isn’t loads of space; plenty of leg room, but not much head height. The kids prefer our people carrier for long journeys for this reason. The front however is glorious; my husband is very tall and struggles to bend his knee but is very comfortable.

Enjoy whatever you choose!

We've got a Kia E Niro and a Skoda Enyaq. Absolutely love them both.

We've been over two France in the Enyaq with the full load of crap a family of 4 takes on holiday plus 4 bikes on the towbar bike rack - zero issues whatsoever.

DH commutes in the E Niro. His journey is about 150 miles each way.

We've had to have a couple of petrol cars recently when the EVs were in for a service or an update. They were absolutely awful to drive (all brand new cars as well). Cemented the fact that we're very unlikely to ever go back to ICE cars.

We have two - a BMW i3 and Jaguar ipace. Love both of them.

We have a Tesla Y, it’s fab! I love it so much.
DH can charge it for free at work also which is a massive bonus.

Love mine, I have an mg zs ev so a small suv but good roomy interior and I can fit my sons wheelchair in the boot without having to dismantle ( I fold the handles down thought). Great to drive, 360 cameras , acc etc full sunroof. Heated seats, love it, My 18 yr old has an electric fiat 500, small nippy and great fun to drive, we charge at home normal tariffs for charging mine costs £16 pounds ish to charge to full (260-300 miles) and there's costs @£7.5 ish 140-160 miles. And both are one pedal drive if you want them to be

Actually that's why I bought a Toyota self-charging hybrid. They offer 15 years warranty on the battery 😁.

Amazing mileage and none of the worry.

Nope not ready yet . My diesel suv is at the age where I'd normally swap it up but I'm not ready for electric .
From what I've heard from others they are fine little local runaround's if you can charge from home but not good for long journeys that have to be meticulously planned . The infrastructure is not ready .
I also feel sorry for the queue of people in the supermarket car park having to waste Saturday morning charging the car .
I also didn't realise until I read the article in the Times that the batteries can explode in real hot weather .
All in all I think at the moment all the trying to be trendies will rush off and buy them but the majority, me included , will wait longer to see if they are a viable alternative as time goes on .

I find it funny on these threads that the people who actually have EVs are almost always positive, whereas the people who don’t are the ones with the horror stories.

I love ours but it's a second car (we have a diesel estate for family trips). It's 2 years old now. We use it all the time for zipping around, but I wouldn't like to have to rely on charging it out and about (we only ever charge it at home). When it comes to replacing the diesel in a couple of years time we will get a second EV though as the battery life has improved a lot.

Explode in hot weather? Interesting. I live somewhere that regularly hits 40 degrees and I would say about 15% of my ~80 colleagues have EVs with none citing that as an issue

I would recommend a short term lease to try one out. I was dead against as I have no other car in household, single mum and regularly do a 3.5 hour trip and I thought I was far too busy to find chargers etc. I didn’t want to be stranded. But then my diesel car blew up and I couldn’t get it repaired for a month. I was looking at hiring a car but I could only find an affordable hire with an electric only company. Took a 2 month hire much cheaper than traditional hire companies. During that 2 months I loved it! I charge at home on a 3 pin plug which takes 20 hours for a full charge if it was empty but usually I’m just topping up the charge after work and I work at home plenty. On my regular long drive I can charge slowly at my destination or fast at many local charge options. I have a long range EV5. I ended up selling my diesel when it was repaired and extending my lease to 12 months. I used a company called Elmo which i would recommend for a trial. Just be aware there’s a £119 fee to deliver and £119 to collect car if it’s not for you.

the only thing that annoys me is I haven’t yet found one app that shows all charge points and you have to use about three different apps to search properly. For example I went to a wedding at weekend and looked like nearest charging point was in a particular place which I arranged for someone to meet me at to leave my car at and then drive me to wedding venue. Turned out there was a charge point at the hotel just on an obscure charge network that wasn’t on the two apps I’d checked.

Just to add, I do 3.5 hours on my MG5 EV long range in one charge but I couldn’t do more. That’s the limit and i also have to change my route so I do less motorway driving if possible (more regenerative charging). It’s been trial and error but worth it and not found it stressful on the occasions I have had to charge somewhere unexpectedly on a long journey. I have learnt to have several back up charge options and not to do a journey where it is essential to charge at a particular stop on way because it is correct they are often out of order or busy. I now do a quick top up charge at a services 2 hours away if I need to extend which is very reliable as it’s a brand new service station with multiple charge points (Rugby services - I recommend) and I have back up options if going elsewhere

Yes it was an article about a lady who owned a cafe in a row of 8 shops . Her battery exploded in the heat , knocked out her cafe and damaged other properties and the insurers wouldn't pay , she lost her car and her premise / livelihood.

Yes.

Well we have a diesel and electric.

DH has a BMW I4. It's massive with a big boot. He often does 5 hour drives in it, stopping at a services to charge. Which as I pointed out, is a good thing. You shouldn't drive that long without stopping.

Comfortably gets 350 mile range. The app it comes with tells you all the chargers around you/on route.

The only annoying thing is when all the chargers are taking by hybrids and you're waiting for one.

Definitely yes. I bought my first Nissan Leaf in 2013. Great car. We bought a new one last year and my son drives the old one.
I'd never go back to petrol.

This is a bit of a red herring argument as hybrids and ICE cars are actually more likely to catch fire than EVs. There was a study done looking at car fire statistics in the US if you want to check it out.

“Hybrid vehicles actually come in number one with the most fires per 100K sales. Gas vehicles are second, and electric vehicles place third, with only 25 fires per 100K electric vehicle sales. Based on this data, electric vehicles don’t catch fire nearly as much as the news claims. Hybrid cars seem to be the most dangerous for fires, followed by gas vehicles.”

https://www.autoinsuranceez.com/gas-vs-electric-car-fires/

Totally depends what you use your car for, I have an enyaq which I absolutely love, it’s really lovely to drive and be a passenger in loads of space. I do mostly short to medium trips and can charge at home and at work.
I think if I regularly did long journeys for work I would choose a hybrid as waiting inline to charge would drive me crazy. I do long journeys occasionally but am on holidays so no hassle if it takes a while.

I hope none of the people complaining about child labour and batteries are writing their messages on smart phones. Or buy clothes from most major retailers. (I’m not saying child labour is acceptable. Just that’s it a bit ironic that people trot it out as an argument against EVs but turn a blind eye in other areas of life.)

Confirmation bias.

My sister never stops whining about hers though. Well, about the charging really, and the journey planning.