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.

Are you using zap map? I thought that one had them all…agree the individual company’s apps which only show their own chargers are a pain.

I have no idea why chargers could’ve be like paying for petrol, just pay in advance/at the end for what you’ve used, rather than faffing around with multiple apps. That’s my biggest bugbear really.

re the comment about cobalt mining:

• its used in phones and laptops
• Tesla does not source cobalt from the Congo where the dangerous hand-mining happens
• Some EV makers have batteries that don’t use cobalt at all
• cobalt is used as a catalyst to refine petrol and diesel – so petrol and diesel cars use cobalt, too.

Im finding this very encouraging. In 2020 we test drove a number snd my daughter said riding in the back seat wasn't good due to the shape of most windows. As it happens her brother moved out so she's only in the back and handful of times. Also I was worried moving to a mid terrace with no way to charge at home. Then I actually moved, and found out there are three charging spots at the end of every block, the supermarkets all have charging spots - anyway charging near home not an issue.
I think it's more environmentally friendly to drive my current car for a bit longer and hopefully in the next few years they'll increase the range of electric cars.
My question: I heard the battery only lasts ten years and then it's a huge amount to replace them? Or do people sell their cars before that becomes an issue?

Yes. Love it. Perfect for local driving. Longer journeys need a bit of planning but loads of charging points have shops, cafes etc near by so good excuse to break the journey up. The charging infrastructure is a pain. Lots of different companies and different apps but you get your head around it.

We have an VW e-up.

For the day to day journeys, I love it. It's less than half the cost of our petrol car, although I'll also say way smaller too. We charge about twice a week, and it does all the commutes.

However we haven't tried longer journeys, and will use our petrol car for that. Partially because of the charging, but also normally longer journeys we're going on holiday so have 5 of us plus luggage in the car.

The other thing I do find is that you do have to watch the mileage left on the battery. Putting the fan heaters on, for example, takes over 10% of the battery left. If you're driving in the dark and rain the battery goes down much quicker.

There's one journey I do regularly which is downhill on the way there. It's about 9 miles by the road. on the way there I do it on about 1-2 miles of battery life. Way back it's 12-16.

Ours is a company car. We get it for 3 years then have the choice to buy it outright or give it back. Most people I know with electric cars either have them on the company or have the battery on hire. That way they don't end up with a "useless pile" as the battery goes.

I have the e-Corsa. Easiest driving ever, like having a go-cart. The charging thing is just a mindset change, and the network is improving all the time (Thank you Kings Lynn Starbucks and your super-fast charging!). Goes like shit off a shovel too. Love seeing shocked Audi/BMW drivers as I zoom away from the lights etc!

Battery degradation on modern EVs is minimal compared to the ones from just 15 years ago. Very unlikely you will need to replace the battery in the car's lifetime.

We’ve got a Nissan Leaf which we’ve had for about 7 years. It can only do 100 miles on a charge but it’s perfect for me as I work at various venues- all of which are local. other than that, the only driving we do is to local supermarkets/ferrying the kids to and from friends’ houses etc. We also have a large diesel car which we use for longer journeys.

The Leaf is so easy to drive and I love how quick the acceleration is. I’m always the first away from the lights 😂 Almost all of my driving is on smaller road under 60mph. The car will easily go 70mph but it gets through the charge very quickly at that pace. I think the technology has improved a lot in the time we’ve had ours.

We’re hoping to get a bigger EV with a much longer range but just saving up at the moment!

Love seeing shocked Audi/BMW drivers as I zoom away from the lights etc!

Haha, yes! I missed your comment and then wrote something similar. It’s very satisfying!

There are a few not on zap map!
This was a SWARCO charger.

also what REALLY annoys me is they don’t show the price on the charger so you could stop it you only say want to spend £20. Often you have to google for the price per KW from that particular company and calculate it. Drives me mad. Surely not fair trading for consumers.

I have a Kia EV6 and I love it. 300 miles range in the warmer weather, 250 in winter. Does a fast charge at services in 25 minutes, which is fine to stop and have a coffee or lunch. I don’t regularly travel so far that I need to charge at services. I have a charger at home and charge overnight Ona special rate.

Niro and 2008 are much smaller than an Outlander. Neither were designed ground-up to be full EVs so the packaging is a bit compromised.

You could look at an MG 4 or a Cupra Born. Both EV only so better packaged for the platform and therefore more space. Hyundai Ioniq 5 worth a look too. Genesis GV60 too.

There’s a new one coming later this year — the Fisker Ocean. It’s a mid-size SUV and will have a really good range.

If you need the space, and can hold on, there are some bigger EVs on the way. Kia has the EV9 coming out and the next Peugeot 5008 will likely have plug-in and full EV versions.

@jannier we have an 8 year old Leaf that's still going strong

We had an electric car on lease and returned it. Not as much range as advertised and the stopping to charge was a pain.
We now have, among our car collection (!) a hybrid and a diesel that's ULEZ compliant.

I'm deeply uneasy about the rush to electric cars. It feels as if we're improving out environment at a huge cost to others - the issues around lithium, child slavery, disposal of batteries etc have already been mentioned. It's OK for us isn't it? Shut our eyes to the wider implications and human cost?
There are better alternatives out there that should have investment for development. Alternatives that don't have such a massive environmental cost. Even typing that I'm thinking what a bloody farce this all is.

I think you have to think very carefully about what you need from a car. Ours is perfect for the life we lead now. We live in the country, and do a lot of short journeys-it's 10 miles to the town/supermarket, 8 to our son's house, 3 to the station. We both mostly wfh and always use public transport for any long journeys. And we can easily plug in outside our house. When we had small children we used to drive to visit grandparents regularly-250 miles- and go on a lot of camping trips. I honestly don't think it would have worked-public charging still isn't reliable enough for me to feel happy going further than a single charge range with a carful of children,dogs and tents. But the way we live now it's great. And like driving a dodgem car!!

It also says in that article that non electric cars are more likely to catch fire.

We have a hybrid and several of my colleagues have EVs thanks to our company's green lease scheme. I think there is a huge variation between cars and where you are in the country.

My colleagues with Teslas all love them, no exceptions. One disorganised colleague hates her BMW not because of thìe car itself but because she finds it so difficult to figure out where the decent charging points are and factor in the time it takes to charge. You do forget that ICE cars are filled in minutes whereas with EVs you usually need hours to fully charge if you can't use a super charger. One colleague feels hard done by because his car seems to be really slow to charge and he is limited on which chargers he can access.

Also as PP mention, driving at high speeds, hills, using lights, heaters etc. decrease your available miles which can be hard to get your head around. I think EVs are great but probably not for everyone right now.

So 10 year old Ampera here - battery still good, resale value decent (£8k) and we've saved a fortune over the years

We absolutely love our Tesla!

Nobody really cares about the damage these cars are causing to the environment and living conditions in other countries do they?

Well, tell us about the more environmentally friendly alternatives?

Strangely, some people seem to really worry about the damage that EV’s do to the environment while glossing over the damage that petrol and diesel cars do.

😂I smell an EV troll.... EVERYTHING you have said is a complete load of💩

EV's are 9 times LESS likely to catch fire. and 19 times less likely to catch fire than hybrids.
Lithium mines where kids are exploited are mostly for cheap L-ion batteries in calculators and cheap phones not cars.
"Lithium lakes" - batteries a) aren't yet being ditched from most working cars and b) for scrapped cars they are either sold on 2nd hand or repurposed into battery storage units for solar.l
7 year old cars are holding their value and the batteries are lasting WAY longer than predicted.
Batteries do occasionally need repairing and/or replacing, but you DO NOT do it at the main dealer, just like you wouldn't with an engine. Main dealers are, surprise surprise, expensive.

Spoiler alert - batteries do not explode in hot weather....

Actually picking up our Tesla tomorrow - starting to get a little bit excited about it now 😂