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.

Picked up our 2nd hand I-pace last Saturday. So far OH loves it. I've not had a go yet so will let you know

We have a Kia EV6 and love it to bits. Currently getting just over 300 miles for a full charge. We waited 14 months for it and it's really been worth it. The E Niro looks great too and is quite a bit cheaper than EV6. Go for it!

Would the Skoda Enyaq work at all?

Here we go again, if your quoting the American report from 2018 that claimed hybrids caught fire more than any other car with its very dodgy research then you should think again.

That research was flawed and proven by alot of people to not use accurate data.

One example in the link below.

If this were true 1 in 30 hybrids would be catching fire including the Toyota Prius the world's highest selling carr and one of the most reliable cars ever made, used by more people globally than any other car.

Rather than believing everything your read on EV bias websites you should dig a little further onto these claims.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a40163966/cars-catching-fire-new-york-times-real-statistics/

No, I was not quoting that report...it's something like 25 in every 100,000 evs catch fire which makes the stats 4.7 in 1,000 for Hybrids.

My brother's convinced that green energy could use a massive battery wall in our houses (I slightly drifted off 30 minutes in but I think charged by solar power and the like).

I wrote a report on EV vehicles for work and, I can't remember which company (there's a theme here...) but it let you swap your battery for a fully charged battery at service stations. Not sure how they regulate everyone trying to swap their six year old battery for a nice new version but it seemed an innovative approach...

I have to say the first thing you find being a (long term!) EV owner is you very quickly find all the misinformation is just that! Particularly the one about deaf people getting run over in car parks, I wouldn't be exaggerating to say I have seen that one a million times....despite the fact all EV's have a noise at slow speed, so they aren't noiseless.

Anyhow, You asked a question. For £4000 you are going to find it hard to pick up a good EV, however do consider the costs, particularly if you have home charging or access to any free chargers.....

Nissan Leafs do exist near this price range, but if you are travelling any distance it wouldn't be suitable. You probably need to spend a bit more to get one with a decent range.

Bear in mind; Fuel costs are far less, servicing costs are far less, my experience is that repair costs are far less as there is less to go wrong...

I would buy an older nissan leaf every day of the week as a second car, they are fantastic, but the tech is getting old now and you need to charge them at home only.

I think that’s Nio (one of the Chinese manufacturers that is looking to go global). Really interesting idea.

I think that’s Nio (one of the Chinese manufacturers that is looking to go global). Really interesting idea.

I've just dug up my report and you're right, it was Nio.

The Chinese companies seem pretty advanced in this area. BYD dethroned Tesla by global car sales last year. We just don't hear a lot about them in the U.K. market.

I've got a Hyundai ionic. I love it.
My partner has a second hand Tesla. She also loves hers.

Yes, some of the Chinese makes are doing some really interesting stuff, tech-wise. I think Nio is coming to the UK, possibly Xpeng and one or two others as well.

I guess there’s an opportunity for these relatively new and unknown brands and companies to enter a market that up to now has been very sniffy about companies that don’t have 50+ years of heritage and a motor racing background. Electric changes that.

Plus some of the established brands are actually part- or fully owned by Chinese companies now. MG, Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Smart.

For power, I don’t know the details, but lots of people on a previous thread said they had them i their house. Presumably use them for electricity.

To further complicate things I need 7 seats......basically I think I'm out of a job come the end of August.

Wasn’t impressed on a test drive. It’s much smaller than the outlander and a very boring drive.

ford mach e was fun (in “untamed” mode) But terrible boot space and no good for the mileage I do.

quite liked the Tesla but husband won’t give Musk money.

they’re all several button presses to disable the safety features too. And have to do it every time you start the car.

may end up building a new car myself at this rate.

couple of petrol options I could possibly compromise on.

We have a Tesla X, which we love, although wouldn't mind if it was slightly narrower as we live in London. The mileage range is great, particularly if driven in chill mode for city driving, and the charging infrastructure is really good, although I'm not sure how seamless it would be for EVs without access to the Tesla chargers. Ours came with free lifetime super charging, which they might not offer anymore(?), but that offers a significant saving over time. Whenever we're away and rent a car, I'm reminded how much nicer EVs are than petrol cars in every way.

For me it was like the switch from a gas hob to induction. Some reluctance, a very slight learning curve and then the realisation you would have a hard time going back.

@weightymatters73

I have to say the first thing you find being a (long term!) EV owner is you very quickly find all the misinformation is just that! Particularly the one about deaf people getting run over in car parks,

Ours did an automated emergency stop once when someone stumbled off a curb, not quite into the path of the car, but very near it. I was going at a pretty low speed in normal driving mode and it was quite an emphatic hard stop - I find it hard to imagine many people being run over.

@GCWorkNightmare

quite liked the Tesla but husband won’t give Musk money.

Yeah, I don't know whether to be relieved or chagrined that we bought ours before it became obvious he was a psychotic prick.

Also, the reality is that there just isn't the public transport and cycling infrastructure in place for a lot of people. I can support the development of those things and drive my ev for now, and I hope that one day I won't need a car.

If money is no object, what about Genesis GV70? I assume GV60 would be far too small for you.

Driving the petrol one in a couple of weeks. It’s a decent price for the spec!

So, charge them, then use them for electricity? I thought we had mains electric these days?

I suppose if you have solar panels it makes sense. Or maybe low overnight rates? Other than I can't see any reason for having them.

Yeah it’s for solar panels and other green energy storage I think.

Only get an EV if you have a charger installed at home and you’re driving locally. E.g., if you live in London, daily distances not too far outside of the M25.
Or if you have access to another vehicle that is not an EV.

You’re stuffed if you need to do longer journeys, as the U.K. have been slow to implement the infrastructure for charging points, esp. fast chargers.

We had two Teslas P100D for four years. The network of Tesla superchargers were great, but added a lot of time to journeys further afield. The battery on one of the Tesla’s died twice and had to be replaced. Long wait for the battery replacement. The first battery replacement took several months towards the end of one of the last two Covid lockdowns.

Tesla give amazing Customer Service and we were given a replacement Tesla car immediately, but the only downside to that was we had return the loan Tesla car to the dealership that we had collected it from when our repaired car was ready for collection. Not ideal when you’ve broken down 2 hours away from home. We had do so that journey up and down the M1 at stupid o’clock more than a few times to avoid traffic and make it back home in time for work and the school run.
We luckily had one Tesla each, so had at least one car to drive each time the battery died on the same car. The last time the car battery died, the car broke down at a motorway service station. Tesla swiftly organised an Uber to collect DP from the service station, which then took him to the nearest Tesla Dealership to pick up a loan car so he could continue on with his journey. I was luckily not driving with the kids in the dead of night, in the back of beyond each time the car battery died.

The plus side of having a Tesla loan car was the free charging at the Tesla superchargers, so we saved a lot of money not having to charge overnight at home for months. Especially when had a loan car for a couple of months last year when energy prices went through the roof.

Another plus, is that Tesla car repairs can be carried out at home by a technician, and you don’t have to be at home to give access to the car which is brilliant.

We recently went back to a petrol car, and we’re planning on getting a 2nd car soon which will be another EV. We’ll only use the petrol car for longer journeys.

We’re also relived that we got rid of both Teslas not too long after Musk took over Twitter, and he subsequently exposed himself for who is really is, and the Tesla share price plummeted. We wouldn’t get another Tesla.

I’m not sure exactly how much brand new Teslas currently cost now, but they initially were extortionately overpriced. We were able to off-set the high costs, as DP sourced a few through his business as company cars. It’s not worth it if you cannot off-set the cost this way.

Had a Nissan Leaf for over 5 years - would never go back! We both drive my car, from preference, if we can!

We do the exact same as you, though our current car is beautiful and has low mileage, weve had some right old bangers in the past. We can often get a couple of years out of a £1000 car. It’s a very economical way to own a car. We often get the same scrap value that we paid for the car two years later.
there is no way we will ever have £10k for an EV. And our house is 500 yards away from our private parking space so no option for a charging point.

@CutYourCloth You need a model 3 or model Y - much much faster charging then the 100D's.... I know they are lovely cars but older charging tech.

@FergalforPM I would have a very careful calculate about what your car is costing you.... having done this both ways I found a Nissan Leaf on lease/pcp has about the same cost as my well looked after 10 year old petrol car as well as being much better for the environment. On one hand the "car" itself costs more, (but that can be offset or spread with finance) vs the servicing, repairs and petrol on the older vehicle. We now both have new lease EV vehicles and the cost overall is lower. You find that the repairs, servicing and petrol costs can mount up considerably on an older car.