To wonder how people can be bothered with electric cars on long distances.

[dixeypeach]

We've had to rent a car for a week, only one they had ready was a fully electric Mercedes, never drove one but we thought they must be alright as loads of people have them. Dear god. Since Tuesday it's had to be charged 4 times and the nearest fast charging one from us is 12 miles away. Full charge gives you 200 miles (219 max miles) which I think is rubbish also if you can't find a fast charging one some take 7 hrs to fully charge 🤦🏻‍♀️ Got caught short yesterday trying to find a charger that wasn't in use or blocked by someone parked in front (not using) the whole thing just gives me bad anxiety😬 at 3:30 today we've got to do a 370 mile round trip to pick our daughter up, we haven't even set off and it feels like a huge effort to find somewhere near her to charge it up to drive home 😳 I mean yeah people have them at home if they own one but surely when doing long journeys you feel the same panic I do!?

Had mine four years. Regularly drive it to the north of England from south coast, and to visit PIL on the continent. Driven it all over Europe, including up to Norway. No range anxiety. No faff. Cheap and easy to run and maintain. Love it. Would never go back to an ICE car.

Tesla though, so we can use the supercharger network which makes a big difference.

Mine is a Mini. It’s designed as a city car with lower capacity and suits me perfectly.
Never understood the angst over it all really. You wouldn’t buy a diesel to do a ten mile a day commute and similarly you probably wouldn’t buy a mid range electric if you were doing regular longer journeys. How can it possibly be such a surprise to some people to learn that not all cars suit all peoples lifestyles?

Occasionally i use mine to visit DD, this involves a charge. It takes exactly the same time to do as in our ICE car because we have always stopped to use the loo and grab a coffee. By the time we’ve done those things the car is charged again.

That's a pretty low range electric car - aimed at people doing short journeys snd charging at home.

My Hyundai has a 300 mile + range. I do a regular 550 journey with it and do have to do a rapid charge stop on the way. But I like a stop mid journey. If I didn't, I wouldn't have a full electric.

Yeah I agree @dixeypeach Hell will freeze over before I get one. The Government's 'not making any more petrol and diesel cars' thing has been pushed back from 2030 to 2035 recently. Around 2026-2027 it will be pushed back again, you mark my words.

Nowhere near enough infrastructure, and they are too much of a faff/too unreliable, they don't go far enough on a charge, and there are far too few charging points. We will not be 'all electric' with motor vehicles in the UL til about 2050. That's if it even happens.

We had an electric car and travel long distances regularly , it was hassle so we’ve changed back to combustion, maybe when they bring out the next generation that does hundreds of miles we will go back to electric but at the moment we are both so relieved we have changed it.

You sound like my cousin. Absolutely loathes it with a passion. Has put me right off.

I think the technology will improve greatly in the next few years.

I know what you mean, my car had to go in for some repairs earlier this year and I borrowed a friend's bike to get around.

It was completely impractical! I couldn't get the weekly shopping balanced, it took ages to complete my 40 mile commute, and don't get me started on how tired it made my legs.

I just don't understand how people can be bothered with bikes!

Haven't RTFT and I don't think any sane EV driver would deny that there is a lot of room for improvement in the public charging network, but come on OP, you are doing the motoring equivalent of someone who has been on a week's dodgy AI to Benidorm and comes home saying they hate Spain.
You've got pretty much the worst case scenario here - a car that you didn't choose and had no opportunity to research, that doesn't have a great range, in presumably cold weather (I think it is fairly cold everywhere at present), with no time to get used to the vehicle before a long journey and, crucially, no home charging facilities. That's not comparable to the experience of most EV drivers.
EVs are different and if you get one expecting to be able to drive it exactly the same as an ICE vehicle you'll probably be disappointed. When we first got ours we had a few close shaves charging wise and were beginning to wonder if we'd made a terrible mistake, but we soon got the hang of it. There's an adjustment period, which you haven't had.Same as with anything new really.
If you were getting your own EV you would do your research, pick one that best suits your needs, think about your charging strategy, probably install a home charger, learn about the technology and the various apps available. A week's enforced rental isn't representative of having an EV as your daily drive.
We had to visit some relatives in a bit of an emergency situation last weekend. They live about 180 miles away. We left home with a more or less fully charged battery, didn't stop at all on the way there and had one 15 min charging stop on the way home that coincided with a toilet break, arriving home with about 20% charge, thus enabling us to recharge mainly at home where is is cheapest. That's how most of our longer journeys pan out these days - you get to trust the technology with experience.
Yes, there are pros and cons, yes, the charging network is still a bit patchy and needs further improvement, and yes, there are some selfish arseholes that block chargers, but in my experience at least, most journeys made by EV are totally unremarkable.

I winder if the posters who love their electric cars have the more expensive, higher end cars? I like the idea of having one, but I think the car that would tick all the boxes for me would be beyond my price range.

I’ve had a huge mix, we have been fully electric since late 2015 and we have 11 cars I think in that time.

I have had many absolute bargain leases- one of ours goes back next week after 2 years. £155 a month and about £30pm to charge at home. Small car though so only ok for us as a second car. My first was an i3 and that was £260pm - with no fuel charges on top it’s very cost effective.

I also had an old Leaf (£10k) that we paid cash for, that was harder to manage on a very long trip as back then the charging network was poor- far easier now. That only did around 100 miles.

I have also had/have Tesla, Kia, MG, Ioniq that have much longer range. They are/were easier to manage but more £ at the £300+ mark. But without fuel it’s not dreadful.

I’ve not driven a non electric car for years and years - don’t miss it at all and we live rurally so everything requires a journey.

@AlltheFs what electric car did you love most/ found the best te charging, range etc.

I loved my i3 and then i3S the best in many ways- those were my first two and they were so innovative and fast and a lovely spec. So much fun. But the range was at the lower end so I wouldn’t recommend now sadly. But when I see them now I still get a pang of envy! They were great days and we felt like
pioneers.

My next best are Tesla model 3, and MG 4. We have these right now. The MG is a bargain, we have it on a PCP for £174pm, it’s quite basic spec but it is lovely to drive. I really rate it.
The Tesla is pretty great. But the screen is irritating- it’s still good though. Good value, range is excellent.

We rejected two Kia e-Niros and a Zoe so they were my worst quality wise. The e-niro was great for range though to be fair. Bit wallowy to drive too. The warranty was fecking useless. But we got all our money back, so in the end it was a bargain because I drove a car for 9 months for free. But I also aged 10 years….

The e2008 and Kona are good value used now. I thought they were expensive for what they were new but I have my eye on a used one again now as different circumstances for us.

If I could have anything I suppose it would be a Polestar. But can’t afford it.

DH used to deal specialist cars and work in motoring broadcasting so although he doesn’t now we have a lot of contacts, and he changed cars like the weather. Hence we have had so many.

I think the technology will improve greatly in the next few years.

True, but this is a big problem in itself. A decent, well-maintained car should be able to last for 20 years, with very little reduction in efficiency and range - even if it goes through several owners. Cars are very expensive purchases and are not meant to be disposable.

How on earth does it fulfil the express central purpose of helping the environment if cars become pretty much obsolete and highly undesirable after two or three years? It's annoying enough that they make mobile phones to only last two or three years now, but at least phones don't cost tens of thousands of pounds to buy.

DH used to deal specialist cars and work in motoring broadcasting so although he doesn’t now we have a lot of contacts, and he changed cars like the weather. Hence we have had so many.

I did wonder. Before I read your last paragraph I started to think that these electric cars didn't have much longevity. My car is 10 years old (Ford Diesel Kuga), and DH's is 8 years old (petrol Honda Civic) They have both been excellent and reliable so we have had no reason to change them. Also, we have had the dilemma of what type of fuel source to have in a car.

That’s not what happens. Electric cars can usually be upgraded via software- the components don’t need changing like ICE. They just get plugged in like an iPhone update.

Cars won’t need changing just due to updates. Our car does around a 500km range, so it’s pretty decent anyway. But in 5-10 years they will probably have 1000km range. So new owners will get a longer range. Seeing as we have never have any issues with our 500km range we won’t be changing ours quickly, we would only change if we needed some bigger/ smaller or a second car

At least once a year we have a 7 hour drive to France, so no way are we getting a fully electric car until charging facilities are much more reliably available, and charging is much quicker.

We're not sold on the idea yet. Where do people think the electricity is coming from that is charging these cars? Because in the main it's still fossil fuels. And buying a new car does not help tackle climate change. It accelerates it. EV batteries even more so than ICE engines.

Thats on the assumption that everyone is buying one because of the environmental impact.
Personally I bought mine because it was much more fun to drive and a lot cheaper for me to run my short journeys than my big old diesel 4x4.

As usual plenty of ignorance here about how it actually works.
I think this is the 3rd EV bashing thread this week.

I love mine, yes I have to plan a bit when on long journeys but day to day I SAVE
MONEY and spend far less time overall at charge stops than I would do at petrol filling stations if I still had a petrol car.

if you don’t want to join the bandwagon that’s absolutely fine. Not sure why everyone feels the need to justify to themselves why they don’t want to get one. those of us who love our EVs won’t be offended.

Dh is about to pick up his KIA EV6 next week (company car) I’m not convinced by it all. The charging is a real sticking point for me. I went to the petrol station earlier and it took me 7 minutes to fill up and grab a bottle of wine, it’s going to take a lot longer for dhs new car. Closer to 7hours.
I looked into changing my car to electric and I’d be paying well over 70k for the equivalent car that I have.
These vehicle manufacturers have us over a barrel. As far as I’m concerned that can fuck off!

Eh? Either he will charge at home when you’re asleep (how is that an inconvenience?) or a rapid charger can charge an ev6 (lovely car
btw) in about 10 minutes.
Hope he loves it.

It would annoy me that I have to stop, grab a coffee, wait 45 minutes and then go. 5 minutes at the pump and I'm off.

45 minutes?
You can put 200 miles in a Tesla in around 15 minutes.