To not get an electric car?

[Jamesblema]

I was keen to get one as our second car (small-ish run around mainly for DH to do his 25 min commute every week day - we have a larger family car).

My main reasons were the savings on running costs and the benefit to the environment. I figured we could spend 6-8k on the car and then we would save massively on petrol costs. However, taking to the men at our local garage has put me off- they said that electricity costs are almost as much as petrol and repairs on electric cars require specialist mechanics and can be massively more expensive especially when something goes wrong with the battery. They also said that the estimated remaining mileage is often more than you actually have left and you can easily run out of charge and need to stop for over an hour to charge up. The cost of buying a hybrid is putting me off that option too.

So aibu to keep my petrol car at the cost of the environment? Any positive electric car experiences?

Our insurance on new electric full comp is half the price we paid on old petrol third party.

Love my Kia Niro. Definitely don’t want to go back to ICE.

I don’t have range issues at all, there are plenty of chargers for everywhere I’ve wanted to go, and servicing is fine at the Kia garage.

It’s very cheap to fill up (esp as I have solar). I find independent mechanics hate them though. I think they love ICE and don’t want change.

We have no off road parking and one car, used almost entirely for long distances.

Not happening.

By free I meant the charging space, not the actual charge .

This is our issue. We need a proper 4x4 rather than a car with four wheel drive and there doesn’t appear to be an electric one available.

We've got a Tesla through a work lease. We'll never go back to ICE now, we all absolutely love the car and everything about it is super easy. About to drive to mainland Europe from Yorkshire and we'll only need to charge once on the way, probably once while we're there, and once on the way back. There are two banks of Tesla superchargers near where we're staying, so we won't have any issues charging while we're away. We've done Scotland, Northumberland, Wales, London on different trips since we've had it with zero issues. Had to queue for a charger once, in London. You just need to be a bit organised with your journey planning and that's it really.

We have a Tesla and really love it, had it for just over a year now.
It wasn’t an environmental choice, we chose it as we love gadgets and tech, and also because the supercharger network is very good.
It’s super cheap to charge at home, we have a driveway so have our own charger and use Octopus with 7.5p overnight electricity. I make the most of it like a PP and run the dishwasher, washing machine etc all overnight too.

Never had a problem getting a charge at a supercharger, it takes about 15/20 mins to charge to full.

I have no experience of other EVs and their charging networks though, the non Tesla chargers to tend to look more run down/broken.

@PragmaticWench if you've nearly been run over by an EV maybe you just need to use your eyes, rather than relying on your ears!!
And my EV certainly isn't as heavy as the big 4x4s and SUBs that so many people seem wedded to...
I've had mine for almost a year now. Great to drive, cheap as chips to run, and solar panels mean I effectively charged it for free between May and September. But even then charging it fully at home costs about £3.

A friend had an old Leaf with poor range and had a very stressful drive from Fife to Glasgow when she couldn't find a working charger in Kirkcaldy or Dunfermline. She ended up in Edinburgh and still struggled. Her new Leaf broke down last week and the dealership (part of one of the biggest companies in the UK) can't look at it until sometime next month.

I replaced my car last autumn and stuck with petrol because I have a 40 mile round trip to work and there is no charging facility there or roundabout. We plan to replace DH's car later this year and we will look into an EV or hybrid but his mileage is so low that I don't think that the savings in fuel costs will be high enough to compensate for the increased cost of buying the car.

Its personal preference, I’ve recently got a brand new car but chose a petrol one, I’m just not ready to make the switch to electric at the moment.

if you've nearly been run over by an EV maybe you just need to use your eyes, rather than relying on your ears!!

Tell that to blind or partially sighted people. They need to have some sort of sound to make them safer

By law EVS have to make a noise when moving for exactly that reason.

The following points should be considered before deciding on how green an electric car is.

1. Battery metals mining. Mining generally isn't great for the environment, and most mines are in countries where workers' rights are fairly low on the priority list.
2. Added step to the supply chain, meaning the battery has to ship from source to wherever the car is assembled.
3. Tyres: the battery adds significant weight to the car, which in turn results in more tyre wear (which are made of oil) so more polluting particles in the environment. Tyre pollution generally is ignored anyway, but actually quite significant. Not to mention the higher cost of heavier duty tyres, so for some people also cost prohibitive. Tyre pollution article
4. Unless your electricity source is green you can't claim kudos for that (and no, solar panels aren't ideal because after their 20-odd year life they aren't easy to recycle at all).
5. Shelf life of batteries is limited, and batteries cannot be recycled easily. Plus replacement, depending on the age and value of the car, can be cost prohibitive.
6. Risk: if the battery cuts out that is you without power on the road.
7. Logistically not great for long distance travel given the lack of charging points in this country. The country is desperately trying to catch up on charging points.
8. There where the charging network is much more in line with the number of EVs on the road, they are finding that the electricity grid is suffering an overload. Grid overload NL

Ultimately speaking, in terms of direct emissions it is a good option. However, all the above points are not considered in the marketing because it doesn't benefit our governments and their targets, so effectively it is a lot of greenwashing.

Yet you pay a premium for these cars, far more than you'll ever save on road tax.

I spend way way less charging than I did on diesel. Do you think perhaps your local mechanics wouldn't make as much money on electric cars hence why they attempt to put people off?

We have a Yaris hybrid -no charging needed and we get about 70mpg if it is driven on economy mode( eg no rapid acceleration and careful braking. ) it actually makes you drive more safely IMO. The battery is guaranteed up to 15 years if checked yearly.

They do make a noise. I can hear DH reverse off our driveway from inside the house

How come they are pretty much silent? Is it just newer ones that have a sound? According to DH I have hearing like a bat and I've not heard them a few times although I do usually hear the tyre noise. DH is deaf and doesn't hear them at all.

I think the law came in during 2019 so any ev made before that may not make a noise, but any EV made after that has to make a noise of a level equivalent to an ICE car, and there will still be tire noise etc on top of that. They aren't silent at all.

DH got 1 as a hire car when our own car was in the garage and it was an absolute nightmare. He loved the car but the public charging aspect was horrendous. Chargers didn't work, were much slower than advertised, people left their car plugged into chargers meaning they were out of use to others.. Not worth it imo until the charging network works well.

If you have a charging point at home then I guess it would be different.

I drive a plug in hybrid at work. It gets about half the range it says ( we are pretty hilly, I think it’d do better on the flat).

Since July 2021 it has been UK law that both electric and hybrid vehicles must have sound generators installed, as they can be virtually silent, especially when travelling at low speeds. This poses a risk to pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers, particularly those who may be visually impaired.

Vehicles manufactured before this law came into force may well be quiet or even silent.

They are indeed a menace in car parks when you have a visual impairment, as I know all too well.

They're greener than an ICE car, even after considering the embodied emissions. It is true though that BEVs weren't developed to save the planet, they were developed to save the car industry. If going green is the priority then the answer is to find a way to do without any car.

not really, green only if you parse when you calculate. All research I've seen says if you consider cradle to grave, a Range Rover is more green. Even Elon Musk says that though they are not green enough ...yet, if we didn't get started we would never get to where they are. Research now says batteries made from soft shell crab and lobster shells are better than lithium. So green may happen though PETA may not like it.

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