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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think there are no real perks to driving an electric car?

344 replies

MyHeartyBlueShaker · 15/04/2025 15:46

You’d think there would be more incentives - cheaper parking, easier charging access, or some kind of priority. But in reality, it often feels like there are just extra costs and hassle. What are the actual rewards?

OP posts:
BobnLen · 17/04/2025 17:41

If Reform get in it will be all change again, I doubt they will keep 2030

Chersfrozenface · 17/04/2025 17:58

..but it certainly won't be impossible for them to run an electric car.

If it was then I'm sure the government would not have opted for the mandatory replacement.

This shows a touching faith in the ability of any UK government to research, fund and organise a piss-up in a brewery any major project

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 17/04/2025 18:44

We have a plug in hybrid which is perfect for us. No worrying about running out if fuel

TizerorFizz · 17/04/2025 19:55

Around 4.4% of cars on the road are EVs. It’s plain that the charging system cannot manage even double that %. The poorer folk in terraced houses have to spend precious time charging at expensive chargers just once a week! We charge our car more than that. Of course poor people will be buying the worn out cars and batteries with around 60% efficiency so hopefully they will all be allocating their leisure time to the booking slots everyone else will want.

Notstrongandstable · 17/04/2025 20:08

MimiGC · 17/04/2025 16:58

I live in the centre of town, in a network of Victorian terraces. These houses were built before anyone had cars. No one has a drive and there is not nearly enough parking for those who live here. We commonly have to park one or two streets away. There are no lamp post chargers and even if there were, they couldn’t possibly fit enough in to accommodate everyone’s electric car. I can’t foresee a time when we will ever be able to have one.

I live in a terraced house fairly central in a small city and we do have lamp post chargers. They work brilliantly.
we only charge about once a fortnight as don’t drive to work and have over 300 mile of range so not everyone needs to charge that frequently. It can work if your council got behind it. There are loads of EVs where I am

Notstrongandstable · 17/04/2025 20:09

TizerorFizz · 17/04/2025 19:55

Around 4.4% of cars on the road are EVs. It’s plain that the charging system cannot manage even double that %. The poorer folk in terraced houses have to spend precious time charging at expensive chargers just once a week! We charge our car more than that. Of course poor people will be buying the worn out cars and batteries with around 60% efficiency so hopefully they will all be allocating their leisure time to the booking slots everyone else will want.

I live in a terraced house and don’t spend any “precious time” charging. I plug my car in the lamp post chargers and pick it up the following morning? It’s very simple and easy

Aloysiusthebear81 · 17/04/2025 20:17

Rocknrollstar · 15/04/2025 15:54

Saving the planet

The majority of electricity produced in the UK comes from fossil fuels. Then there is the environmental damage mining the finite supply of lithium causes. Are you really sure electric cars are saving the planet?

lifeisgoodrightnow · 17/04/2025 20:19

Aloysiusthebear81 · 17/04/2025 20:17

The majority of electricity produced in the UK comes from fossil fuels. Then there is the environmental damage mining the finite supply of lithium causes. Are you really sure electric cars are saving the planet?

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Yes but it’s produced in carefully controlled plants with proper filtration controls on the chimneys rather than spewing out of the exhaust pipe next to kids.

ParsnipPuree · 17/04/2025 20:48

Dh has just got his first job and passed his driving test. We got him an electric car as it’s a long drive to work and will cost him nothing. He’s saving a fortune!

ParsnipPuree · 17/04/2025 20:49

Sorry that should read ds not dh!

RunAwayNow · 17/04/2025 20:56

Some car parks offer perks. My work car park season ticket used to cost me £4 a day but now it's completely free because I'm in an EV.

crackofdoom · 17/04/2025 21:13

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 16/04/2025 18:01

It's a shame EVs aren't louder. I thought they were supposed to make a noise now but they are still too quiet. DH is partially deaf and struggles to hear them and surely it must be awful for anyone blind or partially sighted.

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On the other hand, as an autistic person who's bothered by noise and especially engine noise, I cannot fucking wait until all cars, and hopefully all motorbikes and trucks too, are electric.

VikingLady · 17/04/2025 21:17

No one near us could have an electric car. We’re all terraces with on street parking, and you frequently have to park a couple of turns away if it’s a busy time. Literally no way to charge. Given they’re the cheap houses in our town, I can’t see how they’ll ever be suitable for us penny pinched types.

crackofdoom · 17/04/2025 21:21

LSmiff · 17/04/2025 15:43

I’m 50/50 on these OP. But was does disturb me is that you don’t hear them coming & could easily get run over by them.

Do you have hearing loss? Because if not I struggle to grasp how you couldn't hear one coming.
Have you ever felt at risk of being run over by an ICE car coasting downhill, because they make very little engine noise when they're doing that? Have you ever been knocked over by a bicycle? 🤔

TeenLifeMum · 17/04/2025 21:27

Interesting reading about lamp post chargers. Can you imagine the fights over spaces between neighbours in a road of terraced houses if even 50% of the road got EVs?

Iheartmysmart · 17/04/2025 21:38

It would probably be similar to the uproar from residents in the block of flats where I live when there was the suggestion of having an electric charger installed in one of the allocated parking spaces. Absolutely nobody was willing to give up their space or contribute to the cost if they weren’t going to benefit from it. The idea was swiftly and quietly shelved.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 17/04/2025 21:45

GasPanic · 17/04/2025 17:31

Pretty much. It's only once a week. It will get easier as the # of charges increase. Plus I think as time goes on people will be able to book charging stations more easily so it will be less a case of queuing and more a case of just taking your spot when booked.

There are no barriers to the vast majority of people owning an electric car. For some people there is increased costs and for others less convenience. As I posted before if you suddenly turned everyone electric I doubt whether people in terraced housing would be giving up their cars. Yes they might be more inconvenienced in having to wait around charging it for a couple of hours or so a week, but it certainly won't be impossible for them to run an electric car.

If it was then I'm sure the government would not have opted for the mandatory replacement.

It will get even easier when solid state batteries with their increased range/faster charging times start coming in.

Edited
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You make it sound as if people are going to have to switch to EV. They will if they want to buy a brand new car after 2030 but no one will have to get rid of their ICE immediately. It's hardly good for the environment to scrap millions of perfectly good vehicles.

Of course there are barriers to many people owning an EV. Firstly the cost of buying one, many people won't be able to afford to give up their perfectly good ICE for no reason. I live in a terrace with no off road parking so will be hanging on to a petrol car for as long as possible as I have no intention to wait for hours for my car to charge. Once the infrastructure is in place and EVs are a lot cheaper then they will be an option for everyone.

enpeatea · 17/04/2025 21:56

Wish I could have an EV. However not having a drive makes it uneconomical. Best would be a hybrid.

MimiGC · 17/04/2025 22:44

Notstrongandstable · 17/04/2025 20:09

I live in a terraced house and don’t spend any “precious time” charging. I plug my car in the lamp post chargers and pick it up the following morning? It’s very simple and easy

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In my street alone, there are 140 houses. There are maybe about 10 lamp posts (just a guess, haven’t counted), none of them have charging points. Even if they were all fitted with chargers, there are not going to be nearly enough to go round, especially if people leave their cars overnight, thus preventing anyone else from using it until the next day. (And as I said before, as often as not, you can’t even park in your own street anyway.)

WingBingo · 17/04/2025 22:50

Love my EV. So cheap to run.

DoggityDiggity · 17/04/2025 22:53

It costs me 2.5 pence a mile to drive, plus we now get cheap overnight electricity for whole house and that brings the bill down even further. It’s so lovely to drive and heats up quickly so no more sitting in cold car on winter mornings waiting for the to thaw.. and the it cools beautifully quickly on hot days too.

Gogogo12345 · 17/04/2025 22:56

GasPanic · 17/04/2025 17:12

Of course you could. You just wouldn't be able to charge it at home.

It would cost you more money to run than someone with a driveway and be more inconvenient as you would have to wait at a charger to charge it up, Probably a couple of times a week depending on your usage pattern and car range. But the fueling costs probably wouldn't be that much more than a petrol vehicle.

Paying more because of your house format/location is not unusual in motoring. For example people with terraced housing often have to pay more for insurance because their car is not kept off road on a driveway.

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But why would you want to pay ( not that much) more than a petrol vehicle for the inconvenience of having to take it somewhere and wait around for it to charge ( which takes longer than filling petrol) Doesn't seem ligical

TizerorFizz · 17/04/2025 23:26

@crackofdoom Coasting?!! You mean letting it roll in neutral? Turning the engine off so power steering doesn’t work? Who on earth does this? Madness. I’ve got petrol, diesel and EV cars. I know the EV is easily the quietest. Easily. I have no pavements in my hamlet and walkers don’t hear it. Often neighbours chatting don’t hear it. It’s definitely an issue. I come up behind people walking and they don’t know the EV is there.

There’s no lamppost charging in my nearest town. Or second nearest town. Nor in the car park. There’s two at a garage. There’s 8000 residents. Obviously some people have drives but many terraced houses don’t. Those residents don’t have EVs unless they drive a work car that’s charged at work.

Why anyone thinks ICE cars don’t have heated seats, heated windscreens , heated door mirrors, heated steering wheels and heated interiors is beyond me. All very efficient in our cars. Cannot see much difference between them and the Ev. I guess lots of people must have driven old woofers.

mafsfan · 18/04/2025 01:05

TizerorFizz · 17/04/2025 23:26

@crackofdoom Coasting?!! You mean letting it roll in neutral? Turning the engine off so power steering doesn’t work? Who on earth does this? Madness. I’ve got petrol, diesel and EV cars. I know the EV is easily the quietest. Easily. I have no pavements in my hamlet and walkers don’t hear it. Often neighbours chatting don’t hear it. It’s definitely an issue. I come up behind people walking and they don’t know the EV is there.

There’s no lamppost charging in my nearest town. Or second nearest town. Nor in the car park. There’s two at a garage. There’s 8000 residents. Obviously some people have drives but many terraced houses don’t. Those residents don’t have EVs unless they drive a work car that’s charged at work.

Why anyone thinks ICE cars don’t have heated seats, heated windscreens , heated door mirrors, heated steering wheels and heated interiors is beyond me. All very efficient in our cars. Cannot see much difference between them and the Ev. I guess lots of people must have driven old woofers.

People are referring to app controlled heating and cooling as a perk of driving an EV - which is what the OP asked about - not bog standard heated seats and mirrors Hmm

I love being able to set the app at night and knowing that my car will be defrosted and sat with the heating on 20 degrees at the time I want to leave for work in the middle of winter. I also love being able to set the A/C in summer so on a hot day you come back to a cool car at the time you have requested.