Electric cars are NOT the future, are they?

[Isometimeswonder]

I am genuinely torn. I need want a new car but really don't want electric.
But so few smaller petrol cars are made now.
I haven't got a place to charge a car at home.
AIBU I should accept electric is the future.
AINBU I should get petrol. (Please recommend a small city car)

I've just got an electric car and I absolutely love it. It's smoother to drive, you can use it as a battery and run everything off it (if camping for example) and charging is so easy - much easier than I expected/feared. I am lucky that I can charge at home, which takes about 4 hrs and I do it approx once a month at night - it honestly feels a hell of a lot easier than having to think about going to a garage. But even without a home charger, electric charging stations are everywhere these days - there's more in my immediate area than there are petrol stations. Many of those are super fast these days so you can fully charge in 10-20 mins. Those are the ones they have at every motorway services too, so honestly it seems just as convenient as a stop for petrol.

I certainly won't ever be going back. Oh and it's cut my monthly cost (charging v fuel) by about 80 percent, and if I swap to an EV electricity tariff it'll be another 2/3 cheaper still. Then there's the cheaper tax, etc etc...

There are certainly more charging stations now - but nowhere near enough to start phasing out other types of car, @Stillhere83

But you can still use those whilst they're charging... inside your car, if you want!

Buy a nearly new petrol. Bonkers taking the depreciation for a new car anyway.

Calm down, I’m not an expert (clearly) and have no axe to grind.

I’m finding this thread interesting and encouraging, and am pleased to learn that EVs are greener than I thought they were.

I’m also curious about whether you are as rude and abrasive in real life, or if you just save it for the internet?

It certainly sounds like a massive, expensive faff if you have to remove the whole enormous battery just to replace one cell. Granted not all; but many parts of an engine can be repaired or replaced in isolation - and you certainly don't have to remove the whole fuel tank if the fuel pump goes, which I suppose may be a kind of equivalent.

I wonder if they expect people to just put up with cells gradually failing until they get to the point where so many have failed, the available power and range are so poor that they just scrap the car.

Oh, I'm much more sarcastic in real life

Agree
The infrastructure isn’t quite there
but for those who can’t charge at home more charging places and quick charging are key

For those who can it’s far more convenient

It will get there and I’m looking forward to a cleaner safer environment for all

@TiffanyLampOn

I'm disappointed that Labour is now going to tax EV car use. Surely they should be encouraging EV use.

How else will they make up the loss of tax revenue from petrol/diesel cars as more and more people switch over? The tax take has to come from somewhere. EV's still cause wear and tear on the roads, need grants/subsidies for the installation of charging points etc.

Eventually.
When fossil fuels run out, what other choice will there be?

The world will be fully electric / renewable long before fossil fuels run out.

I should certainly hope so or we'll have a terrible time between fossil fuels running out and getting the world sorted with renewables.

You are incorrect. In 2024, about 32% of UK electricity was generated by fossil fuels.

And while lithium mining may be locally environmentally destructive (as is the production of petroleum), it is not a major contribution to climate change which is the most significant environmental threat to the planet.

Where I live in the north east in an extremely poverty stricken area, most houses are tiny terraces with no allocated parking. It would be literally impossible to charge them. It’s not uncommon to have to park a couple of streets away.

I'm finding these responses really interesting, and thank you everyone for giving me something to think about.
A couple of things that crossed my mind - not 100% relevant to EV cars but it does seem that the small city type cars are not being made as much now, I guess demand is more for bigger or SUV types. This doesn't help the total weight on the roads.
I don't drive many long distances, but i work funny shifts. I wish public transport was better, but that's a different thread!

The same in most terraced and built up areas though

People charge at a station ( like a petrol station) at a supermarket etc
If currently it takes 10minutes I’m guessing as tech advances that time will decrease.

But if everyone in the area had to queue for the charging station then we’re talking thousands of households. You’d need multi stories of charging stations.

I agree as it stands it’s not workable if everyone suddenly went out and bought an electric car

However
most people use supermarkets and go by car. So they can charge whilst shopping
A lot of people go into towns and shopping centres, so they can charge whilst shopping

We’ll be seeing more and more charging stations on our streets and car parks as time goes on

In fact roughly 25,000 vehicles going by census data and scaling for population growth since then (I am bored waiting for food to cook)

I’m in a first floor flat so absolutely no possibility of charging an EV at home. There was a suggestion put forward by the management company recently to have chargers installed in a couple of the parking spaces but understandably nobody wanted to give up their allocated space or pay for something they’ll never use.

It costs me £35 to fill up my little petrol car and that usually lasts me a month. The electric equivalent of my current car has a range of just 100 miles so an EV has absolutely no benefit to me. Not to mention the fact that they are expensive and the majority of them massive and incredibly ugly.

I expect I’ll buy a newer petrol version of my car in a few years and that will hopefully last me until I no longer want to drive.

But the ban on sales of ICE cars only applies to brand new cars, and only 20% of car sales are new. Most people buy used cars, and cars typically last c15 years and have 3 or more owners. Only the minority who can afford a new car will be forced to have electric, and the people who can afford brand new cars are mostly going to be in the category of homeowners with offstreet parking.

@Isometimeswonder it's not a binary choice - why not a hybrid? There are non-plugin hybrids which just reclaim energy from braking and going downhill and cut your petrol costs massively. I have a 14yo Toyota Yaris Hybrid which is still going strong and is a brilliant small city car. I would recommend you find a 4yo one and it will do you happily for at least a decade.

There are still a few, including some electric models such as the BYD Dolphin Surf, but they are so new that there won’t be any on the second hand market yet.
i have an electric car and love it, definitely a lot cheaper than petrol even at this time of year when my solar panels aren’t much use. Using public chargers is about the same cost as petrol was for my previous car, so I probably wouldn’t get an EV if I couldn’t charge at home. It’s not clear if you can’t have a charging point or just don’t currently have one, but if the latter a lot of companies will install one for free when you buy or lease an EV.

I have an electric car through a work lease scheme, I love it. It’s a lovely car, very cheap to run and works perfectly for me. But, if I was buying a car, I wouldn’t get an EV, I don’t think we’re quite prepared for them yet. I do tend to avoid doing longer journeys as finding suitable charging points can be tricky.

As I said, I don’t buy knew but I also don’t buy old - I don’t have the expertise to fix myself so I want a car that is likely to be reliable. I usually buy a 3year Ikd car, so I only get an extra 3 years. I currently have a self charging hybrid but full electric would be totally impractical where I live.

I bought a new (to me) car a few months ago. I did look into buying it leasing a brand new electric car as we have off street parking and could fit a charger. However the limited range meant that I couldn't get to my office and back (100 miles each way) in a single charge. Whilst there are chargers at work, they are quite often not working.

I opted for a 5 year old petrol car and haven't regretted it.