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 can’t fill up my petrol car at home either

No. But you can do it in 5 minutes close to your house presumably? It’s a bit trickier with electric.
Edit: plus the poster you responded to mentioned cost. Unless public chargers are the same cost as home charging it’s a tax on not having a drive. Guess who that falls on disproportionately?

I’ve had an EV for the past three years, motivated by nothing other than a scheme at work which meant I could get a brand new one very affordably.

I’d only go back to petrol cars if I absolutely had to. It’s great to drive, so smooth, and the acceleration is something else. It’s cheaper to run and all round cleaner. Even if you don’t accept that it’s better for the environment overall because of production costs and batteries, etc, it’s got to be better for local air quality not to be belching out fumes.

Two small caveats - First, I have a driveway and can charge from home, which makes it massively convenient. Second, on the two occasions we’ve undertaken very long journeys, we’ve had to plan ahead and charge en route, which is slightly less convenient that just filling up.

I’m a total convert to be honest.

Ffs it's the COST that is the issue!! Not the convenience

We’ve had 2 cars for 11 years, 1 petrol and our 2nd car has been electric since at least 2019 (I think 2016). We recently bought a 2nd hand electric which we expect to last us as long as a petrol. My DH works in the industry so actually knows what he’s talking about. It’s a great medium sized car. We do have a home charger but we’ve had absolutely no problem charging on holidays etc.

I never understand the complaints about range. Every EV we’ve had has had a range longer than would be sensible to drive in one go, and the charge takes as long as going for a wee and getting a coffee/snacks.

Jeez calm down! That’s a bit rude! I misunderstood your post and thought you were making two separate points is all.

And to the other poster. All of my nearest petrol stations offer EV charging, and all the public car parks do to. The car parks are closer to my house so it’s actually easier for me to get to an EV charger than a petrol station!

We've had an electric car for the past 2 years and won't go back. The cost of running it is what does it for us, for instance today I had to go to the supermarket in the nearest town and this evening I have to drive dd to party about 30mins away and then pick up later tonight. That would have cost around €25 in our old petrol car. Now it is about €2 instead. I used to feel like I was spending a fortune just doing everyday things, constantly topping up the car with petrol and doing nothing but driving to work and driving the teenagers where they need to be. Now I don't think about the cost of driving at all because it's so little.

The Renault Zoe is a small EV city car, not produced any more but the last ones were from 2022. They seem to last forever and don’t have all the unnecessary bells and whistles that a lot of new cars go in for.

The real issue there is your office is 100 miles from your house! Even in rural area I doubt this is normal. I don’t drive to work as the train is more convenient, but the only times I’ve had to use public chargers for my EV is when we go on holiday or visiting relatives.

This is the reason I’m buying a plug in hybrid as my next car. Same as in will have a good set up at home and I actually will be able to charge at work if needed but we travel a lot and don’t want to be restricted by the range on a full electric car. Looking at my range to and from work I’ll be able to travel without needing a charge and based on back of the napkin calculations will be very light on petrol use but have the security of it as and when I need it

The reason I won’t charge at work unless necessary is because the cost is about 4 times higher than ti charge at home

It was an expensive mistake here.

DH's new car makes me so car sick I don't want to travel in it.

Toyota have just brought out a hybrid Aygo - self charging so you still put in petrol. I'm not getting electric until I absolutely have no other choice.

Indeed, they still feel like rich people's playthings at the moment....

Electric is cheaper than petrol and diesel
Someone could equally say it’s a tax on those who can’t afford to buy an electric car.
For those who bought a house with solar panels it’s super cheap

Where do we stop

Just come back from Madrid. In the city centre, petrol cars are banned, from the start of this year. Public transport, Vespas etc, and, I think deliveries are OK for now, and if you live in the centre, you have till the end of the year to change. There is a high % of vans and buses running on electric. The difference for pedestrians is noticeable. Petrol fumes much reduced, much quieter. I would say the quicker the switch is made the better. Range is increasing, prices are dropping. We have just bought a new Cupra Born. 320 mile range, charge at home, cheaper than a petrol equivalent with discounts and grant. Really pleased with the car and suits our driving needs.

Electric car use will become much more expensive. It has to. The loss of revenue from fuel sales will start to bite cutting the revenue pot.

52p+ vat for every single litre of petrol is one heck of a loss to make up.

Agree
Car tax I’m guessing will go up to cover the shortfall

Takes a couple of mins to plug in when we get home. Switches on when the cheap leccy starts and switches off when it stops. In the morning unplug and off we go.
On long journeys we will stop and recharge - takes about ten mins to get a boost while having a wee and a coffee.

I have found it fine nice and quiet and smooth.
In fact I feel a bit sick in a diesel car with the smell of it.

You are thinking about it the wrong way round.

You don't go to get a charge like you go to get petrol. You charge it while you park it to do something else.

So at home, you either have a charger and charge it overnight, or use a local street charger for a few hours during which you just go home, do your home stuff and get the car when the app tells you it's charged.

If you are heading to the shops, you might park it in a charging bay to charge while you shop.

Once you flip the way you think to "I'll park at X so I can charge the car" instead of "I'll have to stop to get petrol today" it's actually much less hassle.

The only time you have to "wait" really is if you are doing a long distance and have to charge mid journey. But after two or more hours driving, I'm happy to stop for a pee and a coffee anyway.

For a real world example, last Thursday I drove from London to Morpeth near Newcastle. I started with 90%, stopped to charge once from 10% to 90%, and it cost me £11.65. The equivalent journey in a pretty efficient petrol car used to cost me about £60.

There is a lot of inaccurate information on social media about this. Electric cars are more environmentally friendly:

https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

That is a thing for some people. DH is the same. Apparently it's because the car is so smooth that the usual cues that tell passengers to expect motion are missing so the body doesn't do whatever it normally does to prepare for it.

DH found it was far worse in SUV style EVs, that's one of the reasons we ended up with a Tesla model 3.

Apparently based on that research some manufacturers are looking at adding [optional] motion cues to help passengers who suffer.

I expect to see [paid for] charging bays becoming very standard anywhere there are carparks. Supermarkets, retail parks, entertainment venues, maybe even work car parks. Anywhere people are going to want to park up for a while anyway.

Of course it's unlikely the power infrastructure will be capable of charging a full carpark at the same time, but while that is managed by only having a small number of charging bays and people are charged for parking in them once the charging session is finished, longer term I can imagine some sort of rotating charge session where all the bays have chargers but they are not all live at the same time. You can park for as long as you need, leave the car plugged in and at some point you'll get a 30/60/whatever you paid for period of charge. Smart charging will manage what car charges when to balance the load (It's what the smart EV home charging tariffs already do)

Our council has already installed 5 charging lamposts on our street and plans for more. Other councils will surely follow.

We live in a terraced house with no off-road parking. We often can't park on our own street never mind outside our own house. The council has no intention of installing on street chargers.

Charging an EV at public charger is currently more expensive per mile than either petrol or diesel - public rapid charging about 15 to 20p per mile, petrol about 15 to 17p per mile, diesel about 13 to 16p per mile.

Also we need an estate with a big boot and there are hardly any electric estates. Those that do exist are twice the price if petrol or diesel equivalents to buy.

So no, EVs sre not for us.