Plug in hybrid owners - does it get tedious?

[Dwells]

We are considering a plug in hybrid as we can charge on drive and don't do huge mileage just on occasions. The mileage we do would need 2-3 charges a week.

If you own a PHEV, do you wish you'd got a long range EV or are you happy with the PHEV with frequent charges?

I am worried about getting a PHEV and finding the frequent charges a faff.

Ta :)

Not at all. We just got into the habit of plugging it in whenever we came home for the evening. If it’s a day where we did low mileage and so still have lots left on charge, we just don’t plug it in. We do a lot of local driving so it works well for us.

No, just got into the habit of plugging it in whenever we park at home. I think our electric range is only around 40 miles, but thats enough to get dh to work (and they have free chargers there), or to drop dc off at various sports activities, and supermarket trips, etc.

We're with octopus and have some weird flexible electricity tariff, which offers very cheap electricity overnight and random bouts of free electricity occasionally during the day. Dh is a bit obsessed with setting the timers on car charger to maximise cheap tarrifs, but it seems to bring him joy.

If you have a dedicated charger fitted in a convenient location, it is really simple. We had this previously in a former home.

A lot less faff than filling up at the petrol station!

We are getting a PHEV again shortly but probably won't get a charge point fitted. In our current home we do have an external socket very close to where the car will be parked on the driveway, so will see how we get on with using a non-fixed cable.

We are assured by the dealership that it's perfectly safe to charge through the 3-pin plug regularly, it just charges more slowly than a dedicated charge point.

Thank you all this is really helpful!

We've looked at a number of family full electric SUVs and I have a gripe about the shallow depth of the seat wells. It seems like it would be wise to wait until the batteries improve for full electric. The plug in hybrids seems like a great compromise and you get the leg room!

Thank you all!

I can't advise on on PHEV, but from a long range family EV POV, I can recommend the Renault Scenic e-tech. Huge amounts of leg space, decent boot and 340 mile range.

I’ve had two plug in and one was great and the other one didn’t last it’s range at all ( or self charge very efficiently) neither of them lost space inside the car so I can only assume you’re looking at quite a small car?

Ah thank you, we are having a look at one tomorrow. The battery placement is supposed to be slightly different with some vertically placed behind the rear passenger seats which gives me some hope for legs so your comment is really encouraging.

Please can I ask whether you feel a little overwhelmed in the front in the Scenic?...we sat in the Skoda Enyaq and the Ford Explorer and I felt the car was rather boat-like but hoping to feel differently about the scenic.

I can't say I do. We have the Alpine version with dark interior, and it felt a bit closed in when I first had the car, but the light grey seats in the iconic were a no go with kids! I've done 12000 miles in it since October without any hiccups, including 2 trips to France.
I did like the Enyaq, but the scenic had better leg space in the back. I hated the Explorer!

@MyCococo thank you for this very helpful 👌👍

Have you tried BYD? I've test driven one recently and DH didn't mention anything about restricted leg room as a passenger

We’ve got one with about 30 miles range on electric. It covers most of our driving as we stay local. It’s lovely not having to get petrol often! As others have said, we just plug in every time we get home, we’ve got a fixed charger and a drive.
I don’t bother charging if we’re out and go further.

@Dwells how did you get on with the test drive?

Yeah we loved it...a very nice car indeed I bet you love yours! I agree the middle spec with the dark interior seems the right call for a family with kids. Although DH loves the idea of the digital sunroof it seems the light interior would be a no go!

I particularly liked the adjustable engine breaking and the sat nav in the driver dash