Electric car. I’d it really feasible/practical?

[mumtobe9]

Hi, so my husband really want us to buy an electric car (second hand). We only have 1 car and I use it for work so I clock in quite a few miles during the week (short trips within the city mostly). We have a 1930s semi with a tiny driveway where we park (you cannot open the back doors as they are wedged between the house and the neighbour’s fence iykwim). No charging point in my work or close by.
I’m afraid installing a charging point would not be practical in our house. Then, what would happen if I run out of battery at work?
Is it expensive to charge at home?
If any of you have or had one, could you tell me the pros and cons?

I’ve been driving a Nissan Leaf for about 5 years.

Pros:

• lovely and smooth to drive
• cheap to run
• very reliable
• it’s nice to be helping the environment

Cons

• my old Leaf has a small battery, and therefore a very limited range. Newer cars address this
• public charging is unreliable and frustrating

That’s it. If it’s your only car you really need decent range, which kind of limits your options (unless you’re rich enough to buy a tesla).

We have one. Love it. However it is only really viable for us as we can charge at home-
Local charging points are springing up but not that reliable (yet).
I don’t quite understand why a chargepoint couldn’t be viable for you- if you can fit a car there that is the main thing. Chargepoint itself isn’t very big but depending on the electrics you likely won’t have much choice where to put it.
It costs pennies to run. We have a hyundai Ioniq which I would recommend highly. Got it 2nd hand. Range is about 140 miles. Friends have a 2nd hand Nissan Leaf which is a great car too.

Things are a bit different since lockdown but before we were paying probably £6-7 a month to power it instead of £150 a month petrol.

A lot is said about difficulties of public charging but in 18 months we’ve only had to 5 times and it was fine. It is also definitely improving.
I would never go back now and I was deeply sceptical.

I would speak to Podpoint, they will ask for photos and will be able to tell you if a charge point is a viable option for you at home.

Yes good idea. This was before lockdown but they care to see us and advised where to put it etc at no cost.

Also worth pointing out that we expect over its lifetime it will cost less to service than a traditional car as there is just less to go wrong. If you end up having it for a few years it will be cheaper to run, guaranteed.

Thank you so much for your replies, I am going to give podPoint a ring And if it’s viable in my house we will go for it. I’m not one for trying new things out, especially in our only car. But having a charge point in our house it should work ok for me

Cars id recommend:

• Hyundai Kona electric
• Kia eNiro

That’s basically it. Big batteries, “cheap” (relatively).

If you’re rich: Tesla.

several people near here have them, including two opposite each other. having seen how easy it was, the people opposite copied their neighbours.
if you have got off-street parking, you can have a charge point.
and there are lots more street charging points appearing, look on zapmap.
good luck. i'd do it if i could afford.

You can charge off a regular socket, a full charge takes 12-15 hours, so if you come home from work and plug the car in it'll be fully charged for the next day. A proper charging point makes it qujicker.

Cost is way cheaper than petrol but your electric bills will go up. Eg a Leaf will take 30 units (30 kWh) to charge from empty to full which is about a fiver of electric depending on your tarrif.

@safariboot

You can charge off a regular socket, a full charge takes 12-15 hours, so if you come home from work and plug the car in it'll be fully charged for the next day. A proper charging point makes it qujicker.

Cost is way cheaper than petrol but your electric bills will go up. Eg a Leaf will take 30 units (30 kWh) to charge from empty to full which is about a fiver of electric depending on your tarrif.

absolutely, we did this for several months. You just have to factor in the time and for us it made sense just to plug it in at the end of most days. In the end i decided I needed to charge more quickly in emergencies, but if you can locate a nearby rapid charger, that could be your emergency option.

How does maintenance & repair compare to petrol? I don't imagine that they are very d.i.y. friendly.

Hardly any servicing except peripherals. You only really need things like window wipers or lights done. There are far fewer moving parts!

We love our EV, so easy and never going back.

We have a Hyundai Kona being delivered next week and I can’t wait We will have a charged at home but are planning to charge at service stations as well

I have a VW ID3 and I love it. I charge at home but I've driven from London to Liverpool in it and it was easy to find charging points.

No

Our in laws had a miserable time on
Holiday following maps for a charger for their car.

We have a small electric car. A Seat Mi.
We have leased it for 3 years. Costs about £145 a month. We save more than that on the fuel we were putting in to our old car!
It's brilliant! We leased a leaf years ago when they came out and equally loved that.

Goes about 200 miles on one charge. We have a charger at home, but certain places (like Tesco) have free charging points that you can use to top up whilst you shop. You can get about 20 miles charge in an hour or so.

Much of our driving is short bursts around the city, it's not so practical for long distances.

It's really fast off the lights and great fun to drive, easy to park, big enough for tall teens to fit in the back if we need to go out as a family. Big enough boot for a weeks supermarket shop.

Really can't fault it!