Come and talk to me about ELECTRIC cars, please?

[JustCallMeDory]

I know this should be in the 'cars' topic, but I'm putting it here for more traffic (har, har)

We're about to get an electric car on trial for about a year. I'm very excited, but also trying to do my sums and work out how it will affect our monthly budget.

I can't be sure at the moment, but I think we'll probably need to fully charge it every night. At the moment I pay a set direct debit to our electricity supplier every month.

Can anyone give me any idea by how much I'll need to add on to my direct debit each month to cover the cost in electricity of a nightly recharge?

Any info, tips or practical advice will be very, very handy!

Castralova. You've put it perfectly, especially the bit about being in a community. We get cheery waves from other EV drivers all the time.

Castralova are you working for the EV marketing board?

What a great sum up. I love the sound of this Not tiring to drive, especially easy in traffic. Very big benefit imo. The simple controls,no gears and in-cabin silence all contribute - especially the quiet inside the car.

And all the other points you mentioned. I'm even more excited now.

I don't, but I probably should :)

Do come back and tell us about it when you get the car

Will do. You've been a fantastic help Castro

Castrovalva and others, I said I'd report back, and here I am - about 4 weeks in to owning our new electric car.

The long and the short of it is: I LOVE IT! It's quiet, it's fast, the turning circle is so tiny I feel like a London taxi, it's responsive, the space inside is lovely, and the regenerative breaking is a revelation!

Really. Regenerative breaking: who knew? We live in quite a hilly area and on Saturday I popped to the local town - about 5 miles away, then home then down to the village - approx. 1 mile and back. So about 12+ miles with a bit of tootling about. Thanks to the breaking system thingy I'd done 12+ miles but only used 4 miles of electricity. It's like driving FOR FREE .

I'm a complete convert. DH and I now argue every morning over who'll have the electric car and who'll have the gas guzzler for the day.

We're getting much more range than the 65 miles on the clock per charge, and haven't yet ventured into having to use the Range Extender.

I think it's only fair to point out that we do have 2 cars - the other isn't electric, and we've used the other car for the long distance journeys to see friends and family over Xmas. We'll wait until Spring comes, then risk a long journey using the Range Extender.

Thanks to all who posted - you were all full of very helpful info . In fact, I'm going to ask MN if they'll pop this thread into the Cars section to help anyone else who's considering a lecky car.

No problem, Dory, we're moving it over now.

Thank you!