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Eletric cars are they worth it - do you have one

happyman70
Posts: 19 Forumite

in Motoring
I am considering buying an electric car but i am not sure. My concern is most of them only let you travel around 200 miles before they need a charge.
I would like to know of people's experience with them, and if there are still free charging points, and how the cost of fuel compares to a petrol car
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Comments
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happyman70 said:I am considering buying an electric car but i am not sure. My concern is most of them only let you travel around 200 miles before they need a charge.happyman70 said:I would like to know of people's experience with them, and if there are still free charging points, and how the cost of fuel compares to a petrol car
There are many articles and reviews online, look on genuine car sites, ignore the tabloids.2 -
happyman70 said:I am considering buying an electric car but i am not sure. My concern is most of them only let you travel around 200 miles before they need a charge.I would like to know of people's experience with them, and if there are still free charging points, and how the cost of fuel compares to a petrol carDon't most people just go to the local supermarket or work, which is always less than 10 miles, but if you were traveling 50+ miles on a regular basis, you wouldn't buy electric?I haven't traveled over 80 since last year, even then it was less than 200 miles. Having said that, I am quite happy with a diesel, why should I change?Perhaps an electric car would be a little cheaper over the long term, but people don't generally think that far ahead.0
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MattMattMattUK said:Were there ever really free charging points?0
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I like and enjoy driving my electric car, but I wouldn't say they're going to suit everyone.Don't go chasing after free charging - you don't get free petrol or diesel! Having said that Road tax is currently free and servicing is cheaper than ICE cars.I don't regularly travel further than the car's range, but I do sometimes, and although I've been tripped up once by a broken charge point, and once had to fight a parking charge from using a charge point, it's generally very smooth.I made the decision when I had to buy a new car, and my other half has an ICE car so we swap sometimes if I'm doing the long-distance journey. The (then) electric range of hybrids was less than my commute so hybrids seemed pointless for me. I think these things made my decision easier.1
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YBR said:Don't go chasing after free charging - you don't get free petrol or diesel!1
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I noticed there were hundreds of free slow charging sockets at our local hospital when I visited.
Are there really hundreds??0 -
I think the decision depends on your lifestyle.
As an example.....my wife rarely drives further than 30 miles from home, usually she drives a total of 10-20 miles round trip. So a fully electric (BEV) or plug in hybrid (PHEV) would suit her perfectly. She currently drives a petrol MHEV that provides 40-45mpg and she is entirely happy with that. She also does only about 3-4000 miles year so the extra purchase price of a BEV or PHEV may not be cost effective.
I prefer my diesel MHEV that returns 50-60mpg, it can tow a trailer, has an enormous luggage capacity, no range anxiety or higher purchase cost.0 -
Forget free charging, but if you can charge at home then your fuel costs will be cheap. If on the other had you have to rely on rapid public chargers you will see little or no cost savings. Having been driving an EV for the last 2 years I will never go back they are brilliant to drive.
As for range this really depends on how often you do long journeys. I only make 200mile + journeys 2-4 times a year so spending a lot more on a car with more range would be overkill. You have to take breaks on those sort of trips anyway so plan those stops somewhere with multiple rapid charges and you should be fine. My next EV is likely to have a smaller battery pack than my current one as I longer have range anxiety.1 -
TooManyPoints said:I noticed there were hundreds of free slow charging sockets at our local hospital when I visited.
Are there really hundreds??0 -
I wouldn't worry about free charging - even the most expensive charging is on par with a petrol car.The biggest issue is convenience; depending on your driving patterns you may need to charge anything from once a fortnight to once a day, so do you have the ability to charge at home (off street reserved parking you can install a charger) or are you regularly at places which have charging already?Most big car parks have some EV charging capacity, and up in Scotland at least there's always some available.0
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