Electric cars: have you got one?

I would have been very disappointed if that hadn't happened. My doctors have told me to get more blood in my coffee system.

 

We've had our EV for about 8 weeks, and completed our first long-range journey from Bognor to Frodsham this week, a 500+ mile round trip. So I think I can now make a few comments, which may or may not help anyone considering replacing their current car, but who may still be 'on the fence'; petrol, diesel or electric.

About the ride
EVs are not automatics. In the world of motoring, cars generally either have a manual or automatic gearbox. The ev has no gearbox, its a kind of direct drive system; you press the pedal & it goes. This tends to make the car smoother for both drivers and passengers.

EVs are quiet.
There may be tyre noise and wind noise, but you don't have to raise your voice or turn your head when taking to people in any of the seats (...the kids locked in the boot may be more of a challenge).

Most petrol/diesel/LPG cars are sluggish when compared to their ev equivalent; if you put your foot down on the accelerator of an ev, it will fly, no matter what your initial speed is.

Features like adjustable regen and single pedal driving give the driver the opportunity to adjust the car's response to their preferred driving style. This all helps to create a relaxed driving experience.

Buying a 2nd hand EV
A few months ago, I thought this was probably a bad idea. But it looks like its easier to check the condition of an ev than it is for a petrol/diesel car. The biggest worry is probably the traction battery, but you can get a battery health check (SoH = state of health) via a main dealer or several other companies offering this service.
Actually, the biggest source of ev breakdowns appear to be due to the small 12V battery!

Home ownership & charging
If you are a home owner, with off-street parking, you won't have any problems charging your car cheaply at home.

Unfortunately, for those in rented accommodation, home charging could well be the deal breaker. Even if you own your home, but have no off-street parking, ev life could be difficult.

Politicians & other commentators did paint a rosy future a few years ago of streets lined with small, lamp-post mounted chargers. These kind of ideas (if they are even viable) need to be planned & implemented, ...quickly!
Otherwise we will have to continue to build & use both ev and petrol/diesel cars.

Public EV charging & Range Anxiety
Like many drivers, we used to fill our Yeti up with diesel whenever it needed more juice. A different mindset is required for an ev.

Best practice for an ev (...and also a mobile phone) is to keep it charged within the range 20-80%. This keeps the battery healthy for longer, possibly prolonging its life.

Therefore, most users with home chargers keep topping up their cars to 80% between use.
The vast majority of our journeys are local, in as much as 80% gives us a range of almost 200miles.

If we are about to head off on a long journey, we will charge to 100%, mainly because home charging is about 7p/kWhr, while public charging is typically between about 45-89p/kWhr. As a guide, 1kWhr gets you about 3-4 miles.

An ev has a non-linear charging curve; the car will charge much quicker at lower battery levels, than higher levels.

On a long-range journey (i.e. a journey where you will need to use a public charger) the best idea is to stop after 2 or 3 hours, hook the car up to a charger (preferably 50kWhrs or higher), tap your card, then go have a loo & coffee break. By the time you've drunk your Flat White and returned to the car (maybe 20 mins) the car would have received a useful charge, ready to move on. You don't need to fully charge to 100%, as this approach will mean spending much more time charging than you would for a couple of fast, splash & dash stops.

If your journey is mostly on motorways and/or major A-roads, you will find chargers at most services. There are many Apps to help with planning or simply finding chargers (e.g. Zap Map, Electroverse, & so on). We haven't found the 'planner' in these apps very helpful, because we drive for about 2 hrs, then have to stop for a bladder stop!

But the details on the maps for chargers is very useful; Location, number of chargers, power ratings, cost, payment method, whether they are available/in use/broken.

Our final verdict
We never want to go back to a petrol/diesel/LPG car!

Electric cars are the future, as long as we can crack the charging issues for non-home owners (...although there is no way to predict how far the future extends).

At some point in the future, we may have fully automated 'Uber' cars, and both 'human drivers' and private ownership will come to an end!