Despite some concerted negative press, electric car sales are growing in both the new and used car markets. This is only going to increase, as government mandates stipulate minimum sales and every car manufacturer brings new models to UK showrooms.
As of right now, car buyers have more good options for buying a car than ever before. If you want to stick with a petrol car, there are still plenty of great choices available – although this won’t last forever. If you want a hybrid as a halfway house between petrol and electric power, there are plenty of those as well.
At some point, however, we’re all going to have to make the switch from fossil fuels to electricity. The good news is that most of the new-generation electric cars are fantastic.
For new cars, the choice of fossil fuel cars is already starting to decrease as car companies discontinue these models in favour of EVs. There are very few new diesel cars sold anymore, with most of the remaining models being large SUVs. Some petrol models are being phased out ahead of EV replacements as well, and this will accelerate in the next few years. In five years’ time, there will be far fewer new fossil fuel cars to choose from.
For used cars, the changeover will take much longer, but there are now plenty of great used EVs to choose from in the 1-3 year-old bracket, and prices are coming down. However, there are not that many older models available yet and this will take time. More than a million EVs are now on UK roads, but half of these are less than two years old and three-quarters are less than three years old. It will take time for greater numbers of EVs to fall into lower price brackets, but it will get there in the next few years.
So, are you ready to take the leap into your first electric vehicle (EV)? Well, whether you are looking for a new or used car, there are a few important things you should think about first before making the switch.
This handy checklist runs you through what you should consider before signing on the dotted line, as an electric car won’t suit everyone’s lifestyle, and can cause a bit a headache if you are not familiar with EVs and their limitations.
1. Is a hybrid a better fit than an EV?
If you are still quite attached to petrol-powered driving, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models can serve as a useful half-way house.
Regular hybrid models (non-plug-in models) use the petrol engine and regeneration to charge the battery, so they don’t need charging, but they can only drive on electric power for short distances.
A plug-in hybrid has a larger battery so provide a longer electric range (usually 20 to 50 miles), and you can charge it up using a cable, which is more cost-effective than using petrol to charge the battery. Many households find that they can comfortably cover most of their weekly deriving needs in electric mode provided they are consistently charged.
Both rely on visits to the petrol pump, but they offer better fuel efficiency than traditional combustion engine cars.
If a hybrid is a better fit for you, read more here:
Not quite decided yet? Find out which all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars are currently on sale below:
2. How much battery range do you really need?
One of buyers’ biggest concerns about electric cars is the battery range – how far you can go on a full battery before you need to stop and charge. But these concerns tend to be perceived problems rather than real ones for most households.
According to government data, the average individual journey for vehicles in the UK is about 6.2 miles, the average weekly mileage for most vehicles is about 120 miles, and 99% of all journeys in England are less than 100 miles (the rest of the UK is broadly similar).
The average battery range of new cars on sale in the UK is about 250 miles, with some vehicles available that can go a lot further. That means if you are only able to charge the car once a week (for example, you’re not able to charge at home), you should still have comfortably enough electricity available whenever you need it.
So while an EV can’t travel as far on a full ‘tank’ as a petrol or diesel car, it’s not really an issue for most people’s needs. Obviously, if your driving needs regularly involve long journeys with short turnaround times, the current generation of EVs is probably not suitable for you – but there will be cars coming in the next few years that certainly will be.
Battery range differs greatly across the electric car category, and is usually limited by the car’s size and model spec. Small cars will tend to offer the least range, while large electric executive saloons and SUVs will offer the most range.
Choosing an EV that can comfortably handle your regular driving needs is crucial.
Also note that the ‘official range’ figures quoted for all cars are based on the best possible driving conditions, and cold weather or heavy loading (full boot and full quota of passengers) will lower the range noticeably. This is also true for fossil-fuel cars, but they can refuel in only a few minutes so it’s less of an issue.
Read more: How much battery range do you really need?
3. Can you install a wallbox charger at home?
While not absolutely essential, opting to install a EV charger at home makes electric driving much more convenient. IN fact, we’d suggest that if you can’t install a wallbox at home, the economics and practicalities of an EV may not stack up at all.
A wallbox is much safer than a regular three-pin plug for charging an EV, as well as much faster. Most wallboxes are also ‘smart’, meaning they’re internet-connected and you can manage charging from your phone or tablet. That allows you to choose when to start and stop charging based on your home electricity tariff, to make sure you’re charging when electricity is cheapest.
If you can charge at home, your need to use public charging will be much less, which will save you both time and money. You simply plug your car in when you get home, and unplug it before you leave again. That means no waiting at a public charging point while your car charges at a much higher price.
Read more: The best sites for buying a home EV charger
4. Understanding public charging
With fuel price increases in recent years, you might think that opting for an electric car will save you a great deal of money that would usually be spent at the pumps. In truth, that depends on where you charge, and the charging station speeds that you can tolerate.
Unlike a petrol pump, there are several different types of EV chargers that charge at different speeds. As a rule, the fastest chargers are also the most expensive to use while the slowest are much cheaper (and sometimes even free to use).
Even then, plugging into the fastest of fast chargers (currently 350kW) won’t guarantee that your car will charge any faster. The car’s battery and electrical systems may only be capable of accepting a lower rate of charge (say, 150kW), so plugging into a higher-powered charger will cost you more money but won’t save you any time.
The fastest chargers should all have contactless payment facilities, but slower chargers will often require you to sign up to the provider’s app to pay from a registered bank account. EV owners will often have half a zone charging provider apps (or even more) on their phones so they can plug into any given charger. It’s annoying, but we’re stuck with that until we get a universal charging payment app. The government has promised this, but it could be a few years away yet.
For longer journeys, there are several mapping services that can guide you to changing points along your route. Most in-built satnav systems on EVs can do this, giving you recommendations on where to stop based on how much charge you have and how much you’ll need to complete your journey.
The rate of range you add from a charging point from various charging speeds can be found here. These figures are provided by EV specialists GridServe, and will vary depending on the car.
- 3.7kW – up to 15 miles of range added per hour
- 7kW – up to 30 miles/hour
- 22kW – up to 90 miles/hour
- 50kW – up to 180 miles/hour
- 150kW– up to 400 miles/hour
5. What’s the local charging network like?
If you don’t have the ability to charge your car at home, you’ll be relying on the public charging network to recharge your car. While the national network is improving every month, there are still parts of the country where public charging is woefully inadequate. This will certainly improve over time, but is not much help if you’re looking to buy an electric car now.
As mentioned above, most households will probably only need to charge their car once a week in normal circumstances, but you still want to be confident that you can do that when it suits you, rather than going out of your way to charge the car.
As well as public chargers, it’s worth check whether any of your neighbours have their own charging points. There are now apps that allow you to pay to use other people’s private chargers, which is probably cheaper for you than using a public charger. It also provides your neighbour with a bit of extra income from their charger whenever they’re not using it.
6. Are you OK giving up a manual gearbox?
This probably not too much of a problem for most car buyers, since manual gearboxes are fairly unpopular these days anyway, but it’s worth pointing out. The rise of electric cars doesn’t only mean the decline of the combustion engine, but also the end of the manual gearbox. Hybrids, incidentally, are usually auto-only as well.
Most electric cars don’t have a conventional ‘gearbox’ at all, as the motor simply spins faster when you put your foot down harder and slows down when you lift off a bit.
So if you’ve always chosen a stick shift over an automatic, you’re going to have to change your ways or stick to used petrol or diesel cars for the foreseeable future.
Read more: Is it still worth learning to drive with a manual gearbox?
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