Well, I am now the proud “owner” of a full electric car. I went for a BYD Atto 3 in the end, so I hope the Chinese government doesn’t decide to apply my full emergency brakes while I’m on the M5!
I say “owner” because I’m actually leasing it through work, so it’s technically a company car – but it’s mine in the sense that I’m paying for it and am the one on the insurance.
My venerable (well, 8 yo) Vauxhall has gone the way of motorway.co.uk, so now no petrol for me.
Initial thoughts – I like it, a lot. It’s so quiet and responsive, and now I’ve got the hang of not having to change gears or use the clutch it’s nice. The acceleration is something else, and it’s not even in sports mode.
With the Octopus Go tariff, my annual mileage (~6,000 miles) will cost about £75 – which is roughly the same as a full tank of petrol on the Vauxhall. I was filling up every 4 to 6 weeks probably, so that’s a win in my books. Plus filling up now happens overnight on the drive, not at a petrol station!
The quid pro quo is obviously the range. The theoretical range is 200 miles, but that’s downhill with the wind behind you on a warm day and running the battery completely flat. On a long journey, the distance between stops is more like 120 miles, given that you’re not supposed to run it below 20%, and charging is only fast to 80%. So broadly speaking it’s a 30-60 mins stop for every 2 hours of motorway driving. On my commute to Skipton (31 miles each way, with the A59 being closed) I get down to about 20% after 4 trips, i.e. 120 miles, but it is cold weather.
I guess this is where the rubber hits the road – almost every other aspect of an electric car is an improvement on petrol cars, but if I’m serious about wanting to reduce my environmental impact then actually having to be inconvenienced is when it counts.