Electric car anyone?

It’s area dependent wellbeck a bit like speedy broadband not nationwide.

Drives? What are they ? ?

there are many road-side charging points in cities.
they just reserve one of the parking spaces for electric cars being charged. where there is no off-street parking. inner city.
i was next to one today. not sure how long it takes. one car was plugged in and 70% charged when i went to do my shopping. when i came back a black taxi was there being charged.
two of my neighbours have charging points in their front drives, and there is a public one at the end of the road.
i see more of them all the time.

We’ve discussed this for a while. No real conclusion here other than an electric car is currently impractical for us as we can’t have a home charger and also I’d worry on long journeys. The charging infrastructure seems inadequate at the moment to support long journeys or as a viable local alternative to home charging. As gilly says prices are beyond the reach of many. Hybrid cars aren’t as environmentally friendly at first sight but are perhaps more practical. There is much written about the environmental factors associated with the battery production. If we were in the market for a new car I suspect it would be hybrid or petrol, total electric just wouldn’t work for us until/unless a more robust charging network is in place.

The only personal knowledge of mileage difficulty was from a friend who couldn’t take her dad to a funeral in a remote area because the return mileage was too great for her Nissan Leaf and there was no charging facility at the destination. It made a sad time very much more difficult.

When someone comes up with a fairly priced Hydrogen car I might consider it .

Ridiculously expensive, low range per charge , not enough charging points (unless you can afford the crazy price of a Tesla ££££££££) no consideration for those without off street parking/charging , no boot space and not anywhere near as environmentally friendly as they would have you believe .

So it’s a giant NO from me.

Of course there's an environmental impact to manufacture but can you imagine how much quiter and cleaner the roads would be if more cars were electric than diesel or petrol.The other day when it was hot the air pollution was shockingly visible over our town.And I followed a van whose emissions actually made my eyes sting and made me feel nauseous. Both DH and myself have an electric car now. Before I retired I had an electric van for my business.I now drive the older Leaf which was our original EV and DH has a Tesla as he drives greater distances for work.Although with a bit more planning ahead he manged fine in the Leaf for several years. We got a good deal on the Tesla and DH has worked hard and wanted one for ages, and tbh we prefer to spend on that over flying and holidays abroad-preferring short breaks in this country now.Both are great to drive,easy to charge and we would never go back to diesel or petrol.

They are much better for the planet in terms of emissions, so cleaner air. They do have an environmental impact, as does anything manufactured, but I guess it’s a case of the least worse option for the moment. I haven’t got an electric car, but if I was ever to get another car I’d be tempted by the Renault Zoe. My youngest DD has one and loves it for zipping about town.

Too expensive for me, and also I have to park the car in a designated car park away from the house, so no electricity available. I have never seen a charging point locally either. I did look at a hybrid version of my chosen Honda Jazz a few years back but, unless they have changed, the huge battery takes up a lot of boot space.
I shall be driving my current Jazz 2011 into the ground before having to make a decision.

My DH has a Tesla and he loves it. It took me a bit of time to get used to it, last year we took a trip to mid Scotland from NW England which got a bit hairy as we got to the cottage with only 13% of charge left.

There were hardly any chargers en route which were working so we had to plan VERY carefully.

But apart from that it’s been great.

Grannynannywanny I love the sound of a nice warm car and defrosted windscreen on a winter's morning.
We have had two hybrids one a Honda Insight, purchased in 2010. it was fabulous, it is now our Leicester son's second car and he's still getting good mileage out of it. The other a little Toyota Yaris which we had for two years, I loved it and the fuel consumption was minimal. We had decided to 'downsize' to just one car, unfortunately Mr P found it a bit too small for getting in and out, although fine once in, so we changed to a Suzuki Vitara petrol.
Personally Kitty I would stick to a hybrid until charging is faster and points are more numerous. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Braking not breaking

Most electric cars run on a lithium battery. This is why a company is investing in the old tin mines in Cornwall where lithium can be mined. What happens when it runs out I wonder. My friend who had severe anxiety problems takes it as medication as do bi-polar sufferers.

We have a Toyota Auris which is an electric hybrid car. With hybrids you don’t need an electric point as they charge themselves up when you are going below a certain speed, idling or breaking. They do, however, use petrol when you go above a certain speed. We often get 76 miles to the gallon.
Pure electric have to be charged up and have a limited range. Idk how you would manage in a street of terraced house with the road full of cars. Technology is moving along all the time so no doubt charging times will improve.

Beechnut I think the length of time it takes to charge depends on where you are charging and the type of charger.
The communal chargers in supermarket car parks, motorway service stations etc are rapid chargers taking an hour or so. Home chargers take several more hours for a full charge. At least my son’s does and he leaves it on overnight. On a winter morning he has a little remote in the house and if the car is connected to the charger he can press the button and it defrosts the windows and warms the car interior ready to set off. Now that I would like!

What ARE the benefits to the planet of electric cars? The electricity uses some source of fuel to produce - where does that come from, how is it made? Coal? Oil? Bio? Nuclear?
We don't have much cheap hydro power in this country so it all costs, and the company who produces the electricity is going to sell it at a profit so where is the point?
Please explain ...........

My neighbour has a Leaf and home charger too but, when an emergency trip to A&E was required, I obliged because, having deleted the battery earlier, it was going to take too long for his car to charge up.

We have looked at getting one as our second car but it would, inevitably, on occasions be used for visiting a daughter 40 miles away and 40 miles back often in heavy traffic.

I'd read that actually manufacturing these cars us extremely environmentally unfriendly. I expect the technology may improve but how will the necessary electricity be generated?

How long do they take to charge up?

I am looking for another car but the cost of an electric car is prohibitive and the lack of charging points is another no-no for me.

My son and dil bought a second hand Nissan Leaf 18 months ago as 2nd car. My son uses it for 30 mile round trip to work. He loves the car.

They had a charging point fitted on front wall of house. It cost £500 and that was with a grant towards cost. They use the bigger family car for longer journeys so haven’t really tested the charge away from home option. But the lack of communal charging points would be my concern

I'd love one but the price is offputting.

Quizqueen I think you could do with informing yourself of the benefits of electric cars. We will all be driving them eventually.

We have a hybrid. Toyota Corolla. Had it for 15/12 and we are really pleased with it. You dont plug it in- it self charges. Does about 66 miles per gallon. We hope this will last 1 0-12 years and then hopefully we will go fully electric and there will be more charging places by then to make it easier.

Hi Kitty. We have a Nissan leaf, and my DH loves it. Its economical, easy to drive. The range is 150 miles, and we have a home charger. We don't do a lot of very long journeys these days. You do have to factor in charging stops for those.