Have any of you got all electric cars? Pros and cons please.

Joseann you can safely charge an EV through a standard 13 amp socket but it will be very slow.
The holiday lets don’t want a big bill, that’s why they say not to do it.

Interesting thread, because a lot of doubts are now crossing my mind too.
I'm about to buy a new car, and I'd like an electric one, but now I'm not convinced. Normally impulsive, I just buy what I think I like, but it's the recharging issue which has really got me thinking.
I've just driven over to Cornwall for a holiday, which I do on a regular basis. The distance wouldn't be an issue, but recharging places seen few and far between once here. Added to that, I've just read the blurb on the house, and in BIG UNDERLINED CAPITALS, it states that under no circumstances can visitors use the 13 Amp sockets at the property to recharge. I guess it's a Health & Safety thing, and nearly all holiday lets state this.
A bit more research seems to suggest that the only sockets to be used are those made by MK because other cheaper varieties can have problems.
So far, and reading here, it's looking like a No from me. Any other experiences either way?

DS and DiL have had a Nissan Leaf since EVs began to be trendy. He encouraged me to try driving it which I found very easy - I call it 'a dodgem'. Her newer company car is a Tesla - a car that seems to think for you!

My son and Dil have a Nissan Leaf for their second car. Bought second hand about 3 years ago so now 5 years old. It’s used mainly by my Dil for her 20 mile round trip to work. They have a charging unit on the house. The range has declined over the years and now only does about 70 miles. Fine for them as it’s only driven locally and they use their large family car for further afield.

I’ve used it a few times but I had an underlying anxiety about the battery despite my son’s reassurance that I’d be fine for 60-70 miles on a full charge. I was expecting it to do like my phone and suddenly drain and switch off.

My ex-neighbour was here this afternoon for a catch up & we were talking about cars. She’s on her 2nd BMW hybrid & said that in this cold weather the charge drops significantly, just having the blowers on to clear the windscreen.
Not sure I fancy the stress of finding chargers when travelling any distance. We have 1 car (from new) which is nearly 7 yrs old and only done about 30k miles in it so are unlikely to be changing it any time soon. We don’t drive a lot but do go on touring holidays to quite remote parts of the country.

Thank you all, I have just returned from the dealership, I pick up a new petrol mini next week.
I’m not ready for the EV revolution!
Staff assured me the future vehicles will have a much greater range, I’m still not convinced.

I have an EV but as it is a second car, I use it for local running around - swimming, shopping etc.. We use DH's car for longer journeys.
It is proving very cheap to run on off=peak charging in the garage at night. I have an app. on my phone which tells me battery power. We also have an app. giving us the nearest charging points on a long journey.
I wasn't over-fussed about a new car but it was a birthday present and I wanted something bang-up-to-date to pass on to my grandchildren when I have to give up driving.

Germanshepherdsmum

It does happen though, and it would be a very stressful situation. Not for me.

Not for me either - we once arrived somewhere with 7% battery left. It was a bit scary as we were in the middle of nowhere.

It does happen though, and it would be a very stressful situation. Not for me.

I wouldn’t feel safe driving round the M25 in an all electric vehicle, all you need is a traffic jam (which are frequent) and you could run out of battery.

Which battery do you mean? When we're stationary we turn the car off. It uses nothing when we're sitting in traffic whether at lights or in a jam. When the car is moving very slowly the 12v battery is recharging, so car seat heating etc can be used. If you were stuck for hours and hours without moving I suppose it may become a problem, I don't know, but that doesn't happen often.

We have looked at Hybrids but they are pricey £££, and according to DH he will be dead before he gets his moneys worth.

I wouldn’t feel safe driving round the M25 in an all electric vehicle, all you need is a traffic jam (which are frequent) and you could run out of battery.

👋 LucyAnna! We may be in a minority group on here but the nice thing is our opinions still count and GN’s are a friendly bunch. They tolerate my nonsense.
😁

Last year we changed our family Tesla for a hybrid car as we often do a journey of about 6/7 hours up to Scotland and the charging network was simply not fit for purpose.

I’ve since also bought a hybrid, which around town works fabulously but for longer journeys I’m still using petrol. Not ready to change back again to a fully electric until the charging network vastly improves.

I know 3 people with EVs. I hesitated to post as I too was expecting more posts to appear, and from actual owners.

For 2 out of the 3 people I know, range is a big issue.
Charging points less so now, as more and more are appearing, or look like they are about to appear.
They both admitted, that if it wasnt because they are company cars, they would not pay out the huge initial expense themselves[they are both reltatively young].
On the plus side, I have ridden[in both I think].
I am not a fan of anything expensive generally, so most of it all goes over my head. However, I did notice it was a quiet car to ride in.

And the other reason I hestitated to post - 1 person[who I dont know very well], had an accident while in his. I cant remember exact details. I think he put his pedal on the brakes and it didnt stop. He was on a motorway. Thankfully the car did stop, before it hit anyone.
It shook him up.
But as he said, if he had been in a "normal" car, he could have had an accident in that one too, at some point.
But he has lost some trust in his EV.

We have a Dacia Hybrid, we’ve had it 3 weeks, it doesn’t enjoy driving up the mountain in the very cold weather we’re having, unless it’s ‘warmed up’.
Apart from that it seems excellent.

Urmstongran

^I’m amazed there are no EV owners on this group^
I’m not. They are super expensive to buy. We don’t all have that kind of disposable income. We can only afford to run one petrol car and that’s 18 years old!

I was glad to read this post. I sometimes think I live in a different world than most gransnetters! We share one petrol car between us. We have state pensions and small private pensions, but virtually no savings. Live in a smallish semi. Genuinely affected by the increase in cost of living. Never had a cleaner or a gardener.

We have an EV (Kia). In general quite happy with it, but I'm a passenger as no longer able to drive. A lot depends on what EV you buy as they have different features.

Charging hasn't been a problem as we have a drive and have installed a charger. Would be more of a problem if you're not able to do that. It's no cheaper to run with the increased cost of electricity. When we go anywhere we plan the route and check out where the fast chargers are. We've done a few trips from the South to the NE and haven't had a problem yet. The range decreases a lot in the cold but we plan for that.

It's very quiet to drive.

There are some potential problems - we broke down recently and needed to be transported to a garage. It was a busy night for breakdowns and the RAC took 5 hours to pick the car up because it needs a larger transporter and can't just be towed. The 12v battery doesn't last that long so no hazard lights left. It's left me a bit nervous of breaking down now. Having said that our garage was so amazed that we broke down that they responded at the crack of dawn next morning, trying to get our car in to check it out as they see so few problems. That's the only problem we've had in just over a year.

a hybrid BMW, the aesthetics were great, it was however £155K!

Blimey O’Reilly! You can buy a house up here for that money and still have change in your pocket.

We have hired a hybrid car in Norway, we were very impressed but it was avery expensive model.
I test drove a hybrid Toyota Yaris, I loved it but my husband hated it😬.
Whilst at the Mini garage yesterday, we looked at a hybrid BMW, the aesthetics were great, it was however £155K!

I’m back to collect my car later today, I will have a chat to the lovely salesman who would love to sell me an electric Mini.

I’ve got a hybrid Corolla. It is quiet and lovely and you don’t have to charge it.

I’d only ever have a hybrid, but we don’t have one yet, and my car will probably see me out. Dh’s bigger, very comfortable diesel that we use for longer journeys will need to be replaced at some point (it’s not ULEZ friendly either) but I can’t see us having an all-electric since our 7 hour trips to France would necessarily be quite a bit longer because of the time needed to charge.

Our garages are in a block and dh recently spent literally months and endless hassle, organising sufficient electricity to be provided to them, for us and several neighbours who were willing to pay the not inconsiderable cost.

So we now have an EV charging facility, which will presumably be a selling point in future, but we also have garage lighting and power points, which are a big plus - especially for the neighbour who had an electric garage door installed on the first day it was finally possible!

I don’t want to change my car, but if I did I wouldn’t choose an all electric one because there are so few charging points in my area, should I need to charge whilst out - which with lights and heating on is entirely possible. Also, we get power cuts in the sticks so charging at home can’t be guaranteed, in stormy weather especially.

The initial expense is too much for us and I share your concerns Sago.

I’m amazed there are no EV owners on this group
I’m not. They are super expensive to buy. We don’t all have that kind of disposable income. We can only afford to run one petrol car and that’s 18 years old!

Whilst chatting to our post lady this morning she said she didn't like the all electric vans in this weather as she can't have the heater on too much as it runs down the battery so quickly