If you’re anything like me then when you get something in your head, you have to explore all the avenues, find out all the information and then make a decision. Most of the time, I’m terrible and make a decision with my heart over my head but when it comes to EV’s, I want to ensure that I am making the best decision.
As a family of five, with a dog and a horse box (that’s another story for another day and no, I don’t have a horse) the decision to go electric is perhaps more difficult than most. I have to factor in seats, space and whether it can do the mileage that we need, as well as pulling a horse box.
I want to take you on this journey with me because I believe there are more people out there just like me, who are conscious about their environmental impact as well as looking for ways to ultimately save money. I hope to answer some of those first few questions in this thread today.
Charging
The biggest question I had was how am I going to charge? What if I run low on charge, where can I charge, how long does it take and how much is it going to cost me?
One of the many advantages of owning an electric car is that you can ‘refuel’ from the comfort of your own home. If you are lucky enough to have a driveway, it is recommended to have a charging pod installed as these are usually faster and have built in safety features. You can use an EVSE supply cable for a 3 pin plug socket as an occasional back up. ESVE stands for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment and they provide for the safe transfer of energy between the electric utility power and the EV.
Some of us don’t have the option of a driveway and it’s not safe to run a long cable over the pavement or lawn to charge your EV and so we would rely heavily on public charging networks. You’ve probably seen these in Tesco, at your local service station or perhaps in your local car parks - They’re everywhere these days! Let’s take an example, if you drive around 20 miles a day and your car has a driving range of 200+ miles, you could easily drive to work 5 days a week and then top up the charge in a rapid charger whilst you do your weekend shopping.
This is where the specs of the vehicle come in. There are so many options with electric vehicles and some of them can now be charged rapidly as standard and have a driving range of over 300+ so you’ll need to ensure that you’re choosing the right vehicle for your needs. Now, I’m not Jeremy Clarkson and I’m not trying to be TopGear, so I won’t get into the technical details, so check in with a dealership to get the specs for your chosen vehicle. For a rundown of the EV jargon that you’ll see floating around head to this handy list.
Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology turns your car into an energy storage system and allows you to sell any excess energy stored in your EV’s battery back to the national grid. This not only makes you money but helps balance supply across the national grid when demand for energy is at its highest. You can turn off-peak priced energy into profit, by charging your car at night when costs are low and selling to the grid at peak times when prices are high. Again, you would need to check the EV specs out and look for a bidirectional battery.
Cost
Prices of electric cars are pretty expensive at the moment; for a standard sized family car it’s circa £35,000 - £50,000 which at first glance may entice you to scrap the whole EV idea. However, before you go back to the drawing board, there are a lot of financial gains to having an EV.
Fuel
Compare the Market claims average EV running costs are now up to £1,264
This compares to £1,834 for the cost of owning a petrol, based on fuel, insurance, tax and maintenance throughout the year. The biggest cost difference is fuelling, with an EV said to be £424-a-year cheaper if you charge your vehicle from home.
We do have a handy calculator over on our website too - check it out here!
Servicing
They might seem complicated, but apparently electric cars are actually very simple to maintain. There’s no exhaust pipe, clutch or engine oil and far fewer moving parts. In addition, the brakes aren’t worked as hard because the energy from slowing down is recycled back into the battery by using the motor as a generator. This could mean EV drivers would spend less at the dealer on servicing, with costs around half what you’d pay for a diesel. Some electric car service plans are less than £100 per year.
Taxes
The road tax on an electric car is free, which will be quite a change if you’re used to paying £500+ to keep your diesel SUV legal. The advantages if you can run an electric car through a business are even greater. Electric company cars attract a benefit-in-kind rate of just 1%, saving you thousands every year compared to an equivalent petrol or diesel car. It also means you can lease an electric car through a salary sacrifice scheme and have the money taken out of your pre-tax pay packet. That would mean a saving of at least 20% on the payment.
Tolls
Many towns and cities already have incentives for electric cars, including free or cheaper parking and exemption from tolls. Many more will follow London soon by starting to restrict entry to central areas for polluting cars in order to protect air quality. If you don’t want to get turned away or charged extra fees, you’ll need to go electric.
...And that is as far as I have got so far. I have heard that they are releasing a Ford Transit Custom (my current vehicle of choice with a large family - I know, not eco at all) in 2024. It's supposed to have a 250+ mile range on a single charge which is fantastic compared to the hybrids that have a current range of about 30 miles.
Have you started your EV journey or even got one?
Have you seen the benefits of owning one outweigh the initial cost?
What are your thoughts on electric vehicles and what do we need to get everyone on them?
Little pic from my recent family adventure in our van. We have converted the back into a little day van which even has a toilet! When we were away there was a serious shortage of EV charging points in public places because they were all being used. A car park that holds over 250 vehicles had 2 charging stations which doesn't seem like enough.
As a family of five, with a dog and a horse box (that’s another story for another day and no, I don’t have a horse) the decision to go electric is perhaps more difficult than most. I have to factor in seats, space and whether it can do the mileage that we need, as well as pulling a horse box.
I want to take you on this journey with me because I believe there are more people out there just like me, who are conscious about their environmental impact as well as looking for ways to ultimately save money. I hope to answer some of those first few questions in this thread today.
Charging
The biggest question I had was how am I going to charge? What if I run low on charge, where can I charge, how long does it take and how much is it going to cost me?
One of the many advantages of owning an electric car is that you can ‘refuel’ from the comfort of your own home. If you are lucky enough to have a driveway, it is recommended to have a charging pod installed as these are usually faster and have built in safety features. You can use an EVSE supply cable for a 3 pin plug socket as an occasional back up. ESVE stands for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment and they provide for the safe transfer of energy between the electric utility power and the EV.
Some of us don’t have the option of a driveway and it’s not safe to run a long cable over the pavement or lawn to charge your EV and so we would rely heavily on public charging networks. You’ve probably seen these in Tesco, at your local service station or perhaps in your local car parks - They’re everywhere these days! Let’s take an example, if you drive around 20 miles a day and your car has a driving range of 200+ miles, you could easily drive to work 5 days a week and then top up the charge in a rapid charger whilst you do your weekend shopping.
This is where the specs of the vehicle come in. There are so many options with electric vehicles and some of them can now be charged rapidly as standard and have a driving range of over 300+ so you’ll need to ensure that you’re choosing the right vehicle for your needs. Now, I’m not Jeremy Clarkson and I’m not trying to be TopGear, so I won’t get into the technical details, so check in with a dealership to get the specs for your chosen vehicle. For a rundown of the EV jargon that you’ll see floating around head to this handy list.
Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology turns your car into an energy storage system and allows you to sell any excess energy stored in your EV’s battery back to the national grid. This not only makes you money but helps balance supply across the national grid when demand for energy is at its highest. You can turn off-peak priced energy into profit, by charging your car at night when costs are low and selling to the grid at peak times when prices are high. Again, you would need to check the EV specs out and look for a bidirectional battery.
Cost
Prices of electric cars are pretty expensive at the moment; for a standard sized family car it’s circa £35,000 - £50,000 which at first glance may entice you to scrap the whole EV idea. However, before you go back to the drawing board, there are a lot of financial gains to having an EV.
Fuel
Compare the Market claims average EV running costs are now up to £1,264
This compares to £1,834 for the cost of owning a petrol, based on fuel, insurance, tax and maintenance throughout the year. The biggest cost difference is fuelling, with an EV said to be £424-a-year cheaper if you charge your vehicle from home.
We do have a handy calculator over on our website too - check it out here!
Servicing
They might seem complicated, but apparently electric cars are actually very simple to maintain. There’s no exhaust pipe, clutch or engine oil and far fewer moving parts. In addition, the brakes aren’t worked as hard because the energy from slowing down is recycled back into the battery by using the motor as a generator. This could mean EV drivers would spend less at the dealer on servicing, with costs around half what you’d pay for a diesel. Some electric car service plans are less than £100 per year.
Taxes
The road tax on an electric car is free, which will be quite a change if you’re used to paying £500+ to keep your diesel SUV legal. The advantages if you can run an electric car through a business are even greater. Electric company cars attract a benefit-in-kind rate of just 1%, saving you thousands every year compared to an equivalent petrol or diesel car. It also means you can lease an electric car through a salary sacrifice scheme and have the money taken out of your pre-tax pay packet. That would mean a saving of at least 20% on the payment.
Tolls
Many towns and cities already have incentives for electric cars, including free or cheaper parking and exemption from tolls. Many more will follow London soon by starting to restrict entry to central areas for polluting cars in order to protect air quality. If you don’t want to get turned away or charged extra fees, you’ll need to go electric.
...And that is as far as I have got so far. I have heard that they are releasing a Ford Transit Custom (my current vehicle of choice with a large family - I know, not eco at all) in 2024. It's supposed to have a 250+ mile range on a single charge which is fantastic compared to the hybrids that have a current range of about 30 miles.
Have you started your EV journey or even got one?
Have you seen the benefits of owning one outweigh the initial cost?
What are your thoughts on electric vehicles and what do we need to get everyone on them?
Little pic from my recent family adventure in our van. We have converted the back into a little day van which even has a toilet! When we were away there was a serious shortage of EV charging points in public places because they were all being used. A car park that holds over 250 vehicles had 2 charging stations which doesn't seem like enough.
