INFORMATION TO INTEREST YOU IN BUYING AN ELECTRIC CAR (EV)

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1. The most common reason drivers avoid EV’s is fear the battery will run out of charge before reaching their destination, also known as “range anxiety.” Most electric cars can do 200+ miles to the charge. The average car journey is 8.4 miles (GOV. UK, 2022).

  

2. Fear you won’t find a working charging point nearby.There is a ZapMap online with an app for your phone, which lists every charging points in the UK. Put in your post code, town, or city. In April 2023, there were 42,566 UK electric vehicle charging points.

 

3. Fear that charging points won’t  work or are broken. They can’t all be out of order. Ring a service station you might like to use and ask them if theirs works. The overwhelming majority of service stations have fitted electric vehicle charging points. However, to play safe identify 3 charging points near each other where you plan to stop and recharge, before you set out on a long journey.

 

4. Recharging times take too long. If you are doing a long journey the average charging time with a rapid charger is 30 minutes and that’s from empty. I am sure you never drive a petrol car until it’s empty . Find a service station which serves tea or coffee and relax. Toilets are free.

 

5. Electric cars are too expensive. New ones are but you don’t have to buy a new car. Most of us buy second hand cars. Also, you don’t have to buy outright. Time to think about purchasing a car in a different way. Hire purchase gives very good terms with very little initial outlay. Look at Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) or the Salary Sacrifice scheme and save up to 40% on a new EV. The advantage of a new car is that every 3 years EV technology is improving. My first EV did 80 miles per charge, the 2nd did 120, the 3rd did 230 miles per charge. 

 

6. I don’t know how to drive an electric car. Take a free test drive at your local car dealership. Make a list of all the questions you want to know and ask your salesman, like how to use an electric charging point. Ask them to give you a demonstration.

  

7. Aren’t silent car’s dangerous to pedestrians? Most EV’s now have an artificial sound you can switch on when driving in pedestrian areas. However, think of silent roads and motorways, and all the people living in houses without the constant noise of traffic. What a wonderful improvement to quality of life. 

 

8.  But I love my old petrol car. Yes and you will love your electric car too once you get to know it. So don’t get stuck on car love because your electric car can do all the same things your old petrol car can do, and often better. 

 

9. Advantages of driving an electric car. They are Road Tax free and you pay only £10 per year Congestion Charge. EV’s are more energy efficient. An electric car converts between 75 and 95% of its available energy into motion.  A fossil fuel car can only convert a maximum of around 30% of the energy stored in its fuel into motion. Acceleration is faster than petrol cars.

 

You are playing an important role in reducing air pollution for yourself, your family, and everyone by changing to electric.