Discussion: Whats stopping you from getting an EV?
I cant argue with someones’ nan’s facebook feed telling them outright lies, but there is a hell of alot of misinformation being peddled - and not just from anti-EV people. Some very pro-EV people also talk total shit. If you havnt considered it, why not?
Cost, actual ownership/right to repair issues, being sick of driving after commuting to work for so long, cost of diy conversion went way up just as I was about to buy parts several years ago.
I have a perfectly functional gas vehicle that meets all my needs. It would be more wasteful to buy an all new car. When it dies I will look at getting an EV.
Because I haven’t got 25 grand to spend on a new car when my old one works fine. When that finally dies, I’ll look again. Hopefully we’ll be getting some good second hand stuff by then.
Same here. We have two cars. One fully paid off, the other financed at like 3%.
They're both practical, reliable vehicles.
The next time I'm looking for a vehicle, I do hope to buy an EV. This will be in 5+ years, hopefully. By that time, I'd expect there to be a variety of used EVs on the market. As well as improved charging infrastructure.
We take 1-2 8+ hour car trips per year. I’ve done the calculations and an EV would add approximately 2 hours to the total drive time. We tend to stop 2 or 3 times max, and with an EV we’d have to stop more frequently (which I hate) and for longer (which I really hate). When we stop it is to fill up gas, quick bathroom break and we are back in the road in 5-10 min.
I’m planning on buying an EV but it’ll only be for commuting. We will still need an ICE for long road trips.
Yeah, long trips could be annoying, but I went to Cornwall and back in my 200 mile range EV with max 50kW charging and it was fine. Stop for a coffee/breakfast, maybe a little longer than ideal, stop for lunch, stop again at Jamaica Inn and have a good look round, then I think one other stop as the charging network down that way wasn’t great (it is improving). If you have faster charging, even without more range those non-lunch stops will be very short. With an eight hour journey you ought to be stopping more than two or three times anyway (probably four minimum)
We travel very differently! When I’m on a 6-8 or more hour journey in the car, my goal is to get to the destination as quickly as possible.
The yearly trip we take consists of a 4 hour drive to stop 1, a 2-3 hour drive to stop 2, and a 2 hour drive to finish the trip. We make stops as quickly as possible, and have snacks and drinks in the car so we don’t need to stop unless for gas or a meal, that we eat in the car while traveling.
I totally understand the desire to travel differently, take your time on stops, eat a nice meal etc…. But we are driving through the desert. There is literally nothing other than a gas station at many stops. We aren’t going to have a nice family meal or stop for coffee at a Arby’s.
Tbh in my old ICE I would have done the same as you - stopped as little as necessary. EV driving lends itself to a different mindset, and I stop much more often (even if it’s a quick ten minute top-up at some stops). It’s more relaxing but until you need to think different and plan ahead, you don’t realise it will change your habits (I certainly didn’t). Of course, traveling through the desert likely has it’s own complications and probably insufficient charging points, which might be a bigger consideration.
I have considered to buy an EV when I had to take my old car to the junkyard. But all that was available were matchboxes on wheels. No space for proper seating, no space for transporting anything. Bought a Seat Alhambra instead.
My current car gets decent mileage and is still running fine. I’m interested in the Ford Maverick as a possible future replacement (occasionally need a truck and this one solves most of the problems (size, mileage, cost)), charging is not quite ubiquitous enough for comfort (yes I could probably make any long trip work, but that is just it, I’d have to make it work and plan the trip around charging, which adds a whole other source of anxiety and complication (as would rental vehicles) Once chargers are more common in airport parking decks and hotels (e.g. not just two in a corner…) that will go away.) many are quite expensive.
when we got ours in 2019 there was a decent government grant and electricty was basically free on the driveway which we no longer have. Even installing a 32amp plug costs £1k now, ours was £300 ish. I think the strategy is to allow the upper middle classes to go first
I bought a Subaru Outback only three years ago and I don't plan to replace it until necessary. Being an Outback, that will probably be something like twenty years from now.
Right now, the vehicles my wife and I own are in good shape, and have a lot of life left in them, and they are paid for. I’m reluctant to get rid of them to buy a new car, especially since a new EV would be hideously expensive, and a used EV isn’t easy to find in my area.
I wish someone would make an electric motorcycle that wasn’t so expensive.
Very few secondhand EVs in my price range yet, all older/cheaper models with concerns over range, street parking only so costly to charge, and difficulty establishing the cost of battery replacement/leasing.
Got an old hybrid instead. Am hoping it’ll last until private cars are no longer necessary.
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