Why are people buying electric cars?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 68495
  • Start date Start date
Clive K said:
There was a similar scheme where I used to work. Many took it up, but I didn't see many of the bikes being used to ride to work. It was offered to people who lived 30 miles from work without question and even I qualified despite having a 40 mile round trip and needing to take a police dog with me.
Click to expand...
My trip to work is about 150 miles :) I can cycle to / from the station. But do I really need a hardtail with hydraulic disk brakes to do that....?

If you pay higher rate tax, you can buy a 5k e-bike for about £3,200 - and use if for the 2 miles to and from the station. I'd highly suggest people use the scheme if they can but the incentives are a bit mad.
 
Having been reading a bit more about electric vehicles, something that seems seldom mentioned is the effect charging curves have, even when the battery is well under 80%. Having watched a couple more Whatcar videos, it seems the idea of rocking up at a high speed charger and doing 20-80% in 30 mins isn't a reality, even for cars apparently designed for fast charging. I'd really hoped technology was further ahead than this.

Pretty sure our next car will be diesel again, since we live in the country and almost never drive in the city.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Having been reading a bit more about electric vehicles, something that seems seldom mentioned is the effect charging curves have, even when the battery is well under 80%. Having watched a couple more Whatcar videos, it seems the idea of rocking up at a high speed charger and doing 20-80% in 30 mins isn't a reality, even for cars apparently designed for fast charging. I'd really hoped technology was further ahead than this.

Pretty sure our next car will be diesel again, since we live in the country and almost never drive in the city.
Click to expand...

You're right though of course it depends on the size of battery as well. Relatively few people will have an issue with this, whether it takes 30 minutes or 45 minutes is not going to be a game changer for many people.
There's also the ever evolving technology thing to consider, the incoming Sodium batteries are significantly faster to charge (as in your 20-80% in 20 minutes). Temporary downside there is that to get the best charging performance you'd need upgraded chargers.
 
Steep said:
You're right though of course it depends on the size of battery as well. Relatively few people will have an issue with this, whether it takes 30 minutes or 45 minutes is not going to be a game changer for many people.
There's also the ever evolving technology thing to consider, the incoming Sodium batteries are significantly faster to charge (as in your 20-80% in 20 minutes). Temporary downside there is that to get the best charging performance you'd need upgraded chargers.
Click to expand...

I'm more than a little disappointed actually, having really hoped we'd been 'there' for a couple of years already, and that such vehicles would be affordable by now. The one possible exception is Tesla, but there's so much that doesn't work for me about their cars (control system, interior design, ride, body type) that they wouldn't have been on my shortlist anyway.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I'm more than a little disappointed actually, having really hoped we'd been 'there' for a couple of years already, and that such vehicles would be affordable by now. The one possible exception is Tesla, but there's so much that doesn't work for me about their cars (control system, interior design, ride, body type) that they wouldn't have been on my shortlist anyway.
Click to expand...
It took thirty years for the first petrol station to be built after the introduction of petrol cars. The cost of the initial investment puts a brake on all things.

Re Tesla, build quality can be poor as well.
 
Last edited:
ancient_mariner said:
Having been reading a bit more about electric vehicles, something that seems seldom mentioned is the effect charging curves have, even when the battery is well under 80%. Having watched a couple more Whatcar videos, it seems the idea of rocking up at a high speed charger and doing 20-80% in 30 mins isn't a reality, even for cars apparently designed for fast charging. I'd really hoped technology was further ahead than this.

Pretty sure our next car will be diesel again, since we live in the country and almost never drive in the city.
Click to expand...
I only used chargers twice last year.

Went from 50-80% in less than 15 mins
 
cambsno said:
I only used chargers twice last year.

Went from 50-80% in less than 15 mins
Click to expand...

But Toni has given multiple reasons why he wouldn't buy a Tesla.
 
It's true though, right now EVs don't suit everyone. There are less genuine reasons than people think as to why an EV would not suit, i.e. many supposed issues are all in the head of the driver but if you have a genuine need for a specific performance than you can get from EV then that's just that.
As the great Robert Dylan once said, "the times they are a changing" and by the time your next vehicle change comes around EVs will be significantly different and better performing.
 
If I did not do multiple 500+ mile journeys each year then I would have bought electric this time, almost certainly a used BMW i4. EVs have come a long way, and if it were not for my particular circumstances then I'd be organising test drives.
 
Steep said:
...and by the time your next vehicle change comes around EVs will be significantly different and better performing.
Click to expand...
Things do change but some things do not change quickly enough.

One of those things that has been slow to change is the stupidity of politicians. The electric car fiasco is as good an example as I could imagine. The only way in which the last few governments have thought to introduce them is first to bribe those who don't need the money, then to threaten those who don't see electric cars as a suitable alternative to their current vehicles and then to throw yet more public money at an infrastructure to support that minority who can already afford to pay for it.

If electric cars are a good idea for the majority of road users, they don't need to be subsidised, road users don't need to be threatened that their choice of new vehicles will be reduced to electric by a given date and the network to support a small minority of users won't need to be supported by new legislation and yet more public money.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Things do change but some things do not change quickly enough.

One of those things that has been slow to change is the stupidity of politicians. The electric car fiasco is as good an example as I could imagine. The only way in which the last few governments have thought to introduce them is first to bribe those who don't need the money, then to threaten those who don't see electric cars as a suitable alternative to their current vehicles and then to throw yet more public money at an infrastructure to support that minority who can already afford to pay for it.

If electric cars are a good idea for the majority of road users, they don't need to be subsidised, road users don't need to be threatened that their choice of new vehicles will be reduced to electric by a given date and the network to support a small minority of users won't need to be supported by new legislation and yet more public money.
Click to expand...
In a nutshell, well summed up.
I live in a modern village, on my side of the road (two and three bedroom semis), nobody has off road parking, so that immediately counts me out of EV ownership, as it does 50% of households in the village. As you cannot be sure that you will get a parking space outside your home, then that is another nail in the EV's coffin.
 
andya700 said:
that is another nail in the EV's coffin.
Click to expand...

The EVs 'coffin' is a looong looong way off.

There are many possibilities for what could happen in your situation.. The local council could set up kerbside charging, as in plug into a lamp post and/or actually in the kerb at a number of points along the road. They could install mini charging hubs nearby if there's space, designate parking slots per occupant outside their property.

All it takes is a 'can do' mindset instead of a can't do mindset. (not just a UK issue)

I have a Ukrainian friend currently living in Romania for obvious reasons (has lived in a couple of other countries). She is shocked at the way people in these countries look for problems instead of solutions and expect others to fix them. In Ukraine there's no nanny state so if you want something done you have to make it happen yourself. A can't do mindset in Ukraine will see you out of work, out of friends and out of money.

The 'moral' of this is that throughout this thread from the very start, the 'anti' EV faction have been entirely of the can't do mindset, looking for stumbling blocks to throw in the way regardless of how small or foolish they sometimes are. All it takes is a willing mind.
 
Last edited:
Steep said:
The EVs 'coffin' is a looong looong way off.

There are many possibilities for what could happen in your situation.. The local council could set up kerbside charging, as in plug into a lamp post and/or actually in the kerb at a number of points along the road. They could install mini charging hubs nearby if there's space, designate parking slots per occupant outside their property.

All it takes is a 'can do' mindset instead of a can't do mindset. (not just a UK issue)

I have a Ukrainian friend currently living in Romania for obvious reasons (has lived in a couple of other countries). She is shocked at the way people in these countries look for problems instead of solutions and expect others to fix them. In Ukraine there's no nanny state so if you want something done you have to make it happen yourself. A can't do mindset in Ukraine will see you out of work, out of friends and out of money.

The 'moral' of this is that throughout this thread from the very start, the 'anti' EV faction have been entirely of the can't do mindset, looking for stumbling blocks to throw in the way regardless of how small or foolish they sometimes are. All it takes is a willing mind.
Click to expand...


Local councils cannot fix potholes, provide decent bus services, collect the refuse on time and most of them are in massive debt. I don't put much faith in them setting up any grand EV charging system.
 
The end result has got to be worth the cost, effort and disruption. And we are a loooong way from that.
 
andya700 said:
Local councils cannot fix potholes, provide decent bus services, collect the refuse on time and most of them are in massive debt. I don't put much faith in them setting up any grand EV charging system.
Click to expand...

They are getting government funding to improve infrastructure. Google says there are already some 20 thousand lamp post chargers already in the UK with lots more on the way.
  • Birmingham is rolling out 560 lamp post chargers.
  • Liverpool introduced 300 points in 2023, with a commitment to 2,000 total points by 2027.
  • Newport City Council is installing chargers on existing streetlights, among the first in Wales.
  • Brighton & Hove is fitting over 6,000 kerbside chargers.
  • This is just some from England and Wales, Scotland's infrastructure is growing as fast as well.
Some way to go still and it'll be a while before there is a charger for every house but it'll be a while before every house has an EV... We're getting there and all the above are examples of can do versus can't do.
 
Steep said:
The 'moral' of this is that throughout this thread from the very start, the 'anti' EV faction have been entirely of the can't do mindset, looking for stumbling blocks to throw in the way regardless of how small or foolish they sometimes are. All it takes is a willing mind.
Click to expand...
My mindset is not that you can't do it but that the whole thing has been thoroughly mismanaged from day one with the attitude being "to those who have much shall be given and from those who have little shall be taken away".

Zero real thought has been put into asking how we should handle a massive transformation of this kind. It's all been buddies in the bar and funny handshakes, with very large troughs full of public money for "the right people" to stick their snouts into, If this really was a good idea it would have been run as a purely commercial system with all public costs paid by the sellers and the buyers in the form of appropriate taxes.

The idea that councils should put in chargers at public expense without an "electric car tax" to cover it is yet another unedifying example of stupidity.
 
Last edited:
Just seen on the news that EVs will be paying the congestion charge now.
 
Is there any one here who has an EV and is unhappy with it?
 
I think if you like it and your happy and not hurting any one. Yip enjoy it as much as you can, we only live once,
No different to me spending my money on things like fly rods and reels, yet the fish don't care.
 
Oldbones said:
I think if you like it and your happy and not hurting any one. Yip enjoy it as much as you can, we only live once,
Click to expand...
To apply this to the thread subject: there is nothing wrong with doing what you like, provided you pay what it costs and don't expect others to subsidise you, unless they chose to.
 
Well we live in a free country, where your allowed to have an opinion, some peoples opinions upset others, and many a time I have had that experience,
It is because of that right, that we have a country where we have that freedom to say what we think about issues on a daily basis.
When we no longer have that right, then its time to worry.
EVs, I am not keen, not keen at all, now they are a fact of life, I don't believe in blindly following a motion that only has one choice, whether I or others like it or not.
I have noticed that things are now divided, this divisions appear to be very hostile to each other.
I just tell my self that my car is legally compliant, not breaking any laws by driving it.
.
 
Sadly all this Daily Mail spouting about EVs is very pointless. I have owned am EV since 2015 - range is as difficult as you make it. My current car is an Egolf it has an efficient drivetrain and can do 145 miles easily on a tank fill up at home between 12pm to 6am for £3-5
One thing people don't realise is there is very little service costs at all
 
MK1 Photography said:
.... fill up at home between 12pm to 6am for £3-5
Click to expand...
This is the thing I'm annoyed about: that by not being charged fuel duty, people are using the roads without paying in the way the rest of us have to. The moment the British government puts fuel and other taxes on electric cars, at the same rate as they do on internal combustion cars, I'll be happy for those electric car drivers who get pleasure from their vehicles.
 
andya700 said:
Local councils cannot fix potholes, provide decent bus services, collect the refuse on time and most of them are in massive debt. I don't put much faith in them setting up any grand EV charging system.
Click to expand...


Reducing the income for Councils because it is ‘your’ money, ‘you’ should have less taken away from ‘you’.

I think what has to happen is that ‘you’ fix the potholes now…
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
This is the thing I'm annoyed about: that by not being charged fuel duty, people are using the roads without paying in the way the rest of us have to. The moment the British government puts fuel and other taxes on electric cars, at the same rate as they do on internal combustion cars, I'll be happy for those electric car drivers who get pleasure from their vehicles.
Click to expand...
Go on, show us that the money you are referring to is hypothecated.
 
MK1 Photography said:
I am happy to pay for the use of the roads
Click to expand...
Then here's a thought: why don't you write to your MP and ask him to change the rules, so that you pay fuel duty and full VAT in the same way as other car users?
 
If I manage to buy an EV next year, which is my plan - a small SUV style one - it is because I already have an efficient solar system and batteries. I can't see how the govt could charge me fuel duty on the electricity that my own panels have generated which I transfer into my car battery?
OTOH, paying an appropriate VED is fine for all vehicles including TVs.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Then here's a thought: why don't you write to your MP and ask him to change the rules, so that you pay fuel duty and full VAT in the same way as other car users?
Click to expand...
Everyone pays to get the use of the roads.

It would be good if threads like this weren't spammed with the incorrect stuff.
 
Last edited:
lindsay said:
I can't see how the govt could charge me fuel duty on the electricity that my own panels have generated which I transfer into my car battery?
Click to expand...
The question becomes: why is fuel duty levied?

Allegedly, it's to make a contribution to the cost of building and maintaining the major roads (i.e. those not the responsibility of the County or city councils). Thanks to British politicians' fear of hypothecation (in this context, raising taxes for a specific purpose and only spending the money raised on that specific purpose) numerous parliaments have created a monster. This strange beast eats tax money and drops it all into a single pot, from which the politically strongest ministers get the biggest share, regardless of their needs. This is why we have bad roads, shoddy council housing and public services which stumble from crisis to crisis.

One unintended effect of this system is that ministers and their civil servants feel free to play ducks and drakes with the tax system; handing out money to their friends sorry, good causes and taking more from those who don't support them sorry, those who are most able to pay. The consequence is that taxes seldom, if ever, make those with the most, pay the most and inevitably require those with less, to pay more.

Confused? You will be, if you expect fair and sensible taxation. :thinking:
 
The 5p/litre fuel duty reduction will be cancelled before the EV mileage charge though.
so ICE cars will pay way more tax over EVs even when the PPM charge comes in 2028?
 
Mr Bump said:
....so ICE cars will pay way more tax over EVs even when the PPM charge comes in 2028?
Click to expand...
Which is just plain unfair.

This issue highlights a glaring fault in our "democracy". Once a minority grabs control, the rest of us are dragged down whatever path they choose. There is no logical reason not to charge all vehicle owners for the expected wear that their vehicles will cause to the roads and other infrastructure, as well as for all "improvements".
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Which is just plain unfair.

This issue highlights a glaring fault in our "democracy". Once a minority grabs control, the rest of us are dragged down whatever path they choose. There is no logical reason not to charge all vehicle owners for the expected wear that their vehicles will cause to the roads and other infrastructure, as well as for all "improvements".
Click to expand...
EVERYONE PAYS FOR THE ROADS
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top