Electric Vehicles (or EV's) - We'd love to know what you think!

Electric cars are not and never will be environmentally friendly, but they sure as hell are better than an internal combustion engine based vehicle.  I brought mine mainly due to guilt; sitting in traffic in a diesel car whilst school kids make their way on foot to school still makes me cringe. But electric cars are also much much cheaper to run and I personally prefer the driving experience.  

With respect to moving the pollution to power stations, remember it takes a lot of electricity to refine petrol and diesel and any displacement is only true for those power stations that emit pollution, the grid is getting cleaner every year in the UK.  Electric cars are very efficient, even my crappy Leaf is much more efficient than any ICE vehicle ever will be, so even if it was true that the pollution is simply moved to power stations, there is less pollution emitted overall and I’d rather that pollution was in an out-of-town power station than on a busy school street.  

So many benefits to owning a full electric car, zero tailpipe emissions, cheaper to run, less CO2 emitted, lower maintenance, better driving performance, no need to stand at the petrol/diesel pump while filling up and they certainly smell a lot better than petrol and diesel cars.  Really looking forward to 2020, so many more compelling full electric cars available. I’m sure many more will make the leap and never go back.

My tuppence:

1. Given that fully half of the emissions generated by any vehicle (whether an EV or an ICE) in its entire lifetime are generated during its manufacture, and before it rolls off the sales forecourt, the only sensible choice, if you must drive a metal box on wheels, is to run yours into the ground before replacing it.
2. The same goes for all technogadgetry and widgets, such as mobile phones, for instance. If they ain’t broke, why ‘upgrade’? If you do so purely for status or the ‘feel-good factor’, perhaps you ought to reconsider your motives and put the planet first. Yes, I’m aware this is irrelevant to EVs, but I said I’d offer tuppence :P

Yes you are right about CO2 on new and old cars. EV cars can run on green electric ice just add more CO2. The other more important is the other gasses and particulates from ice. Most of these do create health problems. People say catilitic converters stop these gasses but only after five to ten miles. The best thing is to stop use of cars and use push bycicles.

I've owned a PHEV since 2016 and have now replaced the other car with a full EV .  It took a while to pluck up the courage and so far it's been the best decision ever (despite the lack of support for EV owners).  I did a lot of research and managed to find a car which suits my needs. It can do 180 miles on one charge (has a 48 kWh battery). More in summer, less in winter. We mostly use it (and the PHEV) as a daily runabout and they charge slowly off our solar panels - we seldom need both at the same time, so whichever has the least battery charges while we use the other.

It's done 2 long trips in the 2 months we've had it, one was 300 miles and the other 150. Provided you do your homework and get a car which can rapid charge (>50kw) and plan your journey, there really is no limit to where you can go. Who can really drive more than 100 miles (2 hours) without a break? A 20-30 minute rapid charge should add 30-40% or so, which will get you another 100 or so miles, by which time you really should take another break.  

There are sub £30K cars which can do 200-250 ish miles on a charge and the infrastructure is improving. Make sure you get a car which can DC rapid charge if you are going to do long trips (sorry Zoe) and don't think you need a massive battery. 250 miles is probably the sweet spot, but you're paying a lot for that extra 50 miles and how often do you really need it? 

It's not as hard to drive an EV now and it's getting easier, so stop dithering and just do it!

Hi everyone,

We have an OVO account and a Kia EV6 that can ‘vehicle to load’ supply energy to external sources. What’s the best way to set up a charger/feed in tariff that allows us to plug in when we get home (typically 4pmish with the kids) and use/sell energy during the evening peak and then recharge at night? 
Ideally it would be a charger that’s compatible with solar PV later.

AFAIK the EV6 has V2L (vehicle to Load) and doesn't support V2H (vehicle to house) or V2G (vehicle to grid). That means you can run appliances from your car by plugging them into the car (via an adapter and a 13amp plug). You can't connect your car to the house electrical system and you can't export electricity from the car to the grid.

There are bi-directional car chargers on the market but these require a car that can support V2H or V2G.

That’s really useful. Thanks so much for your reply. 

Just be careful how you use “save money” OVO. The Electric market is dwindling and I’ve lost over £40,000 yes an eye watering £40,000 after owning an electric car after taking advice on “save money by an electric car” … Until the cars get cheaper and range is doubled it’s still a no go … 92% of electric cars purchased this year are company cars and 80% of those drivers wouldn’t have another. You say save electric but you want us to double our use! Just be careful with your “save money advice” please . 

Where are you getting those figures ?