The Drivers Guide To Electric Cars
Last Updated: 6th Apr 2022
The UK Government has brought forward the ban on the sales of Petrol and Diesel vehicles to 2035 and has also added Hybrids to the ban, it makes sense more than ever to familiarise yourself with the use and maintenance of electric cars.
Looking to buy a new car but not ready for a full electric car yet? You could consider a plug-in hybrid as your next vehicle and a steppingstone towards going full electric in the future. If plugging-in is just not practical for you right now then consider a full hybrid, sometimes referred to as a self-charging hybrids.
Some key questions you may have about driving and owning an electric vehicle are:
- Why should I switch to an electric car?
- Aren't electric cars a bit too expensive right now?
- What sort of maintenance does an electric car require?
- What range can an electric car cover between charges?
- How do I charge an electric car at home?
- What about charging stations at the workplace?
- What should I do if I'm running out of charge?
- How many public charging stations are there and how do I use them?
The 2035 deadline is a ban on sales only of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and as such you won’t be forced to throw away your existing car if it does not meet the requirements. However, with more big cities planning stricter rules and tariffs on higher emissions vehicles like the London’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) it makes sense to do your homework and start planning for the future.
Why Should I Switch To Electric?
From an ethical, ecological and environmental perspective, it’s a no brainer. CO2 emissions are a bi-product of conventional petrol and diesel cars and a major contributor to climate change and global warming. Some scientists argue we are seeing the effects around the globe with hotter temperatures and more frequent ‘extreme’ weather conditions worldwide.
Emissions from petrol and especially diesels are a health hazard and pollution issue, especially in busy cities where huge volumes of traffic are on the move each day.
Diesels which emit dangerous particulates and nitrous oxide have been in the spotlight in recent years, sales of such vehicles have dropped significantly while electric and hybrid car sales have been improving significantly year on year.
Manufacturers have been producing significantly cleaner diesels in recent years with advanced technology and particulate filters, but the writing seems to be on the on the wall for diesels.
In the first quarter of 2022 diesels accounted for 5.6% of registrations, with mild hybrid diesels accounting for another 4.8%. Full hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full electric cars accounted for 34%, showing a continued shift towards electrified models. Petrol cars are still the most popular, accounting for 42% of new car registrations, while petrol cars with mild hybrid technology accounted for an additional 13.4%.
Many more major cities plan to ‘clamp down’ on higher emissions vehicles, implementing low emissions zones, especially in busy city centres. This will mean that you may have to pay a tariff or may not be allowed to enter the zone at all if your vehicle does not meet the low emissions threshold.
Eventually there will be zero emissions zones which will mean either a complete ban on any vehicle that is not full electric or at the very least you will have to pay a tariff. Existing zones will either expand or bring in higher charges for polluting vehicles, we have already seen the expansion of London's ULEZ zone for example.
Oxford town centre has already implemented a ZEZ (Zero Emissions Zone) that came into operation on 28th February 2022 with plans for further expansion of the zone. Other city centres are already banning older diesels which are extremely polluting to the environment and planning even stricter emissions zones in the future.
Other cities that have already implemented some kind of low emissions or clean air zone are Glasgow, Bath and Birmingham with other large cities like Manchester, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Sheffield planning their own zones. Many of these new clean air/low emissions zones have been earmarked for implementation in 2022.
Electric Cars Are Expensive Though?
Yes, electric cars are more expensive compared to conventional petrol and diesel ones. To soften the blow there is a government grant for full electric cars (this may change in the future). The grant as of April 2022 is £1500 towards the cost of a qualifying new vehicle.
Electric cars are coming down in price too and the choice is becoming wider, a few years ago you were limited to a small number of models, mainly small cars.
In 2022 there is a fairly wide selection of new EV models, from small cars to large SUVs, MG Motors have a spacious full electric estate model for example, badged the '5', prices are comparable with conventional petrol/diesel estate cars.
Running and maintenance costs of electric cars are significantly cheaper than petrol and diesel cars, so good in fact that you could be looking at a car that is up to 70% cheaper to run.
Electric Car Maintenance
With far fewer moving parts and less fluids to be replenished maintenance of an electric car is much more straightforward than its petrol or diesel counterparts. You won’t need to worry about oil and coolant changes, spark plugs, belt changes, air filters and transmission oil changes. Even maintenance of brakes should be more cost-effective because electric vehicles deploy brake regeneration technology which eases the wear and tear on brake pads.
Some of the key areas you’ll need to monitor and be aware for maintenance of an electric car are tyre wear/damage, brake pads wear, lights, wipers, tracking, suspension and heating/air con filtration systems.
You will need regular scheduled services, but its estimated that the overall maintenance costs can be as little as 30% of that of a diesel or petrol vehicle.
If component failure were to occur, the battery would be biggest concern, however most manufacturers offer a 5 to 8-year warranty on the battery and experts say an EV battery’s life expectancy could be anything from 10-20 years.
A battery will however lose some of its charge over time, so an electric car that’s clocked up 100,000 miles may lose 5-20% of its charge. Having said this, the technology is improving rapidly, batteries and EV technology will only get better as manufacturer’s are heavily invested in making rapid improvements.
Electric Car Range Between Charges
One of the biggest concerns people have is getting caught short when their full electric runs out of charge. It’s something of a misconception based on earlier full electric cars that you won’t be able to travel very far.
Yes, older electric cars were only useful for short journeys before they needed a charge but many of the new EV cars have a range of easily over 200 miles, some can even surpass 250 miles if you drive them sensibly. There are now several EV vehicles whose range exceeds 300 miles, although these do tend to be in the more expensive price bracket.
One of the most popular full electric cars, the Nissan Leaf can for example cover up to 239 miles on a full charge, the Renault Zoe has a official range of 250 miles and a BMW i3 can do up to 200 miles in Range Extender mode.
Electric Car Charging At Home
The vast majority of mass produced new full electric cars can be charged from a standard home 240v socket using EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). This is significantly slower than a wallbox charger though, but an overnight charge should suffice to give you some juice albeit probably not a full charge. A wallbox charger is a better solution and has some additional safety features built in.
You can get a slow 3.6kW box fitted which is approximately 1.6 times faster than a standard 3 pin 240v plug and it should for example charge a Nissan Leaf in approximately 7-8 hours which is perfect for overnight.
The most popular option is a 7kW wallbox fitted for a cost around £800-£900 and it should be around 3 times faster than charging from a standard 3 pin plug socket and be able to charge a Nissan Leaf in 3-4 hours, there are also 22kW home chargers available for around £1500 fitted but not all electric cars will be compatible.
Electric Car Charging at The Workplace
At the time of writing this article businesses, charities and non-profit organisations are eligible for the Government Workplace Charging Scheme. The grant covers up to 75% of total costs (up to £350 per socket and for a maximum of 40 sockets).
For a business or organisation to be eligible they must demonstrate that they have sufficient and suitable off road space to accommodate the charging points/vehicles. Companies also need to be in the process of, or committed to switching their vehicles/fleet to full electric.
Typically, businesses will want one of the faster chargers at 22kW or higher. Cost is in the region of £1000 - £1500 per charging point.
The grant may not be available forever, so our advice, especially for small businesses who may find the costs a strain is to accelerate your full electric plans while you can still take advantage of the grant.
What Can I do If I’m Worried About Running Out Of Charge?
The AA says that drivers tend to overestimate the chances of running out of charge. AA data showed of call-outs for to EV cars, just 4% were because the driver had run out of charge. In fact the most common reasons for call-outs to electric vehicles were the same as for petrol/diesel cars; punctures/tyre damage and a depleted 12v battery.
First thing is planning, check your route and make sure you know where charging points/stations are on your route, Zap Map is a good resource for finding charging stations. Obviously make sure the car has a full charge before you set off.
Stop/start routes are bad for your battery charge, blackspots and stop/start traffic will drain your battery faster, sat nav with live traffic to avoid jams and good journey planning will help extend your range.
Inflate your tyres to the correct pressure, improper tyre pressures will cost you range.
Don’t carry unnecessary weight and luggage, many people travel permanently with a boot full of items they don’t need most of the time; bags, baby trollies and golf clubs are amongst the popular items. Extra weight will cost you a few miles, especially on longer journeys.
Switch to Eco mode, it will do a lot of work for you reducing power output and increase braking regeneration. Eco mode can have different names for example ‘range extender’.
Drive the car smoothly to reduce power used, accelerate gently and on motorways keep your top speed sensible.
Get the most out of brake regeneration technology by reading the road ahead, reading the road ahead of you, coasting and gentler braking helps get the most out of braking regeneration, sending some energy back to your battery and extended your range.
Heating and air con drains power so only use when necessary, open the window instead of using air con or put a jumper or coat on if instead of using the heater or heated seats. These all drain power and if you find yourself in a situation where its touch and go to reach your next charging station. these all need to be switched off.
Gadgets and infotainment systems use power, unless essential unplug any devices from USB sockets and switch off your infotainment system to save a bit more power.
Public Charging Stations and How To Pay
In late 2020 the government ruled that all new EV charging points should accept credit/debit cards, previously some had used a membership/access card system. You should find in 2022 that it won't be a problem paying with a credit/debit card but if you are signing up with a specific provider, it won't do any harm to check in advance.
Travelling on motorways shouldn’t be a problem as just about every motorway service station is now equipped with EV charging points.
There are several networks of charging stations around the UK and you can locate them by using a service like Zap Map. You’ll also find sat nav apps like Google Maps or the one your car is equipped with will probably do a great job of helping you locate the nearest EV Charging Stations on the move.
The largest network is Polar (owned by BP who have invested heavily in EV charging points), they have over 5,000 publicly-accessible charging points. Polar offer pay as you go or a subscription-based service (Polar Plus) which involves a fixed monthly fee of under £8. You get access to free charging at over half of their charging stations and a reduced rate at paid charging points. Payment is made via a smartphone app, RFID card or credit/debit card.
The basic rule is the faster the charging station the higher the rate you pay, with fast, rapid and ultra-rapid chargers available. Members paying a monthly subscription get a reduced rate.
The ultra-rapid chargers are perfect for a midway pit stop on very long journeys, typically you can get a full charge in 25-50 minutes. If you need a short charge to finish your journey home, save your money and go for a lower rated public charger.
Other notable networks are Charge Your Car, GeniePoint and Ecotricity, the latter has charging points at virtually every motorway service station in the UK.
Some networks will allow one-off payments with contactless debit/credit cards while others will need you to set up an account/acquire an RFID card or install the smartphone app and sign up for an account.
Things are moving fast and are only going to get more convenient for electric car drivers, with rapidly improving technology and a massive commitment to expand the network of charging stations around the UK.