Hi, our current car is slowly dying and husband wants a 2nd hand electric as our next one. However, I’m apprehensive.
Here’s the reasons why he wants one:
Better for planet
We have hefty amount of solar panels we can charge it from to keep costs down
Helps with uncertainty over fuel prices / availability… if there was a total fuel crisis we could still drive so we are more self sufficient.
Here’s the reasons why I’m worried:
Availability of public chargers seems not great? We live in the North of England and tend to holiday in places like Northumberland / the lakes / Yorkshire coast / legoland etc.
We have an Autistic child who will not deal well with changes of plans / delays so am worried about if all the chargers are full at places we visit and we have to wait for one.
Cost of getting it versus a normal petrol 2nd hand car (our normal budget is something around £4-6k for a much older 2nd hand car, and instead he says we would be looking at 3x that. We are not well off. He says we will save some money charging it for free off solar panels and it being a newer car so needing fewer repairs etc but it will never be as cheap as a “normal” car all things considered especially as we will need to install a charging station thingy outside house with appropriate security on it.
My parents say they are a nightmare to get repaired as not many mechanics can do them?
So I’m nor really convinced as you can tell! We mostly would be using it in a way that we wouldn’t need to charge it out and about (day trips around 50 miles each way etc.) But the 3-5 UK mini breaks we have a year would get significantly more complex in terms of planning, waiting for it to charge, limiting our choices of accommodation to make sure we could charge it there etc etc. I’m not good with uncertainty, it makes me anxious, so I hate the thought of fighting others for chargers and constantly wondering if one will be available. My son has meltdowns and I appreciate the convenience of the car being available so we can leave venues at a moment’s notice normally.
What are the thoughts/ experiences you have had with electric cars? Availability of chargers? Stress over having to plan all journeys more carefully? Annoyance of it not being able to just “go” when you want it to if you need a charge? Convince me, because I do care about the planet, I just have a life that is stressful enough already!
Edit: thank you everyone for the information, gives me lots to read through. Thank you to those who pointed out that electric cars aren’t necessarily better for the environment, though if we are choosing to charge it via our solar panels I think that will at least offset some of the issues. A real mixed bag of opinions for me to sort through.