Switching from petrol to electric: Stuart's experience

I drive 15-20,000 miles a year and until recently did so in a VW SUV, spending around £100/week in diesel. I really loved my VW, I've had 3 or 4 of the same model. When it came time to change it the temptation was to get another of the same type, but I thought that I would look at the alternatives too. 

There has been a lot in the press recently about people’s problems with Electric vehicles (EVs), but I test drove a couple and started to do the sums on the cost of ownership vs my diesel. To cut a long story short it looked very attractive ... no road tax (then), cheaper servicing (as there isn’t a lot to service), and a fiver to fill it up with electricity (home charging). There were up-front costs, the cost of having a charger fitted (£950), and insurance was about 15% more expensive. 

One of the oft repeated drawbacks of EVs is the poor resale value. But even if this is true, if you are not buying new then it’s a pro rather than a con. I bought a 3 year old EV with 13,000 miles on the clock for under half of its new price. It seems there are a lot coming off least at about 3 years old and they can be a bargain. I have a car which is incredibly well equipped, much more so than my lovely VW, and which costs less than 10% of the VW to keep fuelled (Octopus do an EV tariff at a £30/month flat rate for all the charging you need). 

So how about range? The car I bought does 200-220 miles on a charge depending on temperature.  That will get me to Gatwick airport and back, or Bournemouth and back (where I work, with enough spare to drive to appointments). I can count on one hand the number of times I have charged at a public charger in 18 months of ownership ... and that is the real deal breaker with EVs. They are phenomenally cheap to run if you can charge at home on an EV tariff (most suppliers are 7-8p/kw) whereas a public charger will be up to 10 times that (cheaper if you are using a Tesla charger). My charging on the Octopus all you can eat charging is just a flat £30/month. There are many deals available which use renewable electricity only.

Is an EV for everyone?- possibly not, particularly if you cannot have off road/home charging, but if you can the cost savings can be significant. My VW cost almost £5k a year in fuel vs less than £400 assuming no public charger use. The icing on the cake is the car is really fun to drive, smooth and quiet after a long day at work, accelerates amazingly fast if needed and has every driver’s aid imaginable. 

I’m really please with the choice I made.