‘I’d never go back’: Readers clash over reality of owning electric vehicle

Debate over why UK drivers are hesitating to switch to electric vehicles has sparked a lively response from Independent readers, with many weighing up convenience, cost, and widespread misconceptions about EVs.

The conversation has intensified following a YouGov survey commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, which found that 51 per cent of non-electric car drivers could answer only two or fewer out of 10 questions about EVs correctly.

Among this group, just five per cent wanted an EV as their next car, compared with 63 per cent of those who scored eight or more correctly, highlighting how misinformation is holding back the transition.

Some readers praised EVs for being cleaner, smoother to drive, and cheaper to run, especially when charging at home. Others, however, pointed to practical frustrations: sparse or broken public chargers, fiddly apps, long queues, and the headaches of planning longer journeys, which they said made EVs far less convenient than petrol or diesel cars.

Affordability was another major concern, with commenters noting steep purchase prices and rapid depreciation leave EVs out of reach for many households.

Here’s what you had to say:

I would never go back

I have been driving EVs for eight years. I started when in my hospital practice we were seeing a huge increase in asthma because of air pollution. Best thing I ever did – EVs are fun to drive, comfortable, reliable, and very cheap to run. Compared to eight years ago, public charging is plentiful. On a long trip last year I stopped at motorway services – 28 chargers; by the time I had sat down with my food, my car’s app was telling me charging was complete. I would never go back to ICE.

bnbiker

Depreciation makes second-hand EVs attractive

I just bought an EV as they finally got cheap enough to look viable. I bought a 5-year-old e2008 for £10,800 – the poor shmoe who bought it new paid £37,500, so massive depreciation for him. I have a 2012 X1, that cost me £12k in 2014, and it’s still cheaper to use than the EV as an overall cost, as diesel is cheap and no expensive on-road charging costs.

Normally I charge at home, but range is low – we knew that and only need it for short commutes for the wife. But if you were to actually not let the EV drop below 20 per cent or charge above 80 per cent as advised, you’d have around 60 miles range in this thing. Still seems fine for us until, like last week, you get roadworks and a reroute 40 miles from home – now you have to stop and charge, so you’re £25 and an hour out of pocket, another £20 on snacks and lunch you could have had at home, and a wasted short afternoon of work by the time I got back. Every time you stop to charge you need to faff around with accounts and payment systems – it’s worse than the current parking app situation.

DTDT

Public charging is appalling

I have a hybrid EV and can charge at home, which works well. The experience charging away from home is appalling. Chargers are either non-existent, broken, require you to set up multiple apps and accounts, or governed by a complex set of additional parking rules with ANPR cameras. For long drives we therefore rely on petrol once the home-charged electric runs out. I wouldn’t get a full electric car if you paid me.

Tash

Just get in and drive

Love mine, and am just about to take delivery of a new one. It costs me around €5 to fill it as opposed to my old diesel car which cost around €90 for the same amount of mileage. Never a problem, even in winter – just get in and drive. So much misinformation from the fossil fuel lobby. So unfair on the public.

Wontonton

EVs aren’t suitable for everyone

You’ll also find that people who don’t want EVs actually like owning their cars as opposed to renting them. They don’t have a driveway, so can’t charge at home. They actually enjoy driving. If I lived where I used to live I wouldn’t in a million years want an EV – sometimes I’d have to park my car half a mile to a mile away from my house because there was never anywhere to park. There were no driveways and no car parks, and along most of the road I lived on it was double yellows. There were at least 1,000 houses in the same position in that area alone, all of which had at least one car. That scenario is repeated in every town and city in multiple places in the country. Wanting everyone to go electric is a pipe dream.

Woops

I gave my EV back

I gave my EV back. 45p a mile on public chargers – without the pay-per-mile, five-hour drives become 15-hour nightmares (this happened on every long drive I did over two years). Put it like this – a two-litre petrol car cost me £70 to do a 600-mile trip. My EV cost me £200 using Gridserve, assuming you can find a charger within 40 miles of the motorway that works. Not to mention in winter, my 270-mile range cruising at 56mph dropped to 170 miles.

Sirius

EVs are a luxury many can’t afford

We have never spent more than £11k of our own money on a car. Most of the cars we have owned have been petrol hatchbacks costing £1k or less. I have absolutely no interest in ever buying a car for more than £30k, regardless of its benefits. I am retired – that amount of money would get me a replacement £1k hatchback every year that I am likely to still be driving. I believe there is a significant section of the car-owning population limited to vehicles costing under £4k because they are ineligible for finance. EVs are virtue-signalling playthings for an affluent elite.

There is also the weight issue on impact energy and road damage. A petrol Ford Fiesta weighs about 1,000kg. EV family cars generally weigh around 2,000kg. If impact energy is 0.5 x mass x velocity squared, then doubling the mass doubles the impact energy. Why is no one questioning the effect of these huge EVs on road safety? No one would think that a car doing 30mph does the same damage as a car doing 42mph, but people seem to be ignoring the effect of increased vehicle weight.

NeoMed

Charging on the road is costly

I’ve recently bought a new EV and I’m perfectly happy with the way that it performs. The only gripe I have is the amount it costs to charge on the road. I can put an 80 per cent charge in it for about a tenner at home overnight on a low tariff, but the same on the road is about £60, which I suspect falls in line with suppliers creaming it.

Bionicpants

Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.

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