EV recommendation

I think the display gadgetry is much the same in all cars nowadays!

If you don't need to do long journeys and you can charge at home, then in my experience battery electric works very well. Very nice to drive, smooth, quiet, fast. A warm, de-iced car on winter mornings. No bother about short journeys. The heater starts up immediately, no engine to warm up. Cheap fuel (at least for now).

I have a Renault Zoe, which is by design a local runabout (slow charging only) which did me very well for commuting to work, when I was still doing that, 240 mile nominal range, effectively 220 in summer, 180 in winter.

But we did have two cars, the other one a PHEV, so long journeys were always possible. Now I have the same two cars but it's just me, so it still works but not cheaply!

What is not always obvious with EVs is the charging rate, that affects how useful the car is for occasional long journeys. My Zoe charges at max 22kW, which adds only about 70 miles in an hour, so it's impractical to charge in-journey. Most "proper" EVs can take about 150kW, so more like 450 miles added per hour, which makes it possible to get a useful addition in a short stop. Smaller EVs sometimes have 50kW max rate which means 45 mins to add 100 miles, which is doable but not something you'd do regularly. Also older, smaller EVs might have AC charging only which is often hard to find out on the road; not a problem if buying a modern design. I am considering getting rid of both the Zoe and the PHEV and getting a fast charging EV!

nib

I like my Nissan Leaf EV. Its specified range is 150 miles but as it's now 8 years old the range is now only 85 miles. Also, me being 85 with the memory span of a goldfish I can't remember what most of the controls do!

What's your budget?

Do you mean 'new' as in brand new, or are you thinking used?

If used, how used are you comfortable with (1 year nearly-new with warranty or 15 yo seasoned bangerologist)?

What's your preference in terms of size/shape - ie supermini, saloon, family hatchback, crossover, SUV, estate, ...?

Do you have space to charge at home (driveway, garage, ...) or will you be relying on public charging?

Any specific requirements (dodgy hips mean you need a high driving position, need space for the dog, ...?)

Theo

And probably hard to find elsewhere.

Don't be like my late mother. who forgot where the brake pedal was.. A few years before forgetting everything else, including how to breathe...

My car has one screen for the dashboard, and another screen on the console for its built-in maps, radio/music, etc, but it has physical switches, knobs and buttons for everything and I will not switch to a touch-screen based car ...

I bought my EV at the age (my age) of 81. My previous diesel had been an automatic, so there was very little difference in driving. I think the biggest difference was that it had rear wheel drive. For 30 years (about) everything had been front wheel drive, but after 3+ years. I don't have a problem. I doubt if the complex displays have anything to do with it being an EV. The only 'EV thing' is about charging. Everything else is to do with the road and the car.

I bought a Skoda Enyaq because it could carry my harp flat (with the back seats folded down), but there are plenty of others if you don't need that facilty. Quite frequently (every other weekend) I happily do a 100+ mile return trip and on an annual basis I do a 450 mile trip (Surrey to Edinburgh). I've once gone as far north as Aberdeen. Journeys need planning, but nowadays, I wouldn't drive for more than 3 hours without a break. Loo & then coffee stop while the car is recharging and off I go again. Just before I bought the EV, I decided that the Edinburgh journey was too much for one day - even thought I'd been doing it for nearly 60 years. Perhaps I'm beginning to feel my age?

When my touch screen fails to boot, so does the car audio...

Not difficult around here. The local Waitrose has 120kW chargers and

Sainsbury's has 150kW chargers.

John

There's a lot to know about BEVs.

You can easily make a selection mistake.

As an example, the *towing* instructions for the car are important. Say that the towing requires the nose wheels to be lifted off the ground, before the tow moves it. You will be backing into your drive, so that the nose faces outwards if/when you need a tow. Maybe when you go drinking downtown, you will be keeping the towing details handy in your mind, when selecting a parking spot location.

The car has a top speed. Check it. Make sure it is sufficient to perform a pass on a major highway. It's not that you *like* to pass, but some driving situations require evasive action that requires a performant vehicle. If my road here is 100km/hr, then I want a 140km/hr car, to perform a normal pass. Perhaps I'm passing a broken transport. Some BEVs are a bit dangerous in this regard. The final gear ratio, helps determine top speed. If the car line has "SE, GT, Sport" vehicles, each one has a different final gear ratio and a different top speed. You can't ask about the GT, and *assume* the same characteristic for the other SKUs. Also of note, there is no rule of thumb about the top speed either. A vehicle could look like a burnout king, and when you check, the "top speed" happens to be awful. The numbers are seeming selected at random.

Paul

Of course it is. At home you charge at 7 kW overnight. All EVs do that. On a journey you want to charge in a few minutes while you have a pee and a coffee; that's when you use the 150 kW public superfast chargers. Not all EVs can do that. Surely that's obvious?

nib

Do you carry your harp in case St. Peter calls while you are out and about :-)

I can remember what the pedals do and the imitation gear shift which selects forward or reverse. I can also operate the radio.

Not to dyed in the wool EV haters.

Tim

Make sure you avoid anything that does not have manual heater controls. That is, avoid any manufacturer's attempt to put the heating controls on a touch screen, which would require a solo driver to take their eyes off the road to do anything with it.

So assuming an extra 50% amperage for the charging cable to minimise heating/resistive losses

You'd require cable capabile of carrying 1000A.

Domestic meter tails are 25 mm2 and good for 100A continuous current

So 1000A cable would require 250 mm2 which is a cable diameter of 18 mm plus insulation, and you'd need 3 of these for live, neutral and earth.

So you're looking at a hookup cable of around 50 mm diameter?

Stop harping on Jeff! :-)

But rapid chargers don't supply 230 VAC, they connect straight to the battery at 400 or 800 VDC whatever

What are you burbling about? Domestic EV chargers are mostly 7 kW single-phase AC, quite easy, 30 A. Service station type superfast chargers are often 150 kW, sometimes more, and work at 400 V or 800 V DC.

nib