Which EV would you get?

[CXRAndy]

Having had an EV in the family fleet for 3 years I would present a few points for consideration:

First - be under no illusion - the UK charging infrastructure is not only very expensive but also unreliable, if your journeys are such that you can always charge at home then it's a not an issue - if you have to charge on a motorway be prepared for a long wait.

Second - you are driving around in a vehicle with the equivalent of a 3 or 4 gallon fuel tank, getting stuck in a traffic jam in the winter watching the range evaporate trying to keep the windscreen demisted (and the family away from hypothermia) or having to follow an unplanned diversion when you might have the equivalent of less than a gallon in the tank is very stressful.

Third - EVs depreciate at an eyewatering rate so much so that most garages other than EV specialists won't take them in part exchange - true story a guy spent £70k on a Tesla - he got fed up with it after 9 months and went to a dealer to trade it in for a hybrid - he lost £30k in 9 months and the dealer had to get approval from head office to take it.

If you really want one buy a Chinese brand - all the major parts come from China anyway and they are the best value. BYD has it's own blade battery technology that is ahead of the others. BYD outsells Tesla in Europe now. The Chinese are anxious to build a good reputation so service is usually very good.

Re charging

Depends on the network,

Tesla superchargers and destination chargers are exceptional.

Others like Ionity are excellent too. There are some terrible networks too.

Getting stuck in traffic is no problem for most EVs if they have a reasonable level of charging. It has been demonstrated in the USA, EVs stranded in blizzards overnight were fine, by the car keeping the cabin warm. My son has been camping for 3 days and slept in his Tesla Model Y without charging using camp mode at 20C with aircon

True, EV depreciation is very steep.

Only a fool buy a car then trades it in less than a year later-poor research on the vehicle they bought.

As a group BYD outsell Tesla with their hybrids and EVs. Their EV only are still very small in sales, but are growing quickly

The comparison between equivalent models BYD Sea Lion and Model Y. BYD still trails way behind with mid 3.5miles/kW compared to mid 4.5miles/kW model Y.

I expect BYD to to very popular with their aggressive pricing.

 

[mikeIow]

Sorry but anyone paying cash for a new electric car is completely nuts, new cars are not an asset, they depreciate like a stone so leasing is definitely the best option, you are paying a fixed monthly cost and really just paying for the depreciation over a fixed term.

I have only ever bought one new car for cash and that was a Golf GTi 25 years ago, needless to say over three years I ended up losing a lot of money on it. Only car I would buy outright would be a three your old used car which has already shed its major depreciation.

My EV recommendation would be a CUPRA Born or ID.3 all the electric car you’ll ever need. Ours is brilliant! BTW it’s leased!

View attachment 794634

Cupra's look nice.
We're on our second Kona - an amazing car. Many improvements over the Gen1 we enjoyed for 5 years.
Also have a pal with the 'sister' car, the Kia Niro - they love it, their first EV.
I think the Korean's did an astonishing job with their offerings.
Did test a BYD, & the 'lane departure' is very 'fighty' - made us appreciate how smooth and controlled the Kona drive is.

Love the look of that Twingo - Renault are on a bit of a roll - the 4 and 5 both getting fab reviews, & look decent too.

Leasing isn't the only option, although I agree it makes a lot of sense for many people - we got over 30% off list for a 4 month old ex-demo with under 4,000 miles on it.

I know Andy is happy with his Tesla, but frankly the association with Elon "chainsaw DOGE" Musk precludes me from ever becoming a customer, even though I would probably be the target demographic. Sometimes one has to have at least some principles!

 

[CXRAndy]

I've owned our Teslas since 2019, so pre dates all the bumf of 2025. Wife loves her car with 125k miles on it. I use mine for longer trips and venturing abroad- mine came with lifetime free supercharging. Unless Tesla re introduce right hand drive for the S and X models, I doubt I'll change the vehicle and repair when needed

 

[Gunk]

Cupra's look nice.
We're on our second Kona - an amazing car. Many improvements over the Gen1 we enjoyed for 5 years.
Also have a pal with the 'sister' car, the Kia Niro - they love it, their first EV.
I think the Korean's did an astonishing job with their offerings.
Did test a BYD, & the 'lane departure' is very 'fighty' - made us appreciate how smooth and controlled the Kona drive is.

Love the look of that Twingo - Renault are on a bit of a roll - the 4 and 5 both getting fab reviews, & look decent too.

Leasing isn't the only option, although I agree it makes a lot of sense for many people - we got over 30% off list for a 4 month old ex-demo with under 4,000 miles on it.

I know Andy is happy with his Tesla, but frankly the association with Elon "chainsaw DOGE" Musk precludes me from ever becoming a customer, even though I would probably be the target demographic. Sometimes one has to have at least some principles!

If the R5 had a 300 mile range I’d definitely have one next, probably another Born for us, we like them and leasing costs are sensible

 

[ktmbiker58]

Re charging

Depends on the network,

Tesla superchargers and destination chargers are exceptional.

Others like Ionity are excellent too. There are some terrible networks too.

Getting stuck in traffic is no problem for most EVs if they have a reasonable level of charging. It has been demonstrated in the USA, EVs stranded in blizzards overnight were fine, by the car keeping the cabin warm. My son has been camping for 3 days and slept in his Tesla Model Y without charging using camp mode at 20C with aircon

True, EV depreciation is very steep.

Only a fool buy a car then trades it in less than a year later-poor research on the vehicle they bought.

As a group BYD outsell Tesla with their hybrids and EVs. Their EV only are still very small in sales, but are growing quickly

The comparison between equivalent models BYD Sea Lion and Model Y. BYD still trails way behind with mid 3.5miles/kW compared to mid 4.5miles/kW model Y.

I expect BYD to to very popular with their aggressive pricing.

Just to clarify a couple of points - last stop we made at Strensham Services - half the general chargers were out of action and the remaining chargers were operating at low output, there was a queue of folk waiting, all the Tesla superchargers were offline.

The guy who bought the Tesla found it wouldn't do the required journey - it wasn't fit for purpose despite the claims made for it - I am sure the claims specialists will be moving on to 'were you mis-sold an EV' eventually!

 

[CXRAndy]

Gridserve dont have the best reputation.

I've had good experience with reliability Ionity and Instavolt rapid chargers

I honestly cant believe a Tesla with 300 mile range is not capable of meeting just about everyone's needs.

300 miles is best part of 6 hours non stop driving at motorway/fast road average speeds.

I dont know many who would safely drive those distances.

I guess if the car wasnt right for him, it had to go

 

[FishFright]

Gridserve dont have the best reputation.

I've had good experience with reliability Ionity and Instavolt rapid chargers

I honestly cant believe a Tesla with 300 mile range is not capable of meeting just about everyone's needs.

300 miles is best part of 6 hours non stop driving at motorway/fast road average speeds.

I dont know many who would safely drive those distances.

I guess if the car wasnt right for him, it had to go

Because once a year people have to drive 301 miles so EV's will never work for them ...

 

[BrumJim]

Because once a year people have to drive 301 miles so EV's will never work for them ...

Without stopping?

 

[FishFright]

Without stopping?

Stopping ? They don't have time to stop ! lol

 

[Beebo]

Because once a year people have to drive 301 miles so EV's will never work for them ...

Exactly this. I’ve had one for 18 months and it’s been fine. The charging network is improving rapidly.
And on the rare occasion I do have to charge away from the home it is usually fast, less than 20 mins to 80%. And the cost is petrol prices. So not actually any worse than before.

 

[Binky]

Late to this thread but I've got a BMW i3S, had it 5 years. Range is pretty low but it's a small car. In the summer I get 160miles if I take it easy.
On a cold day in winter that drops to 130miles.
However, for most of my trips it's fine. Any long journeys we use wife petrol car.

Onto actually subject of thread, I'm thinking it's time for a change but would I get another EV is the question. I didn't get specifically for enviromental reasons etc(they are open to scutiny anyway) more it was very different and quirky.
However nowadays costs of charging going through roof, cars will be road taxed etc so cost benefits are getting less.
As for charging infrastructure, it's getting better but still dire in some areas. Great if you live near a big city with a mega fast hub with lots of chargers. Less so if you live in a quiet rural area etc. Turning up somewhere with 50miles range left in the wet and dark only to find either all chargers occupied or worse OOS is not good!

 

[CXRAndy]

That is one of the reasons why I prefer Tesla. I can set an option to tell the car how much charge I want when I arrive at a destination.

Car works out charging strategy for the journey. I also get informed of how many chargers are available at supercharger points and option to reroute to a more available supercharger location on the route.

This part of Tesla ecosystem makes journeys a breeze and stress free