Your First Electric Car

Have you been considering taking the plunge into running an electric vehicle, but were not quite sure what it entails? Perhaps you are still put off by thoughts of how you would be able to adapt to driving one, maybe range anxiety or cost are a concern? If you are one of those people who, as someone said to me a few months ago, does “not believe in electric cars” (hey I drive one… I can assure you that they are real!) then probably this article is not for you, but if you would like to know a little about the basics of acquiring and running an electric car, then maybe this could be helpful.

Let’s start with the driving experience. Over the years I have organised several electric car events in the Grand Duchy, typically involving driving a route of 100 km and discovering interesting things about the place we call home, while giving people the opportunity to experience driving a variety of electric vehicles. The first thing I have always asked participants during the pre-event briefings is “who drives manual cars, and who drives automatics”? The difference in driving experience between switching from a manual transmission petrol or diesel car to an automatic is far greater than the difference between switching from an automatic thermic vehicle to an electric… all mainstream electric cars are automatic, and pretty well everything else operates in the same way as a non-electric car. The driving experience in most electric cars is generally hushed, pleasant and relaxed. Additionally, because of the way that electric motors work, the full power of the engine is always available, so the initial throttle response is instant, which is very handy for executing quick overtaking manoeuvres or getting out of a junction.

Another area of concern for many people is recharging, particularly the famous “range anxiety” which seemed to have been on everybody’s lips when they were talking about the disadvantages of electric cars just a few short years ago. Battery technology is advancing rapidly, as are the efficiencies of energy recovery, aerodynamics and electric motors. Thus the typical 100-200km range of the 2010s can now be expected to be anything between 300km and 500km even for every day models, and in some cases over 600km. Additionally, for those people who drive longer distances than the range of their cars (as I do), recharge times are forever reducing, with most cars able to refill from 10% to 80% of ever increasing battery and range capacity in around 30 minutes… just enough time to get a leisurely cup of coffee and use the facilities… or walk the dog. Fast chargers are available at most large motorway service stations in Western Europe and also strategically placed at many other locations. Note though that, frustratingly, very few are actually covered with a roof, so you may get wet or hot depending on the weather while plugging in and activating the charging process. An increasing number of cars is capable of reaching those same recharge figures now in less than fifteen minutes at suitably powerful charging points… if this is a must for you, look out for cars such as many of the Koreans which have 800v charging capacity. Note that energy consumption is expressed in terms of Watt hours per km or, more usually, Kilowatt hours per 100 km. As with their petrol and diesel equivalents, some electric cars consume more, and some less, with perhaps unsurprisingly the heavier and more powerful cars consuming more than the lighter and less powerful ones. For most main brand cars expect a typical official (WLTP) energy consumption of between 14 kWh/100km and 20 kWh/100km. Even at public charging points this equates to roughly 3 kWh per Euro, which means that an electric car that consumes 15 kWh/100km will cost about €5 in energy for those 100 km. This stacks up very well in comparison to similar petrol or diesel vehicles. Of course, charging from home offers even greater savings. Do be aware that winter, or extreme summer, conditions will have a negative effect of up to 25% on available range, although this figure is reducing all the time through heat pump and battery technology improvements. Also it is entirely usual to expect that in normal driving, most people will expect to achieve no more than 75%-80% of the quoted official range of the vehicle. However, in many cases, reasonably careful driving should allow most people to get much closer to, or even exceed, the official figures.

As far as cost is concerned, this is a whole article in itself. However, the principle things to consider are, as always: