Electric Cars

that's been my thoughts on it for a while

You could drive to your local Ikea which has 'refuelling' plug ins, as does our local Toby Carvery (and one or two other local businesses)!  I doubt that many people will actually plug in at home!

I appreciate that 'filling up' is not as rapid as for petrol/diesel cars but I imagine that most people will choose to fill up whilst they are at work/shopping/eating.

You could drive to your local Ikea which has 'refuelling' plug ins, as does our local Toby Carvery (and one or two other local businesses)!  I doubt that many people will actually plug in at home!

I appreciate that 'filling up' is not as rapid as for petrol/diesel cars but I imagine that most people will choose to fill up whilst they are at work/shopping/eating.

For us not practical. We run a 17 year old 1,000cc Yaris that has had one replacement exhaust and second replacement battery last year. A few sets of wipers and probably 8 tyres replaced largely because of age. It does less than 3,000 miles a year.

We also run an 11.5 year old X-Trail that is used mainly when on holiday and taken to shops between times so that it is not sat for too long. As the X-Trail is used for towing and on site for 17 weeks of the year and the CC sites do not have recharge provision seems a non starter. 

We have recharging points all over Central Milton Keynes. I would make the assumption that someone would not be mad enough to buy/lease an electric car unless they had done their homework on how to keep it charged up first? I think I could quite fancy an electric car but would worry that it would be restrictive for longer journeys but for going backwards and forwards in MK it would be ideal. Easy to charge via my garage.

David

Our local Ikea is 65 miles away and our nearest Toby Carvery is 45 miles away... I've seen electric car points whilst away in the van, but never seen one in our local area. So not an option for us... 

If we do use our car for longer trips its for journeys of 200 miles or thereabouts, so again, electric is not an option for us....

There are always those that will talk down changes.

I understand that there are grants and planning exemptions available for installing charging points, should you have the room. The latest electric cars are capable of being recharged in about 20 minutes and this will reduce as improvements to batteries are introduced. I too can foresee cables trailing between house and roadside parked cars but it will simply be more pavement clutter for pedestrians to avoid.

For local commuting, a small electric runabout seems a no-brainer. There is currently no practical solution for heavy load/long distance travel so I shall probably use my trusty Kuga until it drops. The OH's car is good for another eight or nine years, so if we are still breathing then perhaps a 21st century solution will be available for our transport needs.

Far from " Talking Down Changes " ....I am very much in favour of electric vehicles.. However, having just had a look on an online map, our nearest public car charging points are in York, 45 miles away... Fine if you happen to be going that way and assuming the vehicle would get that far, and back perhaps in the dark... 

Until local councils and businesses install sufficient or even some charging points, electric cars will be a non starter in North Yorkshire, along with cable TV and superfast broadband  which have also yet to arrive where we live. ..

At present they have insufficient range for many people but might be ideal for some. Nissan leaf has quotes 124 miles. The 24kwh unit takes 7 hours to reach full charge in a specialised home charge unit or 12 to 15 plugged into mains. 

The 124 miles assumes you don't want to keep the cabin much above ambient temperature and so the range could be greatly reduced in the winter when batteries are less efficient and greater temperature differences are required to be maintained between outside and inside,

Yes there are some charging points on the road that let you obtain an 80% charge in 30 mins it claims.