Pro's and con's for buying an electric vehicle

Even an EV with a greater range, isn't likely to be suitable for a family, who may also want it to go on holiday. Which for us to Scotland and Cornwall is over 300 miles. Or perhaps to visit family members at the other end of the country. 

OK for those who can afford to run two cars, but not if it is your only vehicle. Until these charging points get a little more prolific, on a run to Scotland you could find yourself waiting in line for a charge. 

I am sure the time will come, when the above concerns are no longer relevant but it is likely to be quite a few years in the future.

Steve,  a good EV will get you anywhere, topping up with any type of fuel is much the same. Just a different mind set required. 

When I was working an EV with a range of say 180 miles and room to carry levels, theodolites, staff, maybe some roll up road signs might have suited with a second car for towing except I suppose OH would not want to drive the larger car. 

Wonder what it is like around Kinlochewe? 

That might be the case in the future, even for a lot of the country the case now. However, as more folk get them using one of  the 3 charging points, at say Michael Wood services on the M5, will be like getting into Chatsworth at a Bank holiday. I have no great confidence that supply of charging points will keep up with demand, at least in the short term.

The Nissan Leaf which a family might use claims 155 miles on a charge with the big battery. That's under laboratory conditions of course. If those are anything like the petrol equivalent, a family loaded up to go on holiday can expect, perhaps 120 miles. So two charges on the way to Cornwall, of approx 40 minutes each. That I agree is easily achieved if you can get on a charger. However, no mindset in the world is going to help in August when the queue is perhaps 5 vehicles long. So only a 200 minute wait.☹️

As town cars and short journey vehicles they are fine and I would certainly consider one as a second car, if I was thinking of replacing. However, for an everyday family runabout in a one car family. That's still  several years in the future.

topping up with any type of fuel is much the same. Just a different mind set required.

Quite a different mind-set! 

I have the idea of taking on fuel in less than 10 minutes including payment that will take me at least 450 miles. That could be achieved with an electric vehicle with six refuel stops of at least a half hour each.

As was pointed out somewhere further up the thread, hanging about bored waiting for charge will probably end up including some coffees and cakes, which for even two people can leave little change out of a tenner - each time. 

Perhaps Costa/Starbucks/etc may decide to include free electric vehicle charging points as a way to boost sales. It's just a different mind-set.

A rapid charge is about 15 mins or less Steve, depending on how much you want to top up. I can only give you the experience we have, remembering that people queue for petrol when things are busy etc etc.

We are very happy with our purchase, what more can I say....and we're not put off by adverse comments from non EV users at all. 

Not for the Nissan Leaf or even the Smart. There may be cars out there that can do it in 15 minutes but I suspect they are the more expensive ones.

Nissan state 30 minutes for the small battery, that's for an 80% charge. So about 40 minutes as I put for the large battery. You would need two 80% charges to reach Cornwall from where we live. The Smart with its smaller battery can be charged 80% in 20 minutes according to the Smart website, but we would need to charge a minimum of 3 times on the way to Cornwall.

Even 15 minutes a charge would be excessive if you were in a queue of 5,  which might of course include some slower charging models. I don't think I have ever queued more than 10 minutes for fuel.

I am pleased you are happy with your purchase and am certainly not anti EV. However I believe you said yours has a range extender, which is a totally different scenario when one starts to consider the longer journeys I have outlined.

The Smart with its smaller battery can be charged 80% in 20 minutes according to the Smart website

I read 45 mins for their 2018 model which is the same as Malc quoted.

Thanks ET you are correct. I was confused. The 20 minutes was just for a quick top up, not the full 80%