When do you expect to buy your first electric car?

[ReformedCharacter]

The fun left driving years ago, driving is now just functional. On the vast majority of journeys, attempting to drive faster just means you wait in the next queue of traffic for a few seconds longer because you got to it quicker. The roads are too crowded for what you describe. Not to mention how irresponsible those actions are as well.

Then there is the quality of the roads....

Driverless cars will be the beginning of the end of poor, irresponsible driving on our roads. While these drivers are in a minority, it only takes one idiot to create knock-on problems for others and if you drive a lot you encounter the effects of these idiot actions far too regularly.

For you age profile, I am just starting middle-age.

Quite agree. In my youth I used to be quite an enthusiast particularly for open sports cars which I enjoyed maintaining myself. Those times have passed and I will happily embrace autonomous vehicles. I no longer enjoy driving, in fact I dislike it, I wish I didn't. In the not too distant future non-autonomous cars will seen as quaint things driven by enthusiasts and kept apart from the rest of the vehicle network.

RC

[BobbyD]

WMy intention is to grow old disgracefully.......I'm actually quite looking forward to that. Difficult to see how that can be achieved in a driverless taxi from hell designed and signed off by the Government of the day.

If you can't find something more disgraceful to do in a private cabin than drive badly you need to give your imagination some exercise.

[Howard]

What a truly awful vision of the future you guys are painting.

I love owning, polishing and driving my cars.......I wouldn't want some some fully autonomous robotic taxi ferrying me to the local afternoon Derby and Joan dancing club.....I prefer to drive myself.

Don't you guys enjoy driving ?....top down, wind in your hair, 356bhp, terrorising your local neighbourhood.......how many of you are retired oap's.......perhaps it's an age thing.

Better to ask peoples ages before their opinion on using lectric/driverless cars !

I have to admit like you, Richlist, to enjoying cars and driving, all my life and have been lucky enough to indulge my interest. On retiring, I "invested" some portfolio capital gains in a car with 370bhp and moved on to a mere 345 bhp a few years later. I did look at the environmental impact and justified the cars by working out how much less pollution they would cause than Mrs H and me going on a two week cruise which began in Australia. (Off topic, I know, but the amount of fuel used by jumbo jets taking people on holiday is frankly amazing). So we've never been to Australia but have enjoyed some nice motoring.

However, my wife’s recent BMW 330e was one of my favourite cars ever. The torque from the electric motor was …. “electric”, giving rapid acceleration and it went past speed cameras just as fast as any sports car, but a lot quieter. And at 71 mpg, measured over 11,000 miles it was amazingly economical.

We all face having to give up driving at some stage, but in my early 70s, feel it’s nice to enjoy it while we can. After the 330e, I’d happily be driving an electric car but couldn’t find one which met my requirements with a reasonably short delivery quote. So I’ve leased a petrol BMW (which again is powerful, economical and amazingly quiet) and hope that in three years there will be a range of electric cars to choose from.

regards

Howard

[JohnB]

Thanks for all the responses. I was surprised how even the distribution was across years. I was expecting more responses of the form "I'm going to buy one earlier and take the cost hit for the sake of the planet". As I buy small city cars secondhand, I fear I'll be one of the last to be offered a good deal, just for the size of the box. The VW Up! is an excellent small car, but its electric version is rubbish, £25k and 75 mile winter range. Its probably just as well no-one is planning to buy next year, as availability is poor for nearly all models, which means there won't be a good selection of 3 year old ones in 2022 for me to chose.

Big issue for me is arriving at a friends house/AirBnB and not being able to recharge overnight, as I'm not one to sit in coffee shops at motorway service stations.

[Slarti]

What a truly awful vision of the future you guys are painting.

I love owning, polishing and driving my cars.......I wouldn't want some some fully autonomous robotic taxi ferrying me to the local afternoon Derby and Joan dancing club.....I prefer to drive myself.

Don't you guys enjoy driving ?....top down, wind in your hair, 356bhp, terrorising your local neighbourhood.......how many of you are retired oap's.......perhaps it's an age thing.

Better to ask peoples ages before their opinion on using lectric/driverless cars !

I have always hated washing and polishing cars, while driving has always been a means to an end.

As for top down, wind in my hair, when I had some, no thanks.

Enjoy driving? Well I feel a sense of achievement at having survived another attempt at assault by all of the maniacs on the roads.

I certainly would give up driving in a heartbeat if there were reliable autonomous vehicles available.
The joy of being able to go to a friends BBQ and not have to arm wrestle with Mrs S over who's turn it is to have a drink, or just to be able to go to a country pub for lunch and a couple of pints.

But I don't see that being an option for a good few years. Probably decades.


Electric or not doesn't bother me and to the original question, we currently have 2 petrol cars both over 5 years old. We only change cars when the repairs are going to cost more than the car is worth, so with a bit of luck will only have to flash the cash on a replacement in about 10 years time, at which point it will be all electric and the charging network should be in place.

Slarti

[richlist]

It seems that the majority of contributors on this forum are in favour of electric/ driverless cars. But, virtually all the people I talk to hate the idea of both electric and driverless.

That suggests that either the forum contributors are not representative of the general public .....by virtue of age, lifestyle etc or my diverse cross section of friends and family aren't representitive either.

[tjh290633]

It seems that the majority of contributors on this forum are in favour of electric/ driverless cars. But, virtually all the people I talk to hate the idea of both electric and driverless.

That suggests that either the forum contributors are not representative of the general public .....by virtue of age, lifestyle etc or my diverse cross section of friends and family aren't representitive either.

Maybe those who are potential purchaserrs of electric cars have self-selected.

Perhaps there should have been a "Never" option in the poll? That's as well as the final current offer.

TJH

[JohnB]

I didn't put in a Never option as it has too many reasons. people who don't drive, expect to have given up driving by then, petrolheads etc. To get a feel for adoption in 2028 I'd be more interested in people as they are now viewing technology as it will be then rather than taking the perspective of their greying future selves.

All the people I know who've bought electric so far have done so as second cars. But a poll about single car household adoption would get too complicated.

[Slarti]

It seems that the majority of contributors on this forum are in favour of electric/ driverless cars. But, virtually all the people I talk to hate the idea of both electric and driverless.

That suggests that either the forum contributors are not representative of the general public .....by virtue of age, lifestyle etc or my diverse cross section of friends and family aren't representitive either.

I know quite a number of people who hate the idea of either driver-less and/or electric, but I know more who are in favour of both as many of those can't drive. I'd say about 25% of my son's circle of 30 something friends have never passed their driving tests for one reason or another.

When this was discussed when there was a gathering of about 15 of them at my house, all but 2 were in favour of electric, or at least not against it while just over half like the idea of driver-less, for various reasons. I would suspect that a higher proportion of city kids would like driver-less to be available than the ones out here in the sticks.

Slarti

[richlist]

People who don't drive still need transport so, it's perfectly reasonable for non drivers to see driverless cars as a benefit.

I know very few people who don't currently drive so, my sample reflects the opinion of drivers. I should think the original question was intended to be aimed at drivers as I suspect it's quite unusual for a non driver to buy any car.

[tjh290633]

People who don't drive still need transport so, it's perfectly reasonable for non drivers to see driverless cars as a benefit.

I know very few people who don't currently drive so, my sample reflects the opinion of drivers. I should think the original question was intended to be aimed at drivers as I suspect it's quite unusual for a non driver to buy any car.

I know one who has given up, but now uses a battery-powered buggy. OK for tottering round near her home, as she is severely asthmatic.

I doubt that many of the elderly would go in a driverless car. Who would help them in and out, and carry the shopping to the door?

TJH

[scotia]

Myself and my wife are into our seventies, and both of us have modest cars of one and two years old which have economical (50-60mpg) 1 litre, 95-125ps, turbo petrol engines. In total we drive around 20,000 miles per annum, often for several hundred miles in a day, and sometimes in remote, sparsely populated areas. The current generation of purely Electric Cars are totally impractical for our purposes. Probably in around 10 years time we will be looking for replacements, or possibly be deciding that the time has come for us to stop driving. I suppose a small Electric Car for dotting about in may fit the bill - and I suspect that by that time a self driving car may be a safer solution that relying on our failing reaction times.
I would expect that over the next 10 years Electric Car technology will improve substantially and capital costs may drop, but there will still remain fundamental economic problems. The government can't possibly manage without the current fuel tax, and will need to transfer this burden to Electric Cars. And where is all the increased electricity generation going to come from? And who is going to pay for the upgrading of the electricity distribution network to supply the much increased power requirements for at-home recharging?

[JohnB]

Apparently the National Grid have no problems with capacity provided recharging is done mostly off-peak. Of course this is currently overnight, but could mean in the middle of a sunny day, or a windy spell. That battery stock is very attractive for smoothing out the lumpy renewable generation, and there is a nirvana for those with driveways where your car and house work symbiotically with the grid, with old packs re purposed as house heating systems. I do think Electricity taxes will need to rise a lot, perhaps not just full VAT, but an extra power tax to combat the huge greenhouse warming costs coming.

[UncleEbenezer]

I voted Other because my answer is never to buy/own an electric car.

I fully expect in the next 5-10 years that I will be using some sort of on-demand driver-less car service which may run as an electric vehicle but it I will order it like a taxi via an app (eg how Uber works now)

That's my expectation too. The rise of autonomous and electric vehicles may well be happening in parallel. There are reasons they should work well together: the business model works nicely based on depots in low-cost but well-connected sites with custom power infrastructure, where recharging takes place alongside cleaning and maintenance, all with economies of scale.

I currently drive an 11 year old car and if it requires replacing, it will be with some sort of cheap stop-gap car(petrol or diesel) until the above service is available. As I currently do less than 5k miles a year I suspect I'll be able to get a lot of trips out of an on-demand service for around £1k, which it roughly what my current car is in fixed costs(MOT, Tax, Service, Insurance, wear & tear) every year.

I last drove any car in 2005 (and that was a white van hired to move house). As I get older and more feeble, I look forward to being able to summon one to order.

BTW, went to Lidl on Friday, mid-morning. Shop was busy, but their charging point was sitting unused as I passed it, both on the way in and again on the way out. On that data point, there's not too much pressure on supply!

[UncleEbenezer]

It seems that the majority of contributors on this forum are in favour of electric/ driverless cars. But, virtually all the people I talk to hate the idea of both electric and driverless.

That suggests that either the forum contributors are not representative of the general public .....by virtue of age, lifestyle etc or my diverse cross section of friends and family aren't representitive either.

Well, it *could* be that you surround yourself with petrolheads. But probably more a social phenomenon. Most people want to fit in, and won't disagree with a consensus (real or perceived) unless they feel strongly about something. And most people haven't given this matter so much thought as to feel strongly about it.

It might also say something about you. If people who know you think (rightly or wrongly) it would be a waste of time to discuss this with you, then what you're getting is what people think you expect. That could happen to anyone from a diehard petrolhead to an evangelist for change: your views are "known", so why bother?

[bungeejumper]

BTW, went to Lidl on Friday, mid-morning. Shop was busy, but their charging point was sitting unused as I passed it, both on the way in and again on the way out. On that data point, there's not too much pressure on supply!

Don't mean to sound classist, but our local Lidl car park is full of clapped-out Mondeos and 15 year old micro-cars. I bet the charging point at Waitrose is busy.

BJ

[Slarti]

BTW, went to Lidl on Friday, mid-morning. Shop was busy, but their charging point was sitting unused as I passed it, both on the way in and again on the way out. On that data point, there's not too much pressure on supply!

Don't mean to sound classist, but our local Lidl car park is full of clapped-out Mondeos and 15 year old micro-cars. I bet the charging point at Waitrose is busy.

BJ

I don't use our local Lidl, mainly because I then have to go over the road to Tesco to finish the shop, but as I round the roundabout to turn into Tesco I can often see a car or 2 at the charge point.

Mind you, they are the only public charging points that I am aware of in Maldon.

Slarti

[richlist]

Do you have to pay to use the car charger at Lidl ? or at the motorway services ?

[dspp]

It seems that the majority of contributors on this forum are in favour of electric/ driverless cars. But, virtually all the people I talk to hate the idea of both electric and driverless.

That suggests that either the forum contributors are not representative of the general public .....by virtue of age, lifestyle etc or my diverse cross section of friends and family aren't representitive either.

Well, it *could* be that you surround yourself with petrolheads. But probably more a social phenomenon. Most people want to fit in, and won't disagree with a consensus (real or perceived) unless they feel strongly about something. And most people haven't given this matter so much thought as to feel strongly about it.

It might also say something about you. If people who know you think (rightly or wrongly) it would be a waste of time to discuss this with you, then what you're getting is what people think you expect. That could happen to anyone from a diehard petrolhead to an evangelist for change: your views are "known", so why bother?

The petrolheads I know rave about Teslas. One has even bought one and is practically in love with it. His view is that for <£100k new ** he gets performance that otherwise he would have to spend >£250k new to obtain in a car*, plus he gets autopilot into the bargain, plus cheap motoring. He does a lot of miles by the way.

regards, dspp

* Organ donor territory on a bike is another matter.
** I suspect he actually spent about £50k as it was second hand.

[richlist]

The general public, and most of my friends/family aren't in the market to spend £100K on an electric car. Mr average won't be spending £50K/£60K on a car anytime soon either.

Perhaps that's got something to do with their objection to them.....along with the fact that they are not to old to drive. Neither are they approaching an age when they will be to old to drive in 10 or 20 years time. They all enjoy driving themselves but are happy to get a taxi occasionally when circumstances make sense.