Electric Cars

BoroMart

Well-known member
Anyone on here with experience of owning an electric car. Looking for feedback particularly on a Tesla 3, but I'm also looking at the Mustang Mach-e but no one will have one of those yet.

I'm particularly interested in real world battery life and your experience of finding charging points and time to charge.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
I had a leaf, my mate has a Tesla. If you have a house that you can charge from you won’t ever have any issues about charging unless you really regularly do 400 miles per day. Home charging is what is so different from petrol. Go for it.
 
Agree on the above. If you can charge from home you only have to worry about charging for really long trips. And if you have a Tesla you don't even need to worry about that thanks to the supercharger network. That being said I no longer have home charging and I don't find a problem. I have chargers near home and work so tend to just stick it on and get to 80% and then run it to around 15% before I charge again. I honestly never notice I have an EV because it has a range of 300 miles so if I'm on a long trip I just charge to 100% before I set off. I can get back to me mams on that and that's up the entire East of England! To put it another way my battery in my car has significantly long range than my bladder. You'll never even notice you have an EV if you only do small trips. Then again if you only do small trips you should not get either car you mention.

If you really are trying to decide between those two it probably comes down to two things: are you really worried about range or do other things like vehicle build quality matter more? If you're concerned about range the Tesla model 3 is a long range king and has its own, much more reliable charging network.

However... even though I don't like SUVs and the Mustang is one, I kind of wish I had waited. From videos the interior of the Mach-e looks better. More traditional car and less "upstairs in an apple store" spartan reliance on technology and nothing else. I also assume the mustang will be better built than a Tesla. They couldn't even fit the door on mine properly. That being said, most Model 3s in this country now are made in China and the build quality is said to have improved a lot. Which, sadly, it would have to.

Have you considered a hyundai Kona or kie e Niro? You'll sacrifice performance over a model 3 but have similar range and pay A LOT less
 
My driving pattern is complicated. Assuming some normality in the next 3 years then it depends where I'm working. WFH then I do 10 miles a day driving kids about. Working in London about the same to the station and back. Working away from home then could be up to 300 mile round trip every week. I have no idea which of those will be prevalent going forward so I need the option for all of them.

Weekends, I take kids footy training, so I do maybe up to 50 mile round trips for away game. I need enough boot space for 15 footballs, cones, bibs, first aid kit etc.

Weekends, I need space for a decent size telescope and mount, which is maybe the size of a large suitcase and a couple of medium ones.

Not sure the e-niro or kona will be big enough sadly.

Longer journeys, I usually do home (Kent) to Stockton 3 times a year, but with my daughter starting at Durham Uni you can probably double that next year.
 
My driving pattern is complicated. Assuming some normality in the next 3 years then it depends where I'm working. WFH then I do 10 miles a day driving kids about. Working in London about the same to the station and back. Working away from home then could be up to 300 mile round trip every week. I have no idea which of those will be prevalent going forward so I need the option for all of them.

Weekends, I take kids footy training, so I do maybe up to 50 mile round trips for away game. I need enough boot space for 15 footballs, cones, bibs, first aid kit etc.

Weekends, I need space for a decent size telescope and mount, which is maybe the size of a large suitcase and a couple of medium ones.

Not sure the e-niro or kona will be big enough sadly.

Longer journeys, I usually do home (Kent) to Stockton 3 times a year, but with my daughter starting at Durham Uni you can probably double that next year.
Than you do need a model 3 sized car. Try out the boot on the Mona though. EV always have more room than ICE vehicles. The drivetrains are way smaller and boots are deeper due to no fuel tank. Also bear in mind the Tesla is a saloon not a hatchback like the others.

I'm torn here. I would hesitate to recommend a Tesla because the build quality is so bad and it's much vaunted software can be terrible. For example the famous over the air updates in the last year have broken more than they have fixed. And unlike every other car company they use AI rather than traditional sensors for things like auto main beam and auto wipers. The consequence of this being those things are useless and unusable.

All that being said. It is a comfortable car. The performance is superb and battery tech is strong so it has great range and the only reliable long distance charging network in the country currently. Although more standard fast chargers are always appearing.
 
Thanks, I wondered if the 'build quality' was a fair criticism aimed at Tesla, but seems to be.

The charging network is a concern on the Mustang side, I'll have to do a little digging into what chargers they can use and what the plans are to build more. I'd prefer a hatchback as I can get the dog in, but not at the expense of having range issues due to charging points 🤷‍♂️
 
Thanks, I wondered if the 'build quality' was a fair criticism aimed at Tesla, but seems to be.

The charging network is a concern on the Mustang side, I'll have to do a little digging into what chargers they can use and what the plans are to build more. I'd prefer a hatchback as I can get the dog in, but not at the expense of having range issues due to charging points 🤷‍♂️
The mustang uses CCS chargers which are pretty much the standard, especially with the high powered 50 kW and above. Can you charge from home? If so then you don't need to worry about chargers within a 200 mile radius of your house. Only ones on your regular routes. I can't stress enough how charging from home is a game changer. In my old flat I literally never had to refuel my car outside of either my home or my mums. This is something often overlooked with EVs. Everyone is obsessed with charging but if you can charge from home it isn't even a thing. You refuel overnight and don't even think about fueling ever.

And yes, build quality of the Tesla is poor I'm afraid. I kind of like the car. I have the performance version so it has insane speed and even decent handling. The only issue with it is that the doors fall off.
 
Yeah, I've got a drive, so home charging won't be a problem.
If I were you I'd go for the Mach e. You'll be jealous of the Tesla supercharger network for probably the rest of this year but with gridserve looking like they'll fix the problems with motorway chargers (ecotricity chargers are garbage and they have the M road contract) then you'll get less and less worried about superchargers. The mach e is hatchback practical, looks OK for an SUV. Isn't exactly slow and probably won't need rebooting every month!
 
A couple of friends have gone electric. One bought a 6 year old Leaf and loves it, got an Outlander PHEV for longer journeys, even though the Leaf managed Tyneside-Keswick and back.

A relative has a Tesla Model S and insists it needs charging halfway between Glasgow and Tyneside each way. Either they gave him Kodak AAA batteries, or it's being driven like a racecar, surely.

How much does weight affect range? A university sized load could just be something that hammers the economy of any electric car, no matter what you get.
 
A couple of friends have gone electric. One bought a 6 year old Leaf and loves it, got an Outlander PHEV for longer journeys, even though the Leaf managed Tyneside-Keswick and back.

A relative has a Tesla Model S and insists it needs charging halfway between Glasgow and Tyneside each way. Either they gave him Kodak AAA batteries, or it's being driven like a racecar, surely.

How much does weight affect range? A university sized load could just be something that hammers the economy of any electric car, no matter what you get.
The last bit what is what I'd be interested in. I'd definitely replace our small car with electric, but at the moment we also have a diesel estate which carries camping stuff, roof box, bikes etc. Is there a viable electric option to replace that?
 
The Tesla 3 Long Range will do nearly 300 miles without charging according to some car reviews if driven carefully and is supposed to be to best electric car for long range driving. The catch is its over £47,000 - the price of a terraced house in Middlesbrough. The UK Government has rightly withdrawn the £3k grant on this car. Its one for the better off in Society.
 
I’ve got a self charging hybrid - best of both worlds, I have only put fuel in it 5 times since last August when I bought it.
 
The last bit what is what I'd be interested in. I'd definitely replace our small car with electric, but at the moment we also have a diesel estate which carries camping stuff, roof box, bikes etc. Is there a viable electric option to replace that?
I think there is one thing we need to clear up. I know everyone asking questions about an electric car is interested in range and refuelling but just for clarity having a heavy load and a roof box will affect the range of any vehicle, diesel, hydrogen fuel cell, battery electric or powered by pedaling your feet Flintstone style.

So yes, any small electric vehicle will do the same job as the same sized ICE vehicle. Roof boxes will effect the range and I'd worry about putting one on my model three due to the all glass roof. Internal weight might surprise you. As it stands al EV bar the Mini are ridiculously heavy. So carrying a big internal load isn't as much of a relative increase in total weight as it would be in an equivalent ICE.

@jeff_potato : maybe your relative is an early adaptor? A model s 60d or 75d probably wouldn't have that great a range. But they discontinued them a long time ago. A modern model S can do 400 miles on a single charge
 
The Tesla 3 Long Range will do nearly 300 miles without charging according to some car reviews if driven carefully and is supposed to be to best electric car for long range driving. The catch is its over £47,000 - the price of a terraced house in Middlesbrough. The UK Government has rightly withdrawn the £3k grant on this car. Its one for the better off in Society.
If you can afford it, the lr with a performance boost will give you a superfast longrange cruiser. For long journeys teslas supercharger network makes them the King's but the rest of the world is catching up. In a country with decent 300kw chargers the porsche taycan is already better than anything Tesla can manage.
 
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