So glad we made the switch to electric
AFTER A convincing test drive, Bruce was captivated by the Tesla S — and bought one, following much financial negotiation. It was much more expensive than his Jaguar, but five years and 80,000 miles later he is still delighted with it. What he especially enjoys is the vivid acceleration, making overtaking quicker and safer. He also enjoys the built-in control of speed and steering, but never relies on them. He always remains in complete control.
Battery life was expected to deteriorate over the years, down to about 80 per cent by five years, but in fact his has lasted much better and is still up to 90 per cent on full charge.
Long journeys call for a bit of planning as there might not be enough range to cover 100 miles and still have enough to get back. That and the high cost are the only things he has against the electric car; but with the steady increase in the number of fast charging points, life has become easier.
As one of the earliest Tesla buyers he benefited from the free charge available at many designated charge points such as the one at Sainsbury’s in Winchester. But for later buyers that free option has ended.
With the threatened reduction in the Government’s subsidy for electric car purchase, Bruce quickly purchased a second one for his wife, this time a Tesla Model 3. She is delighted with it and appreciates the prompt getaway from rest which helps when joining a dual carriageway with very short slip roads. She chose the Tesla with extended range of more than 300 miles and has just made her first long journey from Newbury to Pangbourne and then across to Cambridge and managed to cover the 280 miles without an intermediate charge. By the time she returned home, the remaining capacity was down to 17 miles.
Having two electric cars in the family, they need two charge points. This was easily arranged, and when both cars are plugged in the output is automatically halved to avoid overloading the system.
Andrew and Rachel, living in Oxfordshire, sold their Škoda Oktavia and took a Nissan Leaf on long-term lease, so no worries about battery life. On the plus side they say it is saving them a fortune. Each full charge from home costs about £6, or £12 at a charging station. Instead of about £150 a month on diesel for the Škoda they are now spending about £60 on electric charges for the same mileage as before.
On the other side of the Leaf is range anxiety. They find the range on full charge is more like 120 miles than the 160 claimed, but after that it’s time for a rest anyway. On the one or two occasions when Rachel has gone ‘very close to the edge’ she had to slow right down and not use the heating to be able to limp back home on the remaining three per cent. Finding a place to charge is a slight problem, and having no driveway at home they have bought a simple rubber cable mat and run the charge cable across the pavement without fear of tripping anyone up. On the road, the app Zap-Map shows where charging points are and whether they are out of order or in use.
What is specially enjoyed with the electric car is the silence. In summary they say: “We would not go back to petrol/diesel unless we had to.”
We would not go back to petrol/diesel unless we had to’