Choosing an EV

An EV is a great way to cut your carbon footprint, they account for around 2.9 tonnes of CO2 per household per year. They are MUCH more effective at reducing lifetime CO2 than a hybrid.

Here is some advice to help you research which is the best EV for you. This doesn’t replace normal evaluation, such as a test drive and pricing, but should help you with some EV-specific advice.

The EV Database provides information on all current and upcoming EVs in the UK. 

• Click on “more options” near the top right to use filters to narrow down your search
• Click on a car to see the details, some useful statistics include:
  • The real-world range for different driving conditions
  • Charging speeds (how long you will need to wait on a charger for a long journey, they vary quite a bit between EVs)

A Better Route Planner lets you take different EVs for a virtual test drive on the routes you would do. Click on the settings to choose a particular EV and then choose a route. It will show you how long it will take, where you will need to charge and how much the charge will likely cost. You can even try in different weather conditions to see the effect of a cold winter’s day. 

Zap-Map lets you find where there are EV chargers. 

There are lots of EV groups on Facebook, both for specific makes of EV and a great general UK EV owners group. These have answers to lots of questions and are a good place to ask owners about their own experiences. Just remember when looking at the posts that people like to complain more than complement 🙂

Don’t forget there are some great tax incentives for EVs. If you are employed then a salary sacrifice scheme can save both you and your employer money. If they don’t already offer ask them to look into the scheme there are many companies offering this and it works even for SMEs and the public sector. If you own your own company then you can write off the entire value of an EV purchased by the company against tax.

Charging at home, particularly on an EV specific off-peak tariff, can be 1/4 the cost of petrol or diesel.