Rileybobs wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:38 am
Not sure it's a rich/poor issue, you can get a brand new electric car for under £8k. You're absolutely right that they are suited to some people and not to others though. What is pathetic though is the desperate attempts to discredit electric vehicles based on blatant lies and misrepresentation of statistics like wrongo and some others have done. I don't understand what drives people to do that, what's their agenda?
The fact of the matter is that at the moment they are just too expensive compared to their petrol or diesel counterparts.
Look at “entry” level cars for example - like minis, clios, Corsa etc. The electric versions were (I’ve not checked for a year or so) were all being sold for very similar prices of around £27k. The range and the spec on these cars is not great either.
If you want to step up to an Audi, Mercedes or equivalent then you are jumping up another 30k / 40k at least and again these cars whilst the range is better are much more expensive than their diesel and petrol equivalents.
The used car market mirrors these differences too.
As pointed out the majority of people I know who are getting electric cars are those doing it through their work scheme and the prime reason being the tax advantages. The feedback people I know invariably give me is that they are good to drive but that firstly it is a bit of a faff recharging and secondly they all say that the actual range they are getting on their car is quite a bit less than those advertised.
Until prices come down, charging point infrastructure is improved and the cars are improved then the uptake of electric cars will not be at the rate that some expected.
Petrol and diesel will be around for many more years to come….which personally disappoints me as this was a big opportunity to change things quicker than they seem to be.
And I’m not being negative about electric cars at all - it’s just my personal view that we could be in a better position than we are.