'I've driven electric vehicles for years, but they're a challenge on the motorway'

Daily Mirror

3 hours ago

Peter Greaves, who goes by the name Petrol Ped online, has been driving electric vehicles for six years and has noticed a few things have changed during that time
Whether it's for environmental concerns or to slash running expenses, there's a multitude of motivations driving people towards electric vehicles.
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One individual with extensive experience behind the wheel of both electric and petrol motors is Peter Greaves, known online as Petrol Ped.
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The automotive content creator has tested numerous electric cars throughout the years and has spotted one major transformation since his inaugural EV drive six years back. It comes after news anyone buying fuel next week given '£15 charge' warning by The AA.
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"The biggest and most obvious thing that's changed in the six years since I first drove an EV vehicle is the infrastructure has improved, although it still has a way to go," he told the Mirror.
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"There are far more publicly available rapid chargers, whether that's at service stations on the motorway or at retail parks, so there is more availability. I guess the flip side of that is there are also more EVs on the road.
"In the early days, you would turn up to a charger and there probably wouldn't be anybody else around and you could just plug in. The challenge then was that it might not work. Nowadays your challenge is you turn up to plug in and there's already a car there charging. That can really throw a spanner in the works on a long journey. But it is getting better," explains Peter.
This development follows Keir Starmer's reinstatement of the 2030 prohibition on new petrol and diesel car sales during a major address earlier this year.
The UK has set itself a goal of installing 300,000 charging points by 2030, ensuring that motorists unable to charge at home can access public EV chargers at various venues including supermarkets, cinemas and roadside locations.
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Nevertheless, public charging typically costs considerably more than home charging.
"I can remember when I first started reviewing EVs, I might have been paying 20 or 30 pence per kilowatt hour on an ultra rapid charger. Now you could be paying 80, 90 pence, maybe even a pound per kilowatt hour. When you're charging in public then the costs go up significantly," said Peter.
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"If you are lucky enough to be able to park off-street and have your own charger at home, then running an EV is a completely different proposition. Every morning you wake up and you'll have charged your car overnight with a cheap rate electric tariff – if you've managed to plan that in with your provider – and you've got a full tank of battery charge and off you go. For most journeys, you're not going to exceed the range of the car each day. I didn't plug into public charging in nine months when I had an electric car."
Peter highlighted the financial hurdles of embracing electric vehicles, pointing out that only recently have more affordable family-sized EVs entered the market.
"It's only really within the last couple of years with the entrance of some brands bringing cars to market that are a family-sized car for £20,000 to £30,000, whereas the traditional luxury brands, their equivalent size cars would maybe be £50,000 to £70,000. So there's an initial barrier to entry for a new car," he explained.
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He also addressed concerns about the longevity and replacement costs of EV batteries, which are often based on misinformation.
"With used cars, people worry about whether the battery is going to be OK, and if it's not they worry about how much it will cost to replace it. The challenge with that is normally based on things that aren't necessarily factually accurate, they've read something on social media about batteries losing all of their energy after two years, needing replacing and costing £20,000. That's actually not born out in reality."
For those considering a second-hand electric vehicle, Peter suggests that there are excellent opportunities available, thanks to the durability of EV batteries: "One of the things we are seeing is batteries lasting a lot longer than even the manufacturers thought. You can run an EV for five years and still have maybe 85-90% of the battery capacity left, which is still going to give you sort of 80-90% of the range that you would have had when that was a new car."
He concluded with a tip for potential buyers, hinting at the current value in the pre-owned EV market: "These second-hand EVs actually at the moment, there's some mega bargains to be had."