Monday 26 February 2018

Would you buy an Electric car?


At the moment the weather is just uncontrollable. We are entering the week where we are expecting the dreaded “Beast from the East” and yet last week was a mix between sunny days and raining. As many of you know we like to go out on little day trips out this can often be a problem with my disability and knowing when I will be safe or not. Since the worry that I may need a wheelchair after a day trip out I have been using either that or my mobility scooter. Both for me make our family adventures safe and help the environment rather than travelling everywhere by car.
I travel a fair bit since dating Hannah. The journey from Kent to Cornwall is around 300 miles and being a sensible driver, and again kinder to the environment, I take my time and stop at several of the service stations along the way. What I have been seeing more and more are the electric car charge points such as NewMotion Chargepoint.

I park up and rest and look on with envy at the drivers using these cars. The thought of it has been going through my mind every time I see one so much that I have looked and actually seen the real benefits to getting one on the environment.
The electricity to charge a car works out around a third as much per kilometre as buying petrol for the same vehicle and with that statistics suggest that they need far less servicing then petrol fuelled cars.

For me the main aim would be for the environment.
Less pollution: By choosing to drive an electric car you are helping to reduce harmful air pollution from exhaust emissions; electric cars create zero exhaust emissions.

Renewable energy: If you use renewable energy to recharge, you can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions even further.  You could recharge from your solar PV system during the day instead of from the grid. 
Eco-friendly materials: There is also a trend towards more eco-friendly production and materials. The Ford Focus Electric is made up of recycled materials and the padding is made out of bio based materials. The Nissan Leaf’s interior and bodywork are partly made out of green materials such as recycled water bottles, plastic bags, old car parts and even second hand home appliances.

I even considered it against www.motor-DOCTOR.co.uk which you can see here.

At the moment all I can do is take advantage of my electric mobility scooter and my manual wheelchair when it is possible and the weather permits. However, next year is the chance for me to upgrade my car within the motability scheme and I will definitely be keeping these in mind then! Along with helping the environment it will mean I can go out through all types of weather.
What do you think of electric cars? Would you get one? What would the appeal be for you?

2 comments:

Plutoniumsox.com said...

Yep, I think they're really appealing. I'd also look into a hybrid when we next upgrade.
Nat.x

JOhn Adams said...

Oh I absolutely would get an electric car. Tricky for doing 300 mile journeys as even a top of the range Tesla can only do about 200 miles, but if you use a charging point, should be doable. I test drove five electric cars in five days last year. They were all superb in their own way. Really opened my eyes to how far the technology has come along.