Currently reading: Ultimate EV guide: The big questions answered
How green exactly is an EV? Are there enough public chargers? We answer the questions that keep would-be EV buyers up at night

Got a question about buying an EV? Never fear, as Steve Cropley has the answers. So read on to find out just how eco-friendly an electric car really is, whether you need to worry about range and much more. 

EV guide part one: every electric car rated | EV guide part two: how to buy a used electric car

Is it true that the total cost of an EV is currently greater than of an equivalent petrol or diesel car?

Yes, mostly due to the high initial cost of the vehicle. The entry-level Volkswagen ID 3 costs around £37,000; an equivalent 1.0-litre turbo petrol Golf undercut that by around £12,000. But it has to be remembered that the resale prices of EVs are high now and likely to remain so, while the pricing gap between the ICE and EV is narrowing all the time.

Meanwhile, the fuelling costs of an EV are substantially lower. EDF Energy says that, based on an average electricity cost of 34p per kWh, a Nissan Leaf or a Kia e-Niro costs about £9 per 100 miles, compared with more like £14 per 100 miles for a 40mpg petrol equivalent. In a 12,000-mile year, assuming no further hikes in tariffs, that puts the cost of the electric ID3  at a shade over £1,000, whereas the petrol Volkswagen Golf will cost more like £1750.

On top of that, you save big time on company car tax, road tax and, if you’re a Londoner, the ULEZ fee and the congestion charge (just raised from £11.50 per visit to £15). Tesla says that for inner-city commuting, this amounts to £576 per month, or an enormous £27,627 over four years.

Batteries degrade, don't they? If so, how quickly?

9 Battery

The jury is still out on this one, but the general feeling is that automotive traction batteries degrade slower than owners and manufacturers initially feared. Some early, high-mileage Nissan Leafs and Renault Zoes are showing battery degradation, but later cars are resisting this better. Many regular users are pleasantly surprised. Having said that, the battery is the most expensive component in any current EV, and if it were to need replacing after eight or 10 years, it’s doubtful that the car would justify an investment of up to £5000 to £10,000. There are ways of prolonging battery life – such as not fully charging every time – which help.

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Tesla, a consistent technology leader, is about to introduce what it labels a longer-lasting “million-mile battery” in China-built Model 3s and others later. This also has a lower content of cobalt, the battery’s priciest chemical constituent. So the technology is moving rapidly the right way.

Will I still suffer range anxiety?

Apologies for this, but yes and no. If you buy a short-range city car like the Volkswagen e-up and set out for Glasgow, stopping every 120 miles will be a bind, especially if all the chargers are occupied when you get there. A growing factor may also be ‘charge-point anxiety’.

But if you have a longer-range EV with rapid-charging capability – and importantly, if you remember to leave town with the battery fully charged – you’ll have much less trouble. There are many EVs with viable 250-mile ranges, and a few will do 300 miles or more. Tesla is the best case: its Supercharger network is very strategically placed and their ‘pumps’ are plentiful. It’s not difficult to find Tesla owners of many years standing who have never had a problem with charging.

Okay, but I can't afford a Tesla. What will the charging infrastructure be like for me?

8 Tesla superchargers

At present, the answer to this question almost depends on what version of the truth suits you. The charging network for non-Teslas is patchy and needs much improvement, yet EV zealots furiously insist that running an electric car is practical and fun. The story seems to be that it can work fine if you have the facility to charge at or near home and you’re the kind of person who can think ahead.

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Problems occur if you expect, as owners of petrol and diesel cars do, that refuelling will look after itself. But there are many positive signs. A British business, City EV, is fitting 3kW charging points to lamp posts in Brighton. The biggest operator of charging points in Europe, BP Chargemaster, has taken to opening multi-point rapid-charging stations, Tesla-style, in key locations. Another progressive business, Ionity, is building a network of 350kW rapid chargers on Europe’s arterial roads. And the dozens of charger providers in the UK are now refining their procedures so that casual users can operate units via smartphone apps or bank cards rather than needing to be members.

Even naysayers agree that the situation will get better, because it has to do so if the majority of cars sold come 2032 are electric, as is presently the plan. But for now there’s no substitute for planning ahead, and there are numerous apps, such as Zap-Map and Plugsurfing, to help with that.

If I buy an EV, will I really be helping to reduce CO2 emissions?

It’s well known that an EV powertrain produces no CO2 in its operation, which is a good start. Unfortunately, though, battery production can be very CO2-intensive, so your EV is never likely to be entirely blameless. Research by the ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation) suggests that an electric car with a medium-sized battery would have a permanent CO2 cost of around 35g/km (or worse if the battery were very large), giving it a useful rather than huge advantage over the latest strain of modern turbodiesel engines. Other research is more damning still. The guidelines seem to be to buy a car with a modest-size battery, to choose a plug-in hybrid if you need to do lots of longer journeys and (if possible) to ensure your battery manufacturer was using renewable energy for the production job.

I've heard that EVs are harder and more expensive to recycle than ordinary cars. Is this true?

7 Recycling

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They are, and it’s all down to the battery. This consists of many small and delicate individual cells that contain both precious and toxic materials. The science of recycling is developing fast, because it has to, given the value locked up even in a depleted battery. The batteries themselves are being designed for easier end-of-life recycling and specialist recyclers are developing techniques to streamline the work. What’s more, there’s a worldwide move to delay the recycling of end-of-life car batteries and instead use them to make up much larger battery banks that store, for example, wind-power generated overnight when demand is low so that it can be deployed when the need arises, or even in the home where properties with solar panels can capture otherwise lost renewable energy for use later.

READ MORE

Ultimate EV guide: Every electric car rated 

Ultimate EV guide: How to buy a used EV 

New electric cars 2020: What’s coming and when?

Top 10 best electric cars 2020 

Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back. 

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

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Carmad3 24 December 2021

Tesla new battery cost? Apparently a tesla owner had to replace his battery after only 9 years and it cost him a whopping £17,000!!!!!!!! Yes that is right £17,000 I will never buy an EV until they can match my diesel Seat Leon. 70 mpg and zero road tax brilliant

289 18 November 2020

EV bla EV bla bla bla!

Man, I am bored of all this EV crap. five out of nine headlines on this website all EV related.....and for what over priced (pseudo) green tech - flawed tech which has a short shelf life as a mode of transport. Ugly, vomit inducing, freaky looking milk carts which have all the carisma/desirability  of a washing machine.

I just dont get it....never will. I dont care if that makes me a dinosaur or out of step, I am (and always will be) a petrolhead and V8 fanatic. My chosen method of transport in a free world. I dont get i phones either - overpriced re marketed junk!

Carmad3 24 December 2021

Agreed EVs are nowhere near being a viable alternative for the vast majority of us. Real drivers will never buy this impractical, overpriced, milk floats.

runnerbean 18 November 2020

Zap-map has proved so desperately inaccurate . .

 . . . that I've given up using it.

In any case, Tesla Superchargers are all I need.  Other EV manufacturers may be catching up slightly with Tesla's efficiency ratios but the charging networks their cars use remain at least five years behind Tesla's. 

And Steve, if you accept that whole life cost is the only correct metric, and apply that, the Tesla Model 3 is cheaper to own and run than any equivalent ICE-engined vehicles.

Carmad3 24 December 2021

Did you factor in the replacement battery cost? If you didn't then be ready for a £17,000 bill after about nine years use.