8 Things You Should Know Before You Buy an Electric Car

People are becoming increasingly curious about electric cars and it's easy to understand why when you look at how high the price of petrol is at the moment. But electric cars were gaining traction way before recent global events. They've been increasing in quality too. This is what makes them more and more attractive to consumers. There's also a growing number of different models available on the market and electric vehicles are more accessible than ever. If you are thinking of buying an electric vehicle shortly, here are some of the things you should know first.

Grants and Benefits

The first thing you should know is that there is a variety of incentives for people who want to buy electric vehicles because of their lower carbon emissions. You could get as much as £2500 back on your electric vehicle purchase depending on the type with the plug-in vehicle grant, so we suggest that you check what the criteria of eligibility are right now and factor this in when you’re shopping.

New or Used?

Another thing you should consider is whether you should get the vehicle used or new. This is a simpler question with a regular vehicle but not with an electric one. This is because electric vehicles do not depreciate at the same rate as fuel-powered cars.

There are many reasons for this. For one, a lot of people prefer buying a new electric vehicle so it can be under warranty and not have to worry about major repairs. Some people don’t even think about buying a used electric vehicle since they don’t want to run the risk of buying one with a major defect or issue.

Another reason why used electric vehicles are not as popular as used regular vehicles is that they can get outdated pretty quickly and people would rather have a vehicle with all the latest features and capabilities, especially when it comes to range.

That doesn’t mean that buying a used EV is always a bad idea, however. Since these vehicles depreciate so fast, this also means that you can get a fairly recent vehicle with decent features at a very affordable price. The trick here is to buy it just at the right time. It would be wise to buy a vehicle that is still under warranty so that you’ll be covered and sell it right before the warranty expires or soon after.

Should You Lease the Vehicle?

Leasing an electric vehicle is another option that not many people consider, but it could make a lot of sense. We would even argue that it makes more sense than leasing a regular vehicle in many cases. You’ll never have to worry about replacing major components on the vehicle. You also won’t have to worry about residual value when you’re done with the car. And you’ll always have a recent vehicle with all the latest features.

If you want to know more about electric car leasing, you should check out ElectriX. This is a great resource on anything related to electric cars. You'll learn everything from how much you can expect to pay on a lease and some of the pros and cons of leasing this type of vehicle. There is also a handy quiz that you can take that will let you know if an electric car is truly for you.

How Much Range Do You Really Need?

A lot of people get obsessed with range when they start looking for electric vehicles, but there's no reason to be. Most vehicles these days will allow you to go for well over 150 miles on a single charge. The only type of people who should worry about the range is those who routinely do long trips even though you could organise your trips so you can get a quick charge whenever you can. But, in most cases, EVs are not recommended for this type of driver.

Consider Charging Time

One thing that all-electric car buyers should check, however, is how fast the vehicle they want to get will charge. You should also know that the charger you pick will make a big difference here. A vehicle could take 24 hours to be fully charged if you use a slow 2kw charger and only take about an hour to be charged if you go with something like a 50kw fast charger. So, we suggest that you look into buying a fast charger with your EV but be sure that it's not too powerful for your EV central unit.

Range is Not Fixed

Another thing you should know is that you can’t just take the ratings the car manufacturer gives you on the vehicle’s range at face value since this depends on so many factors. For instance, if you like to drive fast and accelerate a lot, then you will have a shorter range.

One Tesla owner was able to extend the range on his vehicle by about 100 miles by driving at an average of about 25mph. We're not saying you should be driving that slow, but this just goes to show how important your driving habits are when using this type of vehicle. So, if you want to be able to extract as much distance as you can from your vehicle and reduce your running costs, then you may have to look at the way that you drive.

Another thing you should know is that the performance of the battery will vary based on the temperature. You can expect to get less range on the vehicle in the winter when it’s very cold. The difference is pretty significant too and things become even worse when you heat the vehicle.

You still shouldn’t have to worry about running out of power since the range on recent vehicles is so long, but you will have to be more disciplined with your charging and have a system in place to remind you to charge if you tend to be forgetful.

Electric Cars will Significantly Decrease Your Overhead Costs

However, one thing for sure is that most businesses can cut their fleet and overhead costs significantly when they make the switch to electric vehicles. Not only will they be able to save thousands of pounds on fuel every year, but if they choose the right model and the right year, repairs will likely be a non-issue.

Charging Logistics

We also suggest that you survey charging stations close to where you are and close to your work or your place of business. This is especially true if you work a lot on the road and routinely have to run errands when you're back home. If you want to make things easy for you, we suggest you pick up the Zap-Map app. It is an almost complete map of all the charging stations in the country. It’s completely free to use too.

These are all things that you should take into consideration before you look at electric vehicles. They can be a great option for people who are trying to keep their fuel costs down and reduce their carbon emissions, but they’re not for everybody, so make sure that you know as much as you can about them before you go through with your decision.