“Electric vs. Petrol Cars: What Are the Real Pros and Cons?”
Posted by Odd-Cod-1511@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 23 comments
I’m debating whether to go electric or stick with a petrol car for my next vehicle, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!
For those who’ve experienced both, what do you see as the biggest advantages and drawbacks of each? Are the savings on fuel and maintenance for EVs worth the potentially limited range or charging times? Or do petrol cars still hold the edge in reliability, convenience, or long-term costs?
SecurityTemporary849@reddit
EV = Expensive, no retail value, cheaper to run, also environmentally unfriendly, damage roads due to weight, fugly.
Petrol = Expensive to run, buy the right car it goes up in value, lasts longer than an EV
Had a RS Turbo MK1 and a Cossie, those cars are a fortune now. Daily shopping car is a Fiesta ST run it on shell 99 octane, more expensive but mileage is low. No desire for an EV.
IMKGI@reddit
From the bit of math i did a 35.000€ EV costs you around the same as a 17.000€ ICE after 7-10 years (what i would consider a reasonable ownership lengh).
After 13 years your car is kindof trash either way, and both car types last that long.
EVs might be more expensive upfront, but they're much cheaper in repair, maintenance, insurance, "fuel", and you get money simply for owning an EV (THG-Quota).
Only expensive cars go up in value, which defeats the whole "ICE cheaper upfront" argument (and makes ICE even more expensive to operate).
Breaking-Dad-@reddit
We've got an EV on SS as we needed a second car but kept the old ICE too. EV is much newer so some of the comments might be true of newer petrol models.
EV:
Pros: Overnight charging, warming up the car before you get in, quiet ride, constant power, lots of toys (heated seats in the back for instance) even in lower spec cars, cost to run (all home charging)
Cons: Range, time and cost of charging outside of home.
Petrol:
Pros: Whatever anyone says, 400 miles on a tank and filling up anywhere.
Cons: Daily cost, smell (running to de-ice for instance - but it is old), servicing
Reliability we have had no issues with the EV but we also didn't with the ICE (Honda) until it started falling to bits.
It is horses for courses really. We use the EV for my wife's commute and it is absolutely brilliant. Also love nipping round town to the shops with it. The ICE is manual and old so it just feels clunky after the EV but a modern decent automatic might change that. It did 1,000 miles round France last year though.
No_Roof2535@reddit
I’mi j
Taps698@reddit
We have Electric and ICE cars. We use electric all the time except when we take the dog out or a really long journey. As well as the savings in fuel I find the electric insanely cheap to run. Servicing is nothing, there is no timing belt, or fan, or exhaust or cat converter. I don’t do a lot of miles but I do charge it up every night. It is nice having a full “tank” every day.
I have also grown to hate standing a petrol pump while I spend my money.
HamsterEagle@reddit
I have an Electric car on order, the monthly saving in fuel offsets the extra cost of the car for me. The new car is £90 a month more for what I believe is a much better car I’m moving from a Skoda Kamiq to a Renault Scenic. The new cars range is meant to be 370ish, if I get 300 on a full charge I’ll be happy.
Fluffy-Astronomer604@reddit
I’ve had both. I prefer EV. Wouldn’t go back to ICE vehicles.
I’ve just done 550 miles alone in the last 3 days. No a single issue charging.
Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit
I'd debate your convenience comment for petrol - I find that the car charging up overnight is far more convenient than having to drive to a petrol pump.
The rest, it really depends on your usage and charging situation.
If you have the ability to charge at home, and aren't routinely doing more than 250 miles a day - then electric is a good bet.
If you don't have the ability to charge at home or are regularly driving long distances, stay with petrol/diesel.
greylord123@reddit
Also if you have a relatively low mileage I'd argue the outright cost of an EV (especially if you buy ~5-10 year old used cars) isn't worth it for the negligible fuel saving.
Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit
Oh yeah I'll agree to that but if you buy a brand new car every so often anyway that is somewhat irrelevant.
It's a bit like saying that brand new Golf is the most fuel efficient car on the planet but that's irrelevant to someone who buys bangers.
greylord123@reddit
If you drive short distances I don't think the additional cost of an EV is worth the fuel saving. I drive like 3 miles to work and my GF is like 5 miles away. We barely use enough fuel to make it worthwhile even with trips to the shops and days out.
Also if you do a lot of long driving (where the range is potentially an issue) I'd be put off an EV too. The occasional long trip where you can plan a bit in advance shouldn't be an issue but for regular long distance driving its probably not the best idea.
I think for most people who have say 30-60 min commute plus school runs and shopping trips etc an EV will definitely save you money in the long run. Especially if your workplace lets you charge your car.
I'd be tempted by one if I had a commute. Given the fact I drive 5-10 mins down the road it's not really worth it for me.
Round_Caregiver2380@reddit
How often would the limited range actually affect you?
It would probably only affect me once or twice a year at most.
99% of my driving is to the shops, school or gym. All of which I could visit at least a dozen times on one charge.
I'd definitely consider an electric car if I ever get fed up with driving a shit box.
Tim-Sanchez@reddit
Very dependent on your personal circumstances. If I had a driveway and didn't need to regularly travel longer than the maximum range then I would 100% get an EV. Getting 200+ miles of range is now fairly standard, which is going to be absolutely fine for most people. The bigger issue is being able to charge at home.
MiddleAgeCool@reddit
| The bigger issue is being able to charge at home.
This annoys me so much. Up until September there was a national scheme funded by central government where you could ask your local council to install an electric charge point on the street outside you house and they could claim for all the costs back. It was specifically designed so people without drives could get an EV without the charging being an issue. The annoying part is that these things are never publicised so while on paper a government can show they've offered them, there is very little take up.
DameKumquat@reddit
We have 3 lamppost chargers on my street now, and a space reserved for a EV car club. There's about 10 EVs, with the owners chatting on WhatsApp to ensure everyone can charge as needed.
There's also a charger on the next street. And ones at Lidl a minute away. Given most Londoners only need to charge once a week or so, it works very well. Took about 6 months for the second two chargers to be fitted, after a bunch of neighbours asked the council.
Hoping to be able to afford a EV when our car needs replacing in the next couple years.
Tim-Sanchez@reddit
There are loads of things that could be done to make EVs viable without a driveway. There are lots of people in situations that the scheme wouldn't have helped, like those in flats or without on-street parking, so a solution is needed for all of those people.
Charging convenience is definitely the major issue stopping EV uptake now, realistically there are very few people who will struggle with the range and they've become much more affordable.
BppnfvbanyOnxre@reddit
We have an old ICE car and are seriously considering an EV next, for our use it makes perfect sense. I've been reading a lot and watching a lot of video diaries. My takeaway is if you can charge at home on an overnight tariff brilliant, charging at work also brilliant. Have to get out of the mind set of filling up, i.e. if you need public charging because you don't have the range to get to destination then top up what you need plus a safety margin to there or next charger, the time to go from say 15% > 75% charge is usually very quick but 75% to 100% could be several times as long.
I've just now worked out what to do vis the car, buy outright maybe 2 or 3 years old or PCP or maybe lease new. eg I could lease a new MG4 for say £11k over 3 years..would that be a less costlier option than the depreciation on a 2 year old model over the same time?
Nearby-Percentage867@reddit
I’m holding off getting an electric until the charging infrastructure is better - I’m planning long term on putting a drive in at home, but until then I’d be reliant on 3rd party chargers.
I also like driving as a physical act - every time I’ve driven an automatic, I’ve absolutely hated it.
GrumpyOik@reddit
Pros for me are cost. If I only consider fuel, my Petrol car (A Kia Picanto) is costing me 8-9 X my EV. The EV is used mostly for daily commute - 20 miles a day, nearly all none motorway. I get pretty much the advertised range of 220 miles on a full battery and I charge at home. I expect my savings from the first year/18 months will cover the cost of the charger installation.
Motorway driving is another thing altogether - I will use approximately double my normal usage - e.g. On a trip to a nearby city, just over 20 miles away , I will watch my range dropping from 220 to around 170 if I start fully charged.
Perite@reddit
I’ve driven both but I can’t justify the costs for electric right now. If you’re able to get a lease via salary sacrifice then EVs become very efficient. But without that the baseline vehicle cost is so high I can’t personally justify it.
The actual driving and utility of EVs depends on the specific model but is often great. I don’t usually drive more than 130 miles in single trips and the car is comfy, quiet and just feels more modern to me. Makes my diesel feel almost agricultural by comparison. Rapid chargers are easy enough to come by that I can charge at a service station easily enough on the few times I need to make longer journeys
True-Abalone-3380@reddit
Very simplistically the first question is do you have access to regular charging points. The second is do you regularly do journeys of more than 1/3rd the real world range, if so charging during the day can be troublesome.
MiddleAgeCool@reddit
What are you using it for? Realistically how many really long journeys are you doing?
We replaced out 10 year old Mazda 3 for a EV Mini on a 4 year lease. My wife is a carer and does 50-70 a day driving between clients houses.
Since switching, the lease cost electric to charge it have been noticeably cheaper that the amount we were paying for petrol and the cost of buying an new(er) petrol car. Yes, I understand that buying are leasing are different however the lease will be the total of the new car minus £8500 that will be the final payment. We leased purely because I don't know what the 2nd hand market for EVs will be in two years time so the option to hand it back and walk away if is a good option to have.
As for the car, 100% it's been worth getting and at the moment we're thinking of just renewing to another new model. We've not had range issues and the one time we did get low, a fast charger in a service station while we ate a Maccy Ds fixed that.
For charging, we just plug it in at night and it's ready the next morning. It's official listed with a range of 110 miles and realistically that's more than ample for what it's used for. Problem wise, being a new car we've had zero issues.
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