Just bought an electric car, hope I made the right decision!
Discussion
Just bought a brand-new Cupra born, electric car. I’ve never bought a brand-new car before, and never really bought something so relatively technologically advanced.
Again, I feel this makes me an early adopter and this makes me slightly uneasy. It’s not like I’m regretting the decision at all, on the contrary I’m very excited but at the same time I feel nervous. I have done a ton of research but just hope that in the real world the range will be sufficient and it’ll be as good as I think it may be.
Of course I have read a lot of bad press as well as good, this is the world of the Internet where if you dig deep enough everything is bad in someway. I guess time will tell but in the meantime I am looking forward to it. It’s just a weird feeling, one of excitement but at the same time one of slight fear. I’ve just never bought a car and remotely worried about it! Any other EV adaptors on here or perhaps people about to make the switch? I’d be interested to hear opinions.
Moderators please leave this in general gassing as I feel it is a more general question van perhaps one for the EV section. Thanks
Again, I feel this makes me an early adopter and this makes me slightly uneasy. It’s not like I’m regretting the decision at all, on the contrary I’m very excited but at the same time I feel nervous. I have done a ton of research but just hope that in the real world the range will be sufficient and it’ll be as good as I think it may be.
Of course I have read a lot of bad press as well as good, this is the world of the Internet where if you dig deep enough everything is bad in someway. I guess time will tell but in the meantime I am looking forward to it. It’s just a weird feeling, one of excitement but at the same time one of slight fear. I’ve just never bought a car and remotely worried about it! Any other EV adaptors on here or perhaps people about to make the switch? I’d be interested to hear opinions.
Moderators please leave this in general gassing as I feel it is a more general question van perhaps one for the EV section. Thanks
Leicesterdave said:
Just bought a brand-new Cupra born, electric car. I’ve never bought a brand-new car before, and never really bought something so relatively technologically advanced.
Again, I feel this makes me an early adopter and this makes me slightly uneasy.
Are you being serious? Again, I feel this makes me an early adopter and this makes me slightly uneasy.
You must be aware electric vehicles have been sold to consumers for a while now...
I bought a year old BMW i3Rex in 2017 as my dip into the electric world.
I was a little nervous about it but the redirection of the £500 per month on petrol towards the cost of the finance meant that I was effectively getting a free car.
Coupling that with the pleasure of driving it soon quashed any nerves and had me upgrading to a new i3S in 2019.
Its been so inexpensive to drive. In the summer my 100 mile commute run at 5 miles/kWh = 20kWh @ 5p/kWh = £1/day.
I've now upped to a bigger size with an Ioniq 5.
Long live EV.
PS my other cars a TVR.
I was a little nervous about it but the redirection of the £500 per month on petrol towards the cost of the finance meant that I was effectively getting a free car.
Coupling that with the pleasure of driving it soon quashed any nerves and had me upgrading to a new i3S in 2019.
Its been so inexpensive to drive. In the summer my 100 mile commute run at 5 miles/kWh = 20kWh @ 5p/kWh = £1/day.
I've now upped to a bigger size with an Ioniq 5.
Long live EV.
PS my other cars a TVR.
If you're only using the car locally, let the charge run down to a about 50% and then go to a local rapid charger to make sure it works and you know what you're doing.
You wouldn't be the first EV driver to not have the right app/card and then plug the Type 2 AC cable in (7-22kW), not realising the CCS cover is just below and the CCs cable will give you 50kw+.
You wouldn't be the first EV driver to not have the right app/card and then plug the Type 2 AC cable in (7-22kW), not realising the CCS cover is just below and the CCs cable will give you 50kw+.
Chunkychucky said:
Leicesterdave said:
Just bought a brand-new Cupra born, electric car. I’ve never bought a brand-new car before, and never really bought something so relatively technologically advanced.
Again, I feel this makes me an early adopter and this makes me slightly uneasy.
Are you being serious? Again, I feel this makes me an early adopter and this makes me slightly uneasy.
You must be aware electric vehicles have been sold to consumers for a while now...
I’ve just paid for the charger being fitted to our house.
Just does seem to be a lot of paying right now but when you look at what ICE cars cost in comparison I shouldn’t complain!
I paid £36,000 for a Cupra born with a few optional extras including the paint.
You can pay that for a basic A3.
Just does seem to be a lot of paying right now but when you look at what ICE cars cost in comparison I shouldn’t complain!
I paid £36,000 for a Cupra born with a few optional extras including the paint.
You can pay that for a basic A3.
I think the point about early adoption is that some of us had Leafs getting on for a decade ago, when Ecotricity was the only rapid charging network and AC posts were rare.
There were some benefits, like everything being free and Nissan doing ridiculous 0% PCP deals with massive dealer contributions, but the public charging infrastructure was the main challenge to doing longer distances. Unless you were rich enough to buy a Model S the only options were the Leaf 24 or Zoe.
I wouldn't worry, the situation now is much much better than it used to be.
There were some benefits, like everything being free and Nissan doing ridiculous 0% PCP deals with massive dealer contributions, but the public charging infrastructure was the main challenge to doing longer distances. Unless you were rich enough to buy a Model S the only options were the Leaf 24 or Zoe.
I wouldn't worry, the situation now is much much better than it used to be.
Leicesterdave said:
I’ve just paid for the charger being fitted to our house.
Just does seem to be a lot of paying right now but when you look at what ICE cars cost in comparison I shouldn’t complain!
I paid £36,000 for a Cupra born with a few optional extras including the paint.
You can pay that for a basic A3.
£36k for a basic A3! The A3 range starts at £25,165. Just does seem to be a lot of paying right now but when you look at what ICE cars cost in comparison I shouldn’t complain!
I paid £36,000 for a Cupra born with a few optional extras including the paint.
You can pay that for a basic A3.
Glosphil said:
Leicesterdave said:
I’ve just paid for the charger being fitted to our house.
Just does seem to be a lot of paying right now but when you look at what ICE cars cost in comparison I shouldn’t complain!
I paid £36,000 for a Cupra born with a few optional extras including the paint.
You can pay that for a basic A3.
£36k for a basic A3! The A3 range starts at £25,165. Just does seem to be a lot of paying right now but when you look at what ICE cars cost in comparison I shouldn’t complain!
I paid £36,000 for a Cupra born with a few optional extras including the paint.
You can pay that for a basic A3.
Glosphil said:
£36k for a basic A3! The A3 range starts at £25,165.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207047449914?sort=price-desc&postcode=wf50th&model=A3&price-to=40000&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&radius=200&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Audi&include-delivery-option=on&page=1Yes, S line etc but what I’m trying to say is that for a 150ps ice engine it seems expensive compared to what people perceive expensive when they talk about EVs…
aestetix1 said:
....
I wouldn't worry, the situation now is much much better than it used to be.
It really is. I only bought my leaf for a regular journey from Shropshire to Birmingham to dip my toe whilst not risking anything as I kept my other cars. I knew the leaf I have (mk2) has a fast charging system that will be obsolete at some point and battery tech that is relatively in-advanced now in that it doesn't have battery conditioning but that didn't matter as I was only intending to use it for one known journey. This week however I've taken it from Shropshire into the Brecon Beacons for a family holiday as the cab conditioning is ace for the dog. I did my first fast charge which was around 17 minutes while I bought a drink and had a pee. The whole thing was completely uneventful and easy and that was in a car that's probably one of the least well equipped for long journeys on sale.I wouldn't worry, the situation now is much much better than it used to be.
I'm sure you'll love it. The Cupra Born looks a lovely car.
Congratulations on the very sensible move. I'm sure you'll not look back - my wife's Born hopefully will be turning up in Nov to replace her e-Golf.
Having a home charger means you're very unlikely to need to regularly use public chargers, but even if you do, there are some impressive strides being made in their availability - an increase of 40% in the number of ultra-fast chargers this year in the UK from 1290 to 1803 units:
https://www.electrifying.com/blog/article/40-incre...
Some very interesting superhubs have come online too - things are changing and fast - the infrastructure concern so often flagged by people as a reason not to move to EV is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
York's Hyperhub (initially 4x175kW (upgradable to 350kW), 4x50kW + 30x7kW) apparently only charging 25p/kWh for rapid too, which is pretty decent:
https://www.electrifying.com/blog/article/first-hy...
Having a home charger means you're very unlikely to need to regularly use public chargers, but even if you do, there are some impressive strides being made in their availability - an increase of 40% in the number of ultra-fast chargers this year in the UK from 1290 to 1803 units:
https://www.electrifying.com/blog/article/40-incre...
Some very interesting superhubs have come online too - things are changing and fast - the infrastructure concern so often flagged by people as a reason not to move to EV is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
York's Hyperhub (initially 4x175kW (upgradable to 350kW), 4x50kW + 30x7kW) apparently only charging 25p/kWh for rapid too, which is pretty decent:
https://www.electrifying.com/blog/article/first-hy...
aestetix1 said:
I think the point about early adoption is that some of us had Leafs getting on for a decade ago, when Ecotricity was the only rapid charging network and AC posts were rare.
There were some benefits, like everything being free and Nissan doing ridiculous 0% PCP deals with massive dealer contributions, but the public charging infrastructure was the main challenge to doing longer distances. Unless you were rich enough to buy a Model S the only options were the Leaf 24 or Zoe.
I wouldn't worry, the situation now is much much better than it used to be.
I had a Zoe on one of the cheap lease deals at the time - loads joined up IIRC and there was a thread on here. £175 / month I think, which was less than my diesel bills at the time. Didn't even notice any increase on the electricity bills either - probably negated by switching to a cheaper supplier.There were some benefits, like everything being free and Nissan doing ridiculous 0% PCP deals with massive dealer contributions, but the public charging infrastructure was the main challenge to doing longer distances. Unless you were rich enough to buy a Model S the only options were the Leaf 24 or Zoe.
I wouldn't worry, the situation now is much much better than it used to be.
It was great as well - would have another, but been working from home for 2 years now so can't really justify it
plfrench said:
Some very interesting superhubs have come online too - things are changing and fast - the infrastructure concern so often flagged by people as a reason not to move to EV is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
Charging hubs are (in my opinion) a complete game changer which make charging en route a doddle. As an example, my wife and I recently travelled from north Lancashire to Guildford and back a week later in our i3s,
a journey we wouldn't have even considered attempting a year ago, only using hubs:
- Standish (MFG)
- Stafford (Ionity)
- Banbury (Tesla superchargers)
- Oxford (Fastned)
(to be clear, we didn't use all four in each direction - only two!)
We were originally going to use my petrol car (a Mustang!), but the recent opening of Oxford and Stafford hubs,
plus the availability of Banbury to non-Tesla vehicles changed our mind - we were even able to have the aircon
blasting away when required because there was absolutely no range anxiety...
Leicesterdave said:
Just bought a brand-new Cupra born, electric car. I’ve never bought a brand-new car before, and never really bought something so relatively technologically advanced.
Whilst a modern EV is technologically advanced it's actually far simpler and much more robust than a modern car with an internal combsution engine. Most brand new models suffer a few early life teething issues, but these are normally software related and generally quickly fixed. And then you most likely have a very very reliable car indeed. Over 7 years of BMW i3 ownership (5 with i3, 2 with i3s) literally nothing has gone wrong or required replacing beyond tyres and the cabin air filter! When you include the cheap running costs and excellent resale, daily driving a BEV is a total no-brainer for me, and saves me enough money to have a stupid (630 bhp, 840 kg) weekend toy in the garage for fun :-)Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff