Are electric cars the future?

As many of us well know, the UK is stopping sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Even though electric cars have only become mainstream in society from about 2010, they have been in existence since around 1884, when the English inventor Thomas Parker was building prototype versions. Meanwhile, the first to be released in our generation were the Tesla Roadster and the Nissan Leaf, and these got enough people viewing electric cars as attractive alternatives. 

Although many electric cars have hit the market, such as the Seat Mii Electric and the Ford Mustang Mach-e due to ever increasing emissions regulations and improvements in technology, how many people are actually buying them? 

Whilst they give clean emissions, and refuelling costs typically amount to less than half the price of petrol cars, are they worth the premium price point? They’re typically more expensive to buy in the first place, but look like a longer term solution. And although refuelling costs significantly less, the range you are able to travel can be a challenging factor, as well as being able to find suitable charging points in your local area. 

Talking of charging points, are they easy to plug in and charge in real world conditions? Admittedly, you’ll never have to visit a petrol forecourt again, so say goodbye to picking up that cheeky chocolate bar, but home charging can be a nuisance. You need to consider your home charging capabilities and figure out how doable it is depending on where you live, especially, say if you live in a terraced house without parking.

Furthermore, you need to be mindful on longer journeys too that you’ll need to plan ahead with finding charging points due to the car's low ranges. This is why we recommend using the app Zap-Map so you’re always prepared.

However, advantages such as the guilt free feeling of running an emissions free vehicle is a positive on the environment, especially if you’re a city driver. Also, for zero emission electric vehicles, there is no VED (Vehicle Excise Duty)- also known as road tax, car tax, or the road fund licence, and also major savings in company car tax for business users. 

With many manufacturers now turning to designing and selling electric cars and new brands seeing an opportunity to get into the automotive industry because of the evolution of electric, it looks like they’re set to stay. But we’d like to know, would you buy one?