My Year of Buying a Car: An Update

Last year I wrote approximately 5000 words to describe the quest MrElaineous and I went on in our search for a new used car. I hope readers found it informing and entertaining; I certainly found the experience helpful as a form of therapy.

Yesterday MrElaineous took CUU for its first service here in Chippenham, and I thought it might be useful to share my thoughts after (almost) a year of electric vehicle ownership.

First, we still love having an EV. It drives well and provides an incredibly comfortable ride. It also passed its MOT without any issues. I think this was the first time we weren’t concerned whether there would be a problem.

Second, we had a chance to properly test the car during road trips over the summer. I’ll start with the downsides to prove EV ownership is not all rainbows and unicorns.

  • It is more expensive to charge up while on the road compared to a home charger, but this is still less than the cost of petrol.
  • A common complaint among EV owners that I read about while we were researching vehicles last year is the sheer number of apps you need to be able to charge while on the go. Every charging company has their own bespoke app, which you need to register for in order to charge your car. Seriously, can there not be one app to rule them all? Trying to fill out a long, multi-field registration form while standing in a car park is incredibly annoying … but minor in the grand scheme of things since we don’t charge on the go that often.

And time for a confession: despite all of the research we did last year, we forgot to buy a Type 2 charging cable to stow in the car to use while out and about. It was on my to-do list soon after buying the car, but we didn’t have any trips planned and it fell off my radar. So, the first few days we were away from home meant trying to find a tethered charging station (one with a cable). Lesson learned: there are far more untethered stations (BYOC: bring your own cable).

The ZapMap app really came into its own here, and, once we got the cable, the world was our electric oyster.

Despite these speed bumps, I never felt range anxiety. Indeed, even driving around mid-Wales was a doddle thanks to our wonderful B&B hosts. Leigh and Zena had a charger installed for guests and charged us the going rate. We could charge up every night of our holiday and paid a grand total of £22.72.

In general, as someone who like to plan and think several steps ahead, running an EV fits into what I naturally do anyway. Even when there were issues, like having to wait for a tethered charger, it gave us the opportunity to slow down and look around. We were on holiday after all, and this turned a pitstop into a chance to explore.*

We also learned the car can comfortably fit four adults and their luggage, although a slightly bigger boot wouldn’t go amiss.

There has been a slight change to one of the initial statistics I shared last year. I mentioned that we were paying approximately £20.00 a month to charge the car at home. We changed energy companies a few months ago and this cost has been cut in half. At 7p a kWh for overnight charging (11:30 pm – 5:30 am), our 64-kWh battery would cost £4.48 to fill up to 100% from zero. We never let it get that low (or charge that high), but £10.00 a month is a fair estimate now.

MrElaineous and I have also found ourselves continuing to check out car reviews so we can stay up to date about what’s on the market. I occasionally find myself going down the rabbit hole of Marques Brownlee’s car and technology reviews on YouTube. All of this research has proven useful though – when we popped into our local dealership to book the servicing, we could actually understand what the dealers were talking about. I won’t say we’re completely fluent in car talk, but we’re now on much firmer ground.

So, that’s us personally. I also have a few general observations from the past year(ish) … Despite some of the doom and gloom in the headlines about EV sales, I’m seeing more of them and a greater variety than we did last year when we were hyper-aware of each one that went by. The price of used EVs has come down considerably as well. For those worried about the battery, most manufacturers provide a separate eight-year or 100,000 mile warranty.**

And don’t worry! I will be getting back to the regularly scheduled programme of travel, nature, history, and tea very soon. Less car, more trips, and a glimpse at some of the activities we got up to this past summer.

* If we had the cable with us, we could have used an untethered charger while eating or out and about. The part of my brain that likes efficiency and time optimisation finds this thrilling, but the other part of my brain—the bit that likes to see new things—found the opportunity to pootle a fair trade-off.

** I’ve seen some anti-EV posts on social media that don’t quite pass the smell test. Fact check, fact check, fact check.

Off the Beaten Track Wiltshire

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MissElaineous Travel Blog: Escape, Explore, Discover, Enjoy