Reasons To Be Cheerful
The last couple of years I’ve seen a significant change in driver habits in the UK not least the conversion to electric cars. As a proud representative of some of the best electric vehicles on the road today, we thought we might just remind those of you who are considering this decision of some of the key benefits.
Firstly, with all the issues surrounding global warming, electric cars place a huge tick in that box. Not burning petrol or diesel mean less pollution in terms of both carbon and particulate emissions, so your carbon footprint is reduced significantly
Running costs are hugely reduced as well. One of the key benefits of an electric car driving over traditional combustion engine vehicles is their undeniably much lower running costs. The fuel cost of a typical petrol or diesel car is around 15p, whereas most electric vehicles will run for 3p per mile or less and even down to close to a penny if night EV tariffs are used. And for those of you who decide to go all in and get a home charger you can kiss goodbye to standing around on petrol forecourts.
Whilst congestion charge is mainly an issue in cities these will be introduced more and more over the forthcoming years and with all electric vehicles being exempt from both these and the new clean air taxes that are being levied this is again another saving.
In terms of road tax, although electric vehicles are now being taxed, they are all in the lower band, adding to the fuel savings.
One benefit that is often overlooked is that there are far fewer moving parts on EVs and therefore much less to go wrong. An electric car has only a few moving parts rather than a few hundred so servicing and maintenance costs are lower. With super robust batteries and electric motors that have proven themselves even at very high miles, with no engine, no gearbox, no clutch, no cam belt, no radiator, and no starter motor it’s not out of the question to see some of these cars comfortably reaching 300k+ miles in their lifetime.
Another nice surprise for your first trip in your new electric vehicle is the performance. Most people are very surprised to hear that an electric car easily outperforms a typical combustion engine car, with startling effortless acceleration and a smooth quiet driving experience that is the envy of even the very best executive salons.
One of the big talking points about the electric car has been the dreaded range anxiety but this again has now been mostly put to bed with an extensive charging network and an increase in fast charging means that a coffee stop at a service station would be enough to give your battery a significant top up and get you to your next port of call.
And the best news is there are some fantastic offers for those of you who might like to test the water. For those interested in a new vehicle the government have just announced a £1500 grant on top of all manufacturers offers, and here at Lightcliffe we have just launched a new used electric event with extremely tempting deals.
Wherever your thoughts are at present readers of this column should at least treat themselves to a test drive. We can guarantee you will not be disappointed!