Five reasons electric cars still AREN’T worth the cost – including long charging times and lack of stations
CAR EXPERTS have revealed the five reasons electric cars aren’t worth the cost.
Many drivers are put off from buying an electric car due to the high costs and the long charging times.
Car experts at GoBankingRates have given five reasons not to buy an electric car.
EVs are too expensive
The first one is that electric cars are too expensive.
They say that electric cars are pricey because they are growing in demand.
But once EVs overtake the market, prices will fall, but in the meantime, drivers should expect to pay around £25,000 to £35,000.
And electric vehicles are expensive because their main component, lithium-ion type batteries, are costly to produce.
Long charging times
Many EVs drivers say it takes too long to fully charge their vehicle.
Fully recharging an EVs battery pack can take three to 12 hours, and even an 80% capacity fast charge can take 30 minutes.
A lack of charging stations
And there is a lack of charging stations, according to experts.
Overall in 2022, just one standard public charger was built for every 53 new plug-ins registered, the weakest ratio since 2020.
And there’s only around one public charging point per 30 plug-in vehicles.
EVs range anxiety
Many drivers usually experience range anxiety because EVs have a shorter driving range than most conventional vehicles and need more frequent stops to “fuel up.”
And they fear that their electric vehicle will not have enough battery charge to reach its destination, leaving its occupants stranded.
Other non-petrol options potentially being available
Many car experts think that the future is not only electric vehicles.
They say that ICE vehicles will likely be phased out in due course over the next 15-20 years, but there might be other options available besides going electric in the near future.
The automotive industry could see alternative vehicle technologies, like hydrogen fuel-cell cars.
Ginny Buckley, founder and CEO of Electrifying.com, said to The Sun Online: “Electric cars are easy to drive, simple to charge at home and reliable, so owning one should be a hassle-free experience.
“But the hard fact is that our national charging infrastructure rollout isn’t keeping pace with the numbers of car buyers making the switch to an electric car.
” In 2020, there were 16 cars for every charger; today, that number has risen to 30, which has led to waiting times for some charges at peak times, whilst other charging points right around the UK can be unreliable and faulty.
“This wouldn’t be acceptable at a petrol station, and I believe electric car drivers deserve to have the same hassle-free experience as they would if they filled up with petrol or diesel.
“The majority of electric car drivers charge at home and wake up to a full battery every morning, but the challenge comes if you don’t have access to off-street parking or need to make longer journeys and have to rely on the public charging network.
“At the moment, this is inconsistent, both in terms of coverage and reliability
“There are currently more chargers in Westminster than in Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool combined; drivers in many rural counties like Cornwall and Cumbria are being let down by a lack of chargers.
“We need to see a levelling up of the infrastructure to ensure nobody is left behind in our electric revolution.”