How much does your electric car add to your electricity bill?

[DelW]

Of course it depends numerous factors including journeys, driving style and congestion but if those consumption figures are on a test track they will be optimistic in the real world.

As an example look at the Vauxhall E-Mokka website page

At 40mph the range at 15degC with climate control on is is 207 mile so just over 4mi/kWh. That presumably is a constant speed not real world in a 40mph zone slowing for and accelerating from junctions. At ( a constant ? ) 60mph down to 157 miles so just over 3mi/kWh and at 70mph 125 miles so 2.5mi/kWh.

I would not work on anything better than 3mi/kWh. If your consumption was less consider it a bonus.

EVs (and PHEVs running on battery) show their maximum benefits in urban or stop/start conditions. My trip computer normally shows around 3.5 - 4 miles per kWh for local journeys, and indeed can be above 4.0m/kWh in summer. Living in a hilly area, I only see a figure as low as 3.0 if my journey is uphill overall, but that is improved on when returning, benefiting from the regenerative braking.

Journeys made at higher speed may indeed show higher consumption, but I would usually be using the petrol engine for those, so I don't have real-world values to compare with. So as you say, type of journey will affect consumption and range, with EVs making the most sense where there is more urban or local driving in the mix.

 

[AM9]

EVs (and PHEVs running on battery) show their maximum benefits in urban or stop/start conditions. My trip computer normally shows around 3.5 - 4 miles per kWh for local journeys, and indeed can be above 4.0m/kWh in summer. Living in a hilly area, I only see a figure as low as 3.0 if my journey is uphill overall, but that is improved on when returning, benefiting from the regenerative braking.

Journeys made at higher speed may indeed show higher consumption, but I would usually be using the petrol engine for those, so I don't have real-world values to compare with. So as you say, type of journey will affect consumption and range, with EVs making the most sense where there is more urban or local driving in the mix.

A side benefit of EVs is that it may reduce the average speed that drivers sustain on long journeys.

 

[david1212]

It's wrong to assume that normal stop start driving in built-up areas increases energy consumption over steady c 50mph cruising. On ICVs, that presumption is based on the engine running at a steady speed at or near its most efficient level, pitched against a start stop usage where all of the energy used to accelerate is dumped into heat in the brakes or stirring the engine in overrun. With EVs, much of that energy invested in accelerating will be recovered by regeneration and returned to the battery. That is why EVs give a double benefit in urban areas

Relatively while an ICE powered car gives lower mpg for urban driving compared to a higher steady speed as you say an EV will give a better range with no engine fuel wastage when stationary or on overrun, regeneration and no loss of efficiency when running below the normal operating temperature as just three reasons. Following on relatively the stated range at lower speeds will be better. Maybe I am just too sceptical but when it comes to the absolute range in the real world I doubt it will be very close to the published range obtained in controlled conditions. This post agrees

Only real world point is that quoted values for range are as cloud-cuckoo as manufacturers stated MPG ... always knew I had an indelicate right foot.

and

I have a Toyota Prius Plug In. I know it's not completely electric but it allows me to compare its Hybrid performance with electric performance so the information may be useful. It does about 50mpg when on petrol.

During the last couple of years, with lockdowns etc I have not actually put petrol in it as often as it mostly gets me where I want to go on electricity alone.

I worked out the cost per mile a little while ago relying on charging at home with cost about 13p per kWh and running on electric was 6p per mile and petrol was 12p a mile. Both have gone up since so it may be slightly more now.

Here 6p / mile and 13p / kWh is just over 2 miles per kWh. If the charging can be at an off-peak rate without being on a tariff with a significantly higher standard rate the cost of course falls.

For the OP to me better to work on a range of say 20% less / charging electricity consumption 20% more than the manufacturers figures for their typical journeys.

I recently had a mail from one of the charging companies saying they were going to be charging 40p per kWh and it seems to me that will mean it is cheaper to put petrol in.

This is what to me is worrying. By 2030 I expect to have been retired a few years. My driving will be fewer but longer trips. Once I have used up the full charge from home at 2.5 miles / kWh this is 16p / mile then road pricing on top makes around 25p / mile which is nominally double my current typical ICE fuel cost. If say 2000 miles from a public charger that is an increase of £250.
The long term capital cost of an EV compared to a similar size and specification ICE is uncertain too.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Dec 2021 ==

The government won't need to consider most of the peripheral environmental and health damage that ICVs cause which is the major justification for the Vehicle Excise Duty. There hasn't been a "road fund licence" since 1937! Roads are funded through general taxation which will continue, with the residual cost of EV pollution being recovered by a new road charging scheme where costs are related to usage.

Regardless of what is called the government / treasury will still want the money either from an annual charge or as a component of the per mile charge. If they can allocate it away from the side effects of road transport of course they will.

 

[Giugiaro]

I’m trying to find suggestions/ideas of how much it costs to charge overnight without any use of kwh and averages etc. but struggling to find any. Any ideas?

Hello!
I've been driving a Renault Zoe from 2015 since this October, and charging at public chargers as led me to a decrease in 2/3 in running costs.
If I was able to charge at home I'd be able to pay only a 1/10 to 2/10 of what I used to pay on my previous petrol car. And it was a FIAT Panda from 2008, so not an expensive vehicle to own to begin with!
It does require a specific change in your style of driving and how to carry on with your daily life with it. In my case, it made driving a more calming and less stressful experience. I blame it on the lack of noise and slower/more careful driving.

My Zoe has a charge timer that allows it to charge only when you want. Say the electricity price is lower between 00:00 and 07:00, you can program the vehicle to charge only between 00:05 and 06:55.
Some domestic EVSE can both control charge through time and also charging percentage of the vehicle. You can command the EVSE to stop charging when at 100%, or 80% for example.

I've left my car unplugged and parked for almost a week already, and it has retained its charge.
You do need to mind that the 12V battery that all cars have (including electric!) will be the one discharging when the vehicle is not being used, so make sure you monitor its charge state before any prolonged storage.
An electric car may retain its charge on the main battery, but if the 12V battery discharges completely, you might be left with a car closed shut and unresponsive, like any other modern car with a 12V.

Also:

With EVs, much of that energy invested in accelerating will be recovered by regeneration and returned to the battery. That is why EVs give a double benefit in urban areas

I'd recommend charging a car to no more than 70-80%, not only because of concerns over battery health preservation, but also because near 100% charge the car won't do regen. braking (or at least mine doesn't).
I've also had much better mileage on the motorway cruising at a constant speed of 70kph (~43.5mph), reaching as low as 11kWh/100km (~17.7kWh/100mile), while on the city I haven't managed lower than 13.5kWh/100km (21.7kWh/100mile).
This is due to the unpredictability of driving on the streets, and the constant accelerations and braking the car is subjected to.

Obviously other, more modern, and better engineered cars will have much better regen. braking that'll work perfectly in cities, while the Zoe loses regen. power bellow 30kph (~20mph) cutting off completely at 10kph (~6mph) or even higher, depending on how much braking torque is asked at that moment.

To finish, buying 2nd hand is totally worth it. While one won't have a shiny new car to brag about, at least it'll be way more affordable to acquire and maintain.
At the moment, buying 2nd hand electric is already much more financially sensible than buying any ICE car. Just make sure not to buy a car with a leased battery.

 

[malc-c]

Driving a 22 year old 2.5ltr Volvo V70 that hates urban driving so much it returns me with 19mpg compared to the 38mpg I can average on a long motorway trip I've been considering electric or hybrid as a replacement (however it can't be a small car as I have a large dog - hence the V70 ). Seeing people quote full charges for around £16, or running costs for around £30 pm does make electric seem a way of saving money especially when petrol is £1.49 ltr so you can guess how much it's costing me to fill up the Volvo.

My main concern, which doesn't seem to get reported is battery life, and the costs of replacement long term. In 2017 I needed a taxi to the local hospital which was I think a nissan prya (sp) hybrid. In the conversation he let it slip that he had to replace the battery at a cost of £10000 (presumably inc labour). We all know that any battery, even lithium will at some point stop holding a charge, but there is no mention of the infrastructure in dealing with replacements, or how those exhausted lithium cells are / will be processed. EV's are being promoted as the green option, but if in 50 years time the world has a problem with lithium disposal then they could be just as harmful to the planet as petrol / diesel engines are. Given the age of my V70, which so far as passed its MOT every year and has around 170K miles on the clock, I wonder if these modern electric cars will have the same longevity or would you have had to replace the battery pack twice at the cost of £25K in that time, be that as a direct replacement cost, or spread over time as a lease on the battery.

 

[kevin_roche]

My main concern, which doesn't seem to get reported is battery life, and the costs of replacement long term.

In many cases, it is too early to be sure that the battery life quoted by manufacturers is realistic. In some cases, people are being ripped off.

For a Toyota Prius, I read that some dealers were quoting for a new battery and others were suggesting replacing only one or two cells in the battery which was much cheaper. I also read recently that a Chinese company is now offering a new battery for the Prius which is cheaper and half the weight of the original so has better mileage. Things may well change once the life of a typical battery is nearing its end.

Tesla repurposes its old vehicle batteries in Tesla Powerwalls for home use, I'm not sure what happens after that but research is going on and with the availability of lithium as it is likely there will develop a recycling economy for these batteries, but I think it is early days.

 

[Giugiaro]

We all know that any battery, even lithium will at some point stop holding a charge, but there is no mention of the infrastructure in dealing with replacements, or how those exhausted lithium cells are / will be processed. EV's are being promoted as the green option, but if in 50 years time the world has a problem with lithium disposal then they could be just as harmful to the planet as petrol / diesel engines are.

First of, there are a few steps that can be made to improve the life expectancy of a battery. Luckily the previous owner of my Zoe charged it mostly at home from a domestic plug, so the battery wasn't subjected to very stressful charging cycles very often. At 70.000km, the SoC of the battery is at 97%, which is new by all accounts. (And the Zoe's battery isn't the best one available in the market, much less in 2022).
EDIT: Some EV's don't have active cooling of battery packs, which is terrible, considering that batteries degrade much faster the warmer they get. Having an actively cooled battery during driving and charging, and doing proper maintenance to the cooling system is fundamental.

Workshops are also starting to emerge to specifically manage maintenance of EV's and battery packs. These businesses are going to be crucial in the future, as a good maintenance of just about anything is one of the keys for longevity.
For that we also need for car companies (especially Tesla) to be in favour of Right to Repair. Most car companies have launched new EV models without having the qualified people and equipment to do the usual maintenance that's been planned for these vehicles at their local dealerships.

If anything, Railway Companies are actually some of the most qualified entities to do this job!

As to recycling of battery packs, that's another can of worms.
The solutions already exist, going from re-purposing for other applications, to actual recycling of materials, but the industry is still starting to exist.
Most shy away from building the infrastructure to do this kind of recycling. The price of new materials is very low to justify investing in recycled material.
Obviously we don't want to throw away precious materials that, despite being spent, can and should be recovered and revitalised.
It's not like oil, that burns away, or Uranium, that decays into lesser elements.

Fully Charged has already tackled this issue, and in 2021 several other news agencies have investigated the existence and, if so, state of battery recycling.

 

[AM9]

As to recycling of battery packs, that's another can of worms.
The solutions already exist, going from re-purposing for other applications, to actual recycling of materials, but the industry is still starting to exist.
Most shy away from building the infrastructure to do this kind of recycling. The price of new materials is very low to justify investing in recycled material.
Obviously we don't want to throw away precious materials that, despite being spent, can and should be recovered and revitalised.
It's not like oil, that burns away, or Uranium, that decays into lesser elements.

Fully Charged has already tackled this issue, and in 2021 several other news agencies have investigated the existence and, if so, state of battery recycling.

That was an interesting watch. I always believed that recycling of EV batteries(and lithium batteries in general) would come, because the EV industry wouldn't really have much of a future without it, but it seems that 70% is already achievable so scaling up and further refinement is very likely. Quite a few sceptics here and elsewhere throw up the matter of limited supply of critical materials as a brake on EV proliferation removing hydrocarbon fuelled vehicles, so maybe they should at least spend 20 minutes of their time watching this video to benefit from the knowledge that the technologies of batteries at both ends of their lives are rapidly developing.

 

[The Lad]

I've also had much better mileage on the motorway cruising at a constant speed of 70kph (~43.5mph)

That sounds courageous, but I'm sure is true.

 

[NoRoute]

My main concern, which doesn't seem to get reported is battery life, and the costs of replacement long term.

Some of the manufacturers offer pretty long warranties on the battery, Toyota offer upto 15 years on their hybrid and plug-in hybrids. Nissan Leaf, Skoda and some Tesla models upto 8 years or 100,000 miles on their EVs.

I think the bigger risk is not so much battery failure, but rather battery degradation as it ages which is likely to occur on most cars and the warranties normally allow some degradation without triggering a replacement.

I think for long term ownership 10+ years, assuming you need a reasonable range for long distance trips, either an EV with a high capacity battery 60+kWh to start with so it has some margin to accommodate that deterioration without the range being a problem, or a plug-in hybrid so that the even as the pure EV range reduces with age, there's the hybrid to fall back providing ample range.

 

[AM9]

That sounds courageous, but I'm sure is true.

Persuading petrolheads to voluntarily drive at 43.5mph on a motorway might be difficult, but when EVs are the norm, I can imagine that (i.e. less than 50mph) becoming the sort of speed that the majority of drivers will maintain. There's a benefit to them in energy and range terms and a greater benefit to all road users because the safe capacity of a motorway increases with lower speeds.

 

[Giugiaro]

There's a benefit to them in energy and range terms and a greater benefit to all road users because the safe capacity of a motorway increases with lower speeds.

It's a benefit that also applies to ICE cars. I used to do long travels at 80kph (50mph) at 5th gear, since this was close to the most efficient regime on the FIAT Panda.
Because it was a purely manual car (it didn't even have a tachometer!) it was much harder to keep the speed steady and not waste energy, but the effort did get me a record 520km range (~325miles), when I usually would get 440km (~275miles) on daily mixed driving. 390km during winters (~245miles).

Obviously not all cars will benefit from Super Cruising at the same exact speed. Each car model has its SC Speed, something that isn't marketed or published by car brands because what sells is the power rating and max speed of a car.
Yes, it's true that it's also important the MPG_l/100km, and this has been advertised. But there's a reason why people warn not to take these values for granted: People don't drive the same way how the tests were carried out.

 

[DustyBin]

I've found the engine type can make a big difference, my current petrol car has no electric heater but it produces heat almost straight away same as the other petrol car in the household but the diesel one took a frustratingly long time to heat up, noticeably worse than the diesel before which I assume is due to the efficiency of the newer engine. Irritatingly the diesel (Skoda Octavia) did offer a factory fit ceramic heater but not in the UK only the colder climates despite the fact it would have definitely been useful here.

Diesels generally take an age to warm up and even once heated through the engine temperatures are lower than those found in petrol engines (even non-turbo petrol engines). My previous daily car was a 5 Series diesel, I don’t miss the lack of warm air, non-heated windscreen or diesel clatter on a morning! All in a reasonably high end car as well……

Incidentally there are a lot of IC engined cars that can be pre-heated, defrosted etc. these days via an app - obviously this is done electrically and not by starting the engine!

 

[Bayum]

Well, I’m losing my patience more and more with Mini as we speak. Was pretty much pushed into ordering an electric car with the only adjustment being that I’ve said I will refuse to sign anything confirming I will take the car until I’m happy.
Was booked in for a 24hr test drive on Monday that I was going to use for the day and I received an email asking if I could hold off until today because the manager was using the car Monday. Got a phonecall just as I was about to set off this morning saying that the car I was test driving now doesn’t have any tax so it will likely be new year back when I’m teaching now. Doesn’t sound like an issue but I need to be sure that my foot and leg will be able to cope with the demand of the regen. accelerator - you can’t take your foot off the accelerator fully whilst regen. is ‘on’ as allowing the pedal to be pulled back from flat causes the car to brake.

 

[najaB]

For buses it seems to be diesel heaters which is a bit ironic, but would not some sort of storage heater be worthy of consideration, with the option to top up from the battery? If most people plug in overnight that could be warmed up then.

Storage heaters require a large mass, so unless they're heating up the battery (file under "bad ideas"!) that would mean adding deadweight.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Well, I’m losing my patience more and more with Mini as we speak. Was pretty much pushed into ordering an electric car with the only adjustment being that I’ve said I will refuse to sign anything confirming I will take the car until I’m happy.
Was booked in for a 24hr test drive on Monday that I was going to use for the day and I received an email asking if I could hold off until today because the manager was using the car Monday. Got a phonecall just as I was about to set off this morning saying that the car I was test driving now doesn’t have any tax so it will likely be new year back when I’m teaching now. Doesn’t sound like an issue but I need to be sure that my foot and leg will be able to cope with the demand of the regen. accelerator - you can’t take your foot off the accelerator fully whilst regen. is ‘on’ as allowing the pedal to be pulled back from flat causes the car to brake.

Walk away and find a different dealer, and tell them why. I can't be doing with this 1980s style "hard sell", and nor should you have to put up with it.

 

[AM9]

Well, I’m losing my patience more and more with Mini as we speak. Was pretty much pushed into ordering an electric car with the only adjustment being that I’ve said I will refuse to sign anything confirming I will take the car until I’m happy.
Was booked in for a 24hr test drive on Monday that I was going to use for the day and I received an email asking if I could hold off until today because the manager was using the car Monday. Got a phonecall just as I was about to set off this morning saying that the car I was test driving now doesn’t have any tax so it will likely be new year back when I’m teaching now. Doesn’t sound like an issue but I need to be sure that my foot and leg will be able to cope with the demand of the regen. accelerator - you can’t take your foot off the accelerator fully whilst regen. is ‘on’ as allowing the pedal to be pulled back from flat causes the car to brake.

I agree with @Bletchleyite absolutely on the attitude of the dealer here but to comment on the action of the accelerator pedal when in maximum regen mode. Regen is much more likely to be used either in a built-up area where stop/start traffic will enable plenty of energy recovery. So the pedal then acts as a speed control which is likely to be constantly adjusted to deal with variable traffic speeds. On an open road and especially a motorway, cruising at a steady speed is much more likely, so there is less energy wastage and a much less aggressive regen settinng (or none) can be used to allow coasting, - which of course won't have anywhere near the continuous drag of an IC engine in overrun.

 

[redbutton]

To add a data point for the original question, I drive a 70-plate Kia eNiro 4, achieving 4.5mi/kWh in the summer and 4mi/kWh in the winter, paying 5.5p/kWh for charging from 2130-0230 via the Octopus Go Faster tariff.

That means I'm paying approximately 1.375p per mile for fuel, then you have to add insurance, tyres, and servicing (which is significantly less than an ICE car due to regenerative braking and the lack of oil changes).

I use full regen all the time, so I really only touch the brake pedal to bring the car from low speed to a stand or if I need to brake hard for a hazard or the like. Using the adaptive cruise control overrides the regen setting, so it will coast or regen as appropriate for conditions- whichever is more efficient at the moment.

 

[Deepgreen]

I have had a hybrid on order for well over a year now and the manufacturer's web site gives expected power consumption rates. Your supplier's tariffs will need to be considered when estimating actual charging costs, along with public charging costs on occasions. As with anything, usage amount and type will be crucial - I would say 90% of my journeys are within the electric range of the car and therefore that will be the vast bulk of my consumption. I'm even considering having solar panels installed to permit charging (I use the car far from every day) and there would obviously be a capital cost with quite a long pay-back there, but the panels can also be used to supply other domestic needs. The style of driving is also very important - I am an economical driver because I don't like hurtling around on an ego-trip, and that also obviously saves consumption.

 

[richw]

I read an article a few days ago that quoted £15000 for new batteries, and depending on your usage this could be within next to no time, the less the electric car is used the quicker the battery cells die. 3-4 weeks of non use and not plugged in could damage the battery cells completely just through lack of use.

 

[AM9]

I have had a hybrid on order for well over a year now and the manufacturer's web site gives expected power consumption rates. Your supplier's tariffs will need to be considered when estimating actual charging costs, along with public charging costs on occasions. As with anything, usage amount and type will be crucial - I would say 90% of my journeys are within the electric range of the car and therefore that will be the vast bulk of my consumption. I'm even considering having solar panels installed to permit charging (I use the car far from every day) and there would obviously be a capital cost with quite a long pay-back there, but the panels can also be used to supply other domestic needs. The style of driving is also very important - I am an economical driver because I don't like hurtling around on an ego-trip, and that also obviously saves consumption.

Having just had PV panels installed, my hope is that it will form part of an overall energy straegy incluing an EV. Initially, any spare energy from the PV system automatically goes into heating hot water, but I suspect that in the summer there will be more than we can use in the home. There will be a small export income, (just £0.04 per KWh) but an EV will give a double benefit:

1) free charging for up to 15KWh in the summer months and not much in the winter.​

2) if the right car, charger and tariff are chosen, the ability to use some of the stored energy in the EV battery to power much of the summer evening/night load by drawing it back into the house network.​

This is likely as it would be part of the DNO's strategy for increasing the peak capacity of the local supply network without extensive reinforment of the street level cabling and substations.

A further option might be to move to a split tariff where low-cost off-peak energy can be stored in the EV battery for eliminating much of the winter heating demand as well as selling it back to the supplier during the peak at a higher unit cost than it was originally purchased for. With EV battery capacity heading up towards 100KWh to extend vehicle range, this may become a major incentive for users to offset the cost of a PV/EV installation acquisition.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Dec 2021 ==

I read an article a few days ago that quoted £15000 for new batteries, and depending on your usage this could be within next to no time, the less the electric car is used the quicker the battery cells die. 3-4 weeks of non use and not plugged in could damage the battery cells completely just through lack of use.

Perhaps you could post a link to your source of all this damning information about EV batteries.

 

[richw]

Perhaps you could post a link to your source of all this damning information about EV batteries.

It was a magazine article. The car in question was a 5 year old Tesla requiring new batteries.
I’ve just googled and found a more in depth article that suggests if it’s properly cared for such issues won’t be as likely.
The article I’m now reading on the subject says not to charge to 100% as fully charging can degrade the battery, as can frequent use of rapid chargers. And disconnect the battery if you’re going away on holiday.
so I will go back on what i said and it looks important to take good care of a EV more so than a petrol car

 

[Bessie]

This article was in the Daily Mail the other day https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...st-17-000-cost-replacing-battery-Finland.html

I will be driving ICE for a long time to come.

 

[jon0844]

Many cars have larger batteries than you can 'use' by restricting usage and charging. It means that some of that capacity can be 'released' as time goes on to counter the gradual drop in battery efficiency, but ultimately you've never been able to charge to 100%. The tech is improving all the time, and even when you've done 100-150k in an EV, the likelihood is that the batteries can be used in something like a home power bank, or reconditioned and used again. Almost everything is recyclable.

I can't say I've heard anyone say you need to disconnect the battery if you're going on holiday.

And a petrol car needs good care too. Even if you barely drive one, you need to look at the condition of those hoses as the car ages. They'll be a damn sight more fiddly to replace too, but I am sure some junior technician will be happy to do the job for £100+ an hour! Meanwhile, the cost of servicing and maintaining an EV should be considerably cheaper.

I think people need to look at the total cost of ownership, including maintenance (especially things that need to be done irrespective of your usage). For my usage needs, an EV isn't quite there yet but I expect it will be within the next 3 years. For people who do quite a bit of driving, I think we're already there and possibly have been for a while.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Dec 2021 ==

This article was in the Daily Mail the other day https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...st-17-000-cost-replacing-battery-Finland.html

I will be driving ICE for a long time to come.

Just don't buy a Tesla. They are very protective of their business and not big on right to repair, so it's not surprising that they're going to try and maximise profits and charge people whatever they like to fix things.

It doesn't mean don't buy an EV.

 

[kevin_roche]

Tried to charge my Prius today while away from home. At the nearby ASDA store there is a BP Pulse charging point but there is no mobile signal as it is in an underground car park. It is not possible to sign in and use the app near the charge point in order to activate it. That might explain why it isn't used much.

 

[Cloud Strife]

A side benefit of EVs is that it may reduce the average speed that drivers sustain on long journeys.

Not sure if it's a great benefit to those of us living in mainland Europe! For sure, one major issue with EVs is that the range simply isn't there. I visit Croatia once every couple of years, and it's just not realistic to do that journey by car if you can't maintain the current speed limits of 130-140km/h. I usually sit at 128/9km/h (80mph) with cruise control, so nothing excessive - but the typical journey (overnight break in Slovenia) involves 8 hour drives each day. I tend to take 30 minute breaks every 2-3 hours, which gives a total travel time of around 9.5-10 hours each day. If an EV meant that the same journey was to take 12 or more hours, it would be a nightmare.

 

[dgl]

I've left my car unplugged and parked for almost a week already, and it has retained its charge.
You do need to mind that the 12V battery that all cars have (including electric!) will be the one discharging when the vehicle is not being used, so make sure you monitor its charge state before any prolonged storage.
An electric car may retain its charge on the main battery, but if the 12V battery discharges completely, you might be left with a car closed shut and unresponsive, like any other modern car with a 12V.

Interestingly the Hybrid only variant of the Hyundai Ioniq has no regular 12V battery as the 12V battery is part of the hybrid pack, and as such if it goes flat you can use the hybrid battery to "jump-start" it.

 

[AM9]

Not sure if it's a great benefit to those of us living in mainland Europe! For sure, one major issue with EVs is that the range simply isn't there. I visit Croatia once every couple of years, and it's just not realistic to do that journey by car if you can't maintain the current speed limits of 130-140km/h. I usually sit at 128/9km/h (80mph) with cruise control, so nothing excessive - but the typical journey (overnight break in Slovenia) involves 8 hour drives each day. I tend to take 30 minute breaks every 2-3 hours, which gives a total travel time of around 9.5-10 hours each day. If an EV meant that the same journey was to take 12 or more hours, it would be a nightmare.

So you only need that performance once every 2 years, which means that the rest of your motoring could be done without creating tonnes of CO2?

 

[richw]

So you only need that performance once every 2 years, which means that the rest of your motoring could be done without creating tonnes of CO2?

Although at exhaust emissions are low, in any country where electricity is coal generated there is no benefit of emissions overall between an EV and small petrol car.

 

[AM9]

Although at exhaust emissions are low, in any country where electricity is coal generated there is no benefit of emissions overall between an EV and small petrol car.

Even conventional power stations produce less CO2 per KWh than millions of ICVs. They also control their noxious emissions a lot better. In addition, EU countries that still use coal will be removing it from electricity production pretty soon.