UK switching to electric vehicles discussion

[jon0844]

I'm noticing a pretty significant switch here in Hatfield too. I guess a lot of new cars sold in March this year were electric, and driving at peak times it's easy to spot a lot of EVs passing you by - or the car in front or behind you being electric.

At other times you'll still see older cars (cars before 2010 or so that didn't have to have daylight running lights stand out in particular) but those will decrease more and more as time goes on.

 

[jp4712]

The problem, isn't so much the idea, it's the installation, and the time it would take to implement,
The cost would probably make it uneconomic to do, the only way Batteries can compete, Is I would say, when the charging technology can recharge a battery in under 5 mins,

Why does the battery have to charge in under 5 minutes? Why not charge at home overnight, or at a public charging point while you go and do something such as shopping or eating? I’ve just bought my first electric car. I will NEVER go back.

I have a drive at my home so I can charge at home overnight; my car has a real-world range of 300 miles. I regularly need to drive to Manchester, 170 miles round trip, so I do that well within range, and just charge when I get home - couldn’t be more convenient. And my wife and I are pleased with how smooth and quiet it is.

 

[cactustwirly]

Depend what you mean.

A quarter of all new cars registered are now EVs (the numbers for March come out next week). About 5% of all cars are now EVs.

In some parts of the country uptake is higher than in others. Here in St Albans I estimate that 10% of the cars on the road are EVs.

So, yes, a long way to go, but it’s is happening visibly now.

One more thing, I know there are some journos out thee who will say otherwise, but of the dozens of people I know with EVs, not one of them has gone back to ICE. Some of them are on their 3rd or 4th Ev now.

If that was the case you'd expect EV chargers to be full if they're less than 5% of a supermarket parking spaces.

The fact that a big Sainsbury's in a fairly middle class area has barely any EVs speaks volumes

 

[Peter Sarf]

If the money that chargers make over time is greater than the cost of installation, then it won't be uneconomic. If those chargers are integrated into lamp-posts, then charging revenue also goes towards the cost of running those. When councils are under increasing financial pressure, it's a good opportunity to raise some extra cash.

This will be the interesting thing. Can kerbside chargers make money for the owners of the circuit that supplies power to the streetlamps. Then again if the (three phase) supply to the houses is strong enough to provide power for charging on people drives than it ought to be good enough for even more kerbside chargers. I doubt if they would have to be fast chargers as predominantly over night ?.

That's not car culture; it's laziness!

Ha ha, but very common and encouraged by car culture. Ironically he goes regularly to a gym !. Me - I am too lazy for a gym !.

My view is most people consider their car as the first option for any journey.

Besides, it makes no difference if his car is electric or ICE powered, so I fail to see how it's relevant to the thread.

Only relevant in connection to my point that many people for whom an EV is difficult to afford and/or charge probably deserve there environment to be less dictated by car culture.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Apr 2026 ==

If that was the case you'd expect EV chargers to be full if they're less than 5% of a supermarket parking spaces.

The fact that a big Sainsbury's in a fairly middle class area has barely any EVs speaks volumes

Ideally the wealthier EV owners will be regularly charging at home.

 

[Mawkie]

A good question. I have not seen an answer yet.

I answered at 0915hrs today.

UK switching to electric vehicles discussion

Probably not, as it's largely about the pistons and bores which they don't have. Yes, I'm pretty sure ICE car manuals still suggest driving with a light right foot for the first couple of thousand miles. I doubt if it will be two thousand miles , a lot less, the brakes need to bed in, the...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Snow1964]

The fact that a big Sainsbury's in a fairly middle class area has barely any EVs speaks volumes

Sainsbury's has a number of stores with fast chargers, here is a map

Smart Charge - Ultra-Rapid Electric Vehicle Charging Powered by Sainsbury's

Locations page for Smart Charge

smartcharge.co.uk

If click on a location it tells you how many in use.
Those just off a main route are often busier, at time of looking Taunton had 0 available of 12

Admittedly there are big geographic gaps, eg nothing near Sheffield, Norwich, Cheltenham, Yeovil etc, even though there are about 80 locations

 

[jon0844]

Sainsbury's has a number of stores with fast chargers, here is a map

Not only that, but Sainsbury's is one of the few (only?) supermarkets that has set up as a charge point operator, running the EV chargers themselves - not renting/leasing out spaces to a third-party. They clearly see a future in offering charging for cars. Tesco on the other hand seems rather clueless, which is surprising given how far ahead they are on a lot of things.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Apr 2026 ==

That's not car culture; it's laziness!

Besides, it makes no difference if his car is electric or ICE powered, so I fail to see how it's relevant to the thread.

I think it is valid, because while I am very pro-EV (and was for at least four years before I got one), I totally agree with the comments made above about us being too car dependent. Having an EV doesn't solve the traffic and congestion issues.

I'll admit that since getting an EV and it costing so little to charge it, I have been driving more than I might have otherwise. It can make you lazier. If it is costing 0.7/0.8p per mile (as it will be for some people now paying 3.49p per kWh) then it's as good as free for a nip to the local shops.

But for decades, we've designed things around cars. Since the 60s and 70s, we all thought the car would bring us total freedom (look at the impact on the railways) and so now we're paying the price. Those who are so reliant on cars will attack the concept of 15 minute cities, with people under 50-60 years old probably unaware of a time when their parents or grand parents didn't own a car. They likely used public transport or walked, but managed to do so because there were local shops. Perhaps there were more buses too, given the fact that cars hadn't made many routes unsustainable.

 

[Mawkie]

If that was the case you'd expect EV chargers to be full if they're less than 5% of a supermarket parking spaces.

The fact that a big Sainsbury's in a fairly middle class area has barely any EVs speaks volumes

I think your logic is flawed.

If your Sainsbury's is in a middle class area, surely most of the patrons would have drives and charge at home?

 

[Harpers Tate]

....the only way Batteries can compete, Is I would say, when the charging technology can recharge a battery in under 5 mins,

That, IMO, illustrates in a nutshell the biggest obstacle to overcome. And I don't mean charging time.

I mean getting ICE users to unlearn what they have become accustomed to and making it a requirement for their "acceptance" of EVs: that you go somewhere special, spend ~5 minutes refuelling while you watch it happen (unable to do anything else but stand there gripping the pump nozzle), and then leaving to go back home or carry on. 5 minutes PLUS the journey time to and from, whatever that may be.

Changed thinking is required. You go to (say) nearby Morrisons or Sainsbury's to shop once every (depends on your usage). You plug in, leave the car unattended while you go in the store, shop, pay and leave. You return to your car to find it well topped up, unplug and leave.

You go out for a meal. You choose somewhere that has or is near to a charger. You plug in, enter the eatery, order, eat, pay, leave. You unplug and carry on.

etc.

The net cost in time has been barely a minute or two. The elapsed time may well have been, say, 30 minutes - but it's 30 minutes you were going to be doing something else anyway. The key to unthinking fuelling as a standalone separate action is acknowledging that you can do it in parallel with something else you were already going to do whether that's shopping, sightseeing, eating out, whatever.

 

[Stephen42]

If car parking is so problematic where you live, doesn't that tell you something about your chosen lifestyle and transport options? Owning a car is not compatible with every house, and just because every person has a right to own a car, there's no guarantee that you local environment will accommodate it forever, - ICE or EV.

Everyone's circumstances are different and it's simplistic to assume it's all choice. It does mean that people's threshold for EV vs ICE will be different. In my area most flats have dedicated off-road parking all built before electric vehicles existed. The cost and hassle of getting a charger installed would make it better to use public chargers. It reduces the cost saving compared to driveway overnight charging moving the switchover point. As a result nearly all flat owners in my area drive ICE even though a fair proportion of houses now have EVs.

My area has a lot of lamppost chargers such that there's 8 closer than the nearest petrol station plus 2 fast chargers within that distance too. It's all walkable so if I had an EV I could drive it a few hundred metres to an available one, walk back home and pick it up on foot once done. The availability of chargers in walking distance varies dramatically by area. The lamppost ones installed near me are only a year or two old.

In some parts of the country uptake is higher than in others. Here in St Albans I estimate that 10% of the cars on the road are EVs.

So, yes, a long way to go, but it’s is happening visibly now.

While all statistics are imperfect, to illustrate this with hard numbers (all as of September 2025). Of cars with private individual keepers in St Albans 6.6% were plug in vehicles, 4.0% of those being battery only. Hastings the other place recently mentioned is just 2.5% plug in and 1.5% battery only.

About 44% of battery electric cars are privately owned. The company registered keepers are 37.6% plug in and 26.9% battery across Great Britain but are less likely to be driven where they are registered. On average doubling the privately owned percentage would reflect total ownership though in practice will vary across the country.

The extremes are further apart. Westminster, City of London and Camden all have proportion of privately owned battery cars above 7%. Plymouth, Belfast and Leicester are about 1.25%, Northern Ireland on average is 1%. These numbers are six months old and electric vehicles will have increased since then, but gives some idea of the large spread.

If that was the case you'd expect EV chargers to be full if they're less than 5% of a supermarket parking spaces.

The fact that a big Sainsbury's in a fairly middle class area has barely any EVs speaks volumes

Supermarket chargers won't be expecting to capture much of the local homeowner charging market. Anyone who can charge at home will and not need to charge in a nearby supermarket. The light commercial vehicles like Openreach are a bigger focus, profit from both charging and extra shopping trips generated by those drivers. The companies avoid having to fit chargers or paying employees to wait for charging - it's their lunch break. There will be a small amount of demand from those who can't charge at home (but these people are less likely to have switched) or people away from home.

This will be the interesting thing. Can kerbside chargers make money for the owners of the circuit that supplies power to the streetlamps. Then again if the (three phase) supply to the houses is strong enough to provide power for charging on people drives than it ought to be good enough for even more kerbside chargers. I doubt if they would have to be fast chargers as predominantly over night ?.

The lampposts are usually slow chargers which makes fitment easier. Several have different tariffs depending on time of day, cheapest overnight when overall power usage dips. The commercial arrangements are complex; most suppliers agree to take on commercial risk and so local authority doesn't ever lose out but also won't make huge gains if it is successful.

Fast chargers are often offered to councils on a similar basis, they don't pay for the fitment and don't get revenue as a result. Most local authorities don't have spare money and don't want to sign up to risky contracts if they can avoid it.

 

[The Ham]

If that was the case you'd expect EV chargers to be full if they're less than 5% of a supermarket parking spaces.

The fact that a big Sainsbury's in a fairly middle class area has barely any EVs speaks volumes

Chances are most of those with EV's currently are able to charge at home. Even if they don't, then the amount of charge that they need to top up for the two to their local supermarket is likely to be short, therefore, they may not need to charge every time they go to the store.

 

[Bald Rick]

If that was the case you'd expect EV chargers to be full if they're less than 5% of a supermarket parking spaces.

I’d love to see the Maths behind that statement.

 

[Energy]

Chances are most of those with EV's currently are able to charge at home.

Indeed. Sainsbury's charges 72p/kWh; those without off-street parking are likely charging elsewhere.

Sainsbury's chargers tend to be more popular with fleet drivers, since the company pays for charging & the driver pays for their lunch...

 

[jon0844]

Sainsbury's chargers tend to be more popular with fleet drivers, since the company pays for charging & the driver pays for their lunch...

And that's likely seen as a good market to try and capture from Sainsbury's point of view.

72p is expensive still, but I guess they'll do Nectar points and other promotions. Some people will just charge because it's convenient - the car being nearly full when they finish their shop. If they shop once a week, it may fit the charging needs perfectly.

 

[johncrossley]

The cost and hassle of getting a charger installed would make it better to use public chargers. It reduces the cost saving compared to driveway overnight charging moving the switchover point. As a result nearly all flat owners in my area drive ICE even though a fair proportion of houses now have EVs.

As I mentioned some time ago, flats with their own car parks should be the *easiest* residential locations to electrify. No need to drill a hole in the side of a house with a driveway. It is just red tape and lack of funding preventing this.

 

[jon0844]

I’d love to see the Maths behind that statement.

I think it assumes EV owners will park in the EV bays, but of course most don't need to charge every time they go somewhere. It does feel like people still assume EVs have such poor range they must be charged at every stop.

 

[MicroLithium]

I think it assumes EV owners will park in the EV bays, but of course most don't need to charge every time they go somewhere. It does feel like people still assume EVs have such poor range they must be charged at every stop.

Yes, my local Sainsbury’s has the fastest DC chargers around, but I’ve only used them once - to show my wife how to use a public charger! The rest of the time, I go for a space near the trolley return

 

[jon0844]

The Vauxhall Frontera (which has the same price for petrol as the EV) for £115 a month.

Having driven the Citroen e-C3 and Peugeot E2008, these Stellantis cars are very comfortable and smooth, with decent DC charging and lots of room.

Given fuel prices now, £115 with a £1400-1500 deposit is an even bigger bargain.

Video: EV Man reviewing the Vauxhall Frontera EV with 40kWh battery.

 

[gazthomas]

Despite the Gulf issues, I had an email from Octopus that my EV charging was going down from 7p to 5p per KW/h. Remarkable. Living in Wales were you can barely reach 20 mph on normal roads my EV uses almost no energy.

 

[thejuggler]

The Vauxhall Frontera (which has the same price for petrol as the EV) for £115 a month.

Having driven the Citroen e-C3 and Peugeot E2008, these Stellantis cars are very comfortable and smooth, with decent DC charging and lots of room.

Given fuel prices now, £115 with a £1400-1500 deposit is an even bigger bargain.

Video: EV Man reviewing the Vauxhall Frontera EV with 40kWh battery.

40kWh battery is why. 100-150 miles range is of little use to a typical user.

 

[Darandio]

40kWh battery is why. 100-150 miles range is of little use to a typical user.

That's nonsense and is what's often trotted out by those railing against electric vehicles. It's ideal for what you call a typical user, most don't do much more than that in a week.

 

[Snow1964]

Chances are most of those with EV's currently are able to charge at home. Even if they don't, then the amount of charge that they need to top up for the two to their local supermarket is likely to be short, therefore, they may not need to charge every time they go to the store.

I am struggling to find how many home chargers there are, but appears it was estimated at around 1.3m at end of 2025, and increasing by about 30,000 per month, so must be around 1.4m now.

Figures suggest 1.88m pure electric cars in UK at end of Feb 2026 (March sales figures due next week).

Might be some households with 2 EVs, but with about 1.4m home chargers, and about 1.9m EVs, it rather confirms majority with electric cars, can charge at home.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Having driven the Citroen e-C3 and Peugeot E2008, these Stellantis cars are very comfortable and smooth, with decent DC charging and lots of room.

I wouldn't say the e-C3 has decent charging. I rented one in Spain a couple of months ago and it wasn't particularly good, the car simply wouldn't charge that fast regardless of which charger I used. It was absolutely fine when left overnight to charge at a cheap (slow) municipal charger, but you couldn't use it on a trip somewhere. The car itself is fine, it's just the DC charging is weak. I actually complained about it to the car hire company, and they said the same thing, that in their experience, getting anything like reliable fast charging was impossible with the e-C3 and that they had terrible problems charging them with their own DC fast chargers.

But honestly, with the small battery, you're not likely to be using it on long runs anyway. It's absolutely perfect for something that you drive to work and back, or something that you use to go to the out of town retail park.

I'll admit that since getting an EV and it costing so little to charge it, I have been driving more than I might have otherwise. It can make you lazier. If it is costing 0.7/0.8p per mile (as it will be for some people now paying 3.49p per kWh) then it's as good as free for a nip to the local shops.

A friend where I live has mastered this particular art. He has a huge 60kWh battery installation, and with the dynamic energy tariffs and solar panels, he only charges the battery when it costs him nothing to do so, so either via his own solar or negative energy prices. Combined with some savvy algorithms that he's designed to predict energy prices, he's pretty much got to the point where his car costs him absolutely nothing to run.

 

[Stephen42]

As I mentioned some time ago, flats with their own car parks should be the *easiest* residential locations to electrify. No need to drill a hole in the side of a house with a driveway. It is just red tape and lack of funding preventing this.

While it avoids drilling a hole, the fitters will have plenty of experience in that and most house installations will be relatively similar. There's a lot more variation in flat car park arrangements; where the nearest properly rated power supply is, obstacles in the way, lack of info on what's routed where, availability of places to mount chargers, ground conditions if none, total power supply demand constraints, smart charging complications as no wifi coupled with more frequent tenant changes etc. The easiest ones might be easier, I suspect a far greater chunk will have complications than for houses.

I am struggling to find how many home chargers there are, but appears it was estimated at around 1.3m at end of 2025, and increasing by about 30,000 per month, so must be around 1.4m now.

Figures suggest 1.88m pure electric cars in UK at end of Feb 2026 (March sales figures due next week).

Might be some households with 2 EVs, but with about 1.4m home chargers, and about 1.9m EVs, it rather confirms majority with electric cars, can charge at home.

A Zapmap survey end of 2025 has the proportion as 23% without home charging access. It likely biases towards those using public chargers and 23% might be an overestimate as a result. Even amongst that sample nearly half were using public chargers less than once a month. It further backs up that the majority of current EV drivers can charge at home.

The proportion of EV drivers using the public network less that [sic] once a month remains at 49%, but more detailed questions this year reveal that more than half of these (28% ) are only using the public network during specific periods, such as summer holidays or the festive season, rather than steadily through the year, suggesting that they so may have less familiarity with usage or network idiosyncrasies.

 

[jon0844]

40kWh battery is why. 100-150 miles range is of little use to a typical user.

There's a 54kWh battery for about £30 more a month (and 10,000 miles over 5,000).

With 100kW DC charging you can go long way with just the 'small' battery and it was more than 100 miles anyway. Probably around 180 for the 40 and 240-250 for the 54.

However you look at it, it's a steal for a pretty big family car. £195 tax and no MOT if returned in three years. £70-100 service cost max and then the cost of charging.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Apr 2026 ==

I wouldn't say the e-C3 has decent charging. I rented one in Spain a couple of months ago and it wasn't particularly good, the car simply wouldn't charge that fast regardless of which charger I used. It was absolutely fine when left overnight to charge at a cheap (slow) municipal charger, but you couldn't use it on a trip somewhere. The car itself is fine, it's just the DC charging is weak. I actually complained about it to the car hire company, and they said the same thing, that in their experience, getting anything like reliable fast charging was impossible with the e-C3 and that they had terrible problems charging them with their own DC fast chargers.

But honestly, with the small battery, you're not likely to be using it on long runs anyway. It's absolutely perfect for something that you drive to work and back, or something that you use to go to the out of town retail park.



A friend where I live has mastered this particular art. He has a huge 60kWh battery installation, and with the dynamic energy tariffs and solar panels, he only charges the battery when it costs him nothing to do so, so either via his own solar or negative energy prices. Combined with some savvy algorithms that he's designed to predict energy prices, he's pretty much got to the point where his car costs him absolutely nothing to run.

Stellantis cars are usually 100kW DC charging. That might drop to 50 on a cold day if the car doesn't have a heat pump, but for most of the year it manages to maintain a pretty decent level. A 10-80% charge taking about 30 minutes is not the fastest by any means but certainly manageable, especially when most charging will be at 7.1kW which won't slow down at all, at least until it approaches 100% when it drops to about 2.8kW.

 

[The Ham]

40kWh battery is why. 100-150 miles range is of little use to a typical user.

As someone who has a car with this range and regularly (about once a month) do a trip of over 200 miles, it's not the problem many think it is.

Also, I would say that range is achievable when the family and there luggage is loaded.

Day to day the car gets charged about 3 or 4 times a week. Whilst this is more than the one a week once every 10 days we used to fill up with fuel it's less of an impact (the car is always ready to do 80+ miles in the morning and often 100+ miles, whilst with fuel it could be ready to do 300+ miles but it could also need to be filled up before going anywhere else).

Doing a long trip to see family, we have to stop, but given the journey (depending on family being visited) is between 3 and 4 hours a forced stop isn't that much of an issue - especially given my fairly recent change in health which means I often need to do something which requires a stop for a few minutes within that timeframe anyway.

However, even without that it's no big deal, as for most people they should need a loo break during that time anyway.

An extra but if range (say 150 to 200 miles) would hardly impact us. A few less charges a month and a bit more flexibility on our stop location to charge (however there's already several options for charging locations with more due soon) and maybe remove the need for a second 8-13 minute charge in the winter in cold/bad weather (however I suspect even those may not be that common).

Would it be nice to have a range of 250-300 miles so we didn't have to stop unless we chose to? Probably, however in the scheme of things very much a nice to have and we probably wouldn't be able to justify the extra cost for such a small impact on our driving, and that's from someone who would benefit from it at least monthly.

Even pre EV, when we went from SE England to the Lakes we did a day stop in the Midlands (Black Country Living museum, as an aside it's with visiting, even though it didn't have any trains!) with an overnight stay near Manchester. In doing so it meant we did a few hours of driving at a time, let the kids let off steam between sitting in the car and actually made it part of our memories rather than just a slog of drive.

With the EV we'd do something similar. Maybe something like:

Trip up:
Leave work Friday evening drive for an hour or so
Have an evening meal and charge
Drive for another hour or so
Check into overnight accommodation around 10pm (charge)
Get up and get on the road early
Pause an hour in for breakfast and a charge
Drive another hour or so have a day out.
Leave around 4 and arrive in the Lakes around 6pm Saturday

In the way back, leave mid morning Saturday
Explore the area on the way out of the Lakes
Have lunch somewhere in the edge of the Lake District and charge
Go to somewhere like Chester for an overnight stay (explore in the evening)
Get up and drive, pause for breakfast and a charge
Go to a day out location (arriving around 10:30) charge whilst there
Leave around 4:30
Stop for dinner and a charge around 6pm
Drive to a wee/coffee break and charge
Arrive home around 10pm

By doing that, rather than slogging through 5 hours of driving the travel there is as much of the holiday as being in the Lakes.

Going to Scotland would probably require shorter day visits and/or more refreshment breaks and/or earlier starts and/or later arrival times. However, would still be more of the experience rather than just a day of "are we nearly there yet?".

Yes it's different way of doing things, but for something which most people wouldn't do more than once a year, it's not much of an issue.

OK, it would have that we couldn't just blast through Friday night, spend a weekend there and blast back Sunday night, however I would suggest those sorts of distances for a weekend aren't really suitable.

 

[450.emu]

I made the switch last year, and it does take some getting used to. The biggest is the charge time, anything from 30 to 50 minutes on a fast 150kW charger. Car is a Toyota BZ4X, which doesn't have the best of range or charge times (1st gen model), apparently that's improved on the 2026 model / refresh.

I didn't know that EV's prefer a mix of slow (home) charging and fast charging like you would find at BP Pulse for instance as constant fast charges can addle the battery and make it charge slowly. Then there's the pantheon of charging apps depending charger company, something as an ICE driver you would not even care for. Biggest bugbear is the fixed charge fee taken (usually £50-60) though this is partially refunded back if you don't need it. Which can make charging pretty expensive, none of the bunging in a tenner of petrol and done with it.

This may put a lot off, thankfully it's a lease from work. It would be good if more councils set up on street charging for those of us in apartments without driveways, or if in future opportunity charging comes in, like the battery electric GWR train... even a way to charge via solar panel would be good on the rare good summer days.

Why can't car manufacturers make a universal power pack, pre charged in a cabinet, you can swap your dead one for to re charge, and you could be on your way in minutes instead of an hour? Apparently Solid State batteries are the next big thing which is faster and more durable.

Best advice is Don't freak out when you put on the A/C or fan and you see the estimated range figures tumble like Forest down the Premier League table. Watch your percentage of charge, it's best to charge from 10% to around 80%, though you can fully charge for longer journeys. If you can charge at work, then do so as it is usually cheaper than regular filling stations

 

[martin butler]

As others have already said, If you drive an EV, you have to change your driving method, because of the practicality of charging,
Over time you adapt,

I'm not actually anti EV, I do agree they're the future, wither we like it or not, but for me, the problems of at home charging, right now make it something I can't consider, and it would need me to change where I shop, to take advantage of car park charging, because where i normally shop, has no charging points and then, theres the size, even smaller cars, are now the size of a medium family car, and on street parking is already difficult where i am, parking is of a premium, and 3 larger cars, take the space of 4 smaller cars, so less cars can park.

For me the issue isn't actually the car, its the lack of parking, and able to charge.

 

[Noddy]

Biggest bugbear is the fixed charge fee taken (usually £50-60) though this is partially refunded back if you don't need it. Which can make charging pretty expensive, none of the bunging in a tenner of petrol and done with it.

Don’t pay with a credit/debit card. Use Electroverse or ZapPay (or Tesla if you’re that way inclined). It avoids the preauthorisation fees and cover virtually all major CPOs (Gridserve are the only major one not to be part of Electroverse for example). You can often get cheaper charging this way too.

Why can't car manufacturers make a universal power pack, pre charged in a cabinet, you can swap your dead one for to re charge, and you could be on your way in minutes instead of an hour? Apparently Solid State batteries are the next big thing which is faster and more durable.

Tesla early cars were built to do battery swapping but they realised a) there are issues around ownership of the battery, b) cars were heavier c) it was useless if you could charge at home and d) in the real world with fast charging and good routing it wasn’t really a time saver.

Nio (high end Chinese brand) do offer this service in certain regions but it’s never massively taken off because it’s not really the real world time saving it appears it might be. Nio are due to launch in the UK this year and perhaps for those who do very high mileage but can never charge at home it might be useful but at that’s such a small niche I don’t think it’s going to take off in a huge way.

 

[Snow1964]

I made the switch last year, and it does take some getting used to. The biggest is the charge time, anything from 30 to 50 minutes on a fast 150kW charger. Car is a Toyota BZ4X, which doesn't have the best of range or charge times (1st gen model), apparently that's improved on the 2026 model / refresh.

This caught me out too when I initially had an EV. If try and charge on a rapid charger nearby after being parked somewhere, then battery management limits charging initially to around 28kw/h on mine, then increases few minutes later to about 55kw/h. But if I go straight to a fast charger after lots of miles with battery warmed and managed will charge nearer 70-75 Kw/h. Mine is a 2022 car (didn't buy new) and latest ones have faster charging

I didn't know that EV's prefer a mix of slow (home) charging and fast charging like you would find at BP Pulse for instance as constant fast charges can addle the battery and make it charge slowly.

My fast / rapid charging only happens on trips away, holidays or visiting relatives etc. Day before I set it to charge to 100% (which can only be done slow) charging cheaply overnight at home before these trips. Once away never bother to charge it to over about 75% because charge rate slows down and takes ages. I also only put enough charge in, so range has about 15% battery remaining when I get home.

If the car is very low on battery, need 2 nights to fully charge it as home (although can use app to switch it to charge now and not wait for overnight cheaper electricity). Home charger will do max 7.4kw or about 50kw/h max during cheaper 7 hour overnight rate.