5 Reasons to switch to an EV

Electric cars offer a range of financial, performance and environmental benefits when compared with internal combustion engine vehicles. So what are the advantages of electric cars? They are often:

• Greener
• Faster
• Cheaper to run
• More convenient to own
• Soon to be cheaper to buy or lease

Electric cars are greener

Electric cars are greener than petrol or diesel cars by a number of key measures, with the exception of the carbon intensity of the manufacturing process (although this will change as economies of scale are achieved through mass production).

•  Energy Efficiency - Electric cars are far more energy efficient (85-90% efficient) than internal combustion engine cars (17-21%), which means that they use less energy to get you from A to B.
• Energy Source - It is often claimed by sceptics that electric cars just move the pollution to the power station; it’s called the “long tailpipe theory”. To an extent this is true. But it fails to note that pretty much all power stations are greener than internal combustion engines in terms of energy and carbon efficiency.
• Exhaust Emissions - Electric cars have zero exhaust emissions, which means they do not emit any harmful exhaust gases or soot. In contrast, the exhaust emissions from vehicles with internal combustion engines is a significant source of CO2 that contributes to global climate change and air pollutants.

Manufacturing Process

It is true that building an electric car currently is more carbon intensive than building a traditional car; mainly due to the electricity used in the manufacturing process of lithium ion batteries.

However, as economies of scale improve and renewables power more of our factories, the total carbon emissions per vehicle will decrease. There's a general strive among manufacturers to develop new ideas for a carbon neutral future. Well-known car brands like BMW and Tesla  and the Volkswagen Group have made impressive commitments to cut and off-set emissions. Swedish EV brand Polestar has gone even further and promises to produce a "truly" carbon zero car by 2030 - without relying on carbon offsetting.

Lifetime emissions of an EV are already around three times lower than those of an average new internal combustion engine vehicle and even now, it only takes an EV roughly 2 years to overcome the production deficit. Of course this situation will continue to improve as the grid gets ever greener.

Electric cars are cheaper to run

Depending on your electricity deal at home and how efficient your electric car is, the cost of charging an electric car is currently between 1-15p a mile. There are other great cost benefits as well; find out what you could be saving on the maintenance cost of an EV.

Also if you drive a company car, you can make considerable savings by choosing a low or zero emissions plug-in vehicle over an equivalent petrol or diesel vehicle. Read our guide to Electric Company Car Tax to find out more. 

Electric cars perform better

Contrary to the cliche, electric cars are fundamentally superior to combustion vehicles in terms of power, torque and acceleration. On the whole they handle better too, due to their low centre of gravity with their heavy batteries mounted in the chassis.

Yes, for long distances on the track, combustion engines are still winning for the time being, their hugely energy dense petrol giving them better range, but this will likely change as energy density in batteries continues to nudge upwards.

And anyway, vanishingly few of us ever take their car on the track. We want our performance to nip away from the lights, safely overtake and enjoy a (responsible) brisk drive in the countryside. In all of these roles the electric car is winning.

Electric cars will soon be cheaper to buy

Probably the biggest barrier to people getting in an electric car is their cost, which is primarily because of the cost to make the electric car’s battery.

Thankfully it is also the area where arguably the most progress is being made. With battery costs falling at circa 20% per year, we will soon reach a point where a full battery electric car is the same price to buy as an equivalent petrol car. Shortly afterwards it will become even cheaper. It’s around this point that we expect mass adoption to hit, as discussed by Pod Point CEO Erik Fairbairn and Robert Llewellyn from Fully Charged.

Electric cars are more convenient to own

If you own a petrol or diesel car, your car is definitely not fuelling itself while you read this. If you own an electric car, it may well be.

Our cars are parked 95% of their life. One benefit of electric vehicles is that you can make use of that time to put energy into them at their destination, rather than detouring to a petrol pump to wait to fuel and pay a fortune.

Now electric cars are available with ranges of 200-300 miles, if you are able to charge at home or work, each time you get back to your car in the morning or evening you will likely find it full. It is hard to explain what a quantum leap in convenience this offers until you try it.

For more EV tips and news head over to our blog. 

We’d also love to know what are the reasons you drive an EV? Let us know in the comments below. 

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