Thinking of moving to EV

I bought the R5 for 2 main reasons, the nostalgia and also that I think it genuinely looks class. My mother had one when I was a child, first car I can remember.

The EV thing didnt come in to it for me, its actually my 4th since 2020 and also the fact we have a bigger car, the R5 doesn't need to be the most practical, spacious, load lugger or be at the top of the EV range charts, bit then again its close to the bottom of the market for price, there's really only a handful of cheaper EVs out there.

I think if you really love the car, and many do, i haven't seen this type of universal acclaim in a long time, and it does the job for you, then go for it.

Just make sure you have access to your own charger if going electric and that your regular journeys dont involve public charging then your experience will be great.

I've publicly charged maybe 20 times in my EVs. The vast majority has been free work charging, the holy grail of EV ownership! But night rate charging at home is silly cheap too.

I went from a 2013 Volvo V60 D2 to a Polestar 2 in 2023 and I'm very happy with the move. The Polestar has a few deficiencies compared to the V60 but, after 2.5 years & 56000km the only thing I really miss is the boot space/access and that's rare.

Regarding your concerns over the tech; yes it can look like overload coming from the C30 but, your biggest obstacle will be muscle memory especially if you had the C30 for ages then it'll just take a bit of time to get used to it.

If you're in no rush then test drive a few more cars or take the 5 out again, watch a bunch of Youtube reviews. EV's will still be around in few months.

The technological leap is massive, but the amount of enjoyment you get from a well-equipped modern EV is on another level. For me, one of the best features is automatic car following in traffic—I just sit back and relax while the car handles the stop-and-go.

I’d recommend test driving a few to see how you like them.

I’ve actually had loads of times over the years where different cars have failed to charge. Dodgy granny cables, scheduled charging times, broken public chargers etc

At the rates they charge in the UK, I agree. I'm thankful to be able to use the Tesla network, which just works! Plenty of redundancy. Live updates and fast charging.

The only issue I had with a fast charger in the UK was back in 2017, when we were bringing our first EV (Leaf) home, the charger wouldn't start up. Rang customer service and they turned it on remotely for us and we were getting free juice. 30 minutes later, we were ready to leave, but charger wouldn't stop. Customer service was closed and I had to hit the emergency stop button to stop the charge and disconnect.

The biggest issue for charging was here when it was free. Serious amount of abuse by locals and Taxi drivers. I welcomed the charging for charging and in fairness, the 24/7 call centre is pretty good to have for the esb ecars.

I had loads of issues too over the years and had to call ESB and Ionity on several occasions wasting a lot of my time.

despite all the hoo ha about T’s ‘CEO’ it makes pretty decent cars and has an incredible CP network. Problem is that not everyone can afford those cars (assuming they would want to or that they would want a large EV)

Yep, about 10 times since March 2023:

Twice at home; first time the Zappi had failed (replaced under warranty), second time because I asked my daughter to plug the car in and she didn't push it in all the way. I've forgotten to plug it in more than I've had problems.

Rest of the time at public chargers:
2 broken Ionity units & 2 broken ESB units in 1st six months of ownership & the rest were user error on my part.

The bigger issue with charging is peoples ignorance of others. I have had more issues due to people charging to 100% and hogging a charger than non-working chargers. The increase in fast chargers throughout the country over the last 12 months has been great. If you drive the M7 regularly, Junction 14 & Obama Plaza are very busy but, Portlaoise and nearly all the Applegreens have less busy chargers.

If you have a driveway get a tethered charge and plug the car in daily as if it were an iphone (or Android). If you're going on a long trip it takes about 5 mins to look at the route on your phone and see what your charging options are

yes

Unless it's a large, expensive Tesla, you'll know in advance

the Tesla 3 is 8” wider than that old Chairman’s favourite, the Daimler Double Six (and just 5” shorter)

but more importantly it’s too damn big to fit my clutter-filled garage 🤣

and the price number - replace with a pound symbol and that’s a good wodge of dough for your average Brit