EV drivers tell us the best and worst things about owning an electric car

Electric cars are often loved by their owners, but many people who don’t have an EV - or have never driven one - question whether the negatives outweigh the positives.

EVs score strongly for driver satisfaction in the annual Which? car survey, but they have their challenges.

We’ve quizzed three owners to learn more about the pros and cons and found they’ve had mixed experiences. One said their car gave a ‘lovely, smooth ride’, but another said charging at public points can be difficult.

We also have expert tips to help you decide if it’s the right time to buy an electric car.

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‘We bought an EV because it’s cheaper to run’

• Who are you? Stephen Warner, 68, a retired GP from Huddersfield
• What electric cars have you driven? A second-hand electric Mercedes B-Class, bought in 2016, and an MG4 bought in July

The good: ‘We bought an electric car partly due to environmental concerns, but also because it’s cheaper to run. I charge mine at home because charging costs are much higher at public points.

‘Some electric cars use a heat pump to run heating and ventilation and I would say that’s worth doing if you have the option.

‘Everybody talks about battery degradation affecting EVs, but I’ve found it’s minimal if you look after your car. In cold weather, you might see the voltage drop slightly because you need the battery to heat the car and run the lights. But as a driver, you don’t notice anything.’

The bad: ‘The negative is a big one. If you’re happy with occasionally having a problem at a charging station, fine – things are improving slowly. Because I’m retired now, I use my electric car mainly for leisure purposes like local driving and popping down to the shops. Some of our family live in Wiltshire, but for those longer journeys, we use our second car which is a plug-in hybrid.

'However, when we first got our electric car, I went to visit my mother in Southampton and the journey back to Yorkshire took 13 hours – this was before the days of fast chargers. I had to really plan that journey and that’s the only long-distance trip I’ve done in my EV so far. It’s quite unpredictable; you can arrive at a charging station and find all the points are in use or half of them aren’t working.

'Sometimes, you find somebody in a non-electric car has just parked there – which I think should be an offence. The cars themselves are wonderful but this is the only disadvantage.'

If you’re thinking of buying an EV, make sure you consult our expert guide on the best electric cars for 2023.

‘I think I fell for the hype around electric cars’

• Who are you? Catherine Donaghy, a health worker from South Lanarkshire
• What electric car do you drive? A used Kia Niro bought in 2022

The good: ‘My car is lovely to drive; it’s very smooth. It’s better for the environment and you can get through low emission zones without worrying. I love the car, but I would love it more if it had a petrol or diesel tank.’

The bad: ‘I have buyer’s regret. I think I fell for the hype around electric cars and I now feel foolish for having bought one. I don’t have a home charger and in my previous job, I worked at a hospital and was able to get free charging – but charging became an issue when I changed jobs in June.

‘I live in a semi-rural area and it takes half an hour to drive to the nearest charger. There’s only one near me and it takes an hour and a half to charge my car if somebody isn’t already using it. Some places charge 82p per kWh.

'Unfortunately, there have also been problems with my car battery, which I’m in touch with Kia about*. In addition, there’s the cost of insurance. Last year, I paid £500 and that’s now gone up to £1,570 even though I’ve got a clean licence.

‘I do a lot of driving and I find having an electric car adds to my journey times. I look after elderly parents and my son is at university, so I do a lot of miles and this isn’t the car for me. I had to make a trip to Evesham this year and having an EV added three hours to my road trip. The charger I stopped at was very expensive and I think it would have been cheaper to hire a car. I would like to get a home charger but it’s hard to find the money for that at the moment.'

* Regarding the car battery issue, a Kia spokesperson told us: 'The selling dealership will be the ones to make the decision in this instance.'

If your insurance has gone up, we suggest checking in with our reviews of the best car insurance companies for 2023.

‘The running costs are way cheaper than paying for petrol’

• Who are you? Matt Hawkins, 47, an IT manager and father of one from Bristol
• What electric car do you drive? A second-hand 2017 Nissan Leaf, bought in 2019

The good: 'We had to buy a car in 2019 after our previous car was written off and I wondered if we could risk getting an electric one. I knew Nissan Leaf models had been used by taxi firms and I read up on them before buying one, which put to bed any concerns about the battery conking out early. We paid £17,000 for it, which was quite a bit more than we’d paid for our previous car.

'Our reasons were purely environmental. We have solar panels on our house and now use the spare solar energy to charge the car. For us, the running costs are way cheaper than paying for petrol – but that’s because we do home charging. The service costs are also quite low – our recent service was around £200 at a Nissan dealer. We mainly use our Leaf for local trips, so don’t have to worry about charging it away from home. It’s smooth, stress-free driving.'

The bad: 'The top thing people mention is range anxiety. Depending on temperature, our Leaf can do 100 miles on a single charge. When we drove to France on holiday, we took our other car, a Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid – there was no way I was trying to drive the Leaf that far. We did the same when we went to Dorset and parts of Wales, where we found the charging was not that widespread. The infrastructure everywhere needs to be better – there’s no doubt about that– but there are more charge points being added all the time.

‘If you want to buy a petrol or diesel car, you have a choice of hundreds of models and thousands of different configurations. But if you want to buy an EV, you have a much smaller choice. If you’re buying second-hand, there are fewer older cars to choose from.

‘Charging at public points can also be difficult. The charging points are run by lots of different companies with their own apps, so it can be a bit of a faff to download one if you turn up at a charging station you’ve not visited before.’

Thinking about home charging? Find out the facts with our guide to electric car charging at home.

Our expert says:

'The decision to make the switch to an electric car is becoming less about overall driving range, but whether or not you can charge it at home. If not, you’ll rely on the still patchy - albeit growing - public rapid charging network. In most cases, this is not only significantly more expensive than charging domestically but can also be inconveniently located or congested at peak times.

'If you can’t reliably charge an EV where you live, consider a full-hybrid model, which uses a smaller battery and electric motor to improve the efficiency of the car’s petrol engine, usefully lowering both consumption and emissions. See our guide to the best cars of 2023.'

Daljinder Nagra, Cars expert, Which?

In the coming weeks, we'll also release the results of a Which? survey of EV owners to give you a broader picture of electric car ownership.