What is it like owning an EV?

Published: Wed 2 March, 2022

Greg Steel - Curriculum Learning Manager for Sustainable Construction at Borders College talks about owning an Electric Vehicle.

Six months ago, I became the proud owner of an Electric Vehicle, and I can honestly say it has been great. In some ways, it is just a car and gets me from A to B, but in other ways it is a completely new experience, and a great one. For example, I don’t have a conventional key: I walk up to the car and it is unlocked, I walk away and it locks, giving a friendly honk to confirm it is locked. This is really convenient and just works. It does this using the app on my phone and Bluetooth. I have a backup RFID credit card, in case my phone should run out of battery.

It is super quiet, and comfortable, which makes longer journeys less tiring. Every time my dad, who is in his 80s, gets into the car, he can’t believe that it just pulls away with no starter or engine noise! The instant acceleration is fun and always puts a smile on my face.

Tesla Model 3 SR+ Video

I thought that the range anxiety would be worse; the car will do 260 miles on a full charge, but realistically at this colder time of year, with normal driving, is more like 200, but that is more than enough to do my weekly commute. I am lucky enough to have a home charger, so can plug in at home. It is Smart, so I just plug in and it will determine the best time to charge overnight, so that it is ready for 7am. A full charge is around £12 in electricity on a normal domestic tariff. Public charging is getting better all the time with more than 42,000 charge points to choose from.

A full charge is around £12 in electricity on a normal domestic tariff.

Longer journeys need a bit of planning, but the navigation in-car does all the planning for you; it will suggest which chargers to stop at, how long you will need to stop for, and build this into the route. After 2-3 hours driving, stopping for 30-40 minutes for a break and coffee, it’s a good thing. It may take slightly longer, but it is more relaxing and safer than ‘splash and dash’.

One of the things that has been nice during the cold weather is, whilst eating my toast in the morning, I can turn on the defrosting windscreen, set the cabin temp and turn on the heated seats, with one tap on the app on my phone, so that when I go outside, the car is ready to go.

With the majority of electricity generation in Scotland from renewable sources, it is nice to know that the journeys taken in the car are not reliant on fossil fuels, and no local emissions from the tailpipe!

It has been a big step to get an EV, but the lower cost of fuel, servicing and road tax, and saving the planet, has definitely been the right move for me.

The future is bright, the future is ‘green’ for Greg

“We know that we are in the midst of a climate emergency, and the recent publication of the IPCC report demonstrates that the scientific evidence is irrefutable, greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are putting billions of people at immediate risk. It is getting closer to home, with forest fires and devastating flooding events.

Read what Greg said about going electric' in August 2021

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