One year of EV ownership part 2 - SUMMARY of our experiences so far

[@paulsandham9105]

An excellent summary, especially useful for new/contemplating EV owners. Very heartening to hear a little Tesla scepticism. Makes a refreshing change from the evangelist story!

[@steveearley8352]

Great review guys - thank you 🙏

[@kenmarland5627]

Thanks for this. We got our Y in May and have sorted out our road trips charge wise where we stop roughly where we would usually stop. There are still large areas of the UK with no Tesla chargers which will change. I look at the auto cruise as a work in progress. In the UK we charge at home and then Tesla. The local out of town has tesla super chargers as does a local hotel. In france in the summer, so far we have used chargers in the village which are 5 mins walk so I plug the car in and leave it plus Tesla coming back to the UK. So far we haven't used any of the expensive public charging. Comparing a golf hatchback to a saloon space wise doesn't work. Compare the golf to the Y that has good useable space. The front pillars are too wide. The next step for us is our 4 month ski trip where we will have down to -20c some nights and the chargers are down in the valley at the supermarket. On the way down to the alps, it will be Tesla chargers as its major roads. Still getting used to somethings like precondition before a longish trip over the last few days of snow in the UK. For most drivers I-ve spoken to coming to EV, it's the change of mindset for charging on route and at home. The Tesla charge network is a massive plus for me. They are well priced and so far all work

[@ComeChargeWithUs-e8x]

Very much agree with you Ken about about the Tesla network, it is a very big advantage as a Tesla driver and like you have noticed, they are usually all in order and working! We'll be very keen to hear how you get on during your 4 month ski trip; I bet it will be easier than you think (and also very jealous!! Sounds like you're going to have a wonderful time) :)

[@AliWade1971]

We do most of our charging at home (solar panels and battery), but for longer journeys are well practised at planning routes and stops. We have our favourite chargers - for our most regular routes (mostly going from Pembrokeshire to the Wye Valley or Oxfordshire) and when travelling elsewhere. I like Tesla for the low price, but wouldn’t take our Jag IPace at a busy time, as we usually need to occupy 2 spaces. Apple Green is my personal favourite for rapid charging. Instavolt is easy to use, but slow with our car. We often use Dragon Charging AC chargers for destination charging (lunch stops, shopping, sightseeing) - they are everywhere in Wales. The UK charging network continues to constantly improve. It is very different to when we first got an EV in August 2020.

[@ComeChargeWithUs-e8x]

Yes even in the one year we've had our EV, we have seen the network evolve and improve and it can only continue to get better!! Do you think since 2020 it's been an exponential improvement? It seems like we are quite similar in that we do regular routes and have preferred chargers along those routes. It's good to have a mix of at home, rapid and destination charging....we are quite partial to a Fastned but they aren't quite as widespread in the UK yet.

[@shikoku14]

I've just got an ID.3 (Pro S so 300+ range one and the mid refresh, so it chargers like a boss, but it's the older headunit) through work. I must say that after driving Kia/Hyundai EVs the past couple of years with a decent adaptive cruise control (the Soul got me all the way down to Croatia this summer just gone) I really trusted that, but the VW one is next level, its almost 100% accurate with adjusting the speed on the fly based on traffic signs (including temp signs and gantry restrictions on the motorway) it also adapts speed for roundabouts and bends as well, and starts to increase the speed as you indicate to overtake on motorways (Martin Karel has an excellent video series on the ID.3 and this feature specifically, he also has a good one on the haptics which reviewers bang on about, but in reality take a week to get used to). It's like the polar opposite of your description of the Tesla system, which I also couldn't gel with when I had one on a long term test. If at some point you look to change away from the Tesla, the ID.3. / Born 2024 > are now really well put together cars and by the time you change, they will be reasonably priced on the second hand market. Great video.

[@ComeChargeWithUs-e8x]

Thanks for the feedback. We are also considering a trip to Croatia so would be interested to hear how you found it and charger availability! Is the Skoda Elroc the same platform as the ID.3 and Cupra Borne? That looks like a great car too. I expect we'll keep the Tesla for a good few years (we had our last car for 12 years!) and probably what will prompt the change is significantly faster charging and better range - double the charging speed and 50% more range would be perfect for our trips to France!

[@shikoku14]

I have a bit of a write up over on speakev, I do have three days of Timelapse footage that I need to add some narration to and eventually plan to upload at some point, hopefully I may get some time over Christmas to start on that. Charger wise I got an IONITY Passport and Tesla membership for the month, and ABRP premium and it was flawless, only one Tesla charger queue in Austria and that was 15 minutes on the first Saturday of the summer holidays

[@rolandmoore9527]

You can start the car from the phone app as well as unlocking etc.

[@ComeChargeWithUs-e8x]

Ooh I did not know this! Thank you :)

[@jimwood9849]

So you need your key card/phone with you to get in the vehicle. How inconvenient is that.

[@ComeChargeWithUs-e8x]

Very!! I miss having a normal key!