Should You Buy An Electric Car?
Are you thinking about switching to an electric car for your next new car, but aren’t sure yet whether it’s the right choice for you?
What Are EVs Like To Drive?
Speed
You’ll probably enjoy driving an electric car, as they have a lot of very desirable characteristics. They tend to be pretty fast, due to the way that an eclectic motor delivers its powers. An ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) has to spin at several thousand recs to develop its maximum power, but an electric motor can deliver its maximum force as soon as the engine starts to move. This means you get immediate acceleration as soon as hit the pedal.
An affordable EV, like the Renault Zoe, goes from 0.62mph in about ten seconds, but the performance does feel a lot faster, due to the all-at-once feeling of the acceleration. A top-of-the-line Tesla Model S is one of the fastest accelerating cars in the world, and can reach the same speeds as the Renault in 2.5 seconds.
Noise
As well as being fast, electrics cars are very quiet. There’s no engine noise, which is the main difference. Electric motors make hardly any noise, so the acceleration makes very little noise at all.
The quiet engine and the easy performance makes an electric car feel very relaxed to drive. They’re also easy to drive which helps to keep this relaxed feeling. Driving an electric car is a bit like driving an automatic car, in that you just the car into ‘drive’, and away you go.
Manufacturers build on this feeling by making other parts of the car and other EV products match this relaxing feel, so you can expect light and direct steering and responsive, well-weighted pedals. With some EVs, you might find you hardly need to touch the brake pedal, because the amount of regenerative braking that occurs when you lift off the accelerator slows you down enough by itself.
Comfort
Electric cars come in a wide range of capabilities and characters. Most of the more affordable options like the Renault Zoe and the Nissan Leaf focus on being comfortable rather than fun to drive. This plays into the relaxed nature of electric vehicles, and with the heavy-weight of a battery pack to deal with, it’s easier to engineer a car that is comfortable, rather than sporty.
More expensive electric cars, like the Tesla Model S, Jaguar I-Pace, and Porsche Taycan, are a lot sportier. There are some exceptions to this, like the Mercedes EQC and the Audi E-Tron. This extra sportiness is partly to justify the high cost. The higher cost also makes it easier for the manufacturer to make more complicated engineering solutions to the problem of all that weight. If you have the money to spend, you can find an EV to suit your tastes.
Before deciding to buy one, do your research to see what it is available for your budget and decide how important the sporty feel is to you.
