Our Honda Civic just kept going until we couldn't keep it due to new London emissions regulations. It had done around 150k.

I think we'll most likely go electric before the new Mazda has done anything like that mileage though. We've had it a year and a half now; it's been a real pleasure to own and drive.

Ye true. I'd purchase from Toyota again that's for sure.

We don't have one on our road but several local ones to choose from.

250 miles between charges ... ?
But he surely has to sit and wait !?

For your mileage, a small runabout maybe?

Get the Uber app and use them. Cheaper than taxis.

If it didn't make money for the driver there wouldn't be Ubers everywhere?

The boss looked at Uber. Seemed we couldn't get it.
Will have a go

We've been looking at electric cars on and off for the past 2 years, we moved to our bungalow in January and refurbed it, we had to replace the very old gas heating system and decided to dot the ECO think and put in an Air source Heat Pump, we managed to get the RHI grant for this which pays back around 2/3 the cost over 7 years. We also put Solar Thermal in for the hot water and very luckily after much persistence and many phone calls got the Green Home grant for it out of the government. We decided to wait to put in the Photovoltaic as this is quite and expense if you want together real benefits. 

When the Gas prices went silly which I had an idea was going to happen as a friend worked in the industry, we decided to take the plunge and get a PV system in bu to max out the benefit as much as we could. We also took into consideration that we would buy a fully electric car that had at least 300 miles range as published.  So a few weeks ago 22 efficient PV panels went up n the roof, all done in one day, two 3.6KW inverters in the garage and a Zappi 7.2Kw car charger. We should be getting a pair of 8.3Kw batteries by the end of January, there is a delivery delay due to demand, each will be charged from one of the inverters with unused electric from the PC panels. 

So at the moment at the worst time of the year for Solar PV we are generating about 6% of the daily used electric, some days it is 10% if the clouds break up. If we get a clear day then they should produce around 7-8KW/h, I'll leave you to do the maths. In the winter we average around 24Kw/day usage for the house, that's everything including about 3-4Kw running the Krell amp if its on for 8 hours. The installers reckon based on previous experience with system over the past 10 years that once we get to spring we should be generating nearly all the electrical power we need and will likely get enough extra to charge up the electric car. 

So on to electric cars. We spent the first few weeks of December investigating all the currently available electric cars online that had at least 250miles range on a full charge and were not outrageously expensive and met our criteria. Eventually we narrowed this down to either a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or a Kia EV6 based on the 298 and 318 miles range respectively, and that they were both good sized cars. We did also look at the MG electrics but the range is not as good on either the larger ones at present, and their charge up rate is like most of the others and not that quick. Both the Ionig 5 and EV6 have 800v batteries that can be fast charged on a 300+Kw charger from 10-80% in around 18 minutes, and to 100% in about 40-50 minutes, the last 20% takes the longest. Something to note is that MG are revising their models next year and I am not certain but this may mean better batteries and range, the current cost of them is very competitive. If you are considering an electric car there are several thing to take into account, the quoted range for the more recently produced is likely to be reasonably accurate if using the car in 20C temperature and for mixed driving due to the new real world measurements rule, I also base this on on my experience test driving them. if you go down the motorway at 70mph then you need to reduce this by about 10-15% depending on the car. If you are driving in 0C then you need to reduce the range by around 10% and at -10c by 25% with an electric heater on. So for example on a long journey at a constant 70mph in 0C you need to reduce the reported mileage from full charge by about 20-25%, so a car with a 300 mile range in the summer will drop to around 220-240miles in the winter. This is one reason we want an electric car with around 300 miles range. 

Something we were not aware until test driving both the Ioniq 5 and EV6 was that they both share the same battery and motor chassis platform that has been developed by Hundai who are the owning group of both Kia and Hyundai. The platform can be modified depending up the cars design within certain criteria, so length, rear wheel drive, or all wheel drive - 2 motors. Both cars perform very similarly in terms of performance, but the design and aesthetics are quite different. You would expect them to drive very similarly as dimensionally they are nearly the same, but they do feel different. IMO the Ioniq 5 has been designed to give you a wafting along feel with a very comfortable ride, and a feeling of a very spacious interior. On the other hand the EV6 has more of a traditional feel with a cockpit fell in the driving seat and a more story feel to the setup, it is still remarkably quite but is slightly stiffer on the suspension, the EV6 Air has the softest feel due to its 19' wheels the rest of the range has 20" wheels with lower profile tyres. 

Last Sunday I went for my second test drive of both and Sue had her first drive, the intention was to get to decide which car was for us. Sue is a good driver but was a little nervous to start with but within a couple of miles was enjoying both. Here immediate comments was how easy to drive they were and how quick they were if you put your foot down, and we did not even try sport mode on either.   In the end the Kia EV6 got our vote and we went away to discuss colours and which model variant, after much wrangling and discussion we opted for the EV4 RWD 74.5kW GT Line S, a bit more on costs but a very nice spec, we added on a heat exchanger which gets heat for the interior from the liquid cooling of the batteries and the motor so the 10-15% loss of range in the winter is not an issue, Hyundai offer the same for extra. I go a great deal on my MX5 as 2nd hand car prices have gone through the roof, so overall we are pleased with the deal. I will admit the car is not cheap, but then all fully electric vehicles are around £7-10K for a similar priced petrol/diesel car. We have done the deal so if we are not happy with it in 2 or 3 years we can sell it and move onto something else with limited costs, but the intention is to keep it long term, we just have to wait to late June/July for delivery. In the mean time the 2003 Honda Jazz is the main car, which will keep as a second car until it dies or becomes too costly to repair.