Just coming up to the 30k service on our 2021 Kia Soul EV, it’s been totally reliable and, unlike the Stellantis cars (Harry’s Corsa), its decent in winter (thank you heat pump) in North East Scotland, 180-200 miles at 70 mph with the usual heater on at 21 and heated seats etc. Summer range around 230-250. The Kia has been a hoot, comfy, quick on the road, decent range, cheap and loaded with gadgets. Nothing’s broken trim wise and nothing rattles or squeaks. Great in the snow as well, very controllable.
It’s been very cheap to run as we can charge at home and are on Octopus Go, an EV tariff which gives us off-peak leccy at 9,5p for 4 hours – and there are better deals than that. A full charge is £6, so worst case, 200 miles for less than the price of a gallon of petrol.
I’ve done several long distance trips and apart from one trip where I should have charged but didn’t, its been no problem. Yes, it does add a few extra minutes whilst charging, not a huge issue, and nor is the “high” cost of motorway charging as we do it so seldomly compared to our cheap home rate and it’s about the same as getting 35-40mpg in a petrol car anyway.
I’m not a massive EV evangelist and my replacement may be something else, it’s more what I find most comfy and reasonable cost wise on the day. Some EV’s on the scheme have such high AP’s you’d be cheaper taking a normal petrol car as the AP difference more than covers the fuel. Others are relative bargains like the current Enyaq 80/80x.
I think if I didn’t get another EV then it would probably have to be a plug in hybrid to take advantage of the cheap electric mileage that saves me about £6-8 a day.
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