Hi
We have the e2008 and had it just under a year now, done about 5000 miles in it,
right, we often will charge up to 100% but dont need to normally, just like a ‘full tank’ in the summer we got nearly 200mile before i started to worry, 99% of the time we are withing 10mile (if not a lot less) from home.
we do say 100miles a week so i charge on a Saturday night to top things up, we are on Qctopus and get a 7.5p/KW rate from 11:20 to 5:30am each night, we put the washing machine and dishwasher etc on timer so we find that with us using the dishwasher/washing machine/dryer etc each night (need to for or disabled sons problems) we are in fact spending less in electric now than before we had the car and that incudes the cost of charging the car, we are also saving all the cost of petrol (about £100 per month) so for us its a no brainer.
one or twice a year we venture further way from home and have had to use public chargers twice i think and yes they are not cheap but neither is motorway petrol and i dont think we spend more than if we used a ICE car for that run anyway.
the normal thing to do at public chargers is to charge up to 80%, the reason being the high charge rates that are needed to pump all the electricity into the cars batteries can shorten the life of the battery pack due to heat etc as the cells get full so cars automatically slow the charge rate once you get to 80%, it takes a long while to go from 80 to 100%, that ties up the charger for other users, up to 80% can normally be done in 20-30mins for most cars (not normally at zero when you start , unless you push the car there!)
if you do stay longer (no one waiting and your still drinking your coffee etc) as the charge rate drops you will find your the cost per hr drops, your billed for the electric you use , not the time so although it takes a lot longer to go from 80-100 % the cost for that last 20% would be the same as the first 20%.
i will admit i always worry about if the public charger will work, be available etc but thats only because its so rare i use one, i think its been maybe 3 times in the last year certainly not more and havent had a problem at any time. we are very happy driving a EV and will certainly go down that route again, dont forget that you get a free home charger too (worth about £1000 fitted) ifyuo can have a home charger, dont do much more than 100miles a day its got to be the way to go IMHO.
As regards charging to 100% at home, well its not such a strain on the battery pack as the charge rate is a lot lower on a home charger so it doesn’t heat the battery pack the same as a rapid charger would and also , to be honest 99% of EV’s have a buffer that stops the battery from reaching a real 100%, for example our car as about 50KW battery pack but full charge is stopped at about 45KW to protect the battery, all that is automatically managed by the cars systems so you don’t have to think about it, just plug in and let it get on with it.
I know EV dont suit everyone, if you cant charge at home, do high mileage each day but for us we love it.