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Drivers of electric and hybrid cars feel less stressed behind the wheel than drivers of petrol or diesel cars, according to new research.
In a survey of 2,000 UK drivers conducted on behalf of DS Automobiles (which, ironically, calls its electric models ‘E-Tense’), 38 per cent of electric and hybrid car owners said it makes them feel less stressed than previous petrol or diesel cars they have owned.
31 per cent of those who experience stress admitted that this negatively affects their driving ability, making them more likely to make rash decisions and pay less attention to potential hazards.
This highlights the importance of a relaxing driving environment, with 20 per cent of drivers saying that features designed to reduce stress are something they usually consider when looking for a new car.
Among the features which drivers felt were most effective at reducing stress, a quiet and refined drive was cited by 41 per cent of survey respondents. Other features which 52 per cent and 34 per cent of drivers respectively said help to reduce stress are a comfortable interior and seats, and a smooth ride.
However, it’s not just driving which was found to be a source of stress – over half (51 per cent) said they found the overall experience of buying and owning a car a stressful one.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
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Currently I think price of fuel will be stressing folk out too, so are maybe risking things to try and save fuel etc(and time). I certainly find the EV less stressful. So far and after my initial worries re running out of charge etc, i now have no fears. Costs are much less too which is also relaxing. under £20 to fill up car and thats on a fairly hi tarrif of 29p. cross check that with £100+ for a ice vehicle and you can instantly see where the pressure comes from.
Current Car: Hyundai Kona Premium EV...2 way 40kg hoist
Last Car: Toyota C-HR Excel Hybrid...4 way 80kg hoistMy 2.0 diesel has laminated glass all round, any noise heard inside the cabin is wind/tyre noise and would be just the same if it ran on batteries, can’t see how a background sound (never really hear any as I have music playing gently most of the time anyway) would make any difference to stress levels.
I suspect these people asked in the survey were trying to promote the fact they feel better about driving electric and giving positive answers will make better reading for the green agenda.
I agree vinalspin, my Soul is noisier than the S-Max diesel it replaced at anything over about 30-40mph (hardly anything it it mind), and below that you have the ice cream van music VESS to deal with. Put some music on and its all the same really.
I’d say the electric car was more stressful as its ACC is a pain in the backside (braking the car on bends as it thinks you are going to hit the car in the inside lane for instance) and its noisier, harsher over bumps/ridges and less settled on the road as its got a 300mm shorter wheelbase. Seats are nowhere near as comfy either. It’s not awful by any means, but it’s not as good.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I’d guess the average income of an EV driver to be higher than the average of other vehicles (i.e. the higher initial cost to purchase/lease EV). I know I’d be much less stressed if I had more money coming in and lower running costs.
Surely stress levels are based on road rage, volume of traffic, road work, traffic jams etc. Not the type of fuel a vehicle uses.
I certainly feel more relaxed driving our PHEV, its not just the money i save, although that helps, its the drive. Its even smoother than an auto to drive as it has no gears so no hunting for the correct gear to be in, just smooth motoring.
The fact that there is no fumes produced also helps, it makes me feel i am doing a little bit for the environment.
Then again it could just be the new drugs i`m on lol.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
I was fortunate to have the use of a Mercedes EQA for the day whilst my B Class was in the dealership. It was a joy to drive and I soon got used to the silence and the regenerative braking. In fact i turned the radio off just to listen to nothing! I was already thinking that electric would suit me in 2 years when I’m due to change and this has convinced me that its the way to go for me anyway. Just a pity the EQA wont be on the list as it is too expensive but hey ho it was fun.
You want to see me when my range is showing 5 miles and it’s 10 until the next charging station. I wouldn’t say I’m less stressed.
Once had the same stress when an old car’s fuel gauge became erratic. Carrying a gallon of peteol in a can in the boot fixed that.
If you get in that position regularly Elliot I think you must like stress ?
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.I think I’d be very stressed about my electricity (and Gas – see below)bill if I changed to an EV tariff. I’m an Octopus customer (transferred over from AVRO going bust) and to move onto Octopus Go, my unit cost from 04:30 – 00:30 would increase 24% (27.35p to 33.96p). As I use 3,947kWh/yr, that’s an increase of £260.90 per year and that’s BEFORE I’ve charged an EV. Not only that, but Octopus Go is electricity only and I’d have to find a Gas only tariff. The cheapest gas only tariff I’ve found is 6.279p per kWh more expensive than my current one. I use 12,900kWh/yr, so a huge increase of £809.99. BUT the standing charge is 21p/day less, £76.65 in total.
So before I charge my EV, I’m already spending an extra £994.24 on household fuel. I spent £771.87 on petrol last year.
So this looks like I’m £222.37 worse off before any charge point installation costs and the cost of actually charging the EV.
The way petrol has shot up in price and the fact that I’m now likely to do a little more mileage than the previous year, would suggest an EV may not be as financially crippling as my figures show. But for me, I’m certain that an EV would still work out far more expensive to run than my ICE.
hard to say @ gilders. my ev charges at the standard leccy rate of house, which is about 27/28p a unit plus the daily addon(my company, bulb, went into admin too but is still being run by someone). i dont to much mileage so it wasnt worth getting the cheaper rate at night for charging as the standard rate went up to cover it. but at time, the ap was about 600 which was what i got in gcb so essentially all i had to do was pay for a small hoist and a new folding scooter, as boot on this is fairly small. but fuel wise i get over 300 miles or so for under £20, 0r 3 gallons of petrol equiv. I just upped my payments a bit and dont have to go to a station to fill up. Fortunately i got the charger free, and although currently it only charges at half power due to a cable still to be replaced, its fast enough for me currently. I would prefer it to go up to 7kw tho.
I do know i would not willingly want to go back to an ice.
Current Car: Hyundai Kona Premium EV...2 way 40kg hoist
Last Car: Toyota C-HR Excel Hybrid...4 way 80kg hoist@struth I should have done some sums based on not changing my gas and electric tariffs (although they’re due to go up around 40% in a few months). I think for people like you and me who don’t do many miles, a non-EV tariff may be best value.
I’m pro EV and when I enter competitions (BOTB) I usually try and win EV cars (BMW i4 M50 and Audi Q4). There’s no EVs on the scheme I’d want. I’d settle for the Nissan Ariya if it has everything I need (Adaptive cruise control, comfortable, etc), but with an AP of £6,495, it would need to be a car I wanted, not just settled for.
I guess your cable issue isn’t too much of an issue as you’re not on an EV tariff where you need to get your charging done through the limited low cost time window.
I believe this is true. in preparation for my EV i decided long before fuel hit £1.8 a litre of petrol that i would slow down. so eco mode is now always on(just dulls the throttle a bit ) try not to go above 60mph on the motorway and in the city i coast as much as possible and don’t worry anymore that some German car driver is going to pinch my safety gap by lane changing to save them selves 10 seconds queueing . and it works!!! I’ve increased my Honda Civic from a average 41mpg to 54mpg which might not sound like a lot but it saves just short of £60 a month.
My current Ev tariff with Octopus Go is 15.93p 04.30 until 00.30 and 5p for the rest. I am expecting a big increase in August.
I recognise that electricity is increasing in costs aswell as oil based fuel however the gap between the two will need to decrease massively before ice cars become competitive on fuel cost.
You want to see me when my range is showing 5 miles and it’s 10 until the next charging station. I wouldn’t say I’m less stressed.
I always plan my journey’s with charging stops. However what I can’t plan for is when the app is showing the charger is working and when you get there it’s broken.
@Ian I’m sure electricity cost per mile will always be less than fossil fuel cost per mile. It’s great to, let’s say, save £500/year on fuel costs. But if the equivalent petrol/diesel car costs many thousands less to buy, then it might not make financial sense.
I also hope that for customers already on Octopus Go, they do some special rate for you when your current deal ends. Otherwise your day rate will increase by more than 100% and your 4 hour off-peak/EV rate will increase 50%……….and that’s before the expected 40%+ increase later this year.
For a low mileage driver, the petrol vs electric cost has to be very large to cover the extra upfront expense of an electric vehicle.
Not only that, but Octopus Go is electricity only and I’d have to find a Gas only tariff.
Why?
I feel like your entire sample there is off. Did you normalise your numbers prior, or are you comparing pre-april 22 tariffs with post-april 22 tariffs here?
Also, why do you argue that you need to find a new gas tariff when switching your electricity tariff? We were on fixed rate for electricity as well as gas, we changed electricity to Octopus Go and kept the fixed rate for gas.
That makes me wonder if you’re on some kind of combined fixed tariff that Octopus took over when your other supplier went bust, in which case your math again is off since the price will increase either way to close to what Go is already.
Also, your sample assumes 24h of high rate electricity, minus what you charge. In reality, 15% of your consumption (average, ish) is discounted, since Octopus Go discounts all electricity usage, not just car charging. You can increase that if you set timers for washing machines/tumbles too, to run in the discounted timeframe.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.@Rene sums were done using my gas and electric usage (i.e. not based on any pre or post price rises). I’m not on a fixed deal with Octopus, it’s “Flexible Avro October 2021 v1” which, afaik it’s just the same as, or extremely close to, their standard “price cap” tariff.
Copied direct from Octopus (whilst I was logged in) showed what Octopus Go tariff is available to me –
Unit rate (04:30 – 00:30):
33.96p/ kWh
Unit rate (00:30 – 04:30):7.50p/ kWh
Standing Charge:48.26p/ day
Prices include VAT.
Octopus Go is an electricity only smart tariff. For gas, simply choose any Octopus gas tariff.
Unfortunately there was no gas only tariffs showing on Octopus’ website, so I chose the cheapest gas only tariff from a comparison website. Perhaps Octopus would allow my to stay on my current flexible gas tariff, but it does state “choose any Octopus gas tariff”. At best, I’d be able to keep my current tariff which will increase around 40% in a few months.
You’re correct in my sums not including my household usage being on the discounted rate of 7.5p instead of 33.96p, but I don’t agree that during those hours I’d use 15% of my daily power, it would be a good bit less. I’m using 0.749 kWh from 00:30 – 04:30 (4hours). Considering my annual consumption is 3947kWh, my daily avg is 10.81 kWh. Therefore I’m using just under 7% of my daily usage during 00:30 and 04:30.
Therefore my original sums were over by 26.46p per kWh during 00:30-04:30. As I use 0.749 kWh during this period, my original sums were over by 19.82p/day. I originally stated “I’m £222.37 worse off before any charge point installation costs and the cost of actually charging the EV.” But with updating the sums to reflect the 4hr reduced rate, I’d be £150.03 worse off.
I understand that delayed starts for washing machine, etc can move some usage to these discounted hours, but in reality this doesn’t always work (as we found out on our previous economy7 tariff). E.g. I wear heavy cotton clothes (I’m not very keen on my body shape and find light weight materials cling to me, especially when there’s a breeze). This type of material goes stinky if left in a damp warm washing machine. My wife will wash her uniform when she gets home from work. She can’t wash it in the early hours of the morning to wake up to wet clothes. Unless we buy a tumble dryer and set the alarm clock for around 3am to remove freshly washed clothes and place in tumble dryer, then head back to bed (obviously this isn’t a realistic option).
As I mentioned in a reply to Struth, for lower mileage drivers, a non-EV tariff maybe much cheaper.
What region are you from? I’m asking because i’m not going to contest yet that your current rates are close to Octopus rates in your region – but they’re slightly more than half of what we paid before we changed over to Go, hence me being curious.
In the new calculation, you’re £150 worse off. That’s offset, what, five fold by the petrol saved, ish, and could even be improved, even though i do agree that things are not always possible, they are every now and then.
Of course, if you don’t have a tumble dryer, that makes less sense, so lets stick with the £150.
It’s not just lower mileage drivers who’d save. You’d save noticeably too. The only issue is your gas tariff. This is what it looks like for me:
It doesn’t touch your gas tariff at all. And increases in your gas tariff, i mean we all have to deal with that regardless of which car we drive, so it doesn’t matter. My point in regards to gas is that you’re using it as an argument as to why an EV tariff would make your bill that much larger, when in reality, it doesn’t.
If you’re not on a fixed rate for gas, as a sidenote, but a flexible tariff, you’ll pay roughly the same with Octopus than you pay now. Your current tariff, after a quick search, is a price cap tariff (slightly below). For London (that’s why i wanted to know your location – not exactly of course, just the region) gas sits at 27.22p standing charge, 7.5p unit rate. How does that compare to yours?
All that said, in the end, we’re talking EVs. Your gas tariff really doesn’t play a role and doesn’t allow for a generalised statement, at best you’re an edge case (for now – once the current market prices have caught up with you, it’ll all look different again). If i were you, i certainly would double check your information in regards to switching electricity only, because i’m rather certain that you don’t need to change your gas tariff to switch. Despite being called “AVRO”, it’s still an Octopus tariff.
Which then makes your calculation look like “+£150 in electricity bill, -£750 in petrol, +whatever your mileage would be with the EV”. £600 for charging on Octopus Go would get you, approximately, 8000kwh of charge. A car with 250 miles range (and a 64kwh battery, took the Kona as example), goes over 31.000 miles per year for that. So even for high mileage drivers, it’d come out even, although certainly a case for a diesel could be made there.
Sorry if this is a bit hard to read, i’m a bit all over the place at the moment. Just trying to (potentially) help.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.Hi Gilders yes agree with you if you do low miles and buy an Ev the total cost for buying/running an Ev maybe more than that of an Ice. Savings in this case are directly related to usage.
In my particular case Ev works for me but I think everyone needs to choose carefully. I save a fortune running an Ev.
Why?
95% of my charging is done at home at a very low rate. Compared to previous ICE car over 46000miles I’ve saved £6000 in fuel spend.
I lease the car so not really impacted by purchase price.
For me and I get it will not work for everybody (I can live with the frustration of having to charge on longer trips occasionally so that overall I can enjoy the cash saving).
I do recognise it won’t work for everyone though.
Electricity will need to increase 500% to cost the same as ice fuels and of course if electricity increases then ice fuels will aswell as electricity is used to refine.
Hi @Rene, thanks for trying to help. I already have a MHEV Sportage on order so, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be leasing an EV. The main reason I’ve been looking at EV’s and PHEV’s overall costs is partly general curiosity and also because I’m concerned about the mpg of the Sportage after missing out on the HEV. So please don’t waste any of your time working out how an EV may work out less expensive. It’s tricky enough when I have all my current gas and electric charges in front of me, never mind trying to work it out for somebody else without knowing all the info, such as miles driven, would it be a standard instalment for charge point, etc, etc
I currently have a Golf GT DSG with the 150hp 1.4l ACT engine, that I believe your on-order GTE will have (maybe minus ACT – Active Cylinder Technology, as I’d guess the GTE would go to electric mode rather than 2 cylinder mode). I drove to North Wales, from West Yorkshire (my home address) and visited 3 different areas. Most miles were motorway, with my adaptive cruise set to 75mpg, but once in Wales, the 3 areas I visited were small lanes (i.e. unfriendly for fuel economy) and I still achieved 52.5mpg in an almost fully loaded car. So you should expect great mpg and performance (mine does 0-60mpg in just under 8 secs).
“In the new calculation, you’re £150 worse off. That’s offset, what, five fold by the petrol saved, ish” My sums included petrol I used the previous 12 months. It was an extra £994.24 in household fuel minus £771.87 spent on car fuel, which is where I came to £222.37, then adjusted to £150.03.
The reason the gas part came in to the equation (which made up £809.99 of the £994.24 household fuel increase) is simply because of the statement Octopus put at the bottom of the Octopus Go tariff (“Octopus Go is an electricity only smart tariff. For gas, simply choose any Octopus gas tariff.”). If Octopus allow you to stick on same gas tariff, then the sums would be VERY different. I’m not sure if they’d be different enough to sway it in favour of a EV/PHEV, considering the higher AP and charge point installation. That’s sums for another day ha ha, but considering I only spent £771.87 in the last 12months on petrol and the nearest PHEV equivalent to my car on order is a Tucson @£5599 AP (+£2300 more than Sportage) it would be a close call as to which would cost less over 3 years, with all costs considered.
I’ve also realised that the main reason my gas price would rise so high (if Octopus won’t allow a customer to stay on their current tariff) is because utility companies are only offering fixed tariffs which are, of course, much more expensive. I think this is because the price cap on standard/variable tariffs, is lower that what it costs the company to buy and supply gas to the customer (or so they say).
BTW my West Yorkshire gas tariff is 7.28p kWh, with 27.22p daily standing charge, so very similar to what you quoted.
The GTE doesn’t have ACT, that came with the 1.5 TSI Evo. The 1.4 in the GTE is the exact same as in any Mk 7.5 Golf, the difference being the gearbox, whereas you have a 7speed DSG, the GTE comes with a 6 speed DSG that has the electric motor built in. No idea about the ratios, but i assume final ratio is somewhat similar (maybe slightly longer), due to the top speeds (GTE slightly faster). Keeping in mind that the electric support cuts out at 80mph, there can’t be much in it. In regards to acceleration, with two people, we managed 6.3 seconds to 60 (measured via dedicated GPS, got one for my speed running RCs) multiple times, so no complaining there.
We did do an extended test drive (100 miles, thereabouts), managed 130mpg using the predictive cruise control using motorway, town and A-roads. We didn’t race (leisurely drive, enjoying the silence compared to our car), but we did hoon every now and then (enjoying the acceleration). Always speed limit though. More importantly, 99% of our journeys are within the electric range – basically everything apart from one particular hospital visit a year (150 miles), and the occasional joyrides which can range from within electric range (coast) to a few hundred miles, which of course don’t suit a PHEV but will be manageable through the savings.
My bad, i thought you added the gas price to your calculation, not the petrol consumption.
That said: you’re indeed correct, first of all if you already have a MHEV on order this was a pointless exercise (didn’t know), i just like having a debate. I can’t remember how much the Sportage PHEV was in AP, wasn’t it cheaper than the Tucson (i know it was better equipped due to having the Hyundai “Tech Pack” baked in)?
And yeah, of course the charger is an outlay, now more than a few months ago when we had ours installed (we were able to take advantage of the grant). That said: it’ll eventually happen anyway, either on the next car or the one after, so that can is just kicked down the road for now.
For the gas tariff, this is what comes up if i randomly plug a WY postcode in.
So, as expected, your gas tariff is basically the current flexible tariff, not sure how electrocity is comparing. Not that it matters as it turns out, but for some ease of mind, you’re not on some special tariff that’s gonna explode soon (apart from the 40% increase already announced for october). We currently are on a fixed tariff for gas (which is vastly more expensive, so you were right on that part), and could switch immediately through the dashboard to the flexible one. Gotta run the numbers tomorrow, probably will actually change back to the flexible tariff for gas.
In the end you got your car ordered, and it’s a good one (we test drove the FHEV after ordering the GTE, it’s just too big for us – we wanted to downsize), so all this is somewhat moot. That said: a PHEV/EV could have worked out to at least similar in price, but be the better driving experience (more herseperse, and quiet driving is amazing) – and you’d have the infrastructure for the next car already. As you said, the numbers would be very different regarding the gas tariff, and they indeed are if you use quoted tariff as the basis (assuming they force you to change, which i still don’t believe, so either your current or flexible would happen).
Alas. Long time wait for us now (6.5 months in, probably another 6 to go) – fingers crossed that you get yours timely.
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