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Hi,
I was hoping someone has experience with this. I’ve not returned a car to mobility before.
I’ve moved into a EV for the first time (renault e megan) and have been enjoying the car but noticed the longer trips are just not working.
my example is Liverpool to Scunthorpe. I make this trip regularly and made sure to pick a car with enough range to get there and back.
I’ve noticed I’m just not getting the range claimed. I now understand that the mobility site uses the old “up to” trick like broadband companies.
part of my issue is that I don’t have a place to charge other then a public charger.
if I knew the car couldnt get there and back I wouldn’t of accepted it.
I tried the car and did quite a bit of research so feeling a bit silly and let down by my choice.
is the range a valid reason for giving the car back?
I’m worried that they will charge me for the charger?
would they also want the advanced payment grant back?
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This has highlighted why I will never have an EV or a plug in hybrid. I’m a wheelchair user the system isn’t set up for wheelchair users heavy cables parking spaces not wide enough. Where the cables are they have curbs around them so can’t reach easily. You would think in this day and age disability would be a thought but still obviously not even a second thought as usual. I couldn’t deal with the low range and constant worry and planning I have to plan enough as it is at times.
Without knowing your circumstances I couldn’t say whether you’d be able to cope with an EV and the cables but please don’t post nonsense about low range and charger layouts when you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about 🤦♂️
I’m a wheelchair user that’s been driving an EV for 10 years, this year I went from Scotland to Brighton one week then Durness the next, currently heading to Harrogate for a few days. I’ve done 7k in under 3 months so not bad for having “low range”
Yes charger layouts can always get better but now most hubs have specific disabled bays so a bit more than “not even a second thought”
EVs & charging for wheelchair users isn’t perfect but then neither are lots of other things… petrol pumps to fill up your ICE for example 🤔 (my other car is a diesel ⛽️so I know) or shopping, we’ve just been into York and the number of shops with steps at the door is significant but that’s not a reason to avoid the place?
What you should have said is you won’t have an EV because you doubt you’ll be able to cope with the charging process
Jonnybegood your right about ev charging points not being suitable for all disabilities. I’m fine and a big strong lad and while recently charging at a rapid charger my first thought was how do those with certain disabilities are even those a bit frail cope with the big heavy cables.
To be exact it’s not necessarily the actual weight but, when removing and especially replacing the charging head from the charger, it’s the rigidness of the thick cable that makes it harder to manoeuvre, especially if your chair means you cannot get as close to the charger. Also with side charging ports making it that wee bit harder, I think front charging ports on cars would make it easier for some people. Not everybody’s disabilities are the same so some will manage and some won’t.
Your also 100% right about range worries, I don’t like the term range anxiety tbh. Regarding cars on the scheme it’s safe to say if you didn’t think about it you’d be foolish.
My current car advertises 326 and I would get about 220. Now I’m in Belfast and if I want to go to Dublin I don’t need to give it a second thought, plenty of chargers there and back. One of my other favourite drives is Donegal and there is one 50kw charging port in killybegs, if that ain’t working then I’m snookered as there are no others around that part of Donegal. Doesn’t matter how many apps you check to make sure it’s working, if it ain’t I’m in trouble. It’s the only place where I had a near miss and I panicked. I would imagine rural middle Ireland to be like rural middle England in that there may be a hell of lot less charging points. So some drives do not require any thought, some require some thought and some will require a lit of thought and some luck. I’ve seen quite a few videos of people doing John o groats to lands end in EVs without a problem, but facts are facts and i cannot get to parts of Donegal which is about 250 miles for me unless that one single charging point is working. And with that part of the world being so remote it will probably never change, mind ranges will.
This is something that could happen to ice cars, but nowhere on the scale of EV cars and a reason why some forum users here just won’t commit to ev yet, and why a lot of others won’t either.
It works for most but not all.
This has highlighted why I will never have an EV or a plug in hybrid. I’m a wheelchair user the system isn’t set up for wheelchair users heavy cables parking spaces not wide enough. Where the cables are they have curbs around them so can’t reach easily. You would think in this day and age disability would be a thought but still obviously not even a second thought as usual. I couldn’t deal with the low range and constant worry and planning I have to plan enough as it is at times.
I understand your reservations as regards public chargers, we have a PHEV we charge up at home for local journeys, on longer journeys we use hybrid mode no range anxiety including towing a caravan to Cornwall 250 + miles without refilling with fuel or charging up.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
@des What an excellent post. It is so refreshing to have an EV owner acknowledging their limitations rather than just extolling their virtues.
We have put our toe in the water with a PHEV, as we have the ability to charge at home, but a full EV just doesn’t appeal yet due to the current real world ranges and I don’t want to have to stop away from home for charging. I appreciate that this means that I’ll pay more, but that’s a price I’m more than prepared to pay for the added convenience.
I took my wife to a hospital appointment today. We have to use a disabled space with a hatched section to the side as we use a person hoist and need the space. The only available disabled space was for EV charging and the sign made it clear that if you aren’t charging you get a fine (the car in the adjacent space was displaying a blue badge but had received a parking fine as it wasn’t charging). I have no intention of ever charging away from home as it’s too much effort for too little return with a PHEV, but her appointment time was fast approaching so I decided that I’d park there and charge so that I could get my wife to the appointment on time. I dug out the public charging cable from under the boot floor but could not connect it to the charger, even though it was definitely the right connector. I didn’t catch what type of charger it was, but the instructions implied that you needed to have some sort of card. Perhaps you have to scan that before the charger allows you to plug in to it? I’ve no idea, but it was beyond me in the time I had so I gave up. Funnily enough I’ve never had an issue working out how to use a fuel pump! Thankfully I’m managing to charge at home without difficulty, but that’ll do for now 😂
Motability changed our megane after a few months because of this exact reason. 140-150 miles max in winter and only 220-230 in summer. They let us return it with no penalty. Call them. They are very very understanding.
This has highlighted why I will never have an EV or a plug in hybrid. I’m a wheelchair user the system isn’t set up for wheelchair users heavy cables parking spaces not wide enough. Where the cables are they have curbs around them so can’t reach easily. You would think in this day and age disability would be a thought but still obviously not even a second thought as usual. I couldn’t deal with the low range and constant worry and planning I have to plan enough as it is at times.
If you ever reconsider then check out sainsburys smart charge
All 100% accessible pre authorise fee returned aa soon as charge is finished
Lots more sites will be opening
No app needed
https://smartcharge.co.uk/locations
https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/our-strategy/our-brands/smart-charge
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