Any Electric Car Owners?

[brainiac]

I see that The Mail are giving an electric Hyundai away today, and it got me wondering how practical electric cars are. You can't recharge them from a domestic socket (impractical, takes way too long) and you need a special wallbox fitted - one I looked at was about £600. Also the constant problem of range anxiety if making anything other than shortish trips.

Any ABers own an electric car, and would you recommend one if you do?

[Zacs-Master]

Balders, yes still got the beemer.

Tilly, the putting of the car into drive or reverse or park requires a manual operation. The ‘automatic’ bit of automatic cars is changing between gears (sorry, probably getting a bit pedantic now).

Hymie, I’ve no idea, you’d have to ask Octopus.

Hopkirk, with a mini (and I think it’s the same for a lot of other EVs) you get an app which allows you to ‘tell’ the car to warm up the interior whilst it’s still plugged in and charging, thereby alleviating any reduction in range.

[bhg481]

The definition of an automatic vehicle, as far as the Driving Licence is concerned, is:

(b) “vehicle with automatic transmission” means a vehicle in which either—
(i) the driver is not provided with any means whereby he may vary the gear ratio
between the engine and the road wheels independently of the accelerator and the
brakes, or
(ii) he is provided with such means but they do not include a clutch pedal or lever which
he may operate manually.

A purely electric vehicle fits the definition. It must mean, if you take your test in an electric vehicle, you will only gain an "automatic" licence ie, won't be allowed to drive cars with manual transmission.

Since balancing the clutch for low-speed manoeuvering is an integral part of controlling a car, this seems a very fair definition.