Electric Cars For DUMMIES: Absolutely EVerything Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Baffled by EVs? Rory gives us almost every piece of information you might need to know about Electric Cars. How do they charge, what is a kilowatt-hour, are there different plugs, why do they charge so slowly sometimes, should you buy a used EV? All is revealed.
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Most people venture into solar, renewable energy and EV charging station investments just to be millionaires, meanwhile I just want to be debt free
"Ever since I started following Anne winfield's advice on solar energy investments and EV charging station, my life has completely changed. I was skeptical at first, but the returns have been phenomenal. Now, I don't worry about my financial future; I'm actually planning a retirement abroad!"
I invested in some of the solar companies Anne recommended, like RXCEnergy, and the growth has been incredible. It's like watching my money multiply while also doing good for the planet.
Anne winfield introduced me to the idea of investing directly in solar projects/EV charging station. It's not just about the money; it's the peace of mind knowing I'm part of a sustainable future. But yes, the financial freedom it's given me is indescribable
on F a c e - b o o k
Anne K Winfield
We bought an EV about 4 years ago now. We had one EV and one ICE.
3 years passed. We lived with it, we used it, we did long motorway journeys. We did short journeys. We did winter journeys, we did summer journeys. We drove it 30k miles.
We saw what they were actually like.
We now have two EVs.
I wish govts mandated that gas stations must have 4 super chargers in the US. most stations are grocery stores & should benefit even more from electric cars as we need to stay for 20-30 mins
@@aneeshmenon3379 nah mate let the market decide. Fk off with your governments. When the market decieds a winner, then it truely is a winner. Just like the model Y.
Every time I see an electric vehicle I see someone who is fully vaccinated.
You forgot to mention your EVs are worth next to nothing because you paid for disposable junk. If you paid the same money for combustion engine cars they would be worth much much more. Not sure if you car understand you didn’t save any money but you lost a lot instead.
@@pevvex4452 Yep. I'm running a 15 yr old Honda and my ability to go through life not needing to replace everything on a whim means my carbon footprint is far less.
Rory is single handedly wiping out much of the ignorance that is out there to do with EVs. Bravo 👏
It’s not ignorance, it’s called disliking a product in what is meant to be a free market
@@nsweeney3970it is a free market, you can keep driving the old school stuff indefinitely, so easily to 2040 and beyond. You might be the only one in your street, but you can. Free choice.
You can always tell the bell ends who drive shitty ev company cars
@@nsweeney3970What do you mean about “free market”? The fact I can’t buy a BYD EV in the US because of crony capitalism? You might have your facts inverted buddy.
@@adam.677 you can always tell the bell end keyboard warriors who feel the need to insult people who make a different choice.
I drive about 30k miles a year and have no problem living with an EV . And if I ever change may car again ,it will be for another EV for sure .
do you charge at home?
@@benjimc1 I drive 65k km peer year and only charger at work I find it way more convenient than stopping twice a week at the gas pump
@Tim_Custers for sure, but not everyone can charge at home or at work. For me, distance isn't the issue, charging infrastructure is.
@@benjimc1 I get it but it looks like you don’t drive with a ev day to day. There are always moments where you stop for “stuff” and there are chargers in place, for example if you go to Lidl there is a 75kw charger there. If your boss is to stubborn to put in charging infarction that’s his loss. He could make his company more attractive.
@Tim_Custers I have had an EV for 2 years. Had workplace charging but only in office 2 days a week, travel 35k/Yr so majority of my charging was public charging. Public infrastructure was sufficient for the first year, but by the end of it the demand outweighed the supply. Now back to hybrid however will go EV again soon as they have just put chargers fairly local to me. However I work from home permanently now and my landlord won't fit chargers on this apartment block, the BiK is the only reason I am going EV again.
0:10 can you tell the home owner that their gutter isn't attached.
@@SDrtheone well spotted...
You reckon that's Rory's house?😆
@@SDrtheone I can’t believe I had a look to see if you were right 😂😂😂…… eagle eyes 😎😉👍
Rory's garage, probably doesn't notice as it's the garage.
Probably the most sensible and informative view of EV’s I’ve ever seen, quite unbiased and educational.
Can I add, I just pay as I go on longer trips as the savings I make during my normal driving makes up for the extra charges on these longer journeys, and at home I only charge from a granny charger when at 20%
I'm 4 years into an EV, on my second EV, and I will never go back to ICE cars.
- I've saved over £7k on fuel
- EV's are quick, easy to drive, quiet and very smooth
I think the fuel cost difference is often understated due to the fixation on rapid charger prices.
Vs. a 40mpg car, a fairly standard EV (3.5m/kWh) charged at home off-peak (which is easy to do - presuming you can charge at home - and even easier if you install a smart charger) will cost 1/8th as much to go one mile. That's £1400 less per 10k miles with a £1.40 petrol price.
When you're rapid charging at a service station, and you aren't using the Tesla ones (you should! Many are open to all cars now and they're much cheaper) a 3.5 mile/kWh electric car will instead be about 25% more expensive vs. £1.40. So, about the same as paying service station petrol prices I suppose.
You can always tell which bell ends drive shitty ev company cars 😂
@@SDK2006b I am genuinely curious, how did the fuel saving compare to the car depreciation? You are on your 2nd EV, why? Was it because your lease or company car was up for renewal or was your EV losing battery performance? Again, not trying to get a reaction, genuine questions.
@@scottsteele765 - my EV’s are obtained through salary sacrifice. So I pay a fixed price for 3 years for the car, which includes insurance, maintenance and tyres.
Lol they don't seem to last long, most people buy a new one every 2 or 3 years, I've kept £500 old bangers on the road for longer !
From an ICE car driver in the uk that was very useful 👍
As a BMW 3 series owner, I never imagined i would drive an EV. When we needed to get a second car to help with the school run, an EV seemed like the most logical option (my son's school is 16 mikes away, so we do ~65 miles daily).
We got the 2024 Tesla Model 3 and we've been blown away ever since. The tech, cost savings and performance are just unbelievable. E.g We've done 1,250 miles in the Tesla and at 7p/kwh overnight charging only, it has cost us less than £20. Similar distance in the 3 series would have cost £180.
It's a no-brainer.
Rory is the smartest motoring journalist working today. In a profession that has historically been against any sort of change he stands out. Also a great presenter.
I admit I was a petrolhead. I loved the feel of living the road while driving the car.
3 years, 150 K miles and 3 EV later: I love EVs. Practical, fun and easy to drive, cheap to run and maintain.
Would I go back to ICE?
I would put a manual, quite sporty one in my drive just to drive on sundays for good old days feel.
Thats about it!
I think Petrolheads get annoyed by Ev drivers who simply use the car as a commuting tool and aren’t interested in going to a Cars and coffee meet or a spirited mountain blast on the weekend. I believe there’s room for both.
@@TIWNA851 EVs have no equivalent to a Miata, 86, S660, etc. because the simplicity and lightness of these cars are antithetical to the EV philosophy. Unfortunately, those are the kinds of cars I tend to enjoy.
Which is to say that as of now, EVs aren't meant to be enjoyed; they are designed for highway commuting, not spirited mountain drives.
@@WhatisaLee Bad take. Take a model 3 for a test drive on a mountain.
@@Sal3600 I like my cars slow and light. It's a matter of preference.
@@WhatisaLee the model 3 feels lighter than my bmw when i drive it. But yes it's a matter of preference. Enjoy the road.
Great video! The best analogue for charging rates are people (electrons) finding seats at a movie theater (battery's cathode). If the theater is empty, it is easier to find seats. Locating seats becomes harder as the theater fills. It is easier to sit everyone if they arrive slowly (low charging rate) than if there is a crush of people (high charging rate) when doors open. Love my used 2023 Volvo C40 Recharge Twin at 50% off new. More smiles per pound: burning rubber to save the earth! :) Highly recommend used EVs if you can home charge.
Evs are still evolving and that is why I have waited until now. I have two cars, my 4 year old VW Polo and my KIA EV6 which I have had since 3 June 2024. The EV is a Salary Sacrifice and is more like a company car, meaning in 4 years I return it (hence keeping the Polo), and in the meantime, all maintenance and insurance is included in the costs. My commute to work is 97 miles in total each day. I have been doing this journey for 4 years in the Polo for a cost of around £280 per month. Over the last 3 months, I do four journeys in the EV and one in the Polo. The EV cost is a little over £2 per day return. In August my total cost in charging the car at home (4 X per week) was £42.97. Public charging is much different and much more costly, so if you don't have access to home charging (and this can be a 3 pin plug), then charging an EV is expensive, but my last use of public charging was mid-July. I could get away with 3 pin plug charging as long as I charge every night and I fully charge over the weekend, but I would lose miles each day, but not to the point that I could not drive or be forced to use a public charger by the end of the week.
About 14 days after I received the car, I was forced to go to Manchester and back in the same day (535 miles). The initial charge was 100% at home then Public charging the rest of the way. This journey cost me around £100. This would have been around £77 in a similar-sized ICE Car. The Manchester journey is a journey I have done hundreds of times since I was around 18 years old; I am happy to tell you that despite the need for charging at no point was my journey slowed by the charging process, I plugged in at routine rest stops. Each way took around five hours which included a 20-minute stop in both directions. EV works for me and I am projected to save around £2,000 over the entire year.
Thank you for the detailed breakdown. I know the EV6 is too new to tell, but do you have any repair costs on the Polo yet?
At last a clear and easy for all to understand what EV cars are all about! A brilliant job done by Rory and his team!!
Absolutely perfect~
These is the gold standard, for how a responsible Auto review TH-camr should be. 👍👍👍
For anyone commenting that they won’t ever own or drive an EV and they haven’t actually driven or been in one…just try one.
I was completely opposed until I drove one and now there’s no way I’d ever buy a petrol or diesel car again. They feel so rough and primitive to drive in comparison and unless you have a glorious V12 or similar, the noise is just annoying once you’ve switched.
@@emjbee101 This is such a good point. Your awesome Sunday drive (e.g. zooming around mountain-y B roads) or track cars are still almost certainly better as an ICE car right now. But how many people really take their cars to a track. I find a good chunk of drivers won't keep to 60 when a B road gets mildly interesting, never mind consider a track.
And that's totally fine, of course, but goes to show that for the vast majority of drivers, there's no driving experience downside, and just the upside of acceleration and a smooth drive.
I do think EVs are more fun cars day to day, though. There's plenty of opportunity to play with ridonk 0-60 times if you're so inclined, for example.
@@TheComfiestChair absolutely, for a lot of driving situations an EV is just a way more relaxing and enjoyable place to be.
@@TheComfiestChair I am surprised people make point about ICE car is better for zooming around. The delayed response in ICE cars kills any joy in zooming about. Whereas with EV you immediately feel the response and can make nicer maneuvers.
EV are disposable junk even dealers don’t want to buy back because they lose value in speed of light. I guess your cars are worth absolutely nothing now. EVs drive badly compared to good combustion engine cars. Evs lose value much faster than combustion engine cars. EVs are more expensive to run with rising prices of energy and insurance. Where is the advantage of EVs ?
@@pevvex4452 how many times have you driven an EV? I’m going to guess zero?
Significantly cheaper to run. Costs me £5.60 for 300+ miles of range. Insurance is the same cost as my ICE car. I bought second hand and let the value drop out. Smoother to drive, more relaxing and arrive feeling less tired after long journeys. Instant performance when you want to go quickly. Servicing cheaper as way less to go wrong.
To be honest, you clearly know the square root of nothing about EVs and it shows from your reply.
Everyone prepare for the inevitable "I wIlL nEvEr BuY aN eLeCtRiC cAr!!!1" comments.
Well personally i won't but they're cool, no denying that.
Well sorry for having a passion about cars 🙄
I would love to. But I will not until we can move away from Li-ion batteries and until countries won't upgrade their grids.
"Life is full of disappointments and I just added you to the list."
@@alexpro60798 you can have a passion about electric cars too. Theres only small number of differences. Fuel source being one thing, and the engine being another.
I have a new EV and live 2 hours from a city. I do charge at home but am finding in the cold winter I can't get to the city and back without charging. The infrastructure outside of the city is not good. There is no fast chargers so planning is a bit frustrating. It will take 3 hours to get a 20% increase in charge in order to make it home on the public chargers outside the city. I appreciate and love driving the car except for the problem of winter driving/charging because of the infrastructure.
Superb job, simply and clearly explaining all things EV. Rory presented so well, he truly is the GOAT.
One minor "correction" would be the time to charge on a 7 kW home charger. It actually is only 5 seconds per night. 5 seconds to plug in, and you are done. No need to stop at a petrol station on the way home.
One other thing: Where did the 3.6 kW charging from a 3-pin UK plug come from? AFAIK UK plugs were found not to be good for their 13 A rating, so EV charging must be limited to 10 A. At 230 V, that would be 2.3 kW, not 3.6.
Not a huge ev fan as a petrol head but can see their place as utility vehicles for the right people, never got my head around all the different wattage stuff but this was really helpful
I respect people making an informed decision
It's not that difficult. kW equals horsepower, kWh equals liters of fuel.
Drive one, maybe the Ioniq 5N, and you will see performance ice is the Nokia of cars. Electric motor and its performance characteristics are far far far better traction solution. Torque curve is amazing. And with the fun of the 5N features, I can’t think of what you need from ice. Sure the sound… but progress means change. I’m happy with that loss.
@@Pilch9 Exactly. Electric performance cars are such a huge improvement over ICE cars, it's amazing. Better in every aspect, except for the usual suspects (range and quick refilling). If silent motors are better or worse is of course a personal preference. But I think we've been conditioned the past 100 years to associate power with that sound that ICEs need to make according to their working principle. If motors had been silent all the time, and someone came up with an engine that makes loud noise, I bet everyone would hate it.
for me silent motors are better cos as I'm reading 60 in less than 4 seconds I am alerting nobody. at night the police are off chasing an ICE going 0-60 in 7 secs 3 streets over because they are making so much noise. I'm simply stealthily zipping around.
😅 i said exactly that, I will never….in stubborn resistance because i thought they were taking away something i loved. I have now de-iced and own two, and boy am i glad i did. A lot of blind rubbish on YT so thanks to Rory for his usual engaging take on things
the "start cleaning the room" analogy was perfect in answering the point of "but electricity comes from coal"
It's also worth mentioning that even with a completely incorrect view that the grid is still like the 1970s, having that pollution happen at power stations instead of in the middle of residential areas would still be better for air quality.
The fact that the 1970s were half a century ago and things have dramatically changed just makes things much better!
From what i heard the brits barely use coal
@@ganymede6535 we decommissed the last plant recently :) We are about 60/40 renewable + nuclear, vs. gas right now. So the idea of it coming from coal is from those woefully out of date.
We get quite a lot of our power from wind, seeing as we're a blustery island clinging onto Europe.
@@TheComfiestChair thank you for proving my point
@@TheComfiestChairnot to mention that people often forget about the fact that even dirty coal plants are going to be more efficient than an internal combustion engine not to mention all the cost of producing the gasoline and transporting it to stations
I have to say Rory's comment that "you can program your car, or wallbox, to charge at night while the country sleeps" gave me pause. Living in the states my whole life, the idea that the whole country sleeps at the same time was a total mind-bender! 😂
Had a VW ID.4 52kwh
Not amazing range but absolutely great car
Having my dual motor Model Y delivered soon!
With the addition of a heatpump that big battery on the drive would come in very handy this winter... thanks for the information and your really clear way of explaining things 😎
Thanks for the video. I learned a lot. But for me it's not just about climate change. Simply reducing pollution is a significant health benefit. I recently serviced my car and seeing the old air/cabin filter made me realise how much pollution we potentially breathe.
I'm the same. I just don't want an exhaust pipe near me anymore & I also want independence from those who distillate the 🛢 (& all the vampires that tax it).
If that helps the climate, it's just the cherry on top.
All these ranges leave me with one question. I have just bought my first e-bike and am disappointed in one thing. With gas, you fill the tank and have consistent and full power from the top of the tank to the last drop.
With my bike, I have ever decreasing power from about half a tank on down to zero.
The realistic range of the bike being driven conveniently is half of what is advertised based on this one fact.
Is this solved to where electrics now maintain power for the full tank, or do cars, like my e-bike, still die by degrees after they are below half a charge.
My first electric car is a 2024 Cadillac Lyriq.
I always enjoyed the way that my mother’s Cadillac XT5 drove and I wanted one for myself because my Hellcat Charger and my Jeep SRT were complete gas guzzlers.
But I wanted something bigger. I am 6’6” and she’s 5’9. My father is 6’0”.
I wanted a luxury car that I could drive without having to deal with the massive gas consumption. Normally: I would have bought a Mercedes S class S 500 (rather than S580) because my father and my aunt both have one and I’ve seen how horrible that car is on gas and how expensive the insurance is.
I purchased and held Tesla stock for years, but I could never bring myself to buy one of their cars because of the boring and plain interior.
My Cadillac LYRIQ is fully loaded: heated/ventilated/massage seats, power moonroof, 19 kW upgraded charger, 22 inch wheels, etc.
After having owned an electric car, I’ve learned a lot about electric cars and the infrastructure and the politics behind them. For me, it’s been a social experiment. I enjoy my car and I love my car. I’m actually looking forward to Cadillac releasing the Escalade iq and the VISTIQ.
One of the things that I enjoy about having my electric Cadillac is charging at the public charger and meeting new people. It’s a networking opportunity that most people don’t think about.
I meet married women, single women, men who own businesses, car, enthusiast, etc.
If you're not in the US and have access to BYD, consider the Tang along with those Cadillacs. You might be surprised.
Those lyriqs are great looking suvs.
Hi Rory, a great informative video. However, just one small gripe; The on-screen captions don't stay there long enough to be easily read. I find myself pausing the video in order to read and assimilate the captions. (However, I do admit that they're on-screen a bit longer than the football match lists at the start of Match of the Day) !!! LOL
You can slow down the video playback
Awesome work Rory , complete and informative , for me i'm an ev fan so follow and hear anything you mention but is a great collection and good way to inform the rest of the world ❤
Excellent info you crammed in there! Great stuff 👍🏼. I’m currently driving my 1st EV a Cupra Born and love it.
Great informative video Rory! Thnx a lot! As a driver of the Zeekr 001 Privilege I’m a big fan of EV’s. Don’t fly anymore, no more meat, no more petrol. All for the environment!
You lost me at no more meat lol. One must still have something to give him the will to live 😂
@@bighit20100 Women and Beer?
@@solentbum Before you know it, they will claim both are bad also and you need to stop that as well lol. Climate crazies just overdo it.
When I was a kid and heard about the Nissan leaf being released, I thought the idea behind it was amazing, but it’d never go far enough to be actually useful.
At the end of 2022, I got my first car, a Renault Zoe ZE40, which has been nothing short of a completely loyal friend. The only things I’ve had to replace have been tyres and the cabin filter. I’ve crossed Ireland back and forth multiple times, done trips like the ring of Kerry, and they’ve always got me where I need to be. Genuinely fun to drive with the instant response to the pedal, but also composed and calm when you just need to chill. Suffice to say, I’m not going backwards to ICE. ⚡️
If you've never owned an ice car how can you say that?
@@Markcain268 Easily! I’ve driven a fair few ICE cars before, they just didn’t belong to me, of course.
@@FluffyArcheops manual gearbox ice?
@@Markcain268 Yes, petrols and diesels. Only auto was a hybrid though.
@FluffyArcheops but never owned one so can't really comment on things like maintenance, long term costs etc
do I own an EV? - yes. did I still watch the whole video? - YES
Great video, congrats! 🥰
I have 8y old EV-TMS 2016. It's out of warranty and battery is still at cca 400km of range (app, cca 13% degradation). I was driving 1,5M km with ICE-s before and I' ll never go back again. Smooth, quiet, powerfull and cheap compared to ICE.🙂
I want to thank you Rory for this review of EV use, I've decided to purchase my first EV and second vehicle to my DD SRT, a Honda Prologue. can't wait to experience the EV revolution for myself.
I have a rather easy prediction: you will love your new EV.
In Australia the cheapest charging time is from 10am to 3pm (sometimes 4pm) because of the amount of rooftop solar flooding the market during the day. I charge at 8c per kWh during this time (about 4p) unless I'm charging for nothing from my solar. It's more expensive overnight (34c), and most expensive in the evening from 5pm to 9pm (75c).
Thank you for a brilliant and easy to understand guide to EVs ❤
Thanks
Changed from a tuned 335d to a Tesla M3P and would never go back to ICE. 8500 miles done and has cost less than £200
I smile every time I drive by the fuel stations. Watching people pour £100s a week into their inefficient vehicles.
I think I'm at about £3 a week in nightly electric. Octopus even offer some free sessions.
Being educated has its perks.
You forgot your initial purchase price
@@Markcain268 A new BMW 320i sport is £40k (as entry a spec as I could see), and a new Tesla model 3 RWD is also £40k :)
The latter is notably faster, too! If you want to have competitive performance, you need to be pushing well, well beyond what the performance versions of the EVs do, so they once again come out ahead.
Batteries have dropped down in price hugely, so it's really just the European manufacturers inflating EV prices still. Tesla/MG etc. are all very competitive vs. ICE cars on initial price.
@TheComfiestChair wow, thats 80 times more expensive than my car! Amazing that people fork out £40k on a car then claim they are getting cheap motoring!
@@Markcain268 You are not the target customer. Stick to your 500 pound car.
I wished someone made this video when I went electric!! Great inclusive guide & learnt a thing or two.
What an excellent video - I will be showing this to someone very elderly (my mother) as her next car will be electric (she doesn't know this yet...)
Best of luck. I don’t think the older generation are ready to change
@@rinnin if I buy it, it's quick, easy to put the dogs in, and cheaper to run... I'm sure she will adapt very quickly!
Really enjoyed watching that Rory. You explain things so well. I’ve been driving electric for just over two years now and love it! Recently had a petrol courtesy car while my electric car was in for a software update. The petrol car-premium German make- felt old and rough.
Here in France there are thousands of EVs and very very few pot holes, it has more to do with road maintenace than the weight of the cars. We have a Dacia Spring and we love it and always charge at home at night using a domestic plug.
U can't afford oil😅
Excellent video. I got my first EV last year. A Kia EV6 AWD, I Love it. Won't be returning to ICE cars if I can avoid it. I charge at work and have used public chargers for 2 road trips. Just clocked over 10K miles.
well done, so many idiotic click baiting anti EV videos on TH-cam, EVs are the future.
Not everyone's future, only 18% of the world population actually have a car.
@@Markcain268 Soon it will be the future of every driver. EVs are that much better. No regulation required. lets see in 15 years though. Its only the begining.
There's a crazy number of TH-cam channels that do literally nothing but anti-EV stuff. I can only presume they're well-funded from the oil lobby.
There are a huge number of channels that do literally nothing but anti-EV stories. Wonder who funds them...
Not the future. EVs are here now.
This is a really great video. Full of information and knowledge i needed. I enjoy every singke seconds watching this video
21:49 “EVs are heavier…”. No, they’re not: BMW 340i XDrive 1,870kg unladen & without fuel. Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor 1,899kg. So, no difference between ‘similar’ cars. Land Rover Discovery 2,718kg, Volvo XC90 2,095kg unladen. So, if we want cars that are lighter to prevent/reduce potholes (for which there is no actual evidence of causation), reduce the number of SUVs on the road.
A more apples to apples comparison would be the BMW I4, which is 2125kg vs the the lighter BMW 340i. There is no petrol equivalent to the Model 3 for us to figure out how much weight batteries in that specific car.
@@AutoTraderTV I can see why you have made that comparison, but the i4 is derived from the GranCoupe ICE vehicle, which is a massive compromise (pun intended). Many EVs have been developed ground-up and are significantly more efficient in their energy use, packaging, mass , etc. My comparison of BMW 340i X-Drive vs Tesla M3 Dual Motor was very deliberate: both ’premium’, 4WD, high-performance cars with a similar price tag. Both are excellent cars for most families. Both 2/3 the mass of a Discovery…
@@AutoTraderTVI guess the question is, why do so many legacy makers struggle to make efficient EVs (both in weight, aerodynamics and motors) to the level of the Tesla Model 3?
Irrespective of drive train most car makers have moved towards heavier, bigger models. The trend will only shift if SUV sales decline
@@latsword3513Good point: ALL cars have gotten heavier due to safety (crash regs, etc), comfort, power, as well as the trend for larger, heavier vehicle styles.
Great overview Mark. The only thing I'd add is that constantly charging EV batteries to 100% is why they degrade faster than they need to. If you don't need 100% of the range, stick with 80% or less. EV use needs a bit more forethought and planning, but we also have numbers to work with so the planning isn't hard.
This is true of NMC batteries, LFP are a bit different, and when solid state batteries come in they'll be different again.
Nice clear and simple video. Obviously not made to change people's mind but helpful for newbies.
Thank you mate for the effort put in explaining all the charging terminologies and different types of chargers. great video✌
One big thing you seemed to have omitted is the lack of servicing, oil, filters, cambelts, etc.. Otherwise, a great video with loads of info. Thank you,
"Sort the facts from the fiction" and then proceeds to be a little selective with his facts.....but at least he's more honest than most!
I think one of benefits of an electric vehicle is you could make your own “fuel” with solar panels and maybe wind.
We do, we got solar last year, 26 x 400W panels on our roof, and an EV this year. Our car runs on sunshine.
Brilliant feature containing so much basic and really useful to know facts. I Need to watch a few times to capture all the info. 😅
Excellent video spot on the myth busting! Well done. Only thing I think you could of pointed out is EVs require very little to no maintenance like ICE cars do which is an additional cost saving benefit.
After driving an EV for 4 years, I switched back to petrol. I got a much bigger car with triple the range and double the power, for half the price. Feels nice not to have to worry about charging all the time. EVs have their upside of course, instant acceleration and smoothness but nothing I couldnt live without.
24:01 Don’t forget toxic fumes, heavy metals and fine dust particles that also more directly harm- and sometimes kill people that breathe in these gasses…🫣
Really good over view and explanation. Loved it.
Great video Rory, I switched to EV about ten days ago, love it , 2024 Tesla MY the big test will be this winter in central Canada where I live
8:50 that is assuming you can charge at your destination at a fast rate
The clue is in the name. Destination chargers don’t need to be ultra-fast as it’s somewhere you are staying at for a considerable amount of time. If it’s only an hours stop and you need a fast charge, that’s not a destination stop.
@@ISuperTed exactly, and it assumes there are destination chargers, but thats not the case in many places since a normal plug that takes more than a day and a half to charge is not really a viable option
Answer this my friend, one of your solution is cheaper Evs, cars like MG, BYD, ZEEKER et are sold to our government as little as 12 to 14K delivered in Liverpool, Hull etc direct from China.
So why on earth government levy around 150% tax to make it difficult for consumers, and yet remove 3 to £6000 incentives!!!! Both Eu & US together with Canada and Australia give up to $7000 towards ev buyers apart from the UK! WHY??
Street charging is expanding rapidly so we remove it from your suggestions.
So Uk government is to blame and rubbing it's citizens in the process.
Well done Rory. It’s a good explanation despite some of the puerile comments!
However compared to 1 year ago when he made his last video myth busting ev's there's a big change.
@@latsword3513 It's getting there! The first big waves of used cars are helping make it more of an option for more people too (new cars have always been expensive and depreciation heavy).
Considering how expensive petrol is nowadays, and cost of living in general, it's nice for something to finally make the day to day cheaper.
Great work! This video addresses just about all of the most common questions I get from non-EV owners and the EV-curious and then some!
Great video thank you! I'm already an EV convert but this sort of thing really nails a lot of the queries that people considering EV's have. And those who aren't too!
Honestly I would never go back now. On the rare occasion I drive an ICE car it just feels like there's something wrong with it! All noise and vibration and so sluggish!
I'm on an EV for over a year now. My wife still has an ICE car (Audi A4 252 hp). Haven't used it for some time until yesterday. I always thought it's a very nice car. But after getting used to the EV, it was just a horrible experience driving this old tech. Had the feeling it was unwilling to react on my gas pedal input.
It's always the same. Once you get used to something better, what felt good until then suddenly feels old.
an excellent video Rory covering just about all bases, the only sml addition i would make is whilst ice produces CO2 which damages the planet the NoX emissions from ice damage our health, this is a more important point to me than the co2 levels. Top work Rory & the AutoTrader team 👍
An estimated 40000 premature deaths in the UK due to pollution from personal transport. Increased incidence of asthma and damage to lung development. The health impacts from ICE emissions are so important! It's worth people knowing as it drives council decision making.
I’ve had ICE, HEV, PHEV and now EV. There is no way I’m going back to ICE… Hydrocarbons are so last century.
Electric is sooo modern, actually it predates ice 😂
@@Markcain268 not development wise. We’ve hit peak ICE.
@@Markcain268 Its true that EVs came out more than 100 years ago but current EVs shit on ICE.
Brilliant vid @Rory. Very informative, even for a long-term full EV owner. Having run an EV for several years, there's simply no going back to ICE. We've been across Europe on several occasions, and painlessly too.But our daily local commutes are where EVs really excel
I have owned multiple I.C.E. vehicles. Now I have a 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV, and I love it! I won't be buying another I.C.E. vehicle.
That’s not a car it’s a shoebox
Public Rapid Chargers are up to 350KW. Some have in small print "shared" Another considerate is temperature of the battery when it is either too hot or too cold you have to wait until it is ambient before it will kick up the rate of charge!
You can precondition the battery to heat or cool to an optimum temperature before you even arrive at the charger (the car does it automatically if you have your destination in the nav).
Congrats Rory for such a honest, objective, video about EV. Without sensationalism, and myth. Telling the reality that media and Tik Tokers don't tell. Thanks so much for this informative video !!!
Well done, a balanced and factual video from a mainstream car channel. Great job.
I'm an auto enthusiast, owned many fun cars. Now I'm an EV auto enthusiast and owner of a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD. I love the benefits of driving EV and they aren't boring. Mine is very quick and fast enough. 0-60mph is 3.7s, 233kph top speed, and handles really well (I mean, really well). I have saved far more $$ in not paying for gasoline to close the gap on the difference between my last car and this car (even though this Tesla has more power and I like it better).
I wanted to say that this was a very good introductory EV video.
Note: I dislike the fake noise that EVs and hybrids are forced by the government to make. Also, many regular gas vehicles are extremely quiet as well - to the point that you may not even hear them coming when they're moving slowly. I think the forced fake noise on quiet cars should be dropped. It sometimes spoils the quiet car thing.
Which "fun" combustion cars have you owned out of interest?
How does yours go from 0-60 in 3.7s? this is not true. I have one and it does not go that quick unless you have the performance model.
@@nsweeney3970 hot hatches.
That's a fantastic video. It covers all the main points well, and manages to be educational and entertaining. Well done Rory.
I have been driving an EV for the last 3 years and I love it. So much better to drive no more loud diesel engine and annoying gears.
Don't forget about the stinky smells...
Which is great as a commuting tool. No problem with that. But I still want a Lotus Elise or 911 in the garage for weekends.
@skyworks1621 I think modern diesels are very quiet, try a 1970's diesel for a while, then a modern one will seem like a rolls Royce, and why do you find gears annoying? If used correctly they are very useful and in my opinion add to the enjoyment of driving, I once had an automatic car and it was very boring to drive, just point n squirt, very little driver involvement, safe to say I soon got rid and bought a manual car!
@@Markcain268 The 'go' pedal in my EV gives me much more control than the 19th century idea of a grearbox. The engine is always in the right 'gear' for the circumstances, ready with instant torque , ready with instant application of just the right power to the driving wheels, and ready with just the right engine braking as required.
Remember that the whole idea of a gearbox is simply to cover the inadequacies of the Internal Combustion Engine with its poor power bands and its need to protect the fragile engine from over speeding or over loading.
@solentbum sorry, I like having a manual gearbox, driven autos before and they bore me, most things that involve modern tech tend to bore me, all tech does is take away half the enjoyment in my opinion
Thanks for the heads up, man! Great video. 😊👍🏽
Sold my bmw m cars and bought an EV, I save a fortune and it’s a much more refined driving experience. EV is the perfect daily driver!
🤮
@@nsweeney3970 go drive one and you’ll see what I mean
@@craigroberts3732 dont bother people like nsweeney are just smooth brains and rather keep paying through the nose. I came from an Audi RS.. like you.. saved massively. Also living in Aus I can charge from solar for free very reliabily.
@@z00fbar you're right. I'm sure you and I both enjoy ICE cars but for daily driving an EV is a no brainer
We did the same. Replaced a BMW M50d with a Tesla. The new car was cheaper, goes quicker, has lower running cost, and is a lot more fun. Never going back. However, the main reason for swapping was our insight that we can't go on burning fossil fuels, we wanted to do our share for the environment. But after we did, we quickly realized how much better EVs are compared to the now aging 120 year old ICE technology.
Why don’t you call it? Everything included. Simple straight, to the point. So, everything including price. Thank you. Love the show. X
The big difference between mining the materials for an EV vs an ICE car is once the EV had been made sll you need to do is keep topping it up with sunshine, with an ICE car you need to drill for oil to convert into petrol or diesel for every mile it drives along the road, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out which one is the most damaging to the planet we all have to live on, even my grandkids can work it out in a few seconds.
@@GaryV-p3h And, of course, let's not forget that once the material is out of the ground, it makes sense to keep it out of the ground with recycling. Once petrol is burned, it's gone.
Mining sucks, for many reasons, but once you have the raw materials above ground, they will be able to stay there.
My young grandkids seem to get it, my adult son not so much
Your grandkids are probably more intelligent than you are based on that statement. Do you realise where the lithium (a non renewable material) comes from that is in the enormous lithium batteries in those cars? Have you seen the horrendous mining and refinement process of the rare earth materials needed to make BEVS?
What fuel do you think the armies of plant machinery use that pull the material from the ground….? (Diesel)
Being that China make most of the batteries, what fuel do you think they use to power their factories, machinery etc? They use Coal fire power stations, the dirtiest form of fuel there is. And they use ALOT. You need to employ some better critical thinking.
@@nsweeney3970 the latest batteries are sodium (lithium free) & solid state , lithium with soon be fased out & batteries will become cheaper with more range. ICE cars will always need oil, but not too worry because in a few more years you won't be able to buy a new one anyway.
@@nsweeney3970all your logic can equally be applied to fossil fuel mining. That's the point. Critical thinking should make you widen your terms of reference to include that as mining. Nothing critical about ignoring the largest mining operations in the world (by an extremely long way) from your answer. Lithium is abundant and recyclable. Oil, not so much.
Beautiful. I have learnt a lot. Keep up the fantastic work.
The biggest benefit of EVs is definitely the air quality in towns and cities for pedestrians, cyclists. A side benefit is less CO2. Maybe it's time for all ICE vehicles to have the exhaust output piped through the cabin before it's allowed on the street and that may get the penny to drop for the Luddites
Very fair if you ask me
What about the destruction to the environment needed to mine the battery elements for your ev, shall we pump those fumes and the fumes of the power plant through your cabin too?
@@msm2267 they were already being mined long before EVs came along - where were your complaints when you bought your first mobile phone or laptop that uses the same battery tech? Look up "hypocrisy" in the dictionary be cause you shouldn't throw stones in a glass house
You are just transfering your C02 to the poor people where the mining takes place with massive earth moving machines and the trucks that move the minerals to the refining plants and then on to the battery manufactureres.The the batteries have to be transported to the car plants and then the completed cars shipped around the world. So don;t be so complacent and "holier than thou" as to get your EV you have caused harmful emissions for other people in differnt parts of the world
@@msm2267 as they'll soon be using EV mining rucks, not an issue. ALL mining is destructive and virtually everything you own contains mined elements.
Well done Rory. I’m currently driving a hybrid as a company car, but due to tax I’m definitely switching to EV car early 2025. The hybrid has given me a glimpse into the EV world and I’m on board… 👍
On my Third EV (2 Zoes and now an Ioniq 5).
I wouldn't even consider considering an ICE car. EVs are wonderful to drive. Small things you notice: the lack of engine vibration through the steering column, the instant reaction off the lights, no longer faffing on pulling up to or away from junctions, always having a full tank each morning without having to go anywhere to do it, SAVING £THOUSANDS a year in fuel costs (yes, really: my first year in the Hyundai saved me £1200 in fuel).
You can pry my EV from my cold dead hands.
Same here. My Tesla Model 3 rwd saved me $3,600 last year just in fuel costs.
@That-Guy_ my £500 ford focus has saved me £1000s in depreciation over the past 3 years🎉🎉
@@Markcain268
Depreciation is an issue for those that get a new car every 3 or 4 years. I will have my Tesla for 10+ years.
@@Markcain268that's great if you're happy driving a £500 car and not worry about costly maintenance it may need.
@boothbarmy1882 no costly maintenance so far, only oil changes, and it's so much better than walking to work in the rain, if it was expensive to own and run then I wouldn't have it as I wouldn't be able to afford to run it, buying the cheapest used ev would require me to get a loan over several years at monthly payments much higher than my petrol bill and road tax/ maintenance combined, then there's the fact that my insurance would also be a fair bit higher due to the ev being more valuable than my old car.
Very useful video thank you please could you advise if it is OK to charge your EV every day rather than charge it only when the battery drops to 20%. will charging the car every day degrade the quality of the battery?
I think it's best to charge daily, not to 100%, charge to 80%, or less if you don't need that much. Don't run the battery dead either. 100 percent charge is for the first leg of a long trip
I agree with ro9674, I initially thought that a "cycle" meant every time you plug it in, but it doesn't. A cycle is running the battery from 100% to 0% and back to 100%.
So whether you plug in 10 times and charge 10% each time, or once from 0% to 100%, it's the same.
Except charging to 100% is far more stressful for the battery than keeping it around the 50% mark - remember Rory pouring water into a measuring cup? So it's better not to charge to 100% if you don't need that range for your next journey.
We only do around 50 miles around town even on a busy day, so we're keeping our in the 40-60% range, even 45-55% range, plugging in whenever the car is on our driveway. Our battery is a nominal 259 miles range.
Just a matter of time until they make us pay subscriptions to run our cars. Saving the environment is total bs
You did not talk about different kinds of batteries in this video. That was a must!
EV Servicing Vs Maintenance | Why An EV Is More Like A Fridge Than A Petrol Car
Dave Takes It On
EV cars are the same as the appliances, that the real truth. We have to accept them as they are. I love the EVs. I am the owner of a md3 Highland... Life can be simpler!
A lot of people get cold feet thinking about it?
Sir! I absolutely love the way you prepare and present these videos! Thank you!
I understand for electric cars but why are some uk insurance companies refusing to insure them.
The cost of batteries yes that might come down eventually and the time it takes to charge them but I stick to my petrol engine thank you
because lack of data. The insurance costs are too much right now.
The price is down already, and getting cheaper.. Why worry about charge-time, when you're in bed asleep, or at work, or shopping? No worries!
I think that is the key - we're so used to 'filling up' being an active thing that we assume electric cars must charge as fast a petrol cars to be as convenient.
EVs will reach thay point soon anyway, but you don't want to rapid charge if you can avoid it. Plug in whilst you shop, or sleep, or fetching a coffee :) If you think about all the time your car is just... sitting there, that's when it should be charging. The rest is really just adding those charge points in one way or another.
You keep on paying through the roof for petrel. Makes perfect sense. 😳
@@jasonallatt5410 It's genuinely crazy what the price difference is if you can charge at home with an off peak tariff. Combined we do around 25k miles a year, and average around 2p/mile to do so. We would spend more than our current annual cost on our old petrol/diesel cars in about 6 weeks.
Fwiw, I don't know about any major insurers not insuring electric cars. They always pop up for us on comparison sites, even if we always end up just sticking with the ol' Admiral multi-car year after year.
This was very informative. Thank you and please keep it up.
The whining anti EV gang are loud in their ignorance! 🙄
I can fully ‘ charge ‘ my vehicle in less than 5 minutes, it has an absolute minimum range of 700 miles, it costs around 10k less to purchase, it depreciates far more slowly than an EV, if it catches fire it can be extinguished with relatively little collateral damage….. yeah , I guess I’m ignorant.
EVs 4 DUMMIES! V8 for normal
@@karlhulme8014 are you a whining anti ev gang member? if no, then you are not ignorant. or maybe you are who knows.
@@artureff3046 normal people cant tell between a v8 and a v6.
@@karlhulme8014millions of people driving EVs every day but of course you have the use case where it doesn't work for you. Happens with some surprising regularity in YT comments section. To broaden you mind slightly, 700 miles in my EV costs about £12 and I've never needed to 'refuel' it in 5 minutes despite doing circa 12000 miles a year. Your problems are imaginary at this point
What a brilliant piece, Rory. Clear, precise and with no agenda. Excellent.
I would love to have an EV but, like many, I'm scared that it might turn out to be a very expensive mistake. I understand all the facts and I can see in theory that an EV will satisfy 80%+ of my driving needs but it's the rest that concerns me. If I can't reach my destination in one hit in an ICE either because the car needs a drink or I need a comfort break, I know how long the stop will take. I can even rush a stop through in 10 minutes and be on my way again if need be. But I don't have experience of a typical EV journey. What I do know is that I'm unlikely to be able to get it down to 10 minutes and will probably struggle to get under 30mins. I also often do 350+ miles in one hit as it is from home to a holiday destination. I know an EV won't do that so it would change my holiday timetable to include 2 overnight stops.
I'm also going to be towing a small sports car in the not too distant future. I know most EVs won't do this at all or efficiently enough to make it viable. Or at least that's my fear.
If someone wants to lend me an EV for a month so I can test it against my more outrageous usage requirements, I'm more than happy to accept and be converted.
If you will be towing, EVs will not be great for you as range for EVs drop drastically when towing. It is a weakspot and they are working on it, just not there yet. Best solution is to have one of each, but baring that you can't do that, I would urge you to try it just to get comfortable with it. At least in the states, most EV cars have GPS that will route you and have stops where you can charge and for how long. Depending on the car you get, you can get 20-80% in less than 20 minutes which may be a nice brake for you if you take a long time to go to the bathroom and buy some things. In the US, vacation drives are much higher than your 350. If you are like some who like road trip to their destinations that can be a thousand to 3 thousand miles and people will do it. And they'll do it in an EV. Commutes itself can be over 100 miles a day. People do manage, but it is your access to charging and lifestyle to support it and what you'll tolerate. If you have to stop only once for your vacation and you don't do it frequently, an EV will be fine. For you, I'd recommend a hybrid. Plug-in is better, but a normal hybrid will still help reduce emissions still and you still have gas to rely on.
@Alphasnowbordergirl it's not like the US here. I tend to take several shirt holidays as the distance is relatively short. I tend to leave straight from work on a Friday and blast up without a stop in my tremendously efficient diesel. I'll easily get in before midnight. The distance and speed makes 4 or even 3 day trips feasible. As you can see an hour extra on the journey starts to make this infeasible and irrespective of an EVs range at the speeds required it's our charging infrastructure that is going to be the limiting factor.
Maybe until I retire and time is less of a factor or EV tech and infrastructure matures, I'll just stick to the trusty oil burners.
“ Electric cars for dummies “ ….. not gonna argue with that title.
Totally intended. 😂
3:50 Kilowatts is a sensible unit of power. Horsepower on the other hand….. 😂
@@summertyme5748 are you saying that’s the big selling point of EVs ?
I just made the switch to a BWM i4 40. Funnest car I've had to drive with all power going to the rear.
A 50 kwh battery can run a 115 kw motor at full power for 26 minutes, not 2 hours. EV for Dummies by a dummy. A 50 kwh battery won`t charge at the full 7 kw from empty to full so the charge time is longer than 50/7.
True. Overall the video was very informative and almost all information was correct. With that said, 7kW is a low power for a car battery. The battery can most definately charge at that constant power from 0-100% state of charge. Charge power tapering off is only relevent when charging at higher power ie: >50kW.
Yeah :) 7kW to a modern car battery is like charging your phone on a 5W USB charger. The batteries are so chunky that they just don't care. Both of our cars will charge at 7kW all the way up to 100% :)
I can imagine that some early EVs, or ones with tiny batteries, may have had this issue though.
To the 26 minute point, you are technically correct, but that is like running an ICE car at its rev limiter the entire time. It's an interesting maths study but not that relevant to the driving experience.
Charging may be a little longer, but the car won't be at 0% to start with, ever. And you'll be asleep, so who cares!😊
Loved your video. At 78, I may be too old to switch to EV vehicles here in Southern California. But your presentation sure makes me salivate ! Thanks for a beautiful and informative video. The kilowatt calculations with batteries, charging stations, home charging, etc was very informative and clarifying. Much Appreciated 😅 .
But electric cars are for dummies!
(Sorry to everyone offended, I am just a petrolhead salty that ev’s are on their way to replace ice because of idiotic regulations)
Ever driven one or even sat in one?!
They aren't going to replace petrol cars, hybrids will. More people own hybrids than EV's in the UK.
EVs will not replace ICE the way you think they will. It will replace ICE because it is a better alternative. Its that simple. No regulation caused me to buy it. It simply drove better than my BMW.
Or are you the type of person who refuses to get electric lighting because their oil lamps are good enough?
@@Sal3600 brother, quartz watches are more accurate than mechanical ones, but I would choose the latter all day everyday. It is not really about the way it drives but the way it makes you feel. Yes, a taycan for example drives incredible, but the lack of sound (the one from the speakers does not do it for me because it is like comparing a real steak to a soy one) killed it for me. Same with the charging time. I really like to travel, and done 40k km in last year alone. I cannot imagine charging a car for around an hour (if there is no queue) every 300km. Yes, evs are generally quicker, but if you need to go fast to have fun in a very heavy car it makes it inherently very dangerous.
My main point is that the market alone should dictate what is popular and what is not, and the government should F… off our buisness. For daily commute ev are just fine, but have MUCH less soul than ice.
Post scriptum: your point about ev outselling ice is inherently wrong if you see what happened to ev sales when government grants stopped.
The best basic overview of driving EV that I've seen. Excellent
Coming soon to a dealership nearby, Porsche-style "buy 2 EVs before we let you buy a proper car".😂
like a rimac?
Absolutely cracking video! Dispelling myths and giving clarity to ev ownership! I owned a R35 GTR and now own a performance Tesla. Day to day the Tesla is a better driving prospect and I am a convert.