Post by TimatmarfordAh! The first potentially useful post:-)
£20k would be good. 1 year + guarantee would be considered.
4 seats (for when she takes her lady friends somewhere) Super-mini or
small hatch.
This is a farm! No dog and currently no special needs.
Re farm, does that mean any kind of 4 wheel drive capability is useful
(muddy tracks etc)? 4WD is relatively straightforward on EVs but it bumps
you towards bigger models.
Of the small/cheap EVs available new, some examples with list prices
(probably deals available from dealers):
Dacia Spring, £15k:
Renault 5, £23k:
Fiat Grande Panda, £21k:
Hyundai Inster, £23k
If going used there's a lot more to choose from, and £20k gives a lot of
headroom to play with. Here's an autotrader search (max £25k, 2023 or
later, hatchback, electric) with 2200 results:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertising-location=at_cars&body-type=Hatchback&fuel-type=Electric&postcode=sw1a1aa&price-to=25000&sort=relevance&year-from=2023
Some examples:
MG4:
Citroen e-C4:
Fiat 500e:
Vauxhall Corsa-e:
Peugeot e-208:
Honda E (very overpriced at launch but used examples are within your budget)
(bear in mind things have moved on quite a bit in the last few years, so a
review of a new car 5 years ago wouldn't be the same as reviewing the same
car today. 'Electrifying' (see below) have some videos on how used EVs
stand up)
I'd not touch the Nissan Leaf (no battery thermal management which causes
range loss over time), Teslas (touchscreens, lack of indicator stalks),
anything Chinese (touchscreens, although some MGs are ok), VW ID.3/ID.4
(capacitive buttons). The Cupra Born might be a contender but I think it
has the same buttons as the ID.3
If you're prepared to go older than 2023 then there are more models that
come into budget. In particular your application is probably suitable for
an older EV that has much less range (something like the BMW i3) at a much
lower price point, although at this point you might want a newer model for
the warranty and more range in hand for peace of mind about not needing to
find a charger (if you avoid a few bad designs most EVs are pretty reliable,
but with warranty you get somebody to moan at). You can get quite a lot of
EV for £10-15k including some remaining warranty.
Re screens, most of them have some kind of screen for the reversing camera
(a legal requirement in some places), but it depends whether the controls
you need (heating, radio, etc) are on physical buttons or buried in menus.
I can't remember what they all do, but if you watch some videos it should
give you an idea. It's possible that they'll still need some degree of
poking in touchscreen menus to configure various things which you don't need
to use day to day.
(One thing to watch is that to get a EuroNCAP 5* safety rating cars must
have various safety features like 'lane keeping assist' turned on every time
you start the car, and if their beeps are annoying you have to turn that off
each time. That may involve the touch screen, although there may be a
physical button or a way to program one with that feature. This applies to
all modern cars, EV or not)
A couple of Youtube channels worth watching are 'Fully Charged' (in
links above) and 'Electrifying':
https://www.youtube.com/@fullychargedshow
https://www.youtube.com/@Electrifyingcom
They also have some 'EVs for beginners' series which are probably worth
watching to get you up to speed with some basics.
Re charging, you can likely install a 3 phase chargepoint on your farm, but
if it's mostly going to be a shopping trolley there's not a lot of point as
a single phase supply might charge fast enough. Unless you're likely to be
using a bigger EV or electric farming vehicles then there might be.
(rough ballpark: a good EV does 4 miles per kWh, so for every kW of your
charger you get 4 miles of added range per hour of charging. A 7kWh
single-phase charger gives you 28 miles range added per hour, while a 22kW
three-phase charger gets you 88 mph. If your longest road trip is 120 miles
round trip then a 7 kWh charger will refill it in 5 hours. Done overnight
you probably don't need anything faster, and not all cars can charge at 11
or 22kW)
Theo
