With the rise in popularity of Electric Vehicles (EVs), and the Government’s impending 2030 ban on the sale of new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars and vans, there is a lot of conflicting and often misleading information around.
Some of this comes from preconceptions people have, which have been circulated as truths, some is from a lack of general understanding, and some is from deliberately manufactured “fake news” designed to bring about a change in the plans for transport electrification.
At the AA we have always been at the forefront of vehicle technology. It is our business to know what can and can’t go wrong and be there to fix it for our members if it does. This is why we have a team of technical experts and trainers, as well as training all of our patrols in electric vehicle technology.
To help us understand what questions people have, and what things people wish to better understand, we regularly reach out to our many millions of members. The following information has been compiled by combining our technical know-how with research carried out over the last few years, to answer some of the most commonly asked questions and dispel some of the EV myths.
In this article:
- Why are EVs so expensive?
- What if I run out of charge?
- Is there a greater risk of fire with an EV?
- What if I get stuck in traffic for an extended time?
- Can I drive an electric car through water?
- How long do electric vehicle batteries last?
- Where can I charge my EV?
- Do electric vehicle tyres wear out quickly?
- Do EVs damage the road?
- Are electric vehicle batteries bad for the environment?
- Where does the electricity come from to charge EVs?
- Can electric vehicle batteries be recycled?
- Can EV batteries be repaired?
- Is there danger of electrocution from an EV?
- Can I charge my EV in the rain?
- Are EVs more expensive to maintain?
- Is it worth buying a used EV?
- Are EVs different to drive?
- Are electric vehicles good for towing?
- What is the range of an EV?
- How long does it take to charge an EV?
- How much does it cost to charge an EV?
- Are electric vehicles cost effective?
Why are EVs so expensive?
As with all manufacturing, the costs come down with volume. EV manufacturing is still in its infancy when compared to ICE vehicle manufacturing and therefore, there is something of a production premium involved. We have already seen significant price reductions by leading manufacturers and this trend is set to continue.
As more manufacturers produce electric versions of their existing models, exclusive electric models and new manufacturers enter the marketplace, the cost of buying a new electric will keep coming down.
A large proportion of new electric cars are obtained through workplace salary sacrifice plans because the level of company car tax is very low at 2%, compared to ICE cars starting from 15%. If you are interested in getting an EV it is worth checking if this is an option through your employer.
In fact, the actual cost of owning an EV is much lower than many people imagine. Government incentives, employer salary sacrifice schemes and the overall lower running costs of EVs bring ownership much closer into line with that of a traditionally propelled car.
If you are in the market for a used car, then a second-hand EV could be much cheaper than you think, making owning an electric car a more attractive option.
The question should be “how did I run out of charge?” It is remarkably difficult to completely flatten the drive battery in an EV. Close and accurate battery monitoring is employed by the manufacturers, and long before there is any danger of breaking down, the vehicle will do a number of things to encourage you to get to an electric vehicle charging station.
Firstly, the car will give low-charge warnings. Then a power reduction protocol kicks in to extend the remaining charge, increasing your chances of getting to a charging location. Finally, if you persist, the car will go into “limp mode” where the power is dramatically reduced in order for you to get to a place of safety if you cannot reach chargepoint.
Throughout all of this, the sat-nav built into the car will highlight chargepoint locations and encourage you to use them before you come to a standstill.
Should you be unfortunate enough to come to a complete stop, our patrols are equipped with a variety of tech to get you moved to a charging location. Our breakdown data shows that this eventuality, while already unusual, is becoming increasingly rare, with less than 2% of EV breakdowns* relating to a lack of charge in the drive batteries.
Is there a greater risk of fire with an EV?
The short answer is no. Electric vehicles are inherently safer than ICE vehicles. This is because they don’t have to store and distribute highly combustible liquids like petrol or diesel. The flow of electricity and any faults that may develop is much easier to monitor, and comprehensive safeguards are built in to shut off the supply should any fault occur.
Car fires not due to fuel problems are most likely to occur within the car’s 12-volt electrical system, which is pretty much the same in an EV as it is in an ICE-powered car. And as these systems have been developed over many years of manufacturing, they are also very safe.
What if I get stuck in traffic for an extended time?
This question comes up a lot. One of the major differences between an EV and an ICE vehicle is that an EV uses very little power when stationary. A typical 1.0 litre petrol car uses around six tenths of a litre of fuel for every hour it is idling to keep the engine turning. The larger capacity the engine, the more fuel it uses to keep running (a 3.5 litre petrol will use over two litres an hour to keep idling).
As an EV doesn’t need to keep anything moving, it uses barely any power when stationary and conversely to fossil fuel powered cars, the more powerful the EV, the longer it will be able to sit at idle for. Cabin heating uses the most power, but almost all EVs have heated seats, which use a fraction of the power, so if you get stuck on a snowed-in road you should be fine in an EV.
In order to keep warm in an ICE vehicle, the engine must be running regardless of whether you use cabin heating or heated seats.
Can I drive an EV through water?
Driving through deep water should always be avoided no matter what car you are in. Many hidden dangers lurk in standing water such as potholes or other road damage, open drains, debris etc so as a rule, if you cannot see the bottom, you should avoid going through. Any water deeper than half the diameter of your wheel will likely cause your car to float and in an ICE vehicle, water will probably get sucked into the engines air supply causing terminal damage.
As EVs don’t require air to operate, they are less prone to sustaining serious damage from driving in water, but water getting into areas where it cannot easily drain out will more than likely lead to electrical issues later on.
How long do electric vehicle batteries last?
Much misinformation has been reported on this topic, and huge technical progress has been made in battery technology. Concern about battery degradation is among the top reasons for drivers not to make the switch to EVs. The fact is EV batteries are very robust and reliable. Clever battery temperature management employed by EV manufacturers means that they can offer long warranties, lifetime, in some markets.
Studies in the US have shown that Tesla batteries lose, on average, about 1% of range per year**. This means that after 10 years, they still have 90% capacity. The Tesla example is quite extreme too, as many US Tesla owners primarily use the Tesla Supercharger Network, and rapid DC charging is one of the factors that can affect battery life negatively. Therefore, an EV battery that is primarily charged at home is likely to last even longer.
Where can I charge my EV?
As of June 2023, there are more than 44,000 publicly available electric vehicle charging stations offering different speeds of charging in a variety of locations. These include petrol stations, supermarket car parks, public car parks and motorway services. Many workplaces now have multiple electric vehicle chargepoints and then there’s the option to charge at home if you have somewhere close to park. If not, councils across the country are introducing slow chargers in residential areas so that homeowners without a driveway can take part in the EV revolution.
Along the motorway network, electric vehicle drivers will find numerous rapid and ultra-rapid chargers so they can get their battery up to 80% within half an hour. Other charging solutions, such as pop-up solar-powered charging hubs and portable chargers are also available. However, in the vast majority of cases EV drivers charge at home because it is often the cheapest place to charge and can be done overnight.
Do electric vehicle tyres wear out quickly?
Tyre wear is very much related to driving style. It is true that electric vehicles are generally heavier than their ICE counterparts, and they have more torque. Both of these factors can increase the stress on tyres, but manufacturers have developed new, more robust compounds to counter electric vehicle tyre wear, and these are fitted as standard to electrified models. Driven sensibly, EV tyres should last at least as long as conventional ones.
Regardless of what type of vehicle you drive, it is always worth checking your tyres on a regular basis.
Do EVs damage the road?
All traffic has some impact on the road surface, but the real culprits for damaging the tarmac are HGVs and buses. The additional weight and torque of an EV is negligible when compared to a 44-tonne lorry, which has the ability to ripple tarmac in warm weather, breaking the seal between layers and allowing water to penetrate. This then freezes and expands in winter, pushing chunks of tarmac away from the base layer which quickly get broken up, leading to potholes.
This kind of damage can’t be done by even the heaviest of electric cars, so it would be unfair to blame them for the pothole epidemic.
Are electric vehicle batteries bad for the environment?
Any and all manufacturing has some environmental impact. It has been widely reported that cobalt and lithium mining is particularly guilty of this. Added to this are concerns for poor labour practices, with workforce being badly treated and underpaid. To address this, manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries, as with other products that have been the subject of similar concerns in the past, have increasingly committed to obtaining their ingredients from sustainable, reliable and traceable sources.
The use of cobalt in battery manufacturing is one of the primary concerns to environmentalists, and as a result, manufacturers are moving away from using this material.
New developments in the production of solid-state batteries could well put an end to the use of cobalt altogether, as well as providing increased range and faster recharge rates. One manufacturer is claiming a new battery chemistry could mean a full charge in just 6 minutes!
Where does the electricity come from to charge EVs?
In the UK, a significant amount of our electricity comes from renewable sources such as wind, hydro and solar. Add this to sustainable bioenergy production and in total it regularly makes up over 50% of our electricity.
Nuclear and gas electricity production gives us a stable base that keeps our electricity network running at times when weather dependant sources are less dependable. Coal and oil represent less than 2% of the electricity consumed in the UK today.
Can electric vehicle batteries be recycled?
In the EU, the Battery Directive stipulates that at least 50% of an EV battery must be recycled***. This and concerns about the mining of cobalt and lithium, mean manufacturers and electric vehicle battery recycling specialists are quickly progressing to a point where nearly all of a used EV battery will be recycled.
One of the spin-off industries from the EV revolution is EV battery re-purposing****. This involves taking used EV batteries and using them for static storage purposes. Both small scale, such as solar storage in people’s homes, or much larger scale for solar and wind farms.
Can EV batteries be repaired?
An electric vehicle battery is made up of many individual cells. A Battery Monitoring System (BMS) is built into every EV battery, and it keeps an eye on all of the cells, examining voltages and temperatures and ensuring they are kept at their optimal state of charge. Usually, EV battery faults occur when one or more of the cells fails. Like the weakest link of a chain, the one bad cell has an effect on the entire battery.
Typically, cells will degrade over a long period of time and a number of discharge – recharge cycles. The BMS is there to ensure that this degradation is shared equally over all the cells in the battery, but sometimes one or more cells will either fail completely, or degrade faster than the others. When this happens, the entire battery is compromised. However, due to the modular nature of EV batteries, it’s possible to strip the battery down, identify and replace the faulty cell(s) to get it functioning properly again.
This is specialist work, and can be costly at the moment, but as EVs become the norm, more repairers are being trained and equipped to deal with this kind of repair work, in turn bringing down costs.
Is there a danger of electrocution from an EV?
A single commonly used EV battery cell is 3.7 volts when fully charged and capable of delivering over 30 amps at full discharge - that’s just over 100 watts. While this is not enough voltage to cause any danger, there is a lot of energy in each cell. If you add two cells together in series, you get 7.4 volts and so on, until that bank of cells reaches the required voltage for the motor design. This can can accumulate to over 800 volts in a modern EV, more than enough to cause fatal electrocution.
This is why the mechanics and our patrols that work on these vehicles have to be specially trained and use specialist equipment. To ensure the battery safety in electric vehicles, manufacturers have multiple fail-safe devices. Any interruption in the circuitry or leakage of voltage is detected and the battery interlock system disconnects the system, completely isolating the battery.
These fail-safes mean that there is no danger when operating, charging or cleaning an EV. Similarly, if someone tries to interfere with any of the high-voltage components, such as disconnecting or cutting a high-voltage cable, the fail-safe system automatically disconnects the power before there could be any risk.
Can I charge my EV in the rain?
Yes, you can. You can also wash your EV, take it through a car wash and do anything you would normally do in your ICE vehicle.
EVs have been designed with electrical safety as a top priority so there is no need to worry about these kinds of activities.
Are EVs more expensive to maintain?
Simply put, no. In fact, Electric vehicle maintenance costs are substantially less than that of their traditionally powered counterparts. This is because there are far fewer moving parts in an EV. There’s no oil to change, no oil filter, air filter, fuel filter etc. Also, electric vehicle brakes do much less work than conventional ICE vehicles because much of the deceleration is done by regenerative braking (where the energy required to slow the vehicle is turned back into electricity to recharge the battery).
There is also less waste, as all of those contaminated components are taken out of the equation, further reducing the environmental impact of owning the car.
Is it worth buying a used EV?
Used electric vehicles are currently very affordable, when compared to the new price, and even comparative to ICE vehicles of a similar class. However, this is unlikely to remain the case as electrified cars become more mainstream. Now is a good time to invest in a used EV, as there are some real bargains available
In the future it may well be that diesel and petrol used cars become much more expensive, as production gets discontinued and people that continue to put off EV adoption drive up the prices.
Are EVs different to drive?
As EVs don’t have a gearbox, from a driving perspective, they are much like an automatic ICE vehicle with accelerator and brake pedals. Different models have different methods of drive selection, some have a lever selector and some a selector wheel or buttons. As there is no engine, it can be difficult at first to know if the vehicle is in “ready” mode. Ready mode is the equivalent to the engine running in an ICE vehicle, and is indicated by a light, usually green and often displaying the word “ready”.
The other main difference is the re-generative braking. This usually has a variety of modes, and in the most extreme mode will act like braking when the accelerator is lifted. This takes a little getting used to, as does the silent running, but most people find EVs easier and more relaxing to drive than ICE cars, and the instant toque, smooth shiftless acceleration and silent running make for a pleasurable driving experience.
AA driving school is now offering EV driving lessons, where students can familiarise themselves with the experience of driving an EV from the outset.
Are electric vehicles good for towing?
This depends on the car. Most early EVs didn’t allow towing, but more tow-capable models are coming to market. EVs have lots of torque and powerful motors, making them able to tow with ease.
The main concern is the effect towing can have on range, so towing is generally only available in the larger long-range models.
What is the range of an electric vehicle?
Again, this depends on the model. The average range is around 250 miles, but there are some models capable of 400 miles before requiring a recharge. It’s worth remembering that the average car journey in the UK is between seven and eight miles, something all EVs can easily achieve. Generally, the longer the range, the more expensive the model due to the larger batteries.
Electric vehicle range is becoming longer as more models come to market and improvements are made to battery technology. Possibly more important than range, is the charging speed and availability of rapid and ultra-rapid chargepoints. As with ICE vehicles, better range can be achieved by driving economically and by having non-essential electrical items switched off.
How long does it take to charge an EV?
Electric vehicle charging times vary depending on many factors. Battery size, state of charge, battery condition and the type of charger being used all affect battery recharge times. On a slow, domestic (three-pin plug, 2.8Kw) type charger, it generally takes around twelve hours to fully charge most EVs from a 20% starting point, with some larger models taking eighteen. With dedicated Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) at 7Kw, this is usually around eight hours or less, easily fast enough to recharge fully overnight.
There are much faster options, with some capable of charging from 20% to 80% in twenty minutes. As a rule, most people will only charge to 80% on a fast charge, as the last 20% of charge is the slowest to achieve. A full 100% charge is more likely from a domestic charger on an overnight charge.
How much does it cost to charge an EV?
Again, the factors outlined above, along with the varying cost of energy, affect the cost of charging. Some energy suppliers offer "off peak" rates at various times, and the AA’s monthly EV recharge report will give you the latest figures compared with petrol and diesel.
Finally, are electric vehicles cost effective?
Taking into account all of the above, it has to be said that owning and driving an electric vehicle is cost effective, and will only become more so as time and technology moves on.
In fact, this year, the 1st of August is "electric car day" where it is estimated that running an electric car becomes free for the rest of the year, when compared to running an equivalent ICE powered vehicle. So with minor lifestyle adjustments and pre-journey planning, most people that currently own a petrol or diesel car could benefit by making the switch to an electric car.
At the AA, we are Always Ahead and provide services from learning, to buying, selling, insuring, servicing and should you break down or be involved in an accident, it's OK, you're with the AA.
*AA breakdown Data
**A Study on Real-Life Tesla Battery Deterioration | NimbleFins