Over the last few weeks, we have been test driving a number of different cars for my partners new work vehicle. Not only does this car need to be practical for driving across the region during the week, but also be cut out to cope with two young children, with lots of space for car seats, changing bags and pushchairs in the boot at weekends. We have tried out a number of models from the VW Passat GTE Advance Estate, to the BMW 330E MSport and the Mercedes C350E Sport Auto Estate. One thing has been a common feature with them all – they are all hybrid electric vehicles.
Why we considered hybrid electric….
Availability of charge points – Electric and hybrid vehicles are becoming more and more mainstream (with a 78% increase in their use from 2014-2015), and as such, the UK infrastructure is becoming better equipped to support this. We can now pop to our local shopping centre and find a large number of reserved charge point spaces to charge the car up as we shop. We can also easily and cheaply install a NewMotion chargepoint for charging the car at home, which can charge up our vehicle up to 3 x faster than a standard wall socket. Gone are the days where electric car owners would need to plan their routes out in advance to ensure they had enough battery to last the journey. There are LOTS of public places these days where vehicles can be charged as required and hybrids can actually charge as you drive.
Tax implications – as any one who has a company car will know, the P11D tax implications can be huge, and as such, even the slightest variation in engine size or vehicle manufacturer can have a huge impact on how much tax is deducted from your pay packet. Unlike petrol and diesel cars, hybrid and electric vehicles tend to hold a much lower tax implication due to them not incurring a fuel duty – a far more environmentally friendly option.
Environmental Benefits – we were recently one of the many families caught up in the VW Golf emissions saga, whereby a vehicle we thought, despite being a diesel, had emissions at a reasonable level, was actually extremely bad for the environment due to false claims by the manufacturer. Somewhat scarred by this, we wanted to ensure that we made a better choice for the environment second time around. After all, we have our children’s future and their children’s future to consider.
Running costs – Hybrids are generally cheaper to run – no more stopping at the petrol station to refill and watching as the fuel prices increase at every single budget! With talk of major cities including Birmingham introducing so called Clean Air Zones (charging for diesel vehicles to drive through built up areas), the future running costs of fuel motor vehicles could also be set to rise.
My Concerns..
The one thing to be aware of, and this one took me a while to get myself used to – is that electric cars are QUIET. With the radio off whilst driving, I found the silence slightly unnerving. With children around, it’s silent movement does pose a bit of a risk as children are less likely to hear when a car is approaching, but this just means we need to provide an extra bit of education to the girls when teaching them about road safety.
Do you have a hybrid or electric car? What influenced your decision?
*This is a collaborative post*
