What matters most when buying an electric car?

Where you will charge it overnight. Home or workplace charging makes ownership straightforward and much cheaper, while relying entirely on public rapid charging means more planning and a considerably higher cost per mile.

How accurate are official range figures?

Optimistic for ordinary use. Plan on meaningfully less, and expect a further reduction in cold weather and at sustained motorway speeds, where aerodynamic drag dominates and cabin heating draws real power.

Why does rapid charging slow down above 80%?

Charging speed is highest at low states of charge and tapers considerably as the battery fills, to protect the cells. This is why long-journey planning generally uses 10 to 80% stops rather than waiting for a full charge.

Are electric cars cheaper to run?

Usually, and it depends heavily on how you charge. Home charging on an overnight tariff produces the largest savings, along with lower servicing costs. Public rapid charging narrows or eliminates the advantage, and tyres often wear faster due to weight.

What should I check when buying a used electric car?

The battery state of health above all, since it is the most valuable component. Ask for a reading, enquire about charging history, and check how much of the manufacturer's battery warranty remains, as it usually transfers with the car.

Can I charge an electric car from a normal socket?

Only occasionally and slowly. Drawing high current for many hours from a standard domestic socket is very slow and can be a fire risk on older or unsuitable wiring. Have a dedicated charge point fitted by a qualified electrician for routine charging.

Buying Your First Electric Car: What Matters

Almost every conversation about electric cars starts with range, and range is rarely what determines whether one works for a household.

The genuinely decisive question is simpler and much less discussed: where will you charge it? A modest-range car with a driveway and a home charger is straightforward to live with. A long-range car with no off-street parking and unreliable public charging near home is a daily inconvenience.

Here is what to work out before looking at any specific model.

A person in a quilted jacket lifting the charging plug out of a car's port, beside a numbered list of the three questions to settle before choosing a model. — Nobody sells a car on the basis of where you park it, which is exactly why that question gets skipped.

Charging access decides everything

The experience of owning an electric car divides sharply along one line: whether you can charge where you park overnight.

With home charging, the car is full every morning and you visit a public charger only on long journeys — perhaps a handful of times a year. Home electricity is also considerably cheaper than public rapid charging, particularly on an overnight tariff, which is where most of the running cost advantage actually comes from.

A wall-mounted charge point plugged into a car against dark timber cladding, beside a banner arguing that where the car sleeps decides the whole experience. — The cheap electricity and the full battery both arrive while you are asleep.

Without it, you depend on public infrastructure for everything. That can work well where charging is dense and reliable, and it is a meaningfully different proposition — more planning, higher cost per mile, and occasional frustration when a charger is occupied or broken.

Workplace charging sits usefully in between and is worth investigating before ruling an EV out.

Real-world range, not the headline figure

Official range figures are produced under standardised test conditions and are optimistic in ordinary use. A realistic planning assumption is meaningfully below the quoted number, and further below it in specific circumstances.

Cold weather reduces range noticeably — batteries are less efficient when cold and cabin heating draws real power.
Motorway speeds hurt efficiency in EVs more than in petrol cars, because aerodynamic drag dominates and there is no engine efficiency curve working in your favour.
Rapid charging is not linear. Charging is fastest at low states of charge and slows considerably above about 80%, which is why long-journey planning uses 10 to 80% rather than full charges.
Towing and roof boxes reduce range substantially — often by a third or more.
Battery preconditioning, where the car warms the battery before a rapid charge, makes a large difference in winter and is not present on every model.

Key takeaways

Where you charge overnight matters far more than the headline range figure.
Assume real-world range meaningfully below the official number, and lower in winter.
Rapid charging slows sharply above 80% — plan long trips as 10 to 80% hops.
Running costs favour EVs most when charging at home on an overnight tariff.
Check battery health on any used EV; it is the single most valuable component.

Costs: where they differ

Cost	Electric	Petrol or diesel
Purchase price	typically higher new	typically lower
Fuel or electricity	much lower at home; similar or higher on rapid chargers	consistent
Servicing	fewer moving parts, generally lower	higher
Depreciation	historically steeper, though stabilising	better established
Tyres	often faster wear from weight and torque	standard
Taxes and incentives	varies widely by country and changes often	varies

The honest summary is that an EV's total cost of ownership depends heavily on how you charge and where you live. Home charging plus high annual mileage is where the economics are strongest. Low mileage with public charging only is where they are weakest, and it is worth doing the arithmetic with your own numbers rather than accepting a general claim in either direction.

Best practice

Before buying, log two weeks of your actual driving — every journey and its distance. Most people substantially overestimate their typical daily mileage while underestimating how often they make long trips. That log tells you what range you genuinely need far better than any instinct about it.

Buying used: check the battery

The battery is by a wide margin the most valuable component in a used electric car, and its condition matters more than mileage or age in isolation.

Batteries degrade gradually, with the rate depending on chemistry, thermal management, charging habits and climate. Modern packs generally hold up better than early ones, and most manufacturers provide a battery warranty running to a stated number of years or a mileage figure, typically guaranteeing a minimum remaining capacity.

Ask for a state of health reading, which many cars display or which a specialist can extract. Ask about charging history too — a car rapid-charged almost exclusively will typically show more degradation than one charged mostly at home. And check what remains of the battery warranty, since that transfers with the car in most cases and is worth a great deal.

Living with one day to day

Charge to around 80% for daily use and to 100% only before a long trip, unless your car uses a chemistry where the manufacturer advises otherwise. This is the single most useful habit for battery longevity.
Precondition in winter while still plugged in — warming the cabin from mains power rather than the battery preserves range.
Plan long journeys around chargers with a route planner, and have a backup for each stop. Broken and occupied chargers are the most common frustration.
Learn regenerative braking properly. One-pedal driving is more efficient and, once habituated, more pleasant than the alternative.
Keep tyres correctly inflated. EVs are heavy and under-inflation costs both range and tyre life noticeably.

A row of brick terraced houses with cars parked nose to tail at the kerb, under a two-column panel setting out who an electric car suits well and who it does not. — Both columns are perfectly legitimate; the regret comes from buying into the wrong one.

Who an EV does not suit, currently

It is worth being direct about this rather than treating any hesitation as scepticism.

If you have no home or workplace charging and local public infrastructure is sparse or unreliable, ownership will be materially more inconvenient. If you regularly tow heavy loads over long distances, current options are limited and range penalties are severe. If you frequently drive long distances in very cold conditions with tight schedules, the winter range reduction is a real planning constraint.

None of these is permanent — infrastructure and technology are both moving quickly — but buying on the basis of how things may be in five years is how people end up frustrated for the next two.

Case study: two households, opposite conclusions

A commuter drove about 40 miles a day, had a driveway and installed a home charger. His car charges overnight on a cheap tariff and he uses a public rapid charger perhaps four times a year. His running costs fell substantially and he describes public charging as almost irrelevant to his ownership.

A neighbour with terraced-house parking bought a similar car on the same reasoning. She charges on the street when a bay is free, pays rapid-charging rates most of the time, and has twice rearranged an evening around finding a working charger.

Same model, same mileage, entirely different experiences. The variable was never the car.

Watch out

Do not rely on charging a car regularly from a standard domestic socket. It is very slow and, on older or unsuitable wiring, drawing high current for many hours is a genuine fire risk. Have a proper charge point installed by a qualified electrician if you intend to charge at home routinely.

A windscreen under a thin skin of overnight ice, behind two cards giving the 80% daily charging ceiling and the range that cold weather removes. — Winter turns up on the same morning as the school run, and the battery has no opinion about which matters more.

Summary

Work out where you will charge before considering any model. Assume real-world range below the official figure, especially in winter and at motorway speeds. Plan long trips as 10 to 80% charging stops. Compare total running costs using your own mileage and charging situation, and check battery state of health on anything used.

An open boot packed tight with suitcases, beside a numbered checklist of what to establish before buying an electric car. — A fortnight's log usually shows fewer daily miles than anyone expects and more long trips than they remember.

Conclusion

Electric cars suit a great many households extremely well and a minority quite badly, and which group you are in has almost nothing to do with the car.

Answer the charging question honestly first. Everything else — model, range, brand — is a comparatively easy decision once that one is settled. Whatever you drive, our guide to basic car maintenance still applies.

Buying Your First Electric Car: The Questions That Actually Matter