We have decided to get rid of our combustion car – great! We’ve already taken the first step: making a decision. And in this case, we’ve decided to move around the world in a sustainable way with zero emissions.

If you are at “that moment”, you will no doubt have asked yourself many questions that usually arise before buying an electric car. Which car should I buy? What range should it have? Do I need a car with a lot of kilometres, with its consequent cost, or can I move around with a PHEV?

From our experience, there are 3 doubts that are frequently repeated at that moment. Therefore, in this article we will try to give our point of view and taking into account several possible scenarios to solve them.

Range

Here we will start by talking about PHEVs (plug-in hybrids), which have an average battery of 9kWh-13kWh and give you 20-30 kilometres of range. They are not the most ECO option, as most of the time, on average journeys, we will have to drive with the combustion engine. In addition, a small battery is not synonymous with a lower price, as you will have to bear the cost of two engines, one combustion and one electric.

The best value for money option would be a 100% electric car, and this is where multiple options appear. In addition, there is a type 2 charging port (IEC 62196-2) – in 90% of cases – which is precisely the European standard connector.

What range should my electric car have?

For people who drive between 10 and 50 kilometres a day, a car with a range of 30kWh-40kWh is recommended, as you can charge your car at your home recharging point every day, or, if you wish, you can charge it every two or three days. These vehicles can comfortably extend their range to 200-350 kilometres and are priced within the industry average.

If, on the other hand, your job requires you to travel an average of 200-400km per day, the optimum option is for the battery capacity of your future car to be around 64kWh-75kWh. In this range there are more and more cars that, thanks to constant updates and improvements, manage to extend the car’s range with each new software version.

These are cars with a higher market value than the previous ones, but whose performance is well worth it.

Vehicle connector and charging point

As mentioned above, 90% of electric vehicle models on the road in Europe use a type 2 connector (IEC 62196-2). This is not a trivial matter as, when installing a charging point in our car park, it is ideal that it is as standard as possible to ensure compatibility with other family cars or future models of our own vehicle.

Nobody likes to have to spend money again to adapt their charging point to the needs of their new vehicle.

One detail to bear in mind is that the charging point should have dynamic power control. In this way, we can save ourselves from having to contract more power from our supplier, or sacrifice some energy consumption in the home so as not to suffer power cuts when charging our car. This is precisely what our Trydan charging point offers.

The price

Of course. If you are interested in switching to electric mobility, you are probably comparing the price of the different electric vehicles currently on the market. Although there is a high range of vehicles that exceed the barrier of what is considered affordable for many users, it is true that in recent years other models have been launched that are not at all far from the common price of a combustion car.

There are high-performance electric cars with a starting price of around 20,000 euros. But have you thought about how much you will save in the long run without having to go to the petrol station? The price of electricity is much lower than any other fuel.

Charging your electric vehicle with a charging point in your garage could cover 100 kilometres for just 1 euro. Therefore, even if the purchase cost of an electric vehicle is higher than a combustion one, you will be able to recover the difference (and more) by charging it with a recharging point and forgetting about petrol or diesel.

You can also reduce the cost of the electric vehicle and the installation of the charging point with the different public subsidies, which provides financial aid for the purchase of an electric vehicle and thus promotes sustainable mobility.

And that’s not all! Assuming the cost of an electric car will also allow you to enjoy its advantages, which are not few:

• You will be able to drive freely in cities: You will have the zero-emissions label that allows you to circulate without restrictions in urban centres.
• You will be able to park for free: you will have free parking in regulated areas.
• You will be exempt from paying registration tax.

We hope we have solved the typical doubts that arise when considering buying an electric car. The rest is up to you. The most fun part of the choice is precisely the process. We recommend that you test drive several models at different dealerships to find out which driving model best suits your way of understanding the road and… enjoy the silence and smoothness of sustainable driving!