The jump from traditional fuel vehicles to electric vehicles offers a lot of challenges for anyone. While the vast majority of those who made the move seem to be very happy with their new mode of transport, its only natural to have second thoughts and doubts at the start.
Did you have second thoughts about your EV before finally coming around to electric vehicles?
My thoughts after the purchase were “Why didn’t I do this sooner!?”.
Second thoughts? No. None.
Hi Sugarmaker
You are not the first person to say “Why didn’t I do this sooner!?” which begs the question, is the slow take-up down to mis-information or bad PR?
Both I believe along with lack of information and a fear of the unknown. I think the more E.V’s are seen on the roads and in neighborhood driveways ,the more comfortable people will be with the idea and they will be more likely to ask for information . With increased visibility and an increase in public chargers I think the sales of E.V.'s will start to really grow.
Sugarmaker,
That is the key - increased sales which will lead to a great confidence in the technology and lower prices.
Knowledgeable sales staff would help a lot too. Or better yet , someone other than a sales person at the dealerships trained on E.V.'s to answer questions of the potential customers. When I bought my Leaf I had to wait for 40 minutes to talk to a salesman who was “trained on the Leaf”. When he finally had time to talk to me he knew less about the car than I did. Fortunately he knew where the keys were so I could test drive it. That’s what sold me.
Hi Sugarmaker
If Tesla is successful in its challenge about US laws which mean EVs cant be sold direct to customers - allowing them to miss out the dealerships - we will have even fewer informed sales people with a deep seated knowledge of EVs. If there is no exclusivity for dealerships selling EVs then they may well go to the bottom of the pile at your nearest car showroom - reduced commission, reduced interest from car dealerships.
Tricky on to call this one.
Mark
I had the exact same thought… “why didn’t I get an electric car sooner?”
I was very surprised how much I liked the car, and how well it worked. I think in the back of my mind I was thinking that they can’t be very good or more people would be buying them. I was just wrong about that.
I agree that the salesmen are usless when i bought my EV i knew way more about it then the salesmen.
i acually think there are more issues
if you live in an apartment, where do you charge?
how does one know if there house can handle a new 240/40 breaker in their electrical panel. I though i could , but turns out i will need a hole new panel, and possibly more servie ( more power) from my proiver. this all costs $$
also , what do you do if you want to drive somewhere more than 60 miles away? pray that the 1 charger where you are going is not being used?
I love my EV but there is no way it would be my only vehicle. a lot of people can not afford 2 cars.
Those are all good points, and things people need to consider with an electric car.
I think the new Leaf will charge on a regular 110 outlet, so that could work for people who do not want to upgrade their electrical to 220.
And I agree about the car dealers being mostly worthless, a couple dealers I went to said they had a specialist who knows all about the Leaf, and I still knew a lot more than their specialist, and the random salesman knows next to nothing about them.
I currently have an older electric car with a range about 25 miles, and even though I have a very predictable routine of driving, where almost always I know exactly how many miles I am going to drive before I leave home, it is still amazing how many times my plans will change and with a limited range changes are not a good thing.
but even with all the drawbacks I still love electric cars and will own one the rest of my driving life.
one more thing about the cost, I bought a used electric car, and it paid for itself with the gas I saved in less than a year, so it’s really a free car to me, and just about anyone can afford free. 
I asked some questions of the sales staff that I already knew the answers to so that I could gauge the dependability of their answers to the questions that I really didn’t know. They didn’t know the answers but that didn’t stop them from making it up! After that I researched the info. I wanted myself.
And you’re correct, batteryman, about the 110v trickle charger for the leaf. I use it to top off at work, but it’s painfully slow. I wouldn’t want it to be my only option.
E.V.'s do have drawbacks but so do traditional vehicles, we just have gotten used to dealing with them and so don’t notice as much maybe.
I think you need to do your own research to get the best out of the modern day EV because there are more to choose from today than ever before. If you ask the wrong questions then you will get the wrong answers
Regards,
Mark
I absolutely agree because more often than not, when you ask the right questions you will still get the wrong answers! Thank goodness for the internet. It takes a little time and effort but the information is out there.
Ok, so I am Mr. Negitive . I drive the low-end ev. It’s a NEV. Had lots of problems from bad batteries to no support from the local dealer. I would only lease an expensive ev. Barry in Chico, CA