10 things we love about electric cars in lockdown

We’re running a Nissan Leaf for six months and we’ve been so grateful for it since lockdown began. Here’s why electric cars make perfect sense right now.

1 - Easier to social distance

You don’t need to go near a fuel pump with an electric car, which means we haven’t had to worry about visiting fuel stations, and how to touch fuel pumps or interact with the public without risking contamination since lockdown began. Instead, the only charging we’ve done for two months has been at home, which feels much safer.

2 - Cheaper to refuel

Like many other households, we’ve lost a lot of our income since lockdown began. It’s been a relief, therefore, to know that we’re paying something like £12 for every 200 miles we drive, thanks to our electric-car domestic energy tariff, instead of about £30.

3 - Kinder to nature

The pandemic has brought us all a little closer to nature, whether we like it or not, and it seems to compliment the zeitgeist to be driving something with no nasty tailpipe emissions.

4 - No noise pollution

See above. With no loud rumble from the engine and exhaust, the only noise pollution comes from the whispering of the tyres and air. So we, and our neighbours, can still hear the enhanced birdsong when we start up in the morning.

5 - No range anxiety

Lockdown means fewer, more local journeys, so we’ve completely forgotten what range anxiety feels like, which is definitely the way forward. Not that we’ve had it very often - the Leaf is good for about 230 miles.
Related: Electric car range, explained.

6 - Some fun

The rapid acceleration when you put your foot down in an electric car means that the weekly trip to the shop has turned into the only small thrills we get on a weekly basis now.

7 - Feels like the future

The sense that the world is going to feel a little different when all this finally lifts fits the sense of belonging to a new world that electric-car owners have. Finally, instead of feeling like slightly brave early adopters, we electric-car owners suddenly make sense.

8 - Helpful advice

Electric cars offer their owners helpful advice all the time, telling us how long it will take to charge, where the nearest points are, how much energy we’re using per mile and what’s using most energy. All of which fits the customer search now for brands that are helpful and are giving the public genuinely useful advice.
Related: How to charge an electric car.

9 - Self sufficient

Installing a home-charging point is the equivalent of that sudden need to buy and plant vegetable seeds at the beginning of lockdown. It’s the self-sufficient good life, but with a hard metallic twist, but the point is, you are no longer reliant on outsiders.

10 - Lack of aggression

Capitalist aggression, in the form of expensive loud V12 supercars, doesn’t seem quite the ticket right now. But unobtrusively driving around town in a Nissan Leaf does. And that’s it.
Related: Electric car batteries explained.