5 Facts about EVs

EVs are no longer silent

Electric cars were originally created as silent vehicles, up until 2019, where a legal requirement was introduced for them to emit noise when travelling at speeds of 13mph and below, so that they can be heard by cyclists and pedestrians.

Slowing down increases your range

All electric cars use regenerative braking, meaning that every time you apply your brakes, electricity is pushed back into your battery to be used on another journey. This means that regenerative braking will improve your mileage range by putting more power back in the battery for your car to use when called upon. This can actually improve driving technique by using the car’s brakes less and relying more on the regenerative braking to slow your car down earlier and more safely.

There are more charging points available than there are petrol stations.

In May 2019, Zap-Map revealed that there were 9,300 charging sites across the UK as opposed to 8,400 petrol stations. Additionally, data from November 2022 shows that there are only 8,378 petrol stations in the UK, whereas there are now 21,906 charging sites across the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, This number isn’t predicted to decrease any time soon. With BP aiming to have 100,000 public EV charge points across the country by 2030, 90% of all UK drivers will be 10 minutes away from a Shell rapid charger, at most.

EV batteries can be used as a powerpack

Not only can your electric vehicle battery power up your car for essential trips, some electric vehicles such as the Ford E-Transit also have the capability to supply power to your electric tools, so you’ll never arrive at a job unprepared. Therefore there’s no need for generators anymore, all you need is your EV.

There are 4 different types of Electric Vehicles

BEV, PHEV, HEVs and MHEVs, I’m sure you’ll have heard of them, right? But do you actually know what each of them mean?

BEVs, a Battery Electric Vehicle, is also known as a 100% electric car and is the only electrically powered vehicle which doesn’t require any other fuel other than electricity.

The Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle- PHEV, is a vehicle which has not only a battery and an electric drive motor, but also an internal combustion engine. This means that it can be driven while using the Internal Combustion Engine or the electric drive motor, or even both. This can also be charged through an external power source but must be frequently charged in order to maintain its range. Said range could be up to around 50 pure electric miles, depending on the make and model, until the engine kicks in.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) use an electric motor to assist their fuel powered engines. This means that all of their energy is sourced from petrol or diesel and can’t be charged using an electric charging port. Any electric energy is gained through the regenerative braking that takes place whilst slowing the vehicle down. This generated energy is used to replace the power that was used to assist the vehicles fossil fuel engine during acceleration.

Whereas a Mild-Hybrid Electric Vehicle (MHEV) uses a battery powered electric motor to support its conventional fossil fuel engine.