Hi all.
We sold our farm in Hertfordshire recently and retired, in our 50s, into a new eco-build in a dream location in the Cairngorms (so long as, like us, your dream is beautiful landscape and peace).
Being a chartered environment manager and occasional speaker on environment matters it feels wrong that we still run 2 diesel vehicles but......
Our regular drive is a stopgap high mileage Ford Mondeo diesel estate, bought last year for £5k and averages 55mpg. It makes the trip to town about twice a week, a 50 mile round trip involving 18 Miles of single track mountain road.
Our winter vehicle is our old farm Toyota Hilux 4x4, bought new 19 years ago. Everyone living here runs something like it as the Glen gets cut off by flooding occasionally and sees snow lying for several months of the year. Sometimes the road will be closed entirely by snow for 2 weeks or more in mid winter. Winter temperatures here typically fall to -10°C for weeks at a time and -25°C isn't unknown. This is hardly mainstream EV conditions!
We are looking at replacing the Mondeo soon with a new or nearly new car (budget around £45k) and I'm trying to decide whether an EV would suit us.
We can't access above 7kW charging at home but have both time and space to charge. Occasionally though I return South to visit my elderly mother, a trip of 520 Miles each way, so range would be a big issue then.
At some point I'd also like to convert the Hilux to full EV. It'd be crazy to scrap it because it's bodywork is almost mint and,at only 60k Miles, the running gear is just nicely run in. However, it does need to wade up to a metre and remain able to tow 2.7T over 100 mile round trips without long charging waits.
Are EVs a realistic option yet for us? All advice welcome.
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