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Why buy an electric car in 2022?

Published on
April 18, 2023

We won’t lie to you - driving electric isn’t always as straightforward as driving diesel or petrol.

There is more to think about when it comes to planning your journey and charging anxiety is very much a real thing.  For new EV drivers especially, the fear of leaving the house for a long journey knowing you will need to charge at some point can be enough to put people off owning an EV.

Although charging infrastructure is miles ahead of where it was when EVs were first driven on UK roads, there is still quite a way to go until EV charge points are as accessible as fuel pumps.  The process is often more difficult than filling a car up with diesel, and although that’s where Bonnet comes in (more on that later), we know that for many drivers there are still too many difficulties involved in owning and driving an electric vehicle.

In spite of all this, we still believe that it’s worth owning an EV and to show you why, we’ve compiled a list of the main reasons we think you should buy an EV in 2022.

EVs are cheaper in the long run

The cost of EVs is a big factor that puts people off buying them, and at first glance, it’s 100% valid.

Why would you buy an EV when you can get an ICE vehicle for up to thousands of pounds less?  Let us tell you…

Government Grants

The government will pay up to £1500 towards the purchase of an electric car, up to £2500 if it is wheelchair accessible, up to £5000 for electric vans and lorries, and £7500 towards electric taxis.

Only government-approved vehicles qualify for this grant, but there are a lot of them.  A full list can be found here.

You can also get up to £350 (including VAT) towards the cost of installing an at-home charger through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme.

It’s worth noting that these grants were recently reduced and are likely to be scrapped in the future, so if you are considering buying an EV in the next few years, it’s best to act sooner rather than later.

Fuel, Tax and General Running Costs

According to nimblefins.co.uk, UK EV drivers can save approximately £858 per year on fuel and £150+ per year on tax in comparison to owning a traditional vehicle.  This adds up to £4290 saved on fuel over five years, and £800 in road tax!  That’s some serious savings.

As well as saving on fuel and tax, servicing costs tend to be lower.  EVs have less moving parts than ICE vehicles, so when something goes wrong, there is less to repair.  They also hold their residual value better than petrol and diesel cars, so if you fancy the new Mercedes EQ, you will likely have a very nice trade-in value on your current EV.

Environmental Impact

For most people, the main benefit of electric vehicles is that they have a reduced impact on the environment.

EVs aren’t perfect, but they are essential to making the world a greener place.  Over an electric vehicle’s lifetime, it is estimated to have around half the climate impact of a standard EU car.

And as the electricity grid gets cleaner and greener, the carbon footprint of electricity is reduced meaning that the actual construction of EVs is using fewer fossil fuels than ever before.

Once an EV is on the road, it emits 0 tailpipe emissions and is relatively silent, which helps reduce air and noise pollution.

Goodbye Charging Anxiety

So, you’ve bought an EV, you’re taking it out for its first long drive and the anxiety hits.  Your brain starts bombarding you with questions - where will you charge?  Will the charge point be busy?  How long will it take?

This is where we come in.  At Bonnet, we want to make EV drivers’ lives easier.  Our app is designed with you in mind.  Whether you are driving to the local Tesco or cross country, you can check which chargers are in use, which ones are actually working and communicate with cars currently charging to ask them how long they will be, if there are any issues or even just to say hi.

Regardless of the type of charger you use, you will pay the same price for all.  You can pay from as little as 25p/kWh by using Bonnet Refill, or 35p/kWh if you want to use our PAYG option.  There is no faff, no searching for your RFID card, no downloading 20 different apps depending on which charger you are using.  We don’t charge overstay fees or plugin fees either.  With us, there is one app, one payment and any charger.

We know we haven’t quite reached perfection just yet, so if there is a charger you would like to suggest, you can do this in-app too.  And if there are any issues, we provide in-app support 24/7.

If you want to give us a try, use code FIRSTCHARGE to get your first charge on us!

We’d love to hear your experience of Bonnet and any questions you may have.  If there are any features you would like to see in the app that isn’t there just yet, let us know!

April 23, 2022

We won’t lie to you - driving electric isn’t always as straightforward as driving diesel or petrol.

There is more to think about when it comes to planning your journey and charging anxiety is very much a real thing.  For new EV drivers especially, the fear of leaving the house for a long journey knowing you will need to charge at some point can be enough to put people off owning an EV.

Although charging infrastructure is miles ahead of where it was when EVs were first driven on UK roads, there is still quite a way to go until EV charge points are as accessible as fuel pumps.  The process is often more difficult than filling a car up with diesel, and although that’s where Bonnet comes in (more on that later), we know that for many drivers there are still too many difficulties involved in owning and driving an electric vehicle.

In spite of all this, we still believe that it’s worth owning an EV and to show you why, we’ve compiled a list of the main reasons we think you should buy an EV in 2022.

EVs are cheaper in the long run

The cost of EVs is a big factor that puts people off buying them, and at first glance, it’s 100% valid.

Why would you buy an EV when you can get an ICE vehicle for up to thousands of pounds less?  Let us tell you…

Government Grants

The government will pay up to £1500 towards the purchase of an electric car, up to £2500 if it is wheelchair accessible, up to £5000 for electric vans and lorries, and £7500 towards electric taxis.

Only government-approved vehicles qualify for this grant, but there are a lot of them.  A full list can be found here.

You can also get up to £350 (including VAT) towards the cost of installing an at-home charger through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme.

It’s worth noting that these grants were recently reduced and are likely to be scrapped in the future, so if you are considering buying an EV in the next few years, it’s best to act sooner rather than later.

Fuel, Tax and General Running Costs

According to nimblefins.co.uk, UK EV drivers can save approximately £858 per year on fuel and £150+ per year on tax in comparison to owning a traditional vehicle.  This adds up to £4290 saved on fuel over five years, and £800 in road tax!  That’s some serious savings.

As well as saving on fuel and tax, servicing costs tend to be lower.  EVs have less moving parts than ICE vehicles, so when something goes wrong, there is less to repair.  They also hold their residual value better than petrol and diesel cars, so if you fancy the new Mercedes EQ, you will likely have a very nice trade-in value on your current EV.

Environmental Impact

For most people, the main benefit of electric vehicles is that they have a reduced impact on the environment.

EVs aren’t perfect, but they are essential to making the world a greener place.  Over an electric vehicle’s lifetime, it is estimated to have around half the climate impact of a standard EU car.

And as the electricity grid gets cleaner and greener, the carbon footprint of electricity is reduced meaning that the actual construction of EVs is using fewer fossil fuels than ever before.

Once an EV is on the road, it emits 0 tailpipe emissions and is relatively silent, which helps reduce air and noise pollution.

Goodbye Charging Anxiety

So, you’ve bought an EV, you’re taking it out for its first long drive and the anxiety hits.  Your brain starts bombarding you with questions - where will you charge?  Will the charge point be busy?  How long will it take?

This is where we come in.  At Bonnet, we want to make EV drivers’ lives easier.  Our app is designed with you in mind.  Whether you are driving to the local Tesco or cross country, you can check which chargers are in use, which ones are actually working and communicate with cars currently charging to ask them how long they will be, if there are any issues or even just to say hi.

Regardless of the type of charger you use, you will pay the same price for all.  You can pay from as little as 25p/kWh by using Bonnet Refill, or 35p/kWh if you want to use our PAYG option.  There is no faff, no searching for your RFID card, no downloading 20 different apps depending on which charger you are using.  We don’t charge overstay fees or plugin fees either.  With us, there is one app, one payment and any charger.

We know we haven’t quite reached perfection just yet, so if there is a charger you would like to suggest, you can do this in-app too.  And if there are any issues, we provide in-app support 24/7.

If you want to give us a try, use code FIRSTCHARGE to get your first charge on us!

We’d love to hear your experience of Bonnet and any questions you may have.  If there are any features you would like to see in the app that isn’t there just yet, let us know!

We won’t lie to you - driving electric isn’t always as straightforward as driving diesel or petrol.

There is more to think about when it comes to planning your journey and charging anxiety is very much a real thing.  For new EV drivers especially, the fear of leaving the house for a long journey knowing you will need to charge at some point can be enough to put people off owning an EV.

Although charging infrastructure is miles ahead of where it was when EVs were first driven on UK roads, there is still quite a way to go until EV charge points are as accessible as fuel pumps.  The process is often more difficult than filling a car up with diesel, and although that’s where Bonnet comes in (more on that later), we know that for many drivers there are still too many difficulties involved in owning and driving an electric vehicle.

In spite of all this, we still believe that it’s worth owning an EV and to show you why, we’ve compiled a list of the main reasons we think you should buy an EV in 2022.

EVs are cheaper in the long run

The cost of EVs is a big factor that puts people off buying them, and at first glance, it’s 100% valid.

Why would you buy an EV when you can get an ICE vehicle for up to thousands of pounds less?  Let us tell you…

Government Grants

The government will pay up to £1500 towards the purchase of an electric car, up to £2500 if it is wheelchair accessible, up to £5000 for electric vans and lorries, and £7500 towards electric taxis.

Only government-approved vehicles qualify for this grant, but there are a lot of them.  A full list can be found here.

You can also get up to £350 (including VAT) towards the cost of installing an at-home charger through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme.

It’s worth noting that these grants were recently reduced and are likely to be scrapped in the future, so if you are considering buying an EV in the next few years, it’s best to act sooner rather than later.

Fuel, Tax and General Running Costs

According to nimblefins.co.uk, UK EV drivers can save approximately £858 per year on fuel and £150+ per year on tax in comparison to owning a traditional vehicle.  This adds up to £4290 saved on fuel over five years, and £800 in road tax!  That’s some serious savings.

As well as saving on fuel and tax, servicing costs tend to be lower.  EVs have less moving parts than ICE vehicles, so when something goes wrong, there is less to repair.  They also hold their residual value better than petrol and diesel cars, so if you fancy the new Mercedes EQ, you will likely have a very nice trade-in value on your current EV.

Environmental Impact

For most people, the main benefit of electric vehicles is that they have a reduced impact on the environment.

EVs aren’t perfect, but they are essential to making the world a greener place.  Over an electric vehicle’s lifetime, it is estimated to have around half the climate impact of a standard EU car.

And as the electricity grid gets cleaner and greener, the carbon footprint of electricity is reduced meaning that the actual construction of EVs is using fewer fossil fuels than ever before.

Once an EV is on the road, it emits 0 tailpipe emissions and is relatively silent, which helps reduce air and noise pollution.

Goodbye Charging Anxiety

So, you’ve bought an EV, you’re taking it out for its first long drive and the anxiety hits.  Your brain starts bombarding you with questions - where will you charge?  Will the charge point be busy?  How long will it take?

This is where we come in.  At Bonnet, we want to make EV drivers’ lives easier.  Our app is designed with you in mind.  Whether you are driving to the local Tesco or cross country, you can check which chargers are in use, which ones are actually working and communicate with cars currently charging to ask them how long they will be, if there are any issues or even just to say hi.

Regardless of the type of charger you use, you will pay the same price for all.  You can pay from as little as 25p/kWh by using Bonnet Refill, or 35p/kWh if you want to use our PAYG option.  There is no faff, no searching for your RFID card, no downloading 20 different apps depending on which charger you are using.  We don’t charge overstay fees or plugin fees either.  With us, there is one app, one payment and any charger.

We know we haven’t quite reached perfection just yet, so if there is a charger you would like to suggest, you can do this in-app too.  And if there are any issues, we provide in-app support 24/7.

If you want to give us a try, use code FIRSTCHARGE to get your first charge on us!

We’d love to hear your experience of Bonnet and any questions you may have.  If there are any features you would like to see in the app that isn’t there just yet, let us know!

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