As electric cars become more and more mainstream every year, they are starting to get affordable for many people and have many advantages. They work great, help to lower your carbon footprint and even have minimal maintenance to worry about. But the question many parents have is if an electric car is actually a suitable family vehicle.
They seem to be trendy amongst young professionals which could signal that they may not be made with families in mind. Of course, that may be true of some makes and models as the target market is not necessarily families. However, that surely doesn’t mean that this is the case for all of them.
In this article, we will go over if an electric car can be a good choice for the parent looking for a suitable family car.
Range isn’t an issue
Most people that look into electric cars get scared off from the thought of being limited with the battery range. The reality is that the range of many electric vehicles is usually more than enough for a family’s daily needs. Between commuting, taking kids to soccer practice and running errands, most people don’t drive the normal range of 200 plus miles in a day.
And those that do will find charging stations just about everywhere to extend the range to much more while they do things like shop or go to the bank. Just looking at the British Columbia EV charging stations map can give you an idea of how numerous they are.
They are reliable
Though some of the technology may be recent, electric cars are far more reliable than their combustion engine counterparts. There are not nearly as many moving parts and heat from the engine is non-existent. Those two factors make a traditional car far less reliable as there are more opportunities for them to break down.
Electric cars have little maintenance required and require fewer visits to the mechanic to deal with routine repairs. When you have a family, you have to be sure that you can count on your car to not break down frequently and that you don’t need regular trips to the mechanic or dealer for repairs.
Cost effective
Although the prices of many electric cars are dropping, they do cost more to buy than traditional models. However, the ongoing costs are minimal compared to traditional cars.
We mentioned that they are more reliable, so you can see that it translates into less expenses for repairs and maintenance. But the biggest savings come from the fact that it costs a fraction of the cost of gas to get around.
Over the course of 45,000 miles, you can expect to spend over $4,000 in gas, whereas in electricity for the same mileage you will pay roughly $1,800. If you are able to charge your car at work then you may end up paying even less if they don’t make employees pay to charge their cars there.
Adding in the tax incentives for electric vehicles and the costs drop to about even when compared to traditional cars.
