*This is a collaborative guest post.
If you’ve been eyeing up electric cars but keep thinking “maybe when the kids are older,” you’re not alone. Between the school run, weekend swimming lessons, trips to the grandparents and the dog taking up half the boot, it’s fair to wonder whether an EV can actually keep up with family life.
They’ve come a long way in a short time, though, and the reality is more encouraging than most people assume. So let’s get into the stuff that actually matters when you’ve got car seats to fit, a boot to cram full, and a schedule that doesn’t slow down.
Boot Space and the Buggy Test
This is probably the first thing parents worry about, and rightly so. But most modern EVs actually have really generous boots because the battery pack sits flat underneath the floor instead of eating into your cargo space.
The Kia EV6, Skoda Enyaq, Volkswagen ID.4 and the Tesla Model Y all pass the double-buggy-and-shopping test without any drama. A few of them even come with a front boot (a “frunk”) where you can stash wellies, the dog’s towel, or whatever else you need out of the way. If you’re the type who packs the car to the roof for a week at Center Parcs, you’ll be fine.
The School Run and Daily Driving
This is where EVs pull ahead by a mile. The average UK family drives roughly 20 miles a day, and even a fairly basic electric car will manage 150 to 200 miles on a full charge. So your school drop-off, supermarket run, after-school clubs and emergency trip to the vet won’t make a noticeable dent in your range.
You’ll plug in at home overnight, pretty much like charging your phone, and wake up to a full battery every morning. And you’ll never have to stand at a petrol station in the rain with a screaming toddler again, which is honestly reason enough on its own.
Motorway Trips to the Grandparents
Longer journeys do take a bit more planning, but they’re nowhere near the hassle they used to be. The UK’s rapid charging network has grown quickly, and most motorway services now have chargers available.
A 20 to 30 minute stop to top up lines up nicely with a toilet break, a coffee and letting the kids burn off some energy. If you’re driving around 150 miles each way, you’ll probably need one stop. Pick a service station the kids actually like and it barely feels like an interruption.
Running Costs Per Mile
Charging an EV at home on a dedicated overnight tariff can cost as little as 2 to 3p per mile. Even on a standard household electricity rate, you’ll pay around 6 to 8p per mile, compared to 16 to 20p per mile for a petrol car. Over a year of average driving, that gap can add up to roughly £700 to £1,000 in fuel savings alone.
On top of that, road tax on a new EV is just £10 in year one and £200 a year after that, which is still lower than most petrol and diesel cars in the higher CO2 bands. Servicing costs are lower too, because there are fewer moving parts to wear out. In addition, popular salary sacrifice schemes through UK providers like EZOO can cut the monthly cost of leasing an EV by a significant amount thanks to pre-tax savings.
Where the Trade-Offs Are
No point pretending everything’s perfect. If you don’t have a driveway, home charging becomes much harder. Street chargers are appearing in more places, but coverage is still patchy depending on your area.
Upfront prices are still higher than equivalent petrol cars, although the gap has been closing year on year. The lower running costs will claw back a good chunk of that difference over a typical ownership period, and salary sacrifice schemes can narrow it even further.
Cold weather will typically knock 20 to 30% off your range, and sometimes more on shorter trips with heavy heating. Those winter school runs will eat more battery than the summer ones, so you’ll want to get into the habit of plugging in every night rather than waiting until the battery gets low.
Final Thoughts
For most families with a driveway and a daily routine that falls within normal range, an EV will slot into life more easily than you’d expect. The school run, the weekly shop, days out and even longer trips all work. You’ll save money every single month on fuel, and the kids will stop moaning about the petrol station smell.
It gets trickier if you’re relying on public charging or regularly doing 300-mile round trips with no time to stop. But for the everyday chaos of family life? Electric cars can genuinely handle it.
Charging an electric car would be almost impossible here at the condo. I actually considered one several months ago and gave up with idea. If I were still in my house with a garage, I would have been very happy with it. #MMBC