Young professional Tristan, 29, drove a Peugeot e-208 for a week â and was pleased to find it the almost-perfect local runaround. It even had space in the back for his black lab, Rudy
Like many people who work flexibly these days â sometimes popping in to an office on public transport and sometimes working from home â I don’t use my car much, but I do still like to have one to get around on errands, to my weekly squash game and on weekend jaunts with my wife and our young dog, Rudy.
I was keen to see if going electric might suit us, ahead of choosing a new car. The Peugeot e-208 seemed a great choice for us from the start. It looks great and has lots of modern features, a 200-mile suggested range on full charge and space in the back for doggo.
Driving around the city on local trips, the car was excellent: comfortable, super smooth yet responsive and zippy. It was fun to drive and I found myself feeling cheerful â not your normal feeling when in London traffic â whether I was nipping down to Tesco or popping to the gym.
What’s great about electric cars is that the power is there immediately and hill starts are not a problem. The car also had some really cool functions, like cruise control (I watched a YouTube video to find out how that worked). I particularly liked the proximity key engine start. You can just keep the key in your pocket and still start the engine, just by pushing a button.
Most of the time driving around London, I found it was easy to keep my range anxiety under control. In our area (SE22 East Dulwich) there are lots of charging points, including a pay-as-you-go lamppost right outside our flat. There are apps and websites that can track your spend and how much charge there is remaining. I used Char.gy for the lampost charger and Pod Point in Tesco.
At the weekend it was enjoyable to take it for a longer jaunt to the in-laws in Oxfordshire, although I did notice that driving on the motorway depleted its range very fast, faster than I was expecting. I hadn’t realised how much a wet and cold day would impact it, either. The battery life isn’t as obvious to work out as petrol levels in a combustion engine, which made me slightly anxious about traffic jams.
Working out the costs of charging with different companies across different apps can be a bit overwhelming, too â and a full charge can cost anything from £15 to £50.
But while there are a few provisos, overall my experience has made me feel positive towards electric cars. Based on my experience I would think of buying an EV, but if making long trips would opt for one with a bigger range â just for safekeeping.
Tristan drove aPeugeot e-208, available now from £29,725 (peugeot.co.uk)
