3 Barrington Road champions a sustainable, environmentally conscious lifestyle. Electric Vehicles are a great way to do your bit for the environment and are becoming increasingly popular and more widely accessible. To some, however, they remain a bit of a mystery!
We asked Jonathan Royle, from local dealership RRG Altrincham, all the important questions, to find out everything you’d need to know if you are considering buying electric.
Toyota Yaris Hybrid, RRG Altrincham
What are the benefits of using an Electric Car?
There are so many! Not only is using an Electric Vehicle better for the planet, it is also better for you economically as it is cheaper to run. The cars themselves are also becoming cheaper to buy or lease as they become more common in the UK. If you are using an electric vehicle as a company car, you also do not need to pay any benefit in kind tax.
Other perks include being generally faster, and also more convenient. No need to visit a fuel station, as you can charge from home, in some public spaces, and if you’re lucky, at work.
What is the difference between an Electric and Hybrid car?
Electric Vehicles (EV) are propelled solely on electrical energy that is stored in a battery. The battery is mainly recharged with electricity from an external charging point either at home or increasingly at more and more public locations, shopping centres and fuel stations.
3 Barrington Road has 8+ EV charging bays within its on-site parking, so you never have to worry about where you can charge up.
Switching seamlessly between power sources, a full Hybrid Electric Vehicle is powered by both petrol and electric to provide optimum efficiency. Hybrid vehicles offer the versatility to drive using either electric energy or a combination of petrol and electric. It has both a fuel tank and larger battery which is self-charged by the vehicle when in use and does not need to be plugged in.
A Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) drives using either electric energy or a combination of petrol and electric. It has a fuel tank and a larger battery which can also be recharged through an external charging point, this allows longer periods of pure electric driving.
Toyota Yaris Hybrid, RRG Altrincham
Toyota Prius Plug In, RRG Altrincham
What do you suggest people look for when choosing an Electric Car?
The most important consideration is how many journeys you make and the distance you travel. If you commute 20 miles to work and back each day and your Electric Vehicle has a range of 150 miles (which is fairly typical of full EVs) then you could charge up from home on a Sunday and then again midweek, and not require any charging away from home.
However, if you are regularly travelling 100 miles a day, you will need to consider where and how you will charge the vehicle. The UK is rapidly expanding the network of charge points but charging requires significant time during the course of your day, so careful planning is required.
Our location in Altrincham means that you can travel locally from across Greater Manchester every day without constantly needing to charge your EV. However, if you do require an emergency top up, this can be easily done while at work with our on-site charging points, available exclusively to tenants of 3 Barrington Road.
How long does a typical Electric Car take to charge up?
It does depend on the car, but a typical Electric Vehicle takes 8 hours on 7kwh from empty to full. For many cars, you can add up to 100 miles with a 50kwh rapid charger within an hour.
What are your top 3 picks for Electric Cars for someone using their car mostly for commuting?
RRG Toyota Altrincham and the Toyota brand have always been ahead in terms of new car technology. Twenty years ago, Toyota introduced Hybrid technology with the pioneering Prius, and thanks to its flexible Hybrid architecture they were able to embark on another journey of innovation with Mirai: Toyota’s hydrogen car that makes less impact on our planet, but is guaranteed to leave an impression on you, on every journey.
From the rest of RRG Group, we have seen several new EV additions from our 7 franchise brands. In 2020, Peugeot have launched the 208e and the 2008e SUV. Nissan have continually developed the Nissan Leaf EV since it came to the UK in 2012 and leads the way in the affordable family car EV market.
Mazda has launched the MX-30, a great looking car with great performance, and in early 2021, Lexus will release an electric version of its already successful Lexus UX model. Other notable releases include Skoda’s Enyaq and Kia’s e-Niro and Soul EV.
Toyota Prius, RRG Altrincham
What is your top pick for best value for money Electric Car?
All of the above are great choices for value for money. It is just a case of working out whether you prefer full Electric or Hybrid.
What is your best-selling Electric Car?
The Toyota range of Hybrids are currently our best-selling. The range of Hybrids includes the all new Toyota Yaris, the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota Prius and the SUV range including the Toyota C-HR and Toyota RAV 4.
What would you recommend for someone looking to buy an Electric Car on a budget? (i.e. second hand?)
We have a search function on our website that allows you to search and reserve used Electric Vehicles to see what’s available. Click Here
Of course, some of the newer models are less likely to be available in abundance, but just keep an eye out for the car you want as we are constantly updating the website as they become available.
To find your perfect EV, either new or used, search below.
3 Barrington Road on-site EV charging bays
Thank you to RRG Altrincham for speaking with us about Electric Vehicles. If you are looking for more advice about purchasing an Electric Car, please get in touch with them today on 0161 972 2737.
With a recent increase in availability of Electric Vehicles, one of the main focuses of our refurbishment was to encourage the use of sustainable travel by making our on-site parking accessible to EV drivers. We are proud to be an environmentally-conscious building with a BREEAM Very Good certification.