Does having a physical disability change this ?
There is a huge amount of information around electric and hybrid cars, quite some negatives on range and costs.
I started along the journey as I really am not happy just taking from the world and want to be part of protecting our planet.
My favourite resource is Fully Charged they have a nice selection of presenters lead by Robert Llewellyn know for Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge.
1: My needs and requirements.
At the time of looking I had an 22 mile round trip to work (110 miles per week), once a month I would travel to another site for a days work (316 miles round trip), I would be there long enough to either top up via the free type 1 charger or possibly stop off on the way to do a fast charge top up on the way while having a coffee break.
The ranges of electric cars do seem quite variable from 100 miles to 300 miles so careful selection would be needed, items such as heating and cooling can reduce this range.
2: Charging
Currently not all public chargers are compatible with all cars, in the north east of england there is a real shortage. So options are limited to home charging. Currently the government offer a £350 grant to encourage the move to electric vehicles.
So we have the range and charging covered. I now need to think about what car is right to fit with my physical restrictions.
Getting the right seat is important, 20 minutes on a poorly designed chair at work causes me intense pain in my legs and back leading to many nights of not sleeping.
My current car has a nice seat which offers great support and comfort, I had the foot rest removed (its automatic) as my left leg is not very movable and having it in a “normal” position is a non starter.
Most EVs (electric vehicle) are conversions of ICE (internal combustion engine) so would be pretty easy to convert, a few vehicles have been built from the ground up as EV, so have very different internal designs.
I really liked the inside of the BMW i3, there is no middle console making it easy to get my legs in and out of the vehicle.