This is not me guessing what electric cars are like.

I dont own one and haven't got a charger installed into my home.

I did however hire one. A bog standard fully electric car from a major hire company all over the world.

Who provide these electric cars at the same cost as a petrol car.

So when you go on holiday to another country or hire an electric car in the UK - this is what you're going to get.

Are electric cars the future of the automobile in my eyes?

Should electricians get on the EV charger installer course and start to build a business around that?

This podcast is about my thoughts on the electric car saga.

Tool box talk for electricians helping electricians reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money - and can you do it installing electric car chargers?

Welcome back once again, Ben Poulter here of tool box talk for electricians.

All this came about from a quick visit to Germany for my uncle's wedding.

I was cutting it fine, getting a flight out on Saturday morning only to return on Sunday lunch, but I planned ahead and hired a car, booked the flights and hotel.

It should all have gone to plan!!

And it did leaving early to get to the airport, the plane was ontime and I landed in germany on time,

Then I picked up the car…….

It was a Renault Twingo. After doing a bit of research on the cars - it's supposed to do between 90-205km on a full charge.

Thats 56-127miles on a full charge.

So really that car is for driving around the city to work and back 10 miles each way, and then charging it every night.

I suppose that it would be ideal depending on the cost of charging it - which we will get to next.

So I got in the car and it was half full, I assumed half full on any car is at least 100 miles.

How wrong was I?

It was in a foreign country so I stuck to the speed limit and drove as safe as possible, staying in the inside lane most of the time - european drivers flash you to get out of the way even if you are overtaking.

All I had on was the radio, not heated seats or heated window screens, but 30 mins on that battery went down to 20%.

20% to me is time to think about filling up, so the next service station I was plugging it in.

I couldn't just use my debit card - I had to register a shell recharge card to use the chargers.

This will take you 20 mins with weak wifi.

But I was successful and got ready to plug it in, only to find the 2 plugs were not going to fit the car.

Electric cars are not one fits all, I have found 6 different types of chargers!

6! And all service stations do not install all 6.

So I had to google where a charger was for the little twingo.

I ended up on some industrial estate plug-in for a charger, I was able to pay with the shell recharge card - but it wasn't fast.

Then I tried to sit in the car out of the rain, but it stopped charging when I unlocked the car!!!

I know this because the charger made a humming noise louder than a kettle boiling.

I had no choice but to walk away and let it charge for a while, and to be honest when a charger is humming under load, you don't want to stand too close - just in case.

30 mins later I had enough to get me to the hotel - another 30km away.

Luckley the hotel had a charging point to fit the car.

So I parked it up and let it charge overnight.

The wedding was brilliant - plenty of food and drink along with a dance or 2. If you see the video i did on you tube, you can tell i'm a bit croaky in the morning.

But the twingo was fully charged and ready to get me 71km back to the airport - Perfect

Or so I thought…….

I needed to use the heated window screens as they fogged up a bit because it was raining, i did treat myself too to the heated seats.

And the little twingo did get me back to the airport in one go, but it was at 20% when I parked it up.

71km and it was basically flat again.

The charging I did cost me £24.71p

I reckon I could have gotten a bus cheaper. I know for a fact that my diesel van will do 150km on £20.

This is the reality of electric cars. Yes they are better for the environment when charged from solar or wind turbines.

But us as humans like conveyance, and diesel and petrol cars are far more convenient.

Who wants to have to check an app to find out where you can charge up.

Also you have to change the way you drive, when the car was running flat I started to coast a little, that charges the battery a little.

So if you drive downhill for an hour, I assume you're going to get a good charge.

That's if the car doesn't go flat getting up the hill.

I just can't see how electric cars can be better than diesel or petrol at the moment.

They say the tesla is fantastic for pulling away, instant response to you putting your foot down, it's like the tortoise and the hare - you can go fast or you can get there a bit slower.

I prefer to get to my destination without having to stop and wait for the car to charge.

I spoke to german people at the wedding too, they have the same feeling about electric cars as me, there isn't the infrastructure of the the electricity supply to handle electric cars at the monomet, along with there not being enough chargers.

I do like the idea of a 0% carbon foot print, but dont think its quite there yet and it not going to take off properly until these issues are resolved.

This led me on to questioning about the EV installers course. Would it be a benefit to me to get that under my belt.

Maybe if I had enough customers asking for it, but I haven't been asked once.

With the likes of cost co and car manufacturers offering cheap deals on the installation of EV chargers I dont think its a industry I want to enter.

The area I live there are 1 in 50 people with an electric car.

With 5 or 6 electrical companies offering the EV installation service.

It is NEW and possibly up and coming, but I feel I can make more money as a domestic electrician than installing EV chargers.

As a company i think its a good think to be able to offer your customers, also its good to keep up with new technology, so why not do the course.

But for me I'm busy enough with the work I have on through the steps i have taken to grow my business.

All these steps and more are mentioned within the tool box talk for electricians community, so check the link in the show notes and come check it out.

Until next time