I have reviewed a number of Hybrid cars now, the Hyundai Ioniq, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry and Lexus UX 250H. Now I've driven the fully electric Hyundai Kona EV and I can't wait to review more!
These are the Top 10 things I LOVE that make electric and hybrid cars great family cars:
1- SILENCE!
Where do I start with my love of the silence!?
When I start the car it is silent, now I have been caught out thinking the car is not turned on but I am well used to this now! There is no more engine on or off motion or noise to wake sleeping babies so you can transfer them more easily.
Another advantage to this I discovered is not disturbing people outside the car either, I tiptoe out of the house while my daughter is asleep at 5am most mornings or sneak out once in a blue moon in the evening for a Mums Group dinner! (Dad's at home don't worry! 😉 If I have a fuel car then starting the engine and driving down our driveway often wakes my daughter and disturbs my sleeping neighbours. With an electric car, they don't get disturbed and I was relaxed and confident to leave night or day knowing I wouldn't be disturbing anyone! 🙂
This also effects how you feel while you are driving too because there is no revy acceleration or noisy engine to disturb your little ones in the back or make some journeys a cacophony of engine noise, I found it altogether a more peaceful experience!
2- NO MORE FUEL STOPS!
This is the end of the age-old parent debate ‘Do I take my children in when I pay for my fuel or leave them in the car?' Knowing it will make a quick fuel stop a 20-minute long unload them and then load them all back in again!!
I charged the Hyundai Kona EV as part of my normal life during the week I tested it. I charged it at the supermarket, the shopping centre, the zoo, the park.
It was charging while I was going about my normal life so I didn't need to make a second stop at the fuel station after doing things. In fact, I was amazed by how many places I found to plug the Kona in beyond those listed in its special sat-nav with a quick Google.
This was one of the biggest revelations for me! No more double stops like going to the supermarket and then stopping for fuel on the way home! This is only going to get better as more and more charging stations go in.
This also means no more fuel spills, no more getting it all over your hands while filling up and them stinking for hours while you try to wash it away.
3- NAP TIME!
This is a game changer for me! I can drive my daughter to sleep and sit in the car with the engine and air-con running for an hour using battery power alone and no fuel! If like me and most other parents, you drive your child to sleep for at least one of their day naps each week, over a year this adds up in cost to our wallets and the environment, you can be making a HUGE saving for both!
4- NO MORE MORONS!
I have spent sooooo many hours getting my daughter to sleep only for some moron with a noisy exhaust to roar past the window and wake up her up! I love the thought that by the time my daughter has her children she will not have spent hours getting them to sleep only for someone to wake them up again!
5- SO GOOD TO DRIVE!
I am so ridiculously excited by how good the Hyundai Kona EV is to drive! It is so nippy and fast and fun! It is like getting the latest and fastest piece of phone or computer technology and it works so seamlessly and quickly. This is the future and I am looking forward to when all vehicles are electric and this good to drive.
6- CLEAN AND QUIET CITIES!
The difference in cities will be life changing! The future will be cities where instead of cars and busses billowing out smog and exhaust fumes all day long, the air is clean to breathe and people breathe easier too, doing wonders for our child's lungs and future generations!
Air pollution kills thousands of Australians every year and causes respiratory health problems for our children. One way of addressing this for our children's future is by switching to electric vehicles.
7- EXHAUST FUMES!
I have always thought walking along the pavement pushing my daughter in her stroller that her head is right at exhaust height and it must be horrible to be breathing in those fumes, especially in congested cities!
I LOVE the fact I will be pushing my grandchildren in their stroller and instead of breathing in all those cancer-causing exhaust fumes, they will just breathe clean air!
Air pollution kills thousands of Australians every year and causes respiratory health problems for our children. One way of addressing this for our children's future is by switching to electric vehicles.
8- MONEY!
I hate paying for fuel! It is one of our biggest household expenses. Australian parents are spending $1.5million on fuel every school day taking their children to school and picking them up! Imagine the money you can save!
9- THE PLANET!
Imagine how much less pollution there would be?! I feel so guilty sitting with my engine running and the air-con on while I am waiting outside Kindy pick-up because I know not only am I wasting fuel and money, I'm pumping out exhaust fumes that everyone is breathing in and are polluting the environment.
10- CLIMATE CONTROL!
The climate control in the Hyundai Kona EV is great, you can set the temperature of the car's interior for a certain time, so the aircon will cool or heat the interior ready for when you get in! So you are not putting your child into a baking hot or freezing cold car and then blasting them with cold or hot air and having noisy fans blowing!
There are of course some cons I have found too:
1- SILENCE!
The birds don't know you are coming! I think it is going to take a few years of evolution before the birds and wildlife know that cars are silent now! On about five occasions over the week, I drove the Lexus UX 250H and Hyundai Kona EV, birds looked up from the road in horror as I approached them and only just managed to stop in time to avoid them!
2- SILENCE!
If the birds don't know we're coming, children won't either, I did need to be especially careful in Kindy carpark and reversing out of parking spaces because people are used to hearing a car engine when a car is going to move. We need to re-educate ourselves and our children because it may no longer be- “Stop, Look and Listen!”
You might also like to see What is the true cost of driving your child to sleep? What is the true cost of the School Run? What is the true cost of the daily commute?
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