There was a time when electric cars felt like a prank aimed only at tree-huggers and people with more money than sense. A car with no exhaust, no roar, no deliciously naughty feeling when you bury the throttle. I got it. For years I drove things that guzzled fuel like it was going out of fashion and made a noise that could loosen fillings. But somewhere in the last five years something shifted. Not because I suddenly started polishing wind turbines, but because the technology finally delivered what it had been promising: faster, more fun and cheaper than the old guard ever thought possible.
Take acceleration. I used to laugh at Tesla owners claiming their supermarket trolley could out-drag a 911. Then I tried one. You floor it and physics seems to take a coffee break: your head slams into the headrest, the horizon blurs and three seconds later you’re doing motorway speeds. No gearshifts, no turbo lag, no drama. Just instant, face-melting thrust. And the best bit? You no longer need half a million quid to experience it; cars that do this are now leaving showrooms for fifty grand.
Handling, too, has become ridiculous – in the best possible way. The latest crop have their batteries bolted to the floor, which means the centre of gravity is somewhere near the tarmac. Throw one into a corner and it sticks like it’s been nailed down. The steering is sharp enough to shave with, the weight actually helps rather than hinders, and because there’s no engine up front the front wheels turn as if they’re on ice. The result is a car that corners like a go-kart and stops as if someone’s fired a harpoon into the boot.
Range? That used to be a fair complaint. Back in 2015 you were looking for a socket after 150 miles and then twiddling your thumbs for a couple of hours. Now we just laugh. Most new electric cars will happily do 250–400 miles on a charge, and if you find a fast charger you’re back to 80 % in the time it takes me to fill a tank, buy a terrible sandwich and argue with the cashier about the price of Red Bull.
Price has flipped as well. Bigger factories, smarter batteries and governments finally realising we all breathe the same air mean electric cars are frequently cheaper than the petrol version – especially once you count the running costs over five years. No oil changes, no timing belts, no clutch to replace. Just plug it in and go. And if you’re on a company scheme the tax breaks are so generous you almost feel bad for your accountant.
Even the silence grows on you. At first I missed the noise, then after a couple of weeks I noticed something odd: I could hear the tyres, the wind, the birds, my music without a V8 trying to drown everything out. It’s a different kind of enjoyment – calmer, cleaner and a lot less stressful in traffic.
Of course there are still people shouting that batteries are strip-mining the planet and the electricity comes from coal. Fair enough for a pub argument, but even if you charged your car from the dirtiest power station on earth you’d still be cleaner than the average city diesel. By the time everyone’s driving electric the grid will be running on wind, solar and nuclear anyway.
In short, the electric car has left the “nice idea” stage and become the objectively better option. Quicker, cheaper to run, quieter, tax-efficient and – never forget – stupidly good fun to drive.
Fancy proving me wrong (or right)? On our marketplace you’ll find hundreds of 100 % electric cars, new and used, ready to go. Come and have a look – you might just drive away with a grin that can’t be removed with anything short of surgery.
https://volty.be/nl/buy/cars/overview/
