Thanks for the info
@bspahh While I'm well aware that petrol/diesel consumption information is and always has been far from accurate I feel this enormous anomaly with EV ranges is a major reason for people having big doubts about changing over, this WLTP lark seems like a total con, overclaiming by so much really shouldn't be allowed,
WLTP is just a normalised means of comparing cars. Perhaps it should have had its own units rather than miles to prevent people misinterpreting it?
I'm assuming that each charge gradually reduces the life, and therefore the range, of the battery as well although I hope that's not too quick a process
Car batteries, unlike phones where the primary design pressure is to make something last 2-3 years (typical contract length) and as small, light and silent as possible, are actively cooled and managed, so the reduction, while it exists, is imperceptible until the car is well into "old banger" territory at which point someone who doesn't care will buy it as a runaround for short journeys like they do an old beat up Corsa now.
The car will rust away before the battery is unusable. Yes, there'll be odd exceptions, but there are odd exceptions with ICEs that can cost massively for a brand new engine, e.g. cambelts failing before the specified time.
Don't use old Nissan Leafs for comparison - as the earliest mainstream EV these have major flaws, in particular they don't have active battery temperature management so the capacity loss is much greater. But even so, a 50 mile range is still useful for an urban runaround if you've got off road charging.
I do feel an EV won't suit me yet for my long distance use, but if I didn't live alone (and thus only need one car for everything) I'd be seriously considering an old Leaf as a runaround, probably before going EV on the "big car".
