The journey into, and experience of, EV ownership and use. A year ago tomorrow we acquired our battery electric car. What’s it like from the inside looking out, having been on the outside looking in?

In January 2024 we were experimenting with having gone down from two cars to one. The one left was a trusty old hand-me-down petrol car. Not fuel efficient. We had intentions of trying an EV next but it seemed like quite a bold step into the unknown. But one that seemed necessary to me.

The LinkedIn community was fantastic. I put out a plea for what we were looking for and asked for advice. We didn’t want an SUV. We needed to accommodate a family of five at home with two dogs. We had a price bracket for buying second-hand. The search narrowed down quickly to the MG5 electric estate car. (I’ve just read that this is being discontinued, being replaced by the newer MG4 electric hatchback).

We’d done our homework. Thank goodness, because last January our old banger was written off in a collision with another vehicle. The hassles began. We had a courtesy car available, if I recall, for a week. In the space of a few days we settled the insurance claim and got the claim money in our account. We’d located a two year old MG5 electric at a local dealership. We had a test drive and bought it. A few days later the home charger was installed. We were EV owners!

A year on now almost to the day – what can I say?

1. We’re still managing with one car as a family living in a rural area.

2. When we got it, temperatures were sub-zero – technical spec said range of up to 250 miles. Fully charged it was showing more like 190 miles. And they went down faster than the real miles it seemed. Oh no, had we got a problem? No. It’s just that cold weather reduces the battery’s capacity. We found as we moved into the summer that the range crept up to something like 270 miles.

3. This is a locally driven car – its longest journey for us has been a 130 mile round trip on one charge.

4. Further to installing the home charger, we have never used a public charger. Our nearest rapid charging point a mile or so away is currently charging 79p/kwh. With Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, fast charging at home overnight costs us 7p/kwh – ten times cheaper. It is less than five pounds to charge our car from nearly empty.

5. It is so easy to drive with no gear stick and almost no manual use of a handbreak; it has a forward/backward dial and acceleration and break pedals.

6. Insurance is more expensive. This is current no road tax to pay. Though this changes in April 2025 when it becomes £190/year.

7. It’s ‘just a car’ – there’s no real ‘wow’ factor to the EV as a funtional vehicle compared to an ICE car. It gets us from A to B.

8. You still get to breath in the fumes from other ICE vehicles when out on the road.

9. People don’t always hear the car coming.

10. I don’t believe EVs are the be all and end all of climate action but in a car dependent society it seems somewhat positive.