Diary of an EV driver: My first week with an MG4

We picked up our brand-new EV a week ago.

It has been an interesting week. There was a lovely bow on the bonnet. Do they think we are children? Well, I suppose there is an element of childish excitement about getting a shiny new toy, and we went along with the game.

Okay, it was exciting, and the car was lovely to drive. Very quick acceleration, great handling and SO quiet. As someone with dodgy ears, it was great to have a normal conversation while driving. I liked the regenerative braking. You hardly need to use the brakes at all. Lots of options on the touch screen, which makes it more like a computer than a car. Okay, okay, I was excited like a kid with a new toy.

It was an interesting scene when we were showing the car to some friends. In times gone by, the blokey thing would be to look under the bonnet and point out the latest overhead-carburettor-injector-thingies. Now there is nothing to look at in that department, so you mess about with the touch screens and menus.

After the bow was removed and we left the showroom, I noticed that the battery was only 30% charged, and we had an hour or so to drive home.  I was getting my first dose of range anxiety, even though the screen said we had plenty of kms spare.  A friend has an EV and says that he only charges it with the trickle charger plugged into a powerpoint, unless going on a trip.

This is weird. Like going to the service station and seeing the price on the bowser is 80c/litre, which is great. You take the nozzle from the bowser, put it into the tank and then wait for over an hour for the first litre of fuel to go in! But here is the thing… You now live at the service station.

I took the charger out of the boot and plugged it into the car and the powerpoint. Now down to 20% full after the trip home, I was off and charging, but slowly. The charger would pump enough power into the battery to give me an extra 11km range for every hour I charged. I left it on overnight and in the morning, it was back up to a healthier 60% charged.

I really want to charge the car with the excess power from our solar panels. But that is the next project.

About the writer

Peter Aubourg is enjoying retirement in Coledale after spending most of his working life as an engineer, designing automated machines in the manufacturing industry.  He is a volunteer with Electrify 2515.   He is a firm believer that “electrify everything” will reduce living cost AND carbon emissions at the same time!  He is also a keen cyclist and campervanner.

Read more: Electrify 2515 to hold EV and E-bike Open Day at Club Thirroul