We’ve had our MG ZS EV since October 2020 and, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has taken us almost a year to have a decent amount of time & travel experience with it to really understand how well it fits in with our ‘normal’ lifestyle.
For the first few months we hardly used the car at all; it took months to get it to the first 1000 miles on the clock. However since things have been easing we’ve been able to go on more outings in it, and take some longer journeys to visit family too. James is still working from home at the moment but will be spending some time in the office soon so it will finally be used for his commute.
We are all still really pleased with our choice of car; the ZS is comfortable to ride in, James loves driving it, and there is plenty of space in the backseat for the girls & our dog, Gypsy.
The boot space has been ample for our week long holidays, and we’ve purchased some roof bars so that we can use a roof box in the future if we ever want to go camping. A set of roof bars were cheaper than the IKEA delivery charge, so we bought them to bring some bookshelves home earlier this year.
As far as charging the car goes, we have paid for a handful of rapid charges on longer trips away from home, taken advantage of lots of free electricity at supermarkets, and spent less than £30 on home charging since we had our 7kW driveway charger installed in February. We don’t have to pay any car tax, and it is exempt from the new Clean Air Zone charges in Birmingham, so other than the monthly payments on the initial purchase, our ongoing costs are very low.
James and I enjoyed taking a drive around the Welsh mountains when we visited my parents last week, while the girls were having a day out with their grandparents. It was very scenic and beautiful, and James loved zipping around the Welsh lanes.
As far as range goes, we’ve been pleased with the longer journeys we’ve taken in the ZS, and made it back from my parents’ house on the Welsh coast without stopping to charge on the way. Most other long drives we’ve had, the stops to use rapid chargers have coincided with the stops we’d have to make anyway to grab a drink or use the services.
We are definitely happy that we went ahead with choosing an electric car, and the ZS EV in particular. The options and practicalities for charging while out and about are much better than I expected, even after doing pre-purchase research, and there are loads of apps and websites out there to make finding chargers and planning long journeys easier. It was a total faff getting the drive, dropped kerb, and charger put in – but totally worth it.
