SO you’ve decided you want to buy an EV.
With constantly sprouting clean air zones, pinballing pump prices and a dithering Government which can’t make up its mind about petrol cars, you think the time is right.
How do you start?
Get down to the local dealerships for a few test drives?
Jump on Auto Trader?
I can tell you, there’s no point in doing any of that until you’ve found a home charger, checked it’s compatible with your home’s circuitry and had it installed.
Because life with an EV when you don’t have a home charger is miserable.
I spent a month driving the £35k Citroen e-C4 X without a charger at home.
And when I say driving, I mean limping it to the nearest public chargers, paying a fortune to leave it there for six hours hooked to the feebly slow 7kW boxes, then walking 20 minutes home in the rain.
Thankfully, the following month, I had an Ohme wallbox installed on my drive.
I could hook the car up in seconds, it charged overnight so I was always topped up – and I could actually focus on what the car is like for this review.
Which is a good thing, because without all that distraction I soon learned the e-C4 X is a rather smart piece of kit.
Whether you like its slightly odd looks is a matter of personal taste, but it is undeniably refined and smooth to drive.
Citroen has gone for a more progressive acceleration experience here, rather than the urgent and hyper-responsive flex of many EVs.
Relaxed driving manners are complimented by Citroen’s trademark cosseting suspension, and the driver’s seat is one of the comfiest chairs I’ve ever sat in.
I mean of all chairs, not just in a car.
The interior is relatively minimalist, but Citroen has included a bank of physical buttons for the important stuff.
The important numbers? A claimed 220-mile range in the smaller 50kWh version I was driving.
I managed to get 190 out of it on a full charge driving normally, so not too shabby.
Nicely, the e-C4 X supports 100kW rapid charging, which can top the battery to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.
Although running an electric car is cheaper than a petrol car, EV ownership is still only for the “haves” and not the “have nots”.
By which I mean people who HAVE a driveway and not those who HAVE NOT got a driveway.
Because without a home charger, forget it.
No wonder the Government has kicked the ban of petrol and diesel cars down the road.
This country has a very long way to go to ensure people who live in flats or terraced houses or don’t have a private driveway can get by with an EV.
YOU might think that one EV charger is just the same as another, right?
Wrong.
Previously EV chargers were little more than a socket on your wall.
But the latest generation can integrate with the cheapest electricity rates, meaning you can run your car for less than £2.50 a week.
The one I’ve been using, Ohme’s Home Pro, charges your EV at the cheapest times via specialist off-peak tariffs from firms like Octopus and OVO.
That means drivers can save money when charging their EVs, while also helping energy companies to balance out electricity demand.
CITROEN E-C4 X 50kWh
