It's a New World...

As a complete petrol head, my last car was a bit of a last blast before deciding to go down the route of EV's.

Back in 2022, I decided I wanted something fast and fun. I bought myself a BMW M140i and loved almost everything about it. The simple noise as it roared when pressing the start button. And of course, the noise when you used the "loud" pedal.

When my lovely wife Vicki dropped me off anywhere and then drove off, I loved the noise of the tailpipes popping away (not too madly, but just enough) into the distance. It was fast, it was fun, and it was light. Two things I hated...

The purely rear-wheel drive with all that power was terrifying if it wasn't anything other than completely bone dry on the roads. Spit on a road, and that thing was going into the ditch. Then there was the utterly harsh and hard ride of the suspension and the "run-flat" tyres.

It didn't take me long to start struggling with it while I am rapidly heading toward the end of my forties, but I was having a lot of fun (most of the time), so I continued...

At work, we enter into a lot of tenders that tend to demand information on how the business is being eco-friendly, etc. So, with a lot of hesitation, I started looking into the world of EV's so that I can state we are actively moving our fleet into the modern world.

This was a big challenge for me. Firstly, I absolutely hate with a passion all Tesla models. Sorry if I offend anyone here, but this is my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

All Tesla's are quite basic on the outside, while being nothing but far too simplistic on the inside.

One central screen and nothing to look at where the normal dials are behind the steering wheel.

Minimal stalks and nothing at all where we are all used to gear sticks. They're soulless.

I know people who own them who call them "the milk float".

You literally cannot do anything or manage anything without going menu deep into things. Driving along at night, pouring rain, and your automatic wipers aren't performing, so you need to up the level. Yep, take your eyes off the road and go menu deep again just to change it. Instead of just keeping your eyes on the road and instinctively flicking a switch on the right stalk like pretty much EVERY real car out there.

To make it worse, they've now updated their cars to have completely removed the stalks. Shifting reverse to drive, etc, is now...

You guessed it...

It's on the bloody central screen!!

Indicating is now done on the back of the steering wheel...

Need I say more as to why I cannot stand these things!

In light of all this, I started looking at the other very popular EV. The Polestar 2.

Personally, I love this car. My feelings on the looks are that it stands out. It's strong-looking. Not to everyone's taste, but it drew me in enough to get one of their 48 test-drives. All I'll say is it blew me away, and this was my first choice. Displays in the right place, stalks doing what stalks do for indicating, and wipers, etc. Other stuff on the steering wheel, like real cars. And of course, something in the middle for additional controls and a gear shift mini stick. Bloody lovely!

I should also at this point state that for petrol heads, these things are fast. REALLY fast. And you actually forget all about noises very quickly.

Then came the reviews on the BYD Seal Excellence. The more I read, the more I needed to learn.

Like the Polestar, all the internal bits were in the right place. On the outside, however, a much sleeker looking thing.

530bhp. 0-62 in 3.8 seconds. Seriously!? This thing weighs a lot. But it launches like a frickin' roller coaster.

Alright. The loud pedal is more like the "oh hell" pedal when you push it, and now cannot be called the loud pedal. But I loved it!

I tested, I ordered, I received. Job done.

Then came the issues that I honestly wasn't quite prepared for.

Instantly, I found myself parked up at charging stations far more than I expected. 330 miles stated. 280 - 290 real-world expected. 200. And no more...

I hadn't ordered my home charger as I hadn't yet decided which one. I really didn't expect the need to sit at ultra-fast chargers as much as I did. I also hadn't really realised how bloody much they charge to use them.

Not only did my fast little 3.0-litre, twin-turbo, 6-cylinder BMW achieve many more miles, it also cost a LOT less to fill at a normal petrol station.

You then have to ask why the government does this. Demands we get these new things, demands it's better and cheaper, then let's everyone take the absolute p**s out of the pricing to charge them. The same things happened when they suggested moving from Petrol to diesel years ago!

3 visits, including a 4 day "dump Dave in a crap loan car" visit to the dealer to sort the range issues and yes, it's now a lot better and achieving the 280 I'd hoped for. Basically the same as my BMW achieved.

Now to sort the home charging situation...

I found a company that offered a decent product at a decent price and allowed me to get the government grant of £350 to get it. Put everything through, pay the £619 after discount and then suddenly find myself in a world of political health and safety crap. Send us this image. Prove your drive is attached to your house.

Prove this. Prove that.

Then the fantastic phone call.

"Hi there. We're not convinced we'll get the grant for your install. Pay us another £350 and we'll do it for you. If we get the grant, we'll refund you".

Honestly, would you believe that utter trype? I didn't.

I demanded a refund.

Then the savours that are Octopus Energy step in.

£699 after the government grant. All goes through. A couple of photos sent and within a matter of a couple of days, a guy is here setting up our new home charger, going through all the details, and off he goes. 4 hours - done.

GAME CHANGER....

Instantly, I'm plugging in, linking my Ohme app to my Octopus app and the car starts charging.

When the grid is full of green energy, they chuck a charge in. Overnight on cheap electric, they chuck a charge in.

The next morning, I'd gone from 30% to 95% for the grand total of...

£6.33!!!!!!

Never again will I have to ring Vicki and say, "ETA is 18:30, but I'll see you at 20:00 when I've charged".

I'll be ringing here saying, "ETA is 18:30. See you at 18:30, my love".

Would I recommend an EV?

Yes. I absolutely bloody would.

Do your research though, and get the things you want and need from it. Make sure you've got a home charger installed almost as soon as (if not before) you get the car.

And DON'T buy a Tesla.

Please!