Should You Get An EV Just To Stay ‘Current’? - Are You eReady?
Are you considering an electric vehicle but unsure what to expect? Xin Ling, a MINI Clubman owner, tries going electric for the first time and we chat with her to find out more about her experience!
Hi, my name is Xin Ling. I work in an SME that supplies equipment to the electronics manufacturing industry. I've been driving this MINI Electric for a week, I was given this opportunity to try it out and decided to use it in my day-to-day life.
I go to work every day now that we are no longer working from home and I bring my dog to work with me every single day. So at the end of the day, sometimes I go home, but sometimes we also try to have different types of activities together with Pumper! From work, we would bring him out for maybe picnics in the evening or we would also take him for walks.
Q: What were some of your concerns while driving an EV?
I have many concerns, firstly, I wasn't sure about the range of the car. Typically, I do not enjoy spending any time at the petrol station at all. I always wait for my fuel to go to the reserve level before I go and top it up.
I was concerned about how many times I would have to recharge and how long it would take each time because I wasn't familiar with it. I do not have a charging point at my workplace. Neither do I have it where I live so I had to use the 'Shell Recharge' app to find an available parking lot and we decided to find a lot that also allowed us to have a nice recreational activity.
So through the app, we found that Fullerton had a lot and so we went there and also used the time to have a picnic dinner and to bring our dog for a walk.
Q: What were some of the benefits and things you liked while driving an EV?
There are many benefits so, you actually feel a lot less guilty, which is great. I take a lot of meetings while I'm driving and usually, the meetings last about an hour, but a journey is usually not more than 30 minutes.
So in the past, I would have to turn off the engine and 'bake' in the car while the meeting finishes. But with the EV, you can actually sort of leave the car idle without feeling guilt, which is really great! And because the car is so silent, it's very easy to hear everything. Everything is very clear.
I didn't realise that the sound system and the speakers were so good.
This is another added feature until I started playing the music. But then I realised, this is why it was so easy to hear everyone during the meeting, even if they are like, you know, all over the world, and yeah, so I really enjoyed that.
Q: How important is going green to you?
In my industry, electronics manufacturing, there are a lot of green initiatives that have been introduced. I really do feel that it is important to ensure a sustainable, green future for the world and I would like to do my part to reduce my carbon footprint.
Q: So after going electric for a week, what are your thoughts on EVs now?
To transition to an EV car, everybody told me that the transition will be pretty easy, but I really was surprised by how familiar everything felt. So when I got into the car immediately, I could place it very well on the road and everything was just very easy because of how immediate the response was and how agile the car was.
There are very few barriers to making you jump onto the EV bandwagon. The only thing would be the availability of the infrastructure. So that will be the only thing holding me back but if there are incentives and I can find a way to work it around the recreational part of my life, then it would totally make sense and I would definitely hop onto this EV bandwagon.
And also, you should get an EV so that you can stay 'current'!
This content is brought to you in collaboration with BMW Asia.