Switching to an EV will help you cut costs and be more eco-friendly

Electric Vehicles are slowly but surely selling in larger numbers in India, and the writing is on the wall—EVs are indeed the future

If you live in India, what are the reasons that are stopping you from purchasing an Electric Vehicle (EV)? To begin with, there is an abject lack of charging infrastructure across the country. When I visited Japan in 2017, the country had nearly 100,000 charging stations–and a quarter of these or more were fast charging points. Half a decade later, in a country that’s many times larger, we are seemingly proud to have less than 1,800! Even if you do find a charging point for the EV, it’s never a splash and dash. A fast charging, of up to 80 per cent or thereabouts, takes more than just a few minutes, and it is expensive. I recently had access to the MG ZS EV in Calcutta; it is ₹25 lakh, ex-showroom.

Why are people still buying EVs then? Turns out that their benefits far outweigh the negatives, most of which are temporary anyway. Even as we speak, charging infrastructure in India is being amped up rapidly, and the next few years will see charging stations burgeoning all over the country, beginning with urban centres, of course. As far as price points are concerned, they might see some correction too as EV adoption increases and manufacturers are able to start taking advantage of scale. As of now, the only bad news is that it’s unlikely that charging time for an EV battery will change anytime soon.

Pros outweigh the cons

On any given day, I tend to drive between 70 and 75 kilometres within city limits. In a petrol car, that’s around six litres of fuel, give or take a pint, which means I spend around ₹600 everyday to get around, which translates into a whopping ₹18,000a month on fuel alone. It would be somewhat cheaper in a diesel car,say around 4.5 litres per day, which amounts to around ₹ 400 daily, which is still ₹12,000 a month. The MG ZS has a range of nearly 400 kilometres on a full charge. Even if I assume a range of 300 kilometres in the real world, it means that I’d only need to charge the battery every four days, on an average. The battery is a 50kwH unit, so it consumes 50 units of electricity for a complete charge from zero. So we’re talking about ₹450 a week, and this translates into less than ₹3,500 a month! Now that was a lot of math but essentially that’s also a lot of cash left in the nutshell.

Now that I have your ears, let me tell you that you’re going to hear absolutely nothing whilst driving an EV. This is because the MG ZS doesn’t have an engine and the electric motor that powers the wheels is silent. In the beginning it’s a little disconcerting because the brain is so wired to hear some sort of sound and feel some sort of vibrations when the car is switched on. Soon enough, you get used to the idea there is none of that and, over time, you begin to appreciate it too. This is especially when you realise that each drive has become more and more refined and sophisticated. Then there is the reduced fatigue at the end of a full day of driving. You feel less exhausted because your body has not been subjected to the inevitable vibrations–however little–of an internal combustion engine.

You would also enjoy the lack of work that is needed of the driver. Unlike in a conventional vehicle, a battery-operated electric vehicle like the MG ZS EV transmits all the power to the wheels using a CVT. There is no mechanical gearbox, which brings a certain smoothness to the whole experience of being driven. This, in turn, adds to the refinement and sophistication, once again ensuring lower fatigue levels. From a driver’s perspective, you need to get used to the instrument panel more than anything else since none of the usual indicators like fuel gauge or tachometer exist. But beyond that, it’s just extremely relaxing to drive, and more so because of the immediacy of power that you get from an electric motor.

Lifestyle benefits galore

These mechanical, or perhaps electrical, benefits aside, there are other lifestyle changes you might notice upon using an EV. Firstly, your entire transportation cost becomes postpaid. You’re not spending money every time you charge the vehicle because that cost gets integrated into your electricity bill, which you’ll only pay at the end of each month. Furthermore, the fact that the running cost is far lower in a car like the MG ZS, you’ll actually end up saving more money.

While it is true that no form of transportation is actually zero-emission or completely eco-friendly–if you consider indirect emissions too–the fact remains that in all EVs, there are no direct emissions being spewed into the air each time you drive to work or to a friend’s house. Finally, there’s the cool quotient associated with using an EV–you mark yourself as someone willing to lead the pack instead of being led in a pack. You tell the world that you’re okay to leave your comfort zone and try something new, And they’ll respect you for it. More so, because an EV also ensures discretion like never before; well, in all fairness, they’ll never hear you coming.

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