19/05/2025
One week with an Electric Vehicle
How was the experience? Is charging an inconvenience? Is it actually cheaper to use?
MG Philippines lent out their really fast EV car, which is the MG4 XPower.
An EV Car with:
Power of 429HP
Torque of 600Nm
Acceleration? Crazy 0-100 in 3.7 seconds
All-wheel drive
Batteries? 64kWh
Range? Up to 385kms WLTP
Fast charging is possible. Up to 135kW, 10-80% in 27mins
AC Charging, done at home up to 11kW 0-100% in 5.5hours
Using an EV for the last 5 days was nothing but joy; it always brings a smile to my face. I will not disregard your concerns with using an EV; electric vehicles need to be charged, so you need to plan a little more when you only OWN an EV.
The MG4 XPower is fast, really fast. 0-100 in 3.7secs? Is something I thought can only be experienced with those multimillion sports cars. It is also quiet; there’s no engine noise, the only thing I can hear with the MG4 XPower is the road noise, it’s not much, but you can still hear it.
As for the distance, it is rated up to 385kms, I have range anxiety, and it is a real concern, but with the MG that I have with me, I drove it from Manila to Sta. Cruz Laguna, roughly 84kms-90kms, with only 52% of charge. I drove it like how I would drive my Civic. And we all know, with that fast acceleration, I would have pressed that accelerator like a mad man and I did; I made no effort to save my batteries. We charged our phones, blasted the ACs, and played music. We ended up with 25% when we reached Sta. Cruz Laguna. I was like “oh madami pa, we can do longer trips”.
Now charging, how is it charged? They have included a wall charger you can use at home, and unfortunately in our house in Laguna we do not have the infrastructure for a faster AC charging, which is fine, and I feel like this is what most EV owners will face. Do you really need to have a Level 2 AC charger, or at least that’s what I think it is called? If you do not upgrade your outlets, it will only charge at 1.5kWh, but with a dedicated charger, it can charge the MG4 XPower up to 11kW, bringing the charging speed to roughly 5.5 hours from 0 to 100%.
MG4 XPower has a battery size of 64kWh, meaning if I will charge it at home at 14 Pesos/kWh, it would only cost you 896 Pesos. Take note of this, okay? Imagine how much it would cost when you bring your ICE car from empty to full? At least with my Civic, roughly almost 3k, so that’s a saving of almost 2,100 pesos.
And if you are still worried, think of this, how often do you really drive 400 kms in a single drive? If so, how many percent of your drives are more than the actual range of the EV that you are planning or looking at? You’re probably worried about that 1% drive; you can always plan a little more if you have an EV. It’s not so bad to be a little more mindful.
Okay, what if you forgot to charge? No worries, fast chargers are available at least within my route. Shell Mamplasan charges 35 Pesos per kWh. And boy, we learned that it is fast and expensive, well, expensive relatively to home charging. Making range anxiety a thing of the past for me, at least within my drives.
Maintenance? Well, I’ll share more as I get my personal electric vehicle, but for now. I am open to this new chapter of using New Energy Vehicles or NEVs.
Let’s make life more exciting.
