MG offered me a car over the summer break, and having just lost my 2015 VW Jetta to an unfortunate case of “parked in wrong place at the wrong time”, I was mad to refuse.
Having previously driven an MG Hybrid, I had some sense about what I was getting myself into. Though admittedly, I hadn’t caught up with the latest from MG and didn’t expect the new MG4 Excite 51 be solely EV.
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My earlier experiences were with a hybrid petrol/electric mix — the kind that cushions you with the familiarity of petrol but lets you feel slightly better about yourself on short city drives.
I love the idea of electric vehicles, aside from the ones tainted by he-who-must-not-be-named, but I never thought it possible where I live. In my apartment building, there are no EV charging stations — and as it turns out, there’s no public charging stations in my entire suburb.
Where can I charge my EV and how much does it cost?
At first I was worried, but then after making it home with the car, things started to look brighter. A full charge would take me 380km — that’s massive.
After downloading the Chargefox app, I sought out my nearest charging station. Thankfully, there was a fast charge station located at Chadstone Shopping Centre, just a few kilometres from me. From the app, I could see there was a charger free, and headed over there to recharge the car and recharge my body with some lunch.
The battery was sitting on about 25 per cent.
Once I plugged her in and the power started flowing, I felt a sense of relief.
Within four minutes, the car battery had jumped six per cent. One hour later, after I’d grabbed some lunch and done a little shopping, the car was fully charged.
The cost to charge? $21.36
The cost of lunch? $22.47…
Are long distance trips possible?
My family made a trip from Melbourne to Bendigo, around the region and back home with just one charge stop along the way.
Chargefox listed just one suitable charging station in Bendigo, which wasn’t ideal. But we took a calculated risk — we could always charge it with a 240v power outlet at the place we were staying, with the supplied charging cable in the boot of the MG.
Thankfully, we also discovered you can use Tesla charging stations, which made it easier again to navigate our trip. A little planning and flexibility went a long way.
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But it’s hard to ignore that EV ownership still feels like it requires a bit of a lifestyle shift in Australia — especially outside of major cities. While things are improving, there’s still a notable gap in infrastructure. For one, my four year old apartment building doesn’t feature any electric charging stations and there’s no simple solution to charging at home (can’t exactly run an extension cord off the balcony).
The federal government has pledged funding to expand charging networks across regional areas, and companies like Chargefox and Evie are continuing to roll out more public fast chargers.
But adoption is uneven. According to the Electric Vehicle Council’s 2024 State of EVs report, 9.53 per cent of all new cars sold are EVs, up 13 per cent from the previous year. Compare that to the likes of Norway and we’ve still got miles to go…
Would I buy an EV?
Short answer: Yes, I would… one day.
The MG4 Excite 51 retails for $30,990 AUD, and that’s quite reasonable in the scheme of things.
For now, EVs make the most sense if you’ve got consistent access to charging — either at home or work — and live somewhere within range of a half-decent charging network. But after a few weeks of driving electric, I’m definitely more optimistic.
The car was quiet, smooth, and cost me far less in “fuel” than my usual petrol bill. And while I won’t be installing a charger in my apartment carpark anytime soon, I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on the EV scene moving forward — once the pieces are in place, the switch might not be as far off as we think.
QD’s Julian Price was loaned an MG4 Excite 51 for a few weeks by the company.
