ELECTRIC CARS
What’s it like to live with an electric car?
We interview a BMW i3 owner on his 188,000km (and counting) ownership experience
As their ranges improve and their prices become more realistic, electric vehicles (EVs) will become our mainstream form of transport one day. By 2025 it’s predicted that 11% of cars sold globally will be battery powered, while by 2040 they’re expected to surpass sales of internal-combustion engine cars. But what’s it like to live with an electric vehicle right now? We tracked down Shaun Maidment, an EV early adopter who has driven over 188,000km on his BMW i3 since buying it new in 2016, to ask him about his ownership experience: Q: Why did you buy an electric vehicle? A: I was doing a lot of mileage and spending R3,000 to R4,000 on petrol every month. I was sceptical about an EV at first, but I did the math and found that I’d save so much money on fuel, even though the i3 was quite expensive. Q: What’s the range? It’s the older i3 so the range is about 120km [a new i3 with double the battery capacity will soon be launched in SA]. It’s the REX (range-extended) model with the optiona...
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