We’ve clocked up thousands of kilometres in an MG 4 without taking a single watt of energy from a home power plug. Is living with an EV on public fast charging alone worth the time and money?
2024 MG 4 Excite 51
The MG 4’s three-month tenure in the Drive garage has come to an end – and so has our charging experiment.
At the start of this test, we proposed a simple question: can you live with, and enjoy ownership of, an electric vehicle (EV) without the ability to charge it at home or work?
Over three months we’ve tracked how much we’ve spent on electricity, how long we’ve had to wait at charging stations, what we’ve spent on food and drink as the car took on electrons, and of course, what we like and dislike about one of Australia’s cheapest EVs.
We’ve also answered the questions you have about the car – click the video at the top of this story for those.
If you’re an apartment dweller hoping to save money buying an electric car, the answer may surprise you.
What is the MG 4, and why did we do this? A recap
For a full introduction to this test – why it’s necessary, how it will be conducted, and the ground rules we’ve set – click here to read the first instalment of this long-term loan.
But as a refresher, we want to find out how much it costs to run an electric vehicle without off-street charging at home or work – and how convenient, or inconvenient it may be.
The lower running costs for electric cars are well known when they can be charged at home, where energy is cheap, or – with solar panels on the roof – almost free.
However, not everyone has the ability to charge their car off-street, and would need to rely on Australia’s growing but still insufficient network of public charging stations that is not the most reliable, nor particularly cheap to use.
The car we chose for this experiment is the MG 4, a Corolla-sized hatchback that represents the highly acclaimed second electric vehicle from the growing car maker.
The better-equipped Essence 64 variant is the reigning Drive Car of the Year Best Electric Vehicle Under $50K, but here we’ve opted for the base-model Excite 51.
It quotes the shortest driving range in the line-up (350km claimed) to maximise our exposure to public chargers and gather as much data as possible in the period we’ve loaned the vehicle from MG.
Prices started from $39,990 drive-away when we collected the car, but MG has since axed nationwide drive-away prices for the MG 4 range, so the Excite 51 now starts from $37,990 plus on-road costs, or $40,996 drive-away in NSW (exact price differs by state/territory).
Until 31 October 2024, MG is offering the Excite 51 for just $30,990 drive-away – a saving of about $10,000. From 1 November 2024 to 31 January 2025, the price will change to $32,990 drive-away.
Standard equipment levels are modest, with LED headlights, 17-inch alloy wheels with aero covers, cloth seats, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, 7.0-inch instrument display, keyless entry and start, and a suite of advanced safety technology.
| Key details | 2024 MG 4 Excite 51 |
| Price | $37,990 plus on-road costs |
| Colour of test car | Dover White |
| Options | None |
| Drive-away price | $40,996 (Sydney) $30,990 drive-away until 31 October 2024 |
| Rivals | BYD Dolphin | GWM Ora | Toyota Corolla |
What has the MG 4 been like to drive?
Vehicles are typically loaned to motoring publications to review for a week, so getting the opportunity to spend three months behind the wheel – without placing our own money down – allows us to truly get under the skin with the best and worst of a new car.
And we’re pleased to report our time with the cheapest MG 4 on sale was a delight – although not without its annoyances.
The highlight for us is certainly the way it drives.
Previous MG models – built in the last decade under the company’s current ownership – have never been particularly exciting to drive, with soft and wallowy suspension that has never made drivers want to take the tight and winding way home.
The MG 4 represents a turning point for the brand and, while still not perfect behind the wheel, is a car we thoroughly enjoyed driving.
Built on a new rear-wheel-drive platform, it’s keen to turn into bends – without a petrol or electric motor to weigh down the nose – and drivers can adjust the car’s line in a corner with the accelerator pedal; a benefit of leaving the job of propulsion to the rear wheels.
The steering is light and direct although lacking in road feel, the tyres are quality Continental items, and the 125kW/250Nm electric motor translates to zippy straight-line acceleration that won’t scare hot hatchbacks, but is more than enough for a car of this size.
The suspension is on the firmer side of the scale, and it doesn’t deliver a magic carpet ride, but it’s comfortable enough for potholed city streets, it settles quickly over speed bumps – without pitching forward and back like a boat cresting a wave – and body roll is well controlled.
Our main complaint with the driving experience is related to noise, as there is a fair bit of tyre and suspension roar that’s let through the rear of the car, which got on our nerves quickly – particularly on poorly surfaced roads around town.
It must be said the electric motor is quiet, though, and wind noise is well suppressed, but some more sound-deadening material in the rear wheel arches wouldn’t go astray.
Enthusiast drivers may also find the traction control system quite aggressive in its operation compared to other electric cars when the MG 4 is driven quickly, being initially slow to react to wheel slip before abruptly sapping power.
In our introduction to this loan, we identified room for refinement with the advanced safety systems, particularly the adaptive cruise control and lane-centring assist technology.
A software update designed to address these complaints was released for the MG 4 after it launched last year, and we had it loaded onto our car during the loan period.
The lane-centring assist technology feels a bit smoother than before, but we didn’t notice a major difference, and it still can drift between the white lines. Other MG 4 owners have reported a big change, so it may be down to the roads we tested the car on.
Welcome improvements have been applied to the adaptive cruise control.
A quick flick of the speed adjustment joystick now raises or lowers the set velocity in 1km/h increments, with a long hold needed for 5km/h changes – rather than the other way around, a fiddly process that constantly saw us overshoot the desired speed when trying to make small adjustments.
The software update also included a one-pedal driving mode for Excite 51 variants – to match the rest of the range – which allows drivers to bring the car to a full stop just by lifting off the accelerator pedal. It’s one of our favourite features in EVs, though we know not everyone likes it.
What has the MG 4 been like to live with inside?
Our impressions of the interior have changed little since we picked the car up. It is not a fancy space – there is a lot of hard-wearing black plastic, and the design is simple – but it is well laid out, and there’s ample space for passengers and cargo.
We’ve filled all five seats of the car in our time with it, and used it on weekends away with family without any issues or niggles.
The 363-litre boot will swallow a full-sized suitcase and some smaller bags, while six-foot-tall (183cm) rear passengers can sit behind similarly tall front occupants with ample head room and enough knee and toe room to spare.
The cloth-trimmed seats are comfortable, the steering wheel is trimmed in premium-feeling leather, and there’s decent storage throughout the cabin, though the cupholders are quite far away.
Build quality is also respectable, with no rattles from the interior plastics – but the driver’s seatbelt buckle has developed a squeak that makes itself known in corners or over bumps.
We’ve found the plastics on top of the front door panels mark easily in day-to-day use.
The infotainment system has traditionally been a key complaint with the MG 4 since it arrived in Australia last year. The 10.25-inch display is large enough by 2024 standards, but the software is basic and responses to inputs are not the fastest.
That remains the case, but we’ve grown to get along with it over the Excite 51’s time with Drive.
Most of the air-conditioning controls run through the touchscreen, but owners can bind one of two star buttons on the steering wheel to the climate control. Press it and the right joystick on the wheel can adjust air temperature with up/down movements, or fan speed with left/right movements.
It’s genuinely one of the best features we’ve used in new cars today, and allows for air-conditioning adjustments without taking your hands off the wheel – or eyes off the road. We wish every car – even ones with traditional dials – had this feature.
Those star buttons can also be customised to the drive modes, as well as the strength of the energy recuperation – but it does not enable or disable one-pedal driving, which turns off every time the car is restarted, and can only be re-enabled via the touchscreen.
We’ve gotten used to the lack of an on/off button, and the occasionally fiddly gear shifter, though we wish the car lowered the volume of the music playing through the speakers when the driver’s door is opened.
Wireless Apple CarPlay would also be a nice addition, though the wired version offered by the car is already not the most reliable. I found plugging in my phone too quickly after getting into the car would stop CarPlay connecting, and require a disconnect and reconnect of the cable to initialise the system.
This version of the MG 4 also has access to a ‘lite’ variant of the company’s iSmart app.
What is electric car ownership like without a home charger?
Over three months and about 3100km of driving, the MG 4 required 19 visits to a charger – all high-speed DC stations.
The average power of the chargers we visited was 122kW – well above the car’s 88kW claimed maximum – but still we spent 15 hours and 10 minutes at charging stations.
To put it another way, that’s nearly nine minutes for every hour driven.
Of that total, two hours and 25 minutes – or about 15 per cent – was spent waiting to charge, dealing with broken chargers, or something else that did not involve the vehicle taking on energy.
We had plenty of positive charging experiences during our time with the MG 4 – high-speed, well-priced chargers without queues, undercover and near food options to pass the time.
If you have an electric car on order, we recommend ordering charging cards from each major network operator, which can be tapped on an RFID reader on the charging station – rather than fiddling with an app that may not work for chargers in underground car parks with poor mobile signal.
We ordered cards from Evie and Chargefox free of charge, and found them to be a big time saver.
But not every charging session was a positive experience. We’ve had to face drivers hogging charging bays, charging stations being broken, plugs not connecting, and stations with cables on the wrong side to reach the MG’s port.
More than half of our charging sessions were completed without a wait – but of those with one longer than a few minutes, we spent an average of 20 minutes waiting for a charging bay to free up.
On one occasion, we waited 35 minutes to plug in while the driver of a Tesla insisted on charging their vehicle to 100 per cent, despite the final 20 per cent taking nearly 20 minutes – and two other cars clearly parked and waiting to use their charger.
(If you’re new to EVs and wondering why we’re complaining about this, it is good etiquette to only charge to 80 per cent on public stations when there are other cars waiting, as that final 20 per cent can take as long as the first 80. If there are no cars in the queue to plug in, it’s not an issue – but when there are others waiting, it’s the respectful thing to do.)
The base-model MG 4’s short range certainly has not helped our case in this experiment.
MG claims 350km of driving range, but as with all EVs, that’s derived from lab testing, so the real-world range we saw – based on our average energy consumption of 16.6kWh per 100 kilometres – was closer to 300km.
Given we weren’t running the car from empty to full every charge – and were generally sticking between 15 and 80 per cent – we found ourselves plugging in every 230km or so, equating to about a week of driving, depending on how we used the car.
If your destination has a charging station – one of my local shopping centres has a pair of 350kW chargers, for example – it’s not much of a burden.
But on other occasions – if you’ve been driving the car more than usual, or simply have had a busy day and don’t feel like stopping for 30 to 45 minutes to recharge the car on the way home from work – needing to constantly recharge the battery can be annoying.
I have a relatively short commute to the Drive office – 15km or so – but for some of my colleagues with a 40 to 50km drive each way, much of which is on motorways where the car will use more energy, that 230km ‘usable range’ will disappear very, very quickly.
For that reason, if you’re looking to buy an EV without home charging capabilities – and the budget permits – we’d recommend spending more on a longer-range car that will need fewer visits to a charger, even if you rarely venture beyond the city.
It’s worth noting the MG 4 Excite 51 has a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack, which means it can be recharged from zero to 100 per cent regularly without accelerating the wear of the battery cells. Longer-range MG 4 variants do not use this chemistry.
How much did this experiment cost? Read on.
| Key details | 2024 MG 4 Excite 51 |
| Engine | Single electric motor |
| Power | 125kW |
| Torque | 250Nm |
| Drive type | Rear-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Single-speed |
| Power-to-weight ratio | 76.5kW/t |
| Weight (kerb) | 1635kg |
| Spare tyre type | Tyre repair kit |
| Tow rating | 500kg braked 500kg unbraked |
| Turning circle | 10.6m |
How much does it cost to run an electric car without home charging?
Over three months and 3119km of driving, we fed 548.9kWh of energy into the car – and used it at an average rate of 16.6kWh/100km.
We spent a total of $371.35 on energy – at chargers ranging from 58c/kWh to 92c/kWh – equating to a running cost of under 12 cents per kilometre.
Let’s put that into some context. If we’d completed 80 per cent of our charging on off-peak electricity at home at a rate of 20c/kWh, and the remaining 20 per cent on fast chargers at 60c/kWh, we would’ve spent just $153.71 – or five cents per kilometre.
How does that compare to the price of petrol? Assuming a petrol car that consumes eight litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, at a fuel price of $1.90/L, our long-term test distance would have cost $474.13, or 15 cents per kilometre.
But choose a more fuel-efficient hybrid car consuming 5L/100km – such as a Toyota Corolla Hybrid – and cheaper fuel costing $1.70 per litre, the total cost drops to just $265.14, or nine cents per kilometre, so the petrol car is now actually cheaper than the EV on public charging.
As always, your mileage will (literally) vary when it comes to how much a car costs to run.
If you’re upgrading from an older, less efficient petrol car – particularly one that requires more expensive premium fuel – the EV will save you money, even without a home charger.
But if you already own a hybrid, and want to make the switch to fully electric without a charger at home, don’t expect to save money – both in the purchase price, and running costs.
A base-model Toyota Corolla Hybrid hatch – which is similarly or better equipped than the MG 4 Excite 51 – would see the buyer save about $4980 in the purchase price ($36,016 in NSW according to the Toyota website, against the MG’s regular price of $40,996), and then $223 in the first four years of servicing (Toyota servicing is known to be cheaper than rival brands).
The MG’s special offer puts the value equation back in the electric car’s favour, but it is a limited-time deal, not a permanent price.
We’ve also been keeping track of how much we’ve been spending on food, drinks and other items while the car charges, which we otherwise wouldn’t have bought if we had a petrol car with two-minute refills.
It amounts to $240 over the three months, including breakfast meals we would’ve had at home for far less, soft drinks, and newspapers.
Should you buy an electric car without home charging?
If you can charge your car at home, you don’t drive long distances regularly, and your budget permits, making the switch to an electric vehicle is a no-brainer.
Without the ability to charge at home or work, it is a trickier sell.
Some buyers will have their heart set on an EV, and if you’re one of those people – and are happy to take the extra time regularly charging your car more often, and for longer than a petrol fill – then we would not stop you.
Buying a long-range EV will help, as would purchasing a Tesla, which has full access to the company’s reliable and widespread Supercharger network.
But if you’re on the fence, have a busy schedule, or are expecting to save money owning an EV – and your budget cannot stretch beyond a short-range model – it’s hard to recommend taking the plunge, as it stands today.
The state of Australia’s fast charging network – with queues, broken stations, and too little frequency given how quickly the EV car park is growing – takes the shine off the experience.
And, with all due respect, we need to see better etiquette from other EV drivers if nearly every car on the road is to one day use battery power.
Too many times did we find other drivers parked in charging bays not using them, or hogging the chargers to get to 100 per cent, because after all, that last 20 per cent can take as long as the first 80.
Everyone with an EV is in the same boat. Everyone’s time is worthwhile. We need to be more considerate as a society if we’re all going to be driving EVs in the future.
As for the MG 4, we’ve loved our time with this car. If you love driving as much as we do in the Drive office, this car is very rewarding for what’s essentially a base-model $40,000 (or, currently, $30,990) family hatch.
It’s not lavishly equipped, but it’s a hoot on the road, spacious inside, and it gets all the basics right – all sweetened by a 10-year warranty and sharp prices.
If owning an EV is right for you – and you value the smile a car can put on your face – the MG 4 could be a perfect choice for you.
The post The verdict: Do you need home charging to live with an electric car? 2024 MG 4 long-term review appeared first on Drive.