John is based in Larne and works as an IT Support professional at a security firm. He is married with 1 child and has within the past year switched to an Electric Vehicle. He is currently driving an MG5 EV Exclusive and he says that the car does what it was designed for, however lacks a lot of features that he would expect in modern EVs but is affordable and has a reasonable amount of range.
Cost, environmental benefits and technology were some of the factors which encouraged John to change to an electric vehicle and he also adds that despite the vehicle having good power he considers himself to be a more careful driver now that he is conscious of range limitations.
John considers the purchase price of electric vehicles to be a real issue as EVs need to be more affordable for everyone. Range and public charging infrastructure in Northern Ireland are further challenges and he reflects that many drivers are unable to install home chargers or access charging facilities in the work place.
Since switching to his MG5 EV, John has estimated a weekly saving of £60 on fuel costs over the course of 3 years ownership and a further £300 on service costs, however he adds that without access to home charging in Northern Ireland he would not encourage anyone to make the switch at the moment due to the current lack of charging points and the difficulties with those that are in place.