I didn't know whether to start this article with the positive aspects of having an electric car or the negatives. Regularly in The Sun or the Daily Mail (basically any of the right wing media) there's a headline which reads something akin to - 'I'm an expert on cars and I'd never buy an EV' - or 'I bought an EV, it's the worst thing I've ever done and I'm giving it back'.

Of course, as indicated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's recent roll-back on the pledge to ban new diesel and petrol models from 2030 and move it to 2035, the right wing and their supporters are not down with EVs at the moment and there are probably plenty of reasons for that, a dislike of being told what to do one of them, along with a simmering dislike of Net Zero and all things associated herewith.

It's not hard to find people who don't like things. It's also not hard finding 'experts', if you're not massively fussy. It seems you only have to go outside these days and remark how 'we've always had hot summers, it's nothing to do with climate change... damnation!', to be apparently considered (by some) as a climate expert. So, if you want to push an agenda that something is rubbish, whether true or not, it's pretty easy to find people who will back up your mantra. You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.

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So, being a big supporter of Net Zero, and an enthusiastic adopter of the EV revolution, the last thing I wanted to do was to fuel the flames lit by the 'haters' and add to all the negative headlines which never, ever, mention any of the positives of owning an electric vehicle, not just for the owner, but for the environment also.

But my journalistic integrity (yes - it is a thing - for most journalists anyway) would not allow me to write this article without talking about the downsides, and there are, undoubtedly, some big ones, although not for all drivers and not all of the time. The good news is, they are all fixable, if we have a Government committed to fixing them (which I have my doubts about now - thanks Rishi!). And the fact is, we have been using the internal combustion engine since the end of the 19th century - any move away from it was always going to be bumpy and take time to adapt to. No doubt, had The Sun been around when we first switched from horse and carriage to cars, there would have been the equivalent headlines back then of 'I swapped my horse and carriage for a car and it's the worst thing I ever did', or 'I'm a horse and carriage expert and I'd never buy a car'.

My new EV arrived back in July of 2023. It was via a lease scheme which means I pay a set fee each month which includes all servicing, repair, MoT, tyres and insurance costs. It's nice knowing everything is paid for - but the downside is that, at the end of the term, you don't own anything - the car just gets sent back, although there is an option to buy it. But, with depreciation, you lose tonnes of money on a new car anyway. At least under this scheme, every four years I get a new vehicle if I want/need it.

Anyway, this article is not about the merits or not of lease schemes. But it is about cost. My Cupra Born EV would have set me back just over £36K had I bought it outright new - a hefty price tag and way out of reach for many people, including me, at least not without some very hefty sacrifices I just wouldn't be prepared to make. Add on maintenance costs and insurance, and the outlay would be even higher. Insurance is a particular issue at the moment, with premiums reportedly significantly higher for EVs than for their petrol equivalents - sitting, on average, at around the £800 mark - and rising at the moment. Obviously, it varies according to the vehicle - with some posher models having much higher premiums - along with your age and driving history etc.

But, clearly, insurance is an issue. Having said that, some commentators have pointed to the fact that EVs are a relatively new technology and an unknown in many respects to the insurance industry. There are also some concerns about batteries if they are damaged in a collision and if it's possible to repair them. Once they become more common, though, the hope is that premiums will stabilise relative to petrol cars. Having more EVs on the road will also mean a greater number of used vehicles available to buy, and prices have already been falling for these, coming much closer to parity with prices of used internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles of late, making them a far more affordable option, according to recent national reports.

Also on the plus side, EVs cost less to maintain than ICE vehicles - by as much as 49% according to reports - because there are fewer moving parts.

The big plus side, of course, is their impact on the environment, something that hardly gets a mention in all those EV-hating articles in The Sun. And it was a big factor in my decision to go electric. Every time I stepped in my old petrol car I felt a little guilty - was my journey really necessary? I wasn't some zealot. I used it for plenty of unnecessary journeys when I could have walked - but I still felt conscious of burning those fossil fuels and pumping out all that pollution as I drove past all the kids breathing it in on the pavements. I live at the top of a big hill so it was always tempting to drive somewhere first when I went........

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