I never have enough mints in my car. I often used to buy a pack of mints when I went to the garage to fill up. Sucking or chewing on one would sometimes help keep me alert on a long journey. Now I never go to filling stations, so I have to plan ahead on the mints front - and always forget to. It's a small price to pay, however, in my opinion.

These days I just drive on by, glancing at the place I used to frequent at least a couple of times a month, sometimes more, occasionally wishing I had a mint to reach for while I travel past. Because these days, I have a fuel pump in my driveway, and it's just awesome.

I know not everyone has a driveway and I'm lucky in that respect. But when I want to fill up, I just plug in. There are no mints for sale, but I don't have to go anywhere, and I don't have to worry about whether my favoured or most convenient garage is still the cheapest, or just how expensive petrol is at that time. P.S... I promise I'm done with the 'mints' thing now. For money-saving tips, sign up to our Money newsletter here

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I can also go and have a coffee, watch TV, have a nap if I want, all in the comfort of my own home, or maybe go for a walk or a bike ride - safe in the knowledge that, a few hours later, I will be fully 'fuelled' again and ready to go. I may sound smug - to be honest, I feel a bit smug. My life has changed and I'm enjoying it. Not that everything is entirely rosy on the electric side of the fence, but day-to-day, it's just so much easier....and cheaper, but we'll come on to that.

I took ownership of an electric car a year ago - in July 2023. It's a Cupra Born - like the VW ID.3 but 'in a tracksuit' as one person once described it. Compared to my 14-year-old Nissan Qashqai, it was like the space station - no gears of course, automatic handbrake, fancy touch screen interface and all manner of space-age autonomous tech which almost makes you feel as if the car is driving itself at times.

I first wrote about it a few months after getting the keys but it was still early days then - this is a revolution in........

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