Let me be upfront about something.
I'm not a motoring journalist. I haven't spent three days with a press car and filed a review. I'm not a Tesla evangelist, an EV sceptic, or someone with a point to prove.
I'm just someone who's been living with electric vehicles for six years, owned four of them, and got increasingly frustrated that I couldn't find much unbiased writing about the actual experience.
Not the brochure experience. The real one.
SIX YEARS, FOUR EVs, ONE HONEST NEWSLETTER
It started in 2020 with a Tesla Model 3 Performance — with the Tesla it came everything that makes Tesla brilliant and everything that makes Tesla maddening — sometimes in the same week. The technology was genuinely impressive. Despite quality issues I went and replaced with a second. The identical model and spec to the first but a completely better experience all round.
Then came the Kia Soul EV— a small, slightly quirky electric hatchback that most people hadn't heard of. It wasn't fast, it wasn't glamorous, and the range was modest. But the driving position and how it feels on the road is great. Right up there as a great runaround. This was also my entry to the world of Kia.
I still have the Soul EV. And I've just taken delivery of a Kia EV5 — a genuinely impressive piece of kit that represents how far the mainstream EV market has come since my first EV.
I live in rural Cornwall. Not Zone 2 London. Not a city with a rapid charger on every corner. I'm talking country lanes, patchy signal, and the kind of journeys where you actually have to think about charging rather than assuming you'll find something. I also spend a lot of time driving around the country or travelling to airports, an EV means planning that little bit more for these trips!
That context matters. Because most EV content is written for people who aren't me — and probably aren't you either.
FIVE THINGS I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME
Six years in, here's what I actually know:
The quoted range is a work of fiction
Every manufacturer does it. The official range figure is achieved under conditions that bear no resemblance to real driving. Cold weather, motorway speeds, hills, heating on — expect 15 to 25 percent less than the number on the brochure if you are lucky. Plan for it and it stops being a problem. Believe it and you'll be stressed on every long journey.Home charging changes everything
The moment you have a home charger installed, 90 percent of your range anxiety disappears overnight. You wake up every morning with a full charge. It genuinely reframes how you think about the whole thing. If you're considering an EV and you can charge at home, stop overthinking it.Rural charging is manageable — but it requires a different mindset
I won't pretend the public charging network in rural areas is where it needs to be. It isn't. But with the right apps, a bit of forward planning, and a home charger as your baseline, it's absolutely liveable. The people who struggle most are the ones who expect it to work like a petrol station. It doesn't. It works differently — and once you accept that, it's fine.The software is now half the car
With the EV5 and all modern EV's, the software — updates, apps, remote features, navigation integration — is as important as the hardware. It can improve your car overnight. It can also change things you'd got used to. Staying on top of it is part of modern EV ownership in a way it simply wasn't six years ago.The thing that surprises everyone is the driving itself
People ask about range. They ask about charging. They rarely ask about what it's actually like to drive. The answer is: better than you expect. The instant torque, the quietness, the smoothness — it doesn't matter how many times you've read about it, the first time you drive an EV properly you understand why people don't go back. However there are downsides!
WHAT THIS NEWSLETTER IS
Charging Up is where I write about all of this honestly. The good stuff and the frustrating stuff. The Kia EV5 and its quirks. Charging in Cornwall. The real costs. The software updates. The things the brochure won't tell you.
No hype. No agenda. No sponsored opinions dressed up as facts.
It goes out every Tuesday — short enough to read with a coffee.
One question before I go — are you already an EV owner, or are you still weighing up the switch? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response and it helps me write the things that are actually useful to you.
See you next issue.
Matt
Charging Up
chargingup.uk