Introduction by Motoring Editor, Maarten Hoffmann.
Having edited this very well read motoring section for over 16 years and occasionally (very occasionally) l release the reins to a guest editor - and this is one of those rare events.
Damien Burke, courtesy of Chris Goodman of the Focus Foundation, took the keys (from my dead cold hands) of this month’s car and spent the week with it - and no run-of-the-mill car at that, but the Audi RS e-tron GT - the company’s latest barnstorming EV. This is Damien’s review:
At home, we have a 1.6 hybrid and a 3.8 v8 so thus far have had no need for a home charger. So when Audi offered us the chance to test drive their new RS e-tron GT my first thought was ‘could we live with an electric car without a home charger?’ It’s a valid consideration given millions of homes don’t have access to off-street parking and therefore an accessible home charger.
When it arrived, I briefly got distracted from the brief, the car is stunning and the ‘progressive red’ body work made a nice change from the greys and silver this often comes with. Interior is nicely done, if a little boring for a car that can go 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds (with launch control) but the real let down is the infotainment system. It failed to connect multiple times, via myAudi app and CarPlay. This could be user error but I’ve connected to dozens of cars over the years without this much trouble.
OK, time to fire it up! An anticlimax of course. For all the power the Audi has, pressing the start button is a non event. I’m only popping to the shops but a bit of excitement doesn’t hurt. As I don’t have a home charger, I decide to park in the massive spaces at the supermarket designated for EVs and plug in. It’s kind of a flip in the way of thinking, lots of people go to fill up with petrol and then shop at the mini supermarket at the station but why not go shopping and fill up, with the added advantage you are less likely to get doored!
The following day I decide to take it for a long spin on country roads. Here’s the excitement I was missing! The acceleration is incredible, the steering is very responsive and the combination of wide base and tyres makes for tons of mechanical grip, perfect for B roads. You will not get stuck behind a caravan or tractor!
Later in the week I had a couple of meetings in London, not a trip I would normally make by road but according to the satnav there were plenty of charging stations and parking and currently there is no congestion charge for EVs, although this concession is being removed in January 2026. It was a fairly easy and stress free drive, adaptive cruise control made short work of the motorway and the 4 wheel steering made navigating around central London easy at slow speeds (apart from mini roundabouts that seem to make it squirmy).
The satnav was incorrect though, lack of parking and chargers at both locations and the one place I did find required your own lead which Audi didn’t provide. This meant an unscheduled stop in Putney on the way back, again the satnav was incorrect, showed multiple chargers available but I arrived to find six of the eight occupied by EVs, one broken and one being used as a valet station as it also had a vacuum cleaner by it.
After 10 mins of waiting and 20 mins of charging I had added about 50% of charge for about £40. Some quick maths over the course of the week suggests a running cost of around 30p per mile using the fast chargers, for comparison, my V8 costs around 40p and home chargers should cost around 7p off the grid overnight.
So could I and many others switch to EVs now without home charging? Absolutely. Should I? No, without more investment in infrastructure, the grid would be overrun at rush hour, with more demand than green energy can provide, potentially causing more harm than good from coal and gas.
Would I? Again no, the cost difference isn’t enough to make me give up the V8 and the government is increasingly lowering incentives to switch to EVs. It would take a large shift in carrot or stick to the consumer, aligned to large investment in green energy and nuclear power to make it really viable.
Maarten Hoffmann comments:
As often happens with EVs, the review often gets sidetracked by the issues with the charging network. As my loyal readers will know, l have banged on about this for years and still the network cannot keep up with the ever increasing number of EVs on the roads. I agree with Damien, l would not buy an EV until this is sorted out, charging time is greatly reduced and Zapmap information can be relied upon.
