It is what it is
And it’s very good at the things it was designed to do.
‘Lovely car, that MX-30, but doesn’t it have a ridiculously short range?’ So many kerbside conversations have begun that way since I started driving the Mazda. Yes, its ocial range is a modest 124 miles, but this solitary statistic doesn’t have to define it as a vehicle. However, for many people it’s range, and range alone, that instantly categorises electric cars: below 175 miles equals bad, above 175 miles equals good.
If electricity was as readily available as petrol and diesel, then smaller urban cars like the MX-30, Fiat 500e and Honda E would sell in far greater numbers. Buyers wouldn’t be focusing on their range but rather on the qualities that make them excellent urban cars – handily sized, agile, comfortable, very comfortable two-up, capable of four-up for short trips, safe, intelligently designed and connected. Their popularity would arguably make them cheaper too.
Although the roll-out of recharging facilities across the country is approaching breakneck speed, the network is still abysmal compared to diesel and petrol. Currently (ha), electric cars either work for you or they don’t, depending on ready and reliable access to recharging facilities. And because these facilities are still relatively rare, the focus switches and sharpens to vehicle range. We judge combustion-engined vehicles by their fitness for purpose. The same should follow for BEVs. No one buys a Skoda Fabia or Honda Jazz and then complains that it won’t do a sub-two-minute lap of Spa. No one buys a Porsche 911 Turbo or a Ferrari SF90 Stradale and then slates it for its inability to carry five adults and their luggage.
With range not being the key factor, manufacturers would have greater freedom to produce different kinds of battery-electric vehicles for different audiences, rather than being coerced into a counter-productive war around battery size. Counter-productive? Yes, because bigger batteries mean rare resources – lithium, cobalt neodymium and dysprosium – end up in fewer electric cars, reducing choice and sustainability while increasing cost.
Remove range from the buying/ leasing equation and the focus would switch to cost, where BEVs are rapidly gaining ground when compared to combustion cars. And the fact is that for some people range is already not an issue, either because they only ever do modest distances, or they have access to enough charging facilities.
So my answer? ‘No, the MX-30’s range is perfectly adequate for an urban runabout.’ We’re fortunate enough to have off-street parking and an installed domestic charger. That means we charge the Mazda at home overnight, so it’s fully loaded for when we need it in the morning. And a fully-loaded 125-mile range – stretched to 155 miles if you really mooch about – is more than enough for us to use for two days of regular trips before we need to recharge. Fitness for purpose, see. If only the door seals would stop squeaking…
Electric cars either work for you or they don’t, depending on reliable access to recharging facilities