The Day My Swifty Died … And I Had To Go Electric With The MG4 EV Urban

This is a personal story from an Australian family, not a policy update, but it touches on something homeowners with solar think about: charging an electric car at home.

When an Australian mother's 20-year-old Suzuki Swift suffered a catastrophic engine failure on the highway, her family had to shop for a replacement fast. After test-sitting in several electric models that didn't fit their tall, broad-shouldered family, they settled on an ex-demonstrator MG4 EV Urban for $29,990 AUD, bought through a dealership after a poor experience at another one that couldn't answer basic questions about battery health.

The part most relevant to homeowners is charging. The family plugs the MG4 into a normal wall outlet at home and times their charging for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the hours when their rooftop solar panels and home battery produce enough extra power to top up the car without drawing from the grid. On a typical session, that let them charge from 70 to 90 percent using only solar power or stored battery power. They also mention using a phone-app feature that lets multiple drivers in the household share digital "keys" to the car, since a new physical spare key would have cost around $700.

The story is a reminder that owning solar panels or a home battery can make charging an EV mostly free once the system is set up to line up with sunny hours.