There has been a lot of buzz online about electric vehicles (EVs) since the Budget was announced last month.

As a car enthusiast, I rented a Hyundai Kona EV for about a week and would like to share my experience.

My main concern was the availability of charging points.

I checked the location of the points through the SP Utilities and Shell Greenlots apps, and found that the public EV charger nearest to my home was 5km away, at the Shell station along Sengkang East Road.

The charging stations I found through the Shell Greenlots app have only one fast charger, which charges the vehicle fully in slightly over an hour, and one slower one, which could take up to eight hours to charge the vehicle.

There were instances when the spaces for fast chargers were already occupied, and I had to search for another charging station as it would be some time before the vehicles were fully charged.

When I finally found a charger I could use, I found myself getting bored while waiting for the vehicle to be fully charged as I usually charge the car at night, after a day of use. There were no shopping malls or amenities open at that time.

Slow chargers were not an option for me as there was no charging station near my home.

Before renting the EV, I had driven only cars with internal combustion engines, and refuelling often took minutes. I appreciate the time saved, but with the EV I have saved a lot on fuel costs.

The electricity cost me around $25 to $30, compared with the average of $70 to $80 I spent on petrol each time.

From my brief experience renting an EV, the disadvantages seem to outweigh the advantages, mainly because of the number of chargers and charging duration.

I do believe that things will get better when there is better charging infrastructure, and as technology advances to allow for faster charging.

For now, options like hybrid cars are still more viable for fuel savings.

Matthew Tay