Ørjan and his wife Elin have had their ŠKODA ENYAQ SPORTLINE iV 80 since June and have driven it around 16,000 kilometres so far. At first they opted for the grey Quartz colour, but as soon as ŠKODA announced the SPORTLINE version, they immediately changed their initial order to the red Velvet.

We fell in love with the design as soon as the first articles about it appeared. We needed a new car with a better range and a big boot. When pre-orders started, we didn’t hesitate. Still, we had to wait a few months – because here in Norway there was a lot of interest in the ENYAQ iV. When we first got the chance to see it at a local dealership, we knew we had made the right decision. We found the SPORTLINE to have a more attractive design and also sport seats for more comfort. The interior is all black and there’s no chrome on the outside,” Ørjan beings his paean to his ENYAQ SPORTLINE iV.

He and his wife mainly use the car for shopping, jaunts and visiting family and friends. They also needed a large boot for their 50kg dog Leo. And they use the trailer hitch quite a lot.

Ørjan also has experience with other ŠKODA models – he drove a FABIA COMBI for eight years. Before that, he had an older electric car with a 22 kWh battery, so its range was very limited and the car had to be charged every night. His ENYAQ iV, however, only needs to be charged about once a week with a home charger.

We bought our first electric car in 2018, mainly because the government was building a lot of toll stations around our cities and on the highways for internal combustion engine cars. For a while it was free to drive an electric car, but now the fees are 50 per cent for 75 trips a month, and the rest is free,” he explains. The range of their previous car was about 130 kilometres, which is night and day compared to the more than 520 kilometres offered by the ENYAQ iV. And there are a number of other benefits that go hand in hand with owning this car. According to Ørjan, the ENYAQ iV is much cheaper than a petrol car, mainly due to their home wallbox. “I rarely use public charging stations,” he admits. Owning an electric car reduces servicing and maintenance costs, and in Norway it also reduces road use charges, which includes ferries or free parking in some public places. Electric cars can also drive in public transport lanes.