TLast year my partner John and I celebrated the purchase of an electric car by driving around London to see the Christmas lights without having to pay traffic jams or Ulez – Ultra Low Emission Zone – fees. I happily tweeted that Regent Street, deserted in lockdown, looked like London from another time: empty streets and glittering shop windows.
This was my first moment enjoying the electric vehicle (EV), the purchase of which had created significant domestic tensions. As an eternal optimist, John was convinced that we should do without a diesel car. The arrival of a grandchild living on the opposite diagonal corner of London made the difference. It would cut a hell of a trip in 30 minutes.
I’ve mostly seen negatives. I liked my nimble BMW and was afraid of range. How far could we go before the battery failed? Could we make long journeys? Did our meandering travels through France finally come to an end? “Of course we go,” said John. “The French are way ahead of us when it comes to electronics.”
We didn’t opt for a Renault Zoe in the Tesla price range. It had the greatest range of the cheaper cars: around 240 miles on a full charge, depending on weather and driving conditions. But all electric cars are expensive – £ 31,000 for this small and far from luxurious car. We decided to lease, paid a small amount in cash and then paid monthly.
Right from the start, the whole experience was clearly lacking in frills; a couple of young petrolheads waved to us with minimal instruction in the car and without any information about the charging infrastructure, except to “use the zap”[-Map] App to find a charging station “.
One piece of information that would have been useful to our survival was that EVs have incredible acceleration. We’ve been in eco mode since we bought the car, when we struggled up a hill on our first drive outside of London, pressed the accelerator all the way down and still only got 55 mph. John reached out and turned off eco mode “to see what happens”. Pressed against the seats by sheer force, we took off like a rocket.
We were alone trying to unravel the secrets of the country’s charging network. BP rang the doorbell and offered us a charging station in front of our house. This domestic top-up is cheapest, but since we lived on a London terrace, we weren’t eligible. Instead, we became lovers of charging lampposts, which are relatively common in our area. But as is so often the case with electric cars, there is a catch. Wandsworth Town Council does not reserve parking spaces for electric vehicles, so “normal” cars are parked there, crowding out electric vehicles that are forced to look for one of the faster, more expensive chargers.
There are numerous providers and not very many chargers. Each provider requires you to download and subscribe to their app. They all work differently and prices vary. Many chargers are defective.
The problems are most noticeable on longer journeys. When the lockdown was eased in May, we booked a stay at Derek Gow’s Devon Overwilding Project. We planned to stop where there were “clusters” of chargers but we were still caught walking around a gloomy corner of Amesbury, Wiltshire for an hour only to find that the charger had stopped working after 10 minutes.
After that it was a hunt for other chargers in obscure garden centers, supermarkets and workshops. Some worked, some didn’t, but we started meeting the community of electric adventurers and spending the time waiting for chargers, comparing apps, prices, and “worst EV rides”.
Most places are ready to help with charging. They were happy to loop a wire at Gow’s, and on the way back the Bull Hotel in Bridport, Dorset – booked at the last minute – didn’t turn a hair and reserved us a spot at an off-site charging station. “We’d better get used to it,” they said. Hooking up to unprepared household supplies is not always successful, however. In June we managed to blow up the electrical system in our friends’ house in Kent. In July, I noticed that my range anxiety was subsiding. I haven’t thought twice about going to North Yorkshire. I no longer paid attention to the battery indicator. When the car said it would go 106 miles, it meant it. Stops could be planned with ease. A new mentality crept in: “Get as far as possible” has been replaced by planning longer stops and delays.
Many electric chargers are out of order. Photo: Maureen McLean / Rex / Shutterstock
But “relaxed” only works to a limited extent. There were still anxious moments – not working chargers, unhelpful helplines and more and more provider registrations. The new fear was the fear of charging – not that the car can’t, but that chargers won’t be available.
In August, it was time for France to make decisions. John was still pushing the 700 mile trip in that car. I was just as much against it: I couldn’t remember seeing chargers nearby, and my French source said our target village had a charger that was invariably suitable for after-school care.
I prevailed and I was also right. Once there and had a look around, it was clear that France was no electric car nirvana after all. So the French EV adventure is still waiting. In the fall, the car was more of a useful, boring thing than a source of fear. We could drive back and forth to Kent on a load, smugly travel around central London, laugh at the fuel shortage and reduce fear of charging by sticking to reliable chargers.
But I noticed that the gender segregation was starting. John had most of the apps on his phone and was more concerned with the technical side, especially at midnight drives to find a lamppost. This is typical when one pursues the encounters with the informal club of mainly male early adopters around the charging points.
I no longer have any diesel particles on my conscience and a changed driving behavior bodes well for the environment. You travel energy-savingly at lower speeds, while longer journeys by train become more attractive. But the unnecessarily complicated charging network leaves everything to be desired. There is no universal charging card for all providers and there are far too few chargers overall. This will be a big problem as the number of electric vehicles increases. The lack of government regulation is also ridiculous: As things stand, several providers are not in for a comeback if they don’t keep the chargers running.
I can’t say the electric car has broadened my horizons, but it made me plan more carefully to get there.
