... or maybe not. I have just spent a few days with an electric car. I
have seen sights and visited places that I haven't noticed before, and not
necessarily wish to visit again any time soon.
For instance, there I was yesterday afternoon marooned in the desolate
wastes of North Lanarkshire looking over windswept, rain scoured moors with dark
clouds dragging their wispy entrails over the horizon while my car was plugged
in to a roadside charging station.
The only signs of life were the litter blowing down the car park from
the overflowing bins and the diesel lorries thundering past on essential, life
sustaining, transport duty. Yes, there was a chuck wagon in a nearby lay-by
offering such tantalising delights as polystyrene tea, stale rolls and square
sausage that could repair a block-pave drive, but I chose not to treat myself. Aye,
VisitScotland - at your peril!
Sitting there watching the wee battery symbol filling up on the display
panel, there was time to ponder the wisdom of our elected representatives in Edinburgh
and Westminster urging us all to switch to electric cars. This advice coming
from people who don't need to use them on a daily basis themselves. People who
don't have a 'normal' job like us and therefore don't understand what a 'normal'
working week is like for the majority of us.
Unless you have a high capacity charger at home and access to another
at your place of business, then reliance on a purely electric vehicle is not an
option. Using a domestic power supply can take anything up to 30 hours for a
full charge whereas the latest high capacity chargers can accomplish the same
task in 4 to 6 hours. Of course you can 'top up' your charge at various locations
around the country where there is a mixture of standard and high capacity public
roadside chargers.
On Tuesday I tried two, for one hour each. The standard charger gave me
16% of a full charge increasing my range by 31 miles, while the nearby high capacity
charger provided a 44% boost, worth 93 miles in the same time. The trouble is
there simply aren't enough of these high capacity chargers around. When I went
back yesterday, there was a chap from Scottish Power in his electric company
car already plugged in to the sole high capacity charger and when I tried the
adjoining standard one - it wasn't working!
Annoyed? Frustrated? I let my big pal, Jaggy have a go. He was later
spotted kicking sleeping policemen in his frustration and turning 'keep left'
signs upside down on traffic islands in his annoyance.
I now understand the term 'range anxiety'. Even with a range of some
200 miles, that is dependent on weather. If it's cold, wet and dark, then
wipers, heaters and lights will place further depletion demands on the battery.
Those travelling more than just commuting distance will therefore have to plot
their route via roadside chargers and then just hope that they work when they
get there!
If you are tempted to purchase such a futuristic vehicle then I urge you
not to decide on the basis of a test drive - take a week at least. Spend some
time with it at home, at work and at play, even if you have to hire one
for a week. It's the only way you'll
find out if you can live with it.
For those travelling big mileages it will change your lifestyle. You'll
become a slave to the machine and road side chargers. A motoring vampire
looking for that flicker of life-saving neon indicating the location of a
roadside charger from which to draw the lifeblood of the open road warrior once
again.
However, the biggest problem was, I really did like this electric car. It
was comfortable, quick and quiet. The electric car most certainly has a future,
but has the future arrived yet? I don't think so.
And now a warning dear reader, I will return to this subject - shortly.
I'm not quite finished with it yet!
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