Early adoption
I picked up my first EV on 9/11 (2001). It was a Ford Think! car that I had on loan for six months. In the morning Ken Livingston gave me the keys to the car in Trafalgar Square.
In the afternoon I was doing an interview about it with Chris Choi from ITN when the dreaded news about the 9/11 Twin Towers came through. He needed to get back to the Newsroom quickly, so we had this surreal journey across London in the EV to get him back to Greys Inn Road. Understandably the EV feature never made it on News at Ten.
That EV only had a range of 35 miles so range anxiety was ever present. I ran out of charge on the way back to Herts one evening as I hadn’t taken account of the windscreen wipers. Somewhat embarrassingly I had to call my employee for breakdown assistance….
Charge point bingo
Thankfully EVs and the range have changed for the better since then. With my current EV I try to do all my charging at home because it is cheaper and more convenient. In fact, I must admit that I sometimes go to extreme measures not to charge away from home. The other week I had to make an essential journey to Norwich but because I left earlier than expected my car wasn’t 100% charged.
However, I worked out that with some eco driving I should be able to make the 220-mile round trip with the 84% charge. Firstly, one must turn off the air-conditioning/heater. It was a coldish day, so I put on an extra jumper and just gave a quick blast of heat with the heated seat switched on for a short time.
My logic was that if I got there with less than 50% of the initial charge used, then I should get back. However, on the way back I became obsessive comparing the number of miles back home on the sat nav to the expected miles remaining of charge highlighted on the dash board. For a while the two figures were too close for comfort, so I started a little more extreme eco driving to build the gap. The car was in range mode, heater remained off, speeds keep down, only regenerative braking used and for a while on the duelled A11 I was in the slip stream of a truck. My mental maths continued for 100 miles.
My car was very helpful and keep telling me I could divert slightly off route to get a fast charge. However, I was enjoying the challenge so persevered. I got home with about 13 miles to spare and felt very pleased with myself. I had vowed to re-charge if the range and distance got close to ten miles so just made it.
Before I went full EV from a plug-in hybrid I did ask a colleague about the charging infrastructure and for advice on what cards and apps I needed. I was dismayed when I received a very long and detailed email about the numerous cards or apps that I would require and the various complexities of compatibility on the charging network. It all seemed like double-Dutch to me.
Simplification
However, I have learnt since that some excellent providers such as InstaVolt are contactless and incredibly reliable. Indeed, I visited their chargers near Banbury this week, conveniently just off Junction 11 of the M40, and one swipe of the credit card got me fully charged in about ten minutes. Simple and efficient.
Others warned me off charging on the motorway network due to lack of reliability and too may out of order chargers. So I was delighted recently with the news GRIDSERVE has announced it has acquired a 25% stake in Ecotricity’s Electric Highway, which was the first nationwide charging network. This should transform electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities on Britain’s motorways and major roads. GRIDSERVE has already shown their expertise with the first purpose-built state-of-the art charging forecourt at Braintree in Essex. Much to my delight their second one will be in Norwich so in future trips to Carrow Road for Premier League matches will be less fraught on the way home.
Other provides such as BP Pulse, Swarco and many more are also making massive improvements to the charging network. There are also some radical moves with companies trying to help the almost 40% who don’t have access to off-street parking. Charge Fairy are trailing a mobile charging unit in North London that charges your vehicle on the street in the dead of night. JustPark is a technology platform that matches drivers with private parking spaces and is calling on people and businesses to offer their private charging points to the public.
The charging network is improving all the time, but the majority of EV drivers, for most journeys will charge at home or at the office. Filling the gaps in between helps with range anxiety and puts us on the road to a bright electric future. Join us.