Plugged In

Interesting day, as well as a somewhat frustrating one. I am driving a Tesla, the all-electric car with a supposed 300 miles range - albeit in ideal conditions. More like 260 or so in real world driving. Even so, that is miles better than most electric cars, that are notoriously handicapped by so-called 'range anxiety'. The Tesla replaces that with range awareness, keeping you inevitably focused on how much remaining juice the car has without actually getting too nervy about it.

Knowing I have a trip south to do tomorrow, and with 149 miles of remaining range -after an M25 drive yesterday and a quick return trip across London very early this morning - I took it for a top-up this afternoon.

It wasn't quite as straightforward as I'd hoped. Our local shopping centre, Intu in Bromley, has electric car charge points. But if you haven't used them before, first you have to find them, with minimal signage. Unfortunately the car park layout means that if you don't spot them first time around, you have to exit the car park and come in again in order to reach them without going the wrong way in the traffic flow.

Next problem, there are only two charging bays. A Nissan Leaf was in one, and a non-electric Fiat 500 was illegally parked in the other, its driver an annoying chancer in a crowded Saturday car park. Grrrr. So I had to park elsewhere and wait until the Leaf departed, only to discover that these were not the fast chargers I thought they were. One and a half hours of retail therapy later, the leisurely recharging had boosted the Tesla's range by a mere 16 miles. Ho hum.

So tomorrow I will have to route via a rapid charger at a motorway services to avoid any range angst. Wish me luck. As for the Tesla, it's a fabulous car with a price to match. More about that another time.