So, another drive this weekend from Wiltshire to Lincoln. About 200 miles up there after visiting a few people.
Electric cars are not the future
. Not yet anyway.
Took the missus this time, and we planned a stop at a BP garage in Coventry, as I knew it had a BPpulse charger. Thought I would throw in a few spare miles while we had a coffee.
Garage closed. Restocking the M&S food shelves of the garage
So I knocked on the window and they said fine, you can move the cones and go and use the charger. But it didn't work anyway.
So faffed around in Lincoln at another BPpulse charger and got a few miles put back in while we got ripped off in Starbucks.
Charged it with a 13 charger at my mums and that put in a decent 35% overnight to get it up to 95%.
Range FELL OFF A CLIFF again driving home back along the A46. 70 miles an hour with the autocruise, and the battery went from 95% to 57% in 70 miles.
Decided to hit the same Coventry BPpulse charger, but this time there were 3 other cars trying to get it to work (I checked the app and it said it was working).
The charge lead on the left hand charger was so short, it would not reach anyone's charge socket. What retard designs this stuff? Two guys gave up and left, and I ended up bumping up the kerb and parking at some weird angle and JUST got the plug in with it stretched tight.
So, charging away with some other guy who told me how much he regretted buying his electric F-Pace. The dual 150kw charger never pumped out more than 46kw at any point (for either car). Yes I know its also to do with what your car can take, but I am heading towards half empty.... and at 79p a KW, it's not good enough.
So, the F-Pace constantly binned his charging, and then another guy turned up in a BMW with 7%, peeved that the last 8 chargers he had tried didn't work or had huge queues.
We all stood there with coffees, chatting about how the whole electric car thing is not working. The infrastructure isn't there, and never will be. Over the next few years, as more EV's hit the street, charging at these points will start to be a real issue.
My wife pointed out we were lucky these were 'nice' people, as there is no obvious method to queue for the chargers. It could easily turn ugly.
Mine got to 85%, and I stopped the charger. This randomly also kicked his F-Pace off the charger as well.
The car itself? New glitch.... the HUD sat/nav arrows not matching the sat/nav directions on the screen. 4 times I followed the HUD direction arrow and it was totally different to the screen map directions.
Then screen went dull. My mentioned it looked dull, and my wife agreed it was not as bright as it had been. Obviously some update changed the screen brightness to medium. I certainly didn't change it.
Headlights. Driving up the Fosseway through the Cotswolds. They certainly need improving. Full beam just makes the bit of road in front of the car brighter, there is no distance penetration at all.
Reversing camera. Pointless. Filthy dirty and blurred after 30 minutes driving.
So, it sounds like another rant. But it's not. My wife has refused to drive the car, as she just doesn't like the EV experience and the added time for charging in each direction.
The car was lovely to drive. But... I think my next car will be petrol. It may well be a Seat/Cupra as I like them as a car, but a decent EV infrastructure for the UK is just not even on the horizon.
Most of my driving is a commute, so well within it's range. And that is what I will use it for.
No petrol/diesel cars by 2030?
NOT A CHANCE