Electric dreams
SOMEONE ASSUMED the other day that just because I own an XK8 I can’t be an enthusiast of electric cars. Admittedly it’ll be a cold day in hell (or a particularly hot one in summer due to global warming) before I give up my V8-engined sports car but they couldn’t have been more wrong than if they suggested I like cricket simply because I come from Yorkshire.
The truth is I’m fascinated by EVs and after driving several different examples over the last few years including a BMW i3, Jaguar I-Pace and Nissan Leaf, I reckon they have a lot to offer. Surprisingly fast but also very refined, even without taking their apparent benefits to the environment into account I’d consider one over a traditional internal combustion-engined (ICE) car simply due to how nicely they drive.
Plus a Nissan Ariya that between March and December 2023 was driven from the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica shows the true potential of electric vehicles and I’m genuinely excited to see how they’re going to develop over the next few years.
You’re probably wondering by now if I like EVs that much, why don’t I own one? It’s down to several admittedly small reasons that together make them an unrealistic proposition for me personally.
Firstly, in my experience although ranges have increased since the first time I drove an I-Pace in 2018, the time it takes to recharge the batteries hasn’t dropped all that significantly in the intervening six years. In the ten months it took that Nissan to be driven from the north to south poles, at least half of that must have been waiting for it to have enough power.
IT’S DOWN TO SEVERAL ADMITTEDLY SMALL REASONS THAT TOGETHER MAKE EVS AN UNREALISTIC PROPOSITION
As someone who regularly drives the length and breadth of the UK for work, needing to charge an EV at least twice would easily add a couple of hours onto my already long day. The cost of diesel might have crept up towards the end of 2023 but it takes a mere five minutes to brim my XF Sportbrake 2.2-litre diesel. Admittedly I need a further ten to make my snack choice but I can still leave the forecourt fully fuelled in more ways than one considerably faster than in an electric car.
Not that driving an EV is as cheap as those who don’t own one think
