Gadgetory

range we don't have enough range this is getting ridiculous we can't park that we can't regard again owning and operating an electric car in a big city like London is pretty straightforward when there are charging points on almost every street corner but what happens when you take an electric car out of the city and into the countryside where places to charge are few and far between that's what we're here to test with the drive that takes this electric vehicle around some of the most beautiful parts of the nation the atmosphere is electric too let's charge up and hit the road our car of choice for the trip is Vanessa and Leif currently the most popular all-electric car in Britain boosting a theoretical range of up to around a hundred miles on a single charge our 500-mile route will take us through ancient university towns through national parks and even into the beautiful hills of Wales stopping along the way to recharge the car at slow medium or fast charging points the slowest will take up to eight hours to recharge the car while the most powerful will get 80% charge in only half an hour it's these that we'll have to rely on if we hope to complete our trip in the two days we have driving as eco as possible our range has gone up a few miles to 49 I've also got the regenerative braking active which is it's kind of like engine braking except there when it does it it's actually restoring power back to the battery we would soon be relying on that regenerative braking very heavily indeed but for now an easy drive led us into scenic Cambridge ok so leg 1 is done we're in scenic beautiful Cambridge Andy what have you found so far I found that I like the cars Weist move to drive but really you've got to be so careful in how you're driving this thing you put your foot down of accelerator you'll see the range of the battery drop dramatically how far is it's the next stop it's about 70 miles I think what's the range of the car roughly about 80 to 90 so pushing it but we should be ok and okay we were wending our merry way up to a nearby Nissan dealer our first charging points the drive was enjoyable the noise of the electric engine still a novelty keep going taking the fuel filler cap off but there's no fuel said about this thing which looks like a space weapon it is working well apparently we'll see we've got 47% at the moment and yeah 48 oh go I'm not leaving till I 100 chart an electric car is slower than filling up with petrol however so getting to a hundred percent in this instance gives us a little time to kill because we're doing this in an all-electric car but you wanted something with a bit more bite the sun's GTR is their top-end petrol sports car B honestly would you rather Road in a road trip in it yes the next stop is Grantham 71 miles away in theory it's well within the cars range but when we enter the details into the GPS you might not be able to reach destination mm oh well onwards and upwards a first time driving an electric car at the eerie silence you're used to because of hybrids but what I wasn't used to was how smooth sort of take off and driving away is it's really really fun to drive 17 miles to Grantham and we've currently got 38 miles of range remaining it looks I would end pretty well thanks to my efficient feet and the brain we have made it we're in Grantham services and so this was interesting because the car said that we're not we all grow have enough range to make it from Cambridge to Grantham and we've done it with probably about 20 miles to spare yep so that's good we're at another rapid charge point so we've got roughly an hour to kill and kill it we did we are well and truly in the countryside now look at all this green we've left the gray and the smoke of London behind we've done from Grantham to Bakewell and we've got about 37 miles remaining which is more than enough then to get as on to Buxton how far are we right now from nearest charging point what is this err part of the country like for charging they're basically non in a big district we're hoping that the next one we visit is in working order yes I'm told on good authority that is brilliant officially that's good authority is a local bed-and-breakfast owner in Buxton who's kindly agreed to let us use their medium grade charge point after we load up on bakewell's most famous food it's all very pleasant but back on the road things suddenly get tense so what's happened Andy well we were at the bottom of this hill at about 28 miles of range it's now gone to 12 in only about maybe 3 minutes of driving Oh I'm hoping that's just because we've been going up hills I've had to keep my foot on the accelerator now we're going downhill a bit it's gonna hopefully extend that range a little come on so close Oh guys I don't know where this guy's charging point is is there and there are cars in it no I don't know what do we do we can't park there we can't we can't plug in except we could because as the B&Bs proprietor helpfully explains our cable was long enough to perch behind the other guests and suck down some much-needed power a near-miss but we left the leaf charging again feeling that at last we've got the hang of this whole electricity thing we are technology experts after all so as it turns out plugging the car into the outlet isn't the whole story you actually have to turn the power on lesson learned what that does mean is that the hour and a half we just gave it uncharged it actually hasn't given the car any more range so what we've done is popped it on charge again yeah it's only going to get about 10 15 minutes charge so we're not going to have the same we would have had before so we have got to alter our plans a little bit this is getting ridiculous we left the B&B with about 21 miles of range we've come about a mile and it NASA's 16 miles of range because we've had to go uphill quite a lot luckily though we're about to go down into what's called Goit valley all downhill fingers crossed fingers fingers and toes crossed across everything Lou because this is because we are I don't know that a a comes out here Andy 18 miles of range we are racking up the miles now we're getting it back yes give me more power so we definitely made it to the countryside in an electric car yeah we have whether we make it out is a much more pertinent question right now because we only got 14 miles of range which is going to be just enough to get us to our overnight location at a push so we're very close to a next charging point that we've out but we've encountered an unusual obstacle this is one of the benefits of living in the country you don't so much get like traffic jams you get dairy jams cattle proved no obstacle however and with a close eye on our regenerative braking we let the leaf carry us to our final stop of the day it's been tense but ultimately successful and as we pull up we really feel we've cracked the code to rural electric automobiling careful driving and a lot of planning at the end indeed we're so sure we've got it down we even recorded an outro for this video thinking there probably won't be much to say on day two stay tuned to see no calm we are idiots a few hours into day two we're already dancing with danger the 75 mile drive from Buxton to our first stop a service station in oswestry is pushing a fully charged leaf to its limits as we approach the charge point the range indicator isn't looking too happy we're half a mile away from services we're so close to getting more power but we have scissors which has been on zero for one about a mile now with with flatlining but we were close take the pod exit absolutely nothing oh that was close but there's a problem the service station soul charging point isn't working with a screen and responsive and no power flowing after prodding ineffectually of a display we call the support number on the front of the charge points 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. a fellow leaf driver pulls up behind us but our combined efforts aren't enough to get the charger rebooted which a little google searching suggests is what we need to do doesn't do anything it's not Sundy have you encountered this before ever have encountered charges down with not charges shall we say so far in the wilderness right now oh I'm going to have to go and look at my map and try and work out what plan B is have you been a happy leaf owner generally oh yeah yeah love the car absolutely superb car beautiful to drive the Eco tricity networks great unfortunately they went from 24/7 customer service to Monday to Friday office hours right it was a time you could phone him anytime day when I thought he fired him somebody be on the other end and they could do a reboot have you had to do that before no I haven't but I've met people that have right things break down and things don't work all the time you know it happens petrol pumps important to a petrol station petrol pumps are out all the time but in that situation there are many many more so I've had to call for a tow the annoying thing is that they are going to have to come and tow the car you're only towing it just a few miles down the road into the town center into where there is a mistimed dealership which has a charger it's just that we arrived with such a little amount of power left we just can't risk driving it ourselves could they give an ETA within the hour okay that's the wasps nest before cabin fever can truly take hold it's time to get towed it's not a great feeling but at least we're moving even if it's not under our own steam at the closest charge point in nearby Nissan dealer we meet another intrepid leaf owner whose family holiday has been disturbed by charging issues few problems are some of the charges but this one is the most serious problem without now which is me we can stay overnight and premarin I mean would you would you still recommend electric cars described yes definitely yes the cars it selves are great but we need more money spent on infrastructure to make sure there are never charging points and maintain properly good news or bad news good news for Islam what are the bad news yeah this one's out of a lot of tea on the tow truck again this time headed to an Asda in Shrewsbury where there's a medium strength charger with our names on it third time's a charm now I've been chart towed rather to fifth Asda to charge here problem with that is that none of the cards we have are valid with this charging service apparently this is a different service and the ones that we've been using already we didn't know that and now we can't access the plugs so again no way of charging the car and the tow truck has gone oh my god it's pay-as-you-go if you know please I just had to download an app and I put money on the app and I work and now this thing look good then is it charged Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please the light-blue Andy the cars charging right now with the car sucking down power we could get on the road again but our mission to drive a cross country route in an all-electric car could only be called a failure we would soon make tracks for home but not before shooting a real app shot and here it is so Andy electric cars on long drives in the UK what's the verdict well it doesn't look too good to be honest we plant our route and charging points down to the mile and we drove extremely economically yet still because of only one charging point being out of order we had to rely on a tow truck to get us out of trouble now these long drives are possible it just takes a hell of a lot of planning and a certain amount of luck yeah I think May surprisingly this experience hasn't really put us off electric cars I mean we have a really good time driving this one but the supports just not there I mean this technology has so much potential but it needs that infrastructure to really push it forward electric driving definitely is the future it just has a long way to go yet but do let us know what you think about electric cars and whether you would consider buying one yourself and make sure to stay tuned to see net then we nailed it yeah