I flew home from holiday to find my EV parked up with no juice left – a 45 minute journey turned into SEVEN-HOUR misery
A MAN flew home from holiday to find his electric car at the airport with no battery.
Andrew Baker claims that a 45-minute journey from Gatwick airport to Maidstone in Kent turned into a seven-hour trip.
Andrew bought his EV in January and decided to go to the airport with his brand-new Nissan Leaf to take his car on a proper run.
But his trip turned out to be a complete nightmare due to the lack of quick charging points in the UK – and the battery charge that EVs lose when parked.
He said: “We had picked up the car in January and were due to go on holiday to the Dominican Republic in February.
“I checked, and Maidstone to Gatwick was around 40miles each way. Bingo, we would take the Leaf on its first proper run.
“We had taken it easy speed-wise on the way up but got to Gatwick with around 65 miles still on the clock – so far, so good. We checked in, met with our friends and spent a fabulous two weeks in the Caribbean sunshine.”
But he was left in shock when he landed back at the airport to discover that his EV only had ten miles of charge left.
Andrew added: “As expected, after a 12-hour night flight back and with no one getting much sleep, my wife and two young children were pretty tetchy.
“This was compounded when my wife Gabrielle logged into the app on her phone as she stepped from the plane which stated that the Nissan was only had ten miles of charge left. Could this be correct?”
The couple searched for a nearby rapid charging point, but the closest one was ten miles from Gatwick airport – so they had to make do with a trickle charge point within the airport grounds.
“Excellent; how long does it take to charge the car? – 8 hrs!! Jesus,” he said.
“They didn’t say anything, but you could see our kids thinking, why didn’t they just have a normal car?”
Andrew and his wife left the car charging for three hours – enough to get them to Clacket Lane services, where they had rapid charging points.
He explained: “Three hours later, we had 25 miles on the clock and were doing what seemed like the most effective speed (50 miles an hour) along the M23.
“Being constantly overtaken by huge lorries was pretty scary, but we just made it.”
When they arrived at the Clacket Lane services on the M25, the chargers were being dismantled by a couple of engineers to move them to another part of the car park.
Andrew said: “I must admit the mood was pretty dark now, but one of the guys shone a small beacon of light on our situation.
“The engineer told us that there were another two chargers on the other side of the M25, and if we were lucky and the gate was open, we could access it across the service road which runs above it.”
Thankfully, the gate was open, and they managed to charge their EV.
Reflecting on the experience, Andrew said: “I think we got home around 3pm, and this was my first taste of a proper EV journey.
“It was my worst travel/car experience – although the story seemed to amuse my friends.”
Now, the couple have switched to a petrol BMW3 Series for longer journeys – and Andrew is still not convinced by EVs, especially for family life.