It’s been a few months since I took the keys to my Vauxhall Astra Electric, so I know you’re all dying to know how I’ve been getting on.
Reading back my first report, I can see I wasn’t entirely honest with you. I may well drive electric cars all of the time, and I was truthful when I said that I’ve never lived with one before. But I failed to mention I was a bit anxious about spending six whole months with a car you have to plug in for long periods of time to get enough miles in the battery to ever get anywhere.
I know I sound ridiculous, but I rack up a lot of miles a month doing this job. All those lovely car events held at five-star hotels which involve driving the latest metal and being wined and dined are never close to home. And long distances inevitably mean motorways – often the thorn in the side for an electric vehicle as unlike a diesel engine, fast-flowing motorways are the least efficient places for an EV.
Since I last wrote those introductory words about the Astra I have been mostly doing local journeys, and that means I’ve probably had to charge up once every two weeks. Home charging is relatively cheap even on my standard electricity rate, and costs around £14 to fill up the battery to give an indicated 258 miles. That’s a fortnightly bargain, let’s face it, and an EV-specific tariff from a different energy supplier would cut that even further.
The Astra has a clever delayed charging feature allowing you to programme when the car charges. So, let me paint you a picture – you’re on one of those fancy EV tariffs, you get home at 5pm and it’s convenient to plug in to your home wallbox there and then. But, of course, it’s 5pm – everyone is using the National Grid to make a cup of tea and watch The Chase, so charging then will be expensive.
A few prods of the Astra’s touchscreen allows you to set a specific time for the car to charge – such a midnight when your tariff is cheaper. So, you can plug in at 5pm and all you need to do is press a little button beneath the charging port to set that delayed charge. A blue glow shows you that the car will charge at the desired time. It’s a feature I use all of the time when I’m charging at home, despite me not having an EV tariff – so it makes no difference what time I charge because my rate is the same at whatever hour of the day. I still do it though because it makes me feel good, I don’t know why.
I’ve done a handful of longer journeys too, of course. While I have had quite a few issues with the public charging network in the past, it’s all been plain sailing so far. Not wanting to sound like Alan Partridge, my favourite charging stop so far has been Gridserve in Braintree, Essex. To put it simply, it’s designed like a petrol station but for EVs. I like the layout and because it’s a 24/7 managed services owned by Gridserve, you know the chargers will work. Also, because it’s covered like a petrol station, you don’t get wet, either.
I use ZapMap all of the time. It’s an app that details all of the charging points you can use across the UK, and I have even forked out for a paid subscription to unlock extra goodies such as route planning. The Astra Electric comes with wireless Apple CarPlay as standard, so often I plan routes while sitting on the sofa watching Poirot the night before I need to do a long journey, pinpoint the chargers I need, create the route and then in the morning it’s beamed wirelessly to the Astra’s wide and crystal-sharp touchscreen.
Quite a few journeys have involved more than one charging stop. But, to be honest, these have been mostly due to me either needing a break (and deciding I might as well charge the car while I’m eating a pasty), or not having the confidence of getting to my destination with the battery’s remaining charge.
Every time I have bottled it and dived into a service area for a quick zap, it has been entirely due to my anxiety and just wanting reassurance. I’m starting to think the Astra is the most efficient electric car I have ever tested as I routinely see over five miles per kWH (which is seriously good if you don’t know), and even when I put my foot down and have the climate control cranked to maximum, I never see less than four miles per kWh.
I have a diary full of far flung events coming up, so I’ll report back on how the Astra gets on soon.
