EV buyers are still being let down by bad infrastructure

First, the product: electric cars. They're good. Very good. Automotive brands responded in force to global government and regulatory demands years ago, and began pouring billions into EV R&D. Every mass-market car brand now offers some sort of plug-in car, from pure electric to plug-in hybrids with ranges of 40 miles – even the likes of Mazda and Honda, busy following a hydrogen pathway in Japan, and sceptical of the benefits of electric, have now got pure electric cars in the UK market.

Range is going up; price is coming down. It’s all headed in the right direction. I drove a Skoda Enyaq to Bestival last weekend and here is a comfy, pure electric SUV with a premium feel, almost 300 miles of range, costing about £40,000 – what you’d pay for a petrol family SUV. Price parity achieved, ahead of the 2024 prediction. Box ticked.

Next, however, comes the infrastructure. Sadly, “How will I charge my car?” actually comes before “Which car shall I buy?” in the list of consumer to-do queries before going electric, and here’s where it all unravels. We took the Skoda Enyaq from Kent to Birmingham last weekend, which should have been a journey of about 3.5 hours. It took us almost six, thanks to the appalling lack of working, available, fast charging points. Our route took us up the A21, along the M25, then the M40, and round Birmingham to Telford.

First, there are not enough charging points on any of these routes. Perhaps at midnight on a weekday, or 11:00 on a rainy Monday, you’ll be ok, and arrive at a working charging point without a car already plugged in, on 20 per cent, its owner vanished for coffee and cake for an hour. On a Saturday in August, I can tell you that every working 120kW charger we came across at the five service stations we tried with increasing anxiety, had not only one car already charging but at least one more waiting. That signals a wait of at least an hour before you can get on it, plus your own charging time.

Second, the number of ChadeMo, CCS and 22kW points out of service was ridiculous. I’d say every other charger was out of order.

Third, Gridserve’s twin fast charging points are still waiting for the software update that allows both to be used at the same time, but there’s no sign to tell motorists this. If, as I was, you are plugged in, merrily charging away, and someone else rocks up and plugs in to the other charger, yours may well stop charging (either that, or theirs won’t work). If you have plugged yours in and disappeared for lunch, you may well come back to a nasty surprise, as another driver by us did.

But leaving all the “teething” problems aside, and assuming all the above issues improve, there are some basics that could improve life for us all. For a start, why no signs at motorway services directing motorists to the charging points? There are signs for fuel, food and even Tesla superchargers. But none for the ordinary motorist circling the carpark scouting for the sole charging point behind Greggs. Why?

And why no signs before you leave the motorway, telling motorists if there are any charging points at the services? Or whether they are 120kW, 50kW or 22kW? A motorist in desperate need of 60 per cent charge and half an hour to acquire it cannot be plugging in to a 22kW spot.

Lastly, why no queuing system for cars waiting to charge, painted on the Tarmac? Simple numbered bays, to be filled in order of arrival for each point, would stop everyone having to sort it out for themselves, and fight for the single point that suddenly frees up.

Sadly, my advice right now is that the only way to go electric and not go mad is either to buy a Tesla or a home charging point. Otherwise, it’s a waiting game.