Mini adventure: how far can an electric car go?
14 January 2011 Last updated at 12:17
The BBC's Brian Milligan has driven an electric Mini from London to Scotland, using only public charge points. Here is his diary of that journey.
DAY FOUR
Miles achieved: 484
Miles to go: 0
It took 4 days, some serious thermal underwear, and copious amounts of waiting.
But my electric car and I finally made it to Edinburgh.
There were plenty of nervous moments, and a rather low-key entry to the Scottish capital.
After all, I was driving at 30mph and was shivering with cold.
On the last leg I'd got suddenly over-confident, and had a serious dose of range anxiety.
It has been a slow journey but Brian and the mini finally made it to Edinburgh
At one point my range indicator showed 48 miles charge left on my battery, with 50 miles still to go.
Hence the slow speed, and the lack of heater.
6 mph average
Including the time spent both charging and driving, I managed an average speed between London and Edinburgh of just 6mph.
Not exactly impressive, or very practical, but then I'm sure Stevenson's Rocket didn't go very fast the first time he tried it.
And there certainly was a moment when I didn't think I'd make it at all.
I'd got to Wark, close to Kielder Forest in Northumberland, at what I thought was the last outpost of electric charging points in England.
From here it is 87.1 miles to Edinburgh.
The publican of the Battlesteads hotel, Richard Slade, didn't think I'd make it.
"You're going to have difficulty at the end," he said gloomily.
In summer, it would have been perfectly possible, as warmer temperatures take the range of the electric Mini up to 100 miles.
But in the cooler winter climate, I'd been managing between 70 and 80 miles.
At this moment I heard that the UK's most recent charging post had just been installed at a garden centre at Berwick on Tweed.
Last week in fact.
A quick look at the map, and we calculated it was about 70 miles away, just within range, and perfectly positioned for the last leg to Edinburgh.
Last Post
The drive across Northumberland, through the towns of Bellingham and Rothbury, is surely one of the most spectacular, and under-rated, in England.
We hurried over misty moorland, and through sunlit villages like Eldon, its streets and corners still heaped up with snow.
And soon there it was, at the Berwick Garden Centre: the last post in England; my mini and I the first customers.
Without this, the drive to Edinburgh would not be possible.
With it, the electric car can claim to be something which so far it hasn't been: a vehicle for travelling long-distance, as well as to the supermarket and back.
My point is that if anyone is prepared to spend £23,000 or so on an electric car, they surely don't want to have to buy a petrol one as well, just so they can drive out of town at week-ends.
Sweet Combination
This journey has been laborious, impractical and time-consuming.
But from here on out, the technology will improve rapidly.
We are in a golden age, where manufacturers are pouring millions of pounds into research, while governments across the world are prepared to subsidise both the cars and the charging posts.
That is a sweet combination.
By the end of next year, the UK will have 4,000 charging posts across the country.
Your car's sat nav will guide you straight to them, so there'll be no time wasted while you hunt for them.
When you plug in, your car will get an 80% charge in just 20 minutes.
Meanwhile fuel prices continue to rise.
The economics of electric motoring, and the practicalities, are constantly changing.
But from where I've been sitting for the last four days, there's only one way those economics are headed.
And now I'm heading home too - on the train this time.
Source; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12138420
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