What electric Car? - Problems and solutions

The biggest problem with electric cars is their range: how far they can be driven before they need recharging.

Advances in battery technology are extending that distance all the time, but the fact remains that, if you were faced with a journey of more than 100 miles, you’d still be better off with a conventional petrol- or diesel-powered car.

Then, there are the issues of how long it takes to recharge an electric car – and where you can do it.

You can refill a car with petrol or diesel in just a few minutes, but you’re probably looking at an absolute minimum of half an hour to charge an electric car – and even then it’s probably not charged to its maximum.

What about an electric infrastructure?
While the country is littered with petrol stations, finding an electric charge point is far more tricky.

It might be easy enough to plug a car in at home – if you can park close enough and have a long enough lead – but have you ever seen a charging point when you’ve been out and about? Chances are you haven't.

Even though more and more points are being set up as governments, councils and employers try to encourage the use of electric cars, there’s nothing even close to the existing infrastructure of fuel stations; and it will be some time before there is.

Is there any point in buying electric, then?
It is widely acknowledged that most car journeys are well below 100 miles, so an electric car would be ideal.

If you’re just commuting and can leave the car to charge during the day or overnight, you should not dismiss the electric car out of hand.

The 'range-extender' solution
If you need to travel greater distances, there is a potential solution to these range- and charging problems in the shape of so-called ‘range-extended’ cars such as the Vauxhall Ampera.

Like a regular electric car, these are always driven by an electric motor and can be plugged into the mains to be recharged, but they also include an on-board generator (in the Ampera’s case, working from a small petrol engine) to top up the batteries’ charge when necessary.