A retired couple were left stranded for three days during a European road trip because their electric car wouldn’t charge up.
Andy Ford, 68, and his wife Jenny, had decided to take a long, relaxing holiday – driving to Portugal in their Volkswagen ID.5 and taking in the sights through France and Spain along the way.
Unfortunately, Andy found a lot of the European charging points he tried were faulty or out-of-serviceAlamy
But the dream break soon took a turn for the worse, with the couple having to navigate a broken charging network, and deal with gremlins in the VW’s system which prevented it from topping up when they did eventually find a working hook-up point.
Andy explained: “We started our journey from Kent to the Algarve in Portugal with 100% charge and a predicted range of around 260 miles.
“I had planned to use the chargers at the Channel Tunnel to top up before we made the crossing, but none of them were working, which I thought was very poor.
“But, we arrived in France with the car showing a 90% charge left – so onwards and upwards, I thought.
Andy, an ex-professional football player and manager – with the likes of Southend Utd and Swindon Town on his CV – didn’t need to rush his trip as he’s now retired, and wanted to enjoy the drive down to Portugal.
The first part of the journey to Tours in France went without any major hitch, although Andy’s car wouldn’t connect to the faster charging points that were available at some service stations.
After an enjoyable overnight stay, it was to be the next leg of the journey that would prove to be a little more troublesome.
Andy said: “We always started looking for chargers once we got down to 100 miles and, with it being cold, our maximum charges were only getting us around 240 miles – not the 320 miles I was getting in August, which is a big difference.
“We went to a charging point picked by the navigation system on the car, but although it appeared to start to charge it stopped after a few minutes.
“We decided to try a charger on the other side of the A63, but unfortunately the next three chargers either had a ‘broken’ sign or would not accept our particular account cards.
“By now we only had 30 miles of range left, and it was a 20-mile trip to the next available charger.
“We arrived stressed, but pleased to find it accepted one of our charge cards – although unfortunately it again stopped working within five minutes.
Andy and his wife were now panicking, and phoned VW Assistance to arrange for a rescue truck to take the car to a VW dealership in Arcachon, La Teste de Buch.
Andy said: “It was now about 5pm, and after spending a few hours on my mobile phone trying to speak to the French section of VW Assistance, we were finally taken by taxi to a hotel about 10pm that evening.
“We had to spend three nights in Arcachon with a hire car, but we made the most of it.
“VW eventually told us that the car needed an update on its internal computer, and that they had successfully charged it at the garage, although we’re still unsure as to the reason for the failure of the multiple charges.
“After six long days we finally entered Portugal and, after another full day of driving we arrived at our apartment in Portimao that evening – knackered, but with a real sense of achievement .
“Am I happy with my Electric car? 100% yes – I’m retired and don’t have to rush anywhere, but if I was in business doing long journeys, I think it would be a NO.
I have my own home charger and charge at night with Octopus at 0.075p, so I can get a full tank for around £5/£6.
“But, when you are out on the road, some of the chargers can be a lot more expensive than others.
“I do think the manufacturers should have to tell you as it is, concerning the reality of the distances your car will actually travel – it can vary an awful lot depending on the weather and how much power you’re using in the car, and you can often see a drop of around 100 miles from what you might have been expecting.