Electric vehicles

[Tony Griffiths]

Perfect conditions for your electric car. Ten hours stuck in a snow-bound traffic jam.
Grandad. What do we do when that happens in the other grandad's new electric car - and the battery goes flat? Will we freeze to death?
No, you go and sit in a car with a diesel engine that can tick-over for 24 hours and use only a few of litres of fuel.
How will the electric car start when the snow is cleared?
It won't, you'll need towing out.
Will that be expensive?
Probably. Very.
How will we find a charging point in the run-down French garage to where we are towed?
You won't. You'll have to be towed to one somewhere else.
Will that be expensive?
Yes. Very.
Will our charging card work in the charger thing in France? The last two Grandad tried, it wouldn't.
Almost certainly not.
What will we do?
You'll be able to stay in a hotel while grandad shouts loudly down the phone again at the people who supplied the card.
Will the hotel be expensive.
Very.
Will grandad be able to afford it?
Probably not, but grandma always has a spare credit card.
How long will all this take?
Two or three days, I suppose.
But we'll miss three days skiing out of seven.
I know. It's terrible. I told him to take the Diesel Volvo 4 x 4 but he wouldn't listen. Said something about saving the planet.