Martin has leased cars from OVL for a number of years and decided that when his lease was coming to an end in 2022 he would take the 'leap' and go all-electric. With advice from his account manager he ordered a Skoda Enyaq.
Here's his story
In preparation for the delivery of our Skoda Enyaq I joined various Facebook groups and did Google research. The groups have proved very useful, not least in posts on all sorts of questions and issues I’d never thought about.
Yes there were the expected ones like, what’s the best app to use to plan your journey? What’s it like driving in Europe? But then questions about charging speeds, home charging options and "granny" chargers (the portable domestic charger designed to charge your when access to a charging point is not possible - called a 'granny charger' because you might be visiting Granny!)
Popping to our local supermarket or to the station to catch a train created little anxiety, except in remembering that the car created very little noise and pedestrians might not hear it! We did therefore need to be even more aware of pedestrians who might not look both ways!!
We found free charging in our local supermarket - seems to be quite common but for how long?
So we go quickly comfortable with local journeys and shorter trips to see family and friends, but we had a bigger journey planned. To Copenhagen. 850 miles.
What to do?
I spent a good amount of time downloading all the apps, planning routes and estimating range at various speeds. I researched whether to charge the battery to 100% or stick to the regular recommendation of 80%. Should we drive with the air conditioning on, or does this drain the battery?
The biggest anxiety underlying all this was what happens if you just run out of juice?
We needn’t have worried
Full charge got us easily to Eurotunnel and we had a quick charge there at Tesla and only a 2 minute wait to get access to a charger. In Europe there were available chargers either on the motorway or a short distance off the motorway where we charged up and enjoyed a walk and picnic.
And then the surprise. There is a community of EV drivers. At charging stations they smile at each other, say hello, share charging stories. They offer help if you are struggling, in a pleasant way and look interestedly at what you do whilst your waiting. And you do too!
The wait to charge, and it’s only 20 minutes, becomes a pleasant break in the journey. You take a big breath and relax. Have a drink. Go for a short walk. Stretch. Read a book. Do some work. Whatever you like.
Forced stopping forces you to chill.
So the anxiety turns into pleasure, even joy.
Would I go back to diesel, no chance!