Is it possible to live with an electric car even if you can’t charge it up at home? We’re finding out with the help of the Skoda Enyaq iV electric SUV…
The car Skoda Enyaq iV 60 Loft Nav Run by Darren Moss, deputy editor
Why it’s here To show that it’s possible to use an electric car as your sole vehicle, even if you can’t charge it at home
Needs to Have enough range to not need charging every day, be comfortable for longer trips, and function as a mobile office when needed
Mileage 2082 List price £34,850 Target Price £34,850 Price as tested £40,005 Test range 190 miles Official range 256 miles
15 February 2022 – The last resort
Whether it’s running down the street with a bag over your head to avoid the rain, or cancelling your lost debit card having given up on ever finding it, there are plenty of examples of so-called ‘last resort’ measures. And when you drive an electric car (EV), a last resort means using a three-pin plug to charge it up.
This is something, I’ve found, that no EV owner really wants to do. After all, it’s painfully slow – a full charge in this way would take around 27 hours for my Skoda Enyaq, adding range at a snail-like eight miles per hour. Compare that with the nine hours the same charge would take using a 7.4kWh wall box charger, and you can see why most electric car owners had one fitted at home when they decided to go green.
Trouble is, my parents have yet to go electric. When I pop home for a visit, I inevitably arrive with 60 miles or so of range left from my full battery – enough to pootle around town to see friends, sure, but nowhere near enough to get me home. That means I often have to plug into the three-pin socket in the garage to top up my battery overnight.
Unlike the Type 2 charging cable you use to plug the Enyaq into a wall box or public charging point, the three-pin socket charger is a bulky thing. There’s a plastic transformer box to regulate the charge going into the car and an ominous set of LED lights to tell you if something’s wrong. When I plug the socket end into the wall, the LEDs on the box go green, and Dad’s electricity flows into my car.
The Enyaq makes checking whether your car is charging easy. If, like me, you like to check, double check and then check things again, all you need do is look at the charging port, which has a handy light above it to show the status. White means it’s waiting to connect, green means all is well and red means it’s time to dig out the Enyaq’s owner’s manual.
Of course, not being able to charge at home means I’ve been mostly relying on the public network to charge my car, and that means running an electric car is more costly than most EV owners might expect. Still, in the same way that I’ll pay more for a reusable coffee cup rather than a single-use one, I’m happy to spend a bit extra to do my bit for the environment.
Relying on the public network as I do, I’ve become far more willing to let my range get lower than I would in a petrol or diesel car. Despite the prevalence of fuel stations, I usually get twitchy to fill up once my tank reads a quarter full. In the Enyaq, I’ll happily glide past my local charging station with 40 miles of range remaining, and the yellow ‘charge me’ light illuminated on the dashboard. It’s a somewhat cavalier attitude, I know, but I’ve never run out completely. Not yet, anyway…
Keyword: Skoda Enyaq iV long-term test review