No trips by car this week. All my journeys were on foot or by bus. Saturday was the most intense with a walk to Heartlands parkrun to be one of the Tailwalkers then the walking home; a total of 7 miles. Then I got the bus to Hayle for lunch at Be Kind the Vegan Coffee Caravan followed by coffee with friends. I am not sure what passers-by thought about 4 over 60s laughing and singing, but we had fun.
I forgot to mention last week that I have now driven 40,000 miles in my Zoe since I first took delivery of it in August 2021, so an average of 15,545 miles a year with no problems charging.
There has been a small flurry of anti-EV articles in the media prompted by some less than positive news about EV sales. Progress is very seldom a rising straight line, it is usually a wiggly line with ups and downs. It was good to see the Daily Mail brought to account and made to apologise for making up a story about EVs causing potholes. Daily Mail admits making up story about electric vehicles causing potholes.
I like to focus on the positive so will mention some good news stories. Polestar has charged a prototype from 10-80 per cent in just 10 minutes which equates to 200 miles range in 10 minutes. That sort of development, along with the production of electric vehicles with longer ranges, will mean that the experience of owning an electric car will soon be a lot different from what it has been.
Having said that progress is seldom smooth the rollout of rapid chargers has been just that. The Department of Transport published a report on 30th April Electric vehicle public charging infrastructure statistics: April 2024. The graph ‘Chart 2: Installed UK public rapid charging or above devices’ has a lovely shape.
Another good news story was ‘UK is most suited country in Europe to mass EV adoption, data shows’, which was particularly about fleet-based vehicles. A survey found that “Over 12 months, tracked vehicles averaged 52 miles a day – “well within the limits of current EV technology”.
And finally I should soon be able to make my public transport journeys on an electric bus; Cornwall ‘amps up’ on climate ambitions as funding announced for county’s first electric buses.
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Electric driving 