Just 18 hours ago, I would’ve told you that the electric cars that make the most practical sense right now are little ones. They’re smaller and lighter than other EVs, which makes them more efficient. They belong in cities, where their cleanliness matters most. But as I sit at my desk, wondering exactly how to address this, I’ve come to view it completely differently.
It had all started so well. With a battery two-thirds charged I drove into town for a meeting, feeling like I was in just the right car for the job. Later on, I left the city for the open roads to the south, where I could put the Abarth 500e’s sporting credentials to the test. It was a cold winter’s day, but a beautiful one, and the roads were quiet. The tiny Abarth was charming and fun, in its way, and I knew my position on EVs was the right one.
No more than 40 miles later, we were limping our way back into town in desperate search of a charge point, the range readout blank, the battery charge indicator at just five per cent, that reproachful little tortoise graphic staring at me from the dash, telling me speed was restricted due to the very low battery state of charge, and all of a sudden I wasn’t so sure. I visited three charging stations before I found one that worked, where I sat for half an hour gathering enough sparks to get us both back home.
