Are all-electric cars the future of motoring or a hopeless dead end?

I HOPE Isabel Hardman’s article (‘My electric car drove me to distraction’) does not put people off buying one. I bought a Renault ZOE 18 months ago and have no complaints. It cost £13,500, after the Government’s electric discount of £5,000. There is free vehicle tax and a charging unit was included and installed in my garage so I can recharge at home. My range is about 180 miles, but on eco-friendly mode this increases to 210 miles. Recently I drove from Bristol to Anglesey — about 220 miles. I planned it on the Zap-Map site that shows the locations of chargers. As I fully charged before setting out, I only needed to stop once for an hour and a half on the way out. The cost of the 500-mile round trip was about £8 (to charge the battery at home; charging stations were free).

C. L. Jones, Bristol. THE drive towards all-electric cars is an ill-thought-out policy that borders on lunacy. A typical motorway service station with 12 petrol pumps and an average fill time of

three minutes can refuel 240 cars an hour. An electric car might take three hours — so you would need 720 charging points rather than the handful available at motorway service stations. You would also have to greatly increase their facilities for motorists waiting for their cars to charge. I can drive my diesel car 350 miles from York to Aberdeen and still have almost half a tank of fuel left. Hybrid cars are the only thing which makes sense if non-electric cars are to be replaced. CAMPBELL ROBERTSON, Tollerton, North Yorkshire. ISABEL HARDMAN is right about the difficulties faced when charging Electric Vehicles (EVs) away from home. I own a Renault ZOE and we need a wallet full of ‘membership cards’ plus phone apps to use the chargers that are run by different firms. Why can’t we just drive up, charge and pay with cash or credit card as we can when filling up with diesel? And if you don’t own a smartphone (that’s me), forget it. EVs have a limited future unless this chaotic charging system is sorted out.

GILL BARON, Leicester. I WAS so surprised to read about your reporter’s issues getting from Cumbria to Wigtown in her electric car. I have made the 327-mile journey to Garlieston (near Wigtown) from Stafford in six hours, which included stops at Lancaster Services and Todhills on the M6. I also couldn’t get the charger to work at Todhills. So I phoned Ecotricity and they activated it. In my electric Nissan, overnight athome charging takes about six hours, certainly not the 13 hours quoted. Don’t be put off — EVs are the future, and have brought the joy back into motoring for me. They’re quiet, have all the modern motoring comforts and running costs are minimal. DAVID WOOKEY, Stafford.