VW Golf GTE

What use is a plug-in hybrid when you struggle to find somewhere to plug it in?

ELECTRIC CARS ARE THE FUTURE, aren’t they? That’s certainly what we’re being told by both governments and manufacturers. And on the face of it, the message is getting across, the roads filling up with ever increasing numbers of pure EVS and plug-in models such as our Golf GTE. What isn’t changing as quickly, however, is the infrastructure that supports these machines.

I’ve been custodian of the GTE for four months as I write, and do you know how many times I’ve plugged it into a street-side, public-access charging socket? Not once. This was highlighted recently on a family week away that involved a dash to North Yorkshire followed by a long drive south to Devon to visit my parents. Once I’d unplugged from the socket at my Hertfordshire home, the next time the Golf got a shot of electricity was over 500 miles later when I hooked it up to one of the 13-amp plugs in my parents’ garage.

Now, that’s not to say there weren’t any charging points on our route, it’s just that they were few and far between. In central Harrogate there were two chargers highlighted by the online charging location finder Zap-map, both of which were suitable only for a Tesla. Down in Plymouth there were a few more spots to top-up according to the VW’S satnav, yet when we plotted a route for the charger nearest our destination we arrived to find no trace of it. Frustrating in a plug-in hybrid, but potentially disastrous in a pure EV.

There was more success of sorts on the motorway. For example, Hopwood Services on the M42 just outside Birmingham had 16 Tesla Superchargers (of which just three were in use), plus a pair of Ecotricity charging stations. This was good news, because the Golf had been delivered with an Ecotricity charging card, meaning I could top-up the cells while we had a spot of lunch. Except it didn’t work out like that. For starters, I had to download an app to my phone before I was able access one of the four available plug fittings. Yet once it installed I discovered the Golf wasn’t compatible with the choice of CCS, AC or DC fast chargers on offer. The VW only works with a medium-speed charger, of which Ecotricity has just 16 across the country.

The whole process was confusing and irritating in equal measure. Can you imagine turning up at a filling station in an internal combustion engined car and discovering you can’t access any fuel because this particular brand of petrol used pumps with a nozzle that isn’t compatible with your car’s filler neck?

If the electric car really is the future then the infrastructure needs to catch up with the device it services. And quickly. That doesn’t just mean more charging points, it means a universal charging system and a simple payment method.

In the meantime the GTE remains an effortless and occasionally entertaining hatchback to live with. Albeit one whose fuel economy has suffered as it has essentially spent the last month carrying around 200kg of virtually useless batteries and electric motor.

‘If the electric car really is the future then the infrastructure needs to catch up, and quickly’