EASY TO CHARGE.. C FOR YOURSELF
No need to worry about electric future as powering up Citroen’s Aircross hybrid SUV is as simple as ABC5
Maggie Barry
I have a confession to make… I have driven many electric cars but never personally charged one at a public point – until now. And it is so easy.
Here are the steps I went through when the Citroen C5 Aircross hybrid was delivered to my door without a domestic charger.
This is going to become more and more common as car makers prefer us not to plug into our domestic circuit but instead use a wallbox or, as in this case, a public charger.
Despite an initial panic, my second thought was: “This cannot be too difficult because I know lots of people who do this regularly and I have lots of colleagues who charge different cars every week.”
First thing is to download an app such as Zap-Map, which will not only give you the location of the nearest public chargers and how many there are but will also tell you what make they are and if there are any problems. For example, the app will automatically let you know if other cars are already charging and how many or if there have been issues reported with any charging points.
After having a look at the literature that came with the C5 Aircross hybrid, I realised Polar Pod Point was probably my best bet for this car as Citroen has a tie-up with this firm so it was less likely to pose any problems and, fortunately, there was a Polar Pod Point charging station just two miles from my house.
Other charging networks include ChargePlace Scotland, bp pulse, VendElectric, InstaVolt and others, with ChargeScotland being the most common in the area where I live.
I drove to my Pod Point charger in a local supermarket, parked and looked at the instructions. I realised I’d have to download and sign up to the Pod Point app, which was easy enough, and then I followed the instructions. Within a couple of minutes I was plugged in and up and running.
My car was charging so I went in to the store to do my shopping. I followed that up with a cup of coffee and lemon cake and when I came out – result. The electric charge on my car was up at about 75 per cent. And even better – the clever people at Citroen have put in an eSave button so once you are fully charged you can continue to charge on the move by coasting and decelerating and topping up the power.
The other thing I real ised as I approached my motor is the C5 Aircross hybrid is quite a car to be reckoned with. It is big and rugged looking with 19in alloys and a real presence – not really the kind of attitude you associate with much smaller electric cars and hybrids.
It mates a 1.6-litre petrol engine with an 80kW electric motor, which will give you a minimum of 157mpg if you use the electric capability judiciously, rising to 222.3mpg.
And this is not a feeble SUV. It comes with three driving modes – electric, hybrid and sport. Electric gives you silent runnings and will keep you going for up to 40 miles – and at the moment at Pod Point the electricity is free. It was powerful and agile in hybrid mode before I even tried it out in sport.
And, of course, being a Citroen, the emphasis in the interior is on comfort. Lots of leather, plenty of tech and a full array of safety systems with great aids such as the intelligent beam headlights. I particularly liked the automatic tailgate.
It’s good to know that, as we face an electric future, cars like the C5 Aircross are around to make the whole process just extremely easy.