I never knew stress till I tried to charge my electric vehicle in a public car park

Ilove my new electric car. I love its gentle hum as we glide along roads and highways together. And I love how it heats up in seconds on a winter’s day, melting snow and ice from the windscreen in under a minute.

I love that I get what feels like a luxury car for an affordable price.

I love that it saves me time and money on refuelling.

There’s only one drawback, really. Car parks.

I have a range in warmer weather of around 120 miles. So for dotting around close to home on the average day, I don’t need to stop and recharge anywhere.

But longer trips now fill me with fear because of the stress of trying to charge my car for the journey home.

My first car park charging experience was down at Dundee station, where they have a few adapted bays for electric vehicle drivers like me outside.

Armed with a charging cable in the back seat, I drew up to one of the charging bays with a sense of environmental smugness that would outshine Patrick Harvie’s.

But the self-satisfied grin soon faded when I approached the charge point – now an immediate fear trigger on sight.

This particular charge point was operated by Chargeplace Scotland – the “national Electric Vehicle (EV) charging network”.

Instead of what I thought would happen – I’d be asked to present a credit card, plug in and get going – I was asked to present my “RFID card” or download the app.

I didn’t have a card so I downloaded the app, then had to register myself, my payment details and my car to use it.

By this point I was beginning to break into a sweat because 10 minutes had passed and I was running late for a meeting.

But my torment was only beginning because the app didn’t pick up the charging point where I was standing, so I couldn’t link it to my vehicle.

By now the sweat was running cold. I finally found a Chargeplace Scotland phoneline and a very helpful lady eventually got me synced up and started the charge.

The app “is a bit unreliable”, she informed me.

The next time I tried Gellatly Street car park.

I’m going back a couple of months, so at that stage it was still free to park a fully electric vehicle in a council car park.

These days you pay for the parking and the charge.

Once again, the app didn’t sync with my charging point and, once again, I had to call the helpline and, once again, they told me the app wasn’t very reliable.

Get a card, they advised.

So I did.

On Monday morning I pulled up by the charging bays on the ground floor of Gellatly Street car park, only to find that they were for Dundee City Council employees and disabled drivers only and I would have to go to the top floor... of a nine-storey car park.

I was dizzy by the time I reached it, having passed multiple empty storeys along the way.

When I eventually made it to the openair charging area I found I was alone save for a gang of shirty gulls who had put considerable effort into marking out their territory.

I knew for sure my car was going to be targeted for the same treatment, and I wasn’t wrong.

Anyway, I had my RFID card and nothing was going to stop me... apart from the charge point, which did recognise my card but didn’t start charging after I plugged my car in as instructed.

Once again I called the helpline.

By now 10 minutes had passed and, once again, I was starting to run late.

To cut a long story short, another courteous Chargeplace Scotland employee eventually managed to locate my point and manually enabled the charge.

Some of the “older points” weren’t working so well, she told me.

When I returned to Gellatly Street at the end of the day and climbed (and climbed) the stairs to get to the charging bays on the top floor, my car was still the only one there.

If it had been dark I would have felt very alone and very aware of it.

The gulls had made their mark. But it was pouring with rain so although I got soaked, at least it washed off the bird poo.

You see, I love my new electric car. I want to use it and charge it with confidence.

But unless charging is made easier, and preferably in safe, readily accessible locations, motorists aren’t going to queue up to make the switch.

Once again, the app didn’t sync with my charging point

DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION: Clare loves her new electric car – but finding a reliable charging point is proving frustrating.