Local power outage no major issue for electric cars

Sir, – I read with interest the letters on December 1 reference the devastating Storm Arwen.

However, we had the usual bashing of electric cars and would like to draw readers’ attention to the true facts. I was subjected to three days without power – but concern for my electric car was not a problem.

Our local garage was shut – because there was no electricity to power the petrol pumps and I had to drive to Inverurie to get petrol for a small generator. If I had a petrol car which was virtually out of fuel, I would have been just as inconvenienced as I would if I had an electric car with a flat battery.

However, when an electric car announces that it is low on power, the car will still travel about 30 miles before it gives up. There are lots of charging points in Inverurie and I topped my car up while shopping and filling a can with petrol.

The electric car is not yet perfect but my little Renault Zoe is still doing 200 miles between charges and a power outage locally is no problem.

On another related matter, there has been some grumbling about the time it took to get power back on. I can only say ‘well done!’ to the electricity engineers. It can’t have been fun working in those conditions and thanks so much to them for their efforts!

Peter Donaldson, Meikle Wartle, Inverurie