So mum and I spent 30 minutes at Moto Exeter early on Christmas morning, this time teasing a meagre 45kW out of the 350kW charger, a rate that quickly dropped to an insulting 30kW, and had only crept back to 39kW when I unplugged. We only managed to get charged from 60 to 76 per cent in half an hour. On the plus side, a 19kWh top-up that would have cost fifteen quid turned out to be a Christmas freebie – belated season’s greetings to you too, Gridserve.
As we left Moto Exeter, we had 234 miles of range showing from a three-quarters-charged battery, and arrived home in time for Christmas lunch 134 miles later, with a remaining range of 20 per cent, or 37 miles. This seems typical, because we use electrons at a rate that means the car ‘loses’ between a quarter and a third of the range that’s promised at the start of any given journey.
Not ideal, and when I had to repeat the Torbay run in a rush a week later, I made the return journey twice on a tank of diesel in my old Mercedes B-Class instead.
For day-to-day use though, there’s much to like about the E-3008. It’s eye-catching on the outside, and the interior is indulgently comfortable as well as good-looking. I’ll skip past the square steering wheel, because while I’m not convinced, increasing numbers of people seem to find them appealing. The expansive digital display panel is certainly impressive to look at, though.
