I have taken the step. I have switched to a 100% electric car without a safety net. Without having a second vehicle, which is what the fashionable mantra says: “Electric is fine if you have a second car to make long runs”.
I have made up my mind that the experience will be similar to when you change your mobile. At first there is no way to do things with a certain agility, but you end up getting used to it and in the end it works just as well or better than the previous one. Also, against my usual criteria, I have decided to pay for it with flexible financing. Of these that after three years you can decide if you just paid for the car or change it. In case the technology improves a lot in this time. These are decisions that have a lot to do with the idea that those of us who currently opt for an electric car without a network are a kind of guinea pig. I take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge those who have done it before me.
The first long trip was to Figueres and, once there, it took me more than three hours to figure out how to recharge the battery. There are so many different charging sources, depending on so many different companies and/or administrations and linked to different applications, that I ended up arriving more than two hours late at my second destination. I had conjured myself not to lose my temper, and the understanding of my friends, who were waiting, made it all very easy.
Another effect of the electric is that you wonder if you really should pay attention to all the traffic signs. Do speed restrictions due to pollution alerts affect me if I don't pollute? I fulfill them, but you will be with me in that it does not make much sense. It also helps you to be aware of the way you drive. You clearly see how the battery consumption changes depending on the speed, the gradient and the way you drive.
Anyway, the message of this column is for those who are thinking about it: it can be done. It is a matter of wanting. And another message for our rulers: encourage us to move to the electric car. If we want things to change, we cannot remain the same. In our country only 3% of new cars are electric. We are still very far from the 10% average of the EU countries, which is not high either.
