A MAN was left fuming after his electric car ran out of power, and a 30-minute journey home took him eight hours.
Russell Mason, from Maidstone, planned to travel to Crawley and then to Eastbourne on Valentine’s day to meet a few business clients.
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The EV driver had charged his car, a Volkswagen ID.4, the night before at home – and before heading off to Crawley, the car’s digital display showed 160 miles of range.
Fortunately, the journey from his home to Eastbourne went pretty well.
Once Russell finished the meeting with his client, he started the return journey back home – looking forward to celebrating Valentine’s day with his wife.
Russell told the Sun Online: “At 3 pm, I had finished in Eastbourne, and I checked my range, and it was reading 38 miles.
“I decided to start heading back home, and if I needed to, would stop and charge it.”
“On my journey back, I was very mindful of running out and closely looked at my range and how quickly it seemed to be going down.”
Russell revealed that he was starting to feel anxious when the car’s instrument display indicated he only had 12 miles left, and the closest charging point was 7.5 miles away.
He said: “I made my way to Tonbridge, going through Five Oak Green and down Badsell hill.
“However, I suddenly realised I had no miles left on my car.
“I was coasting down the hill going 15 miles an hour and had to stop every few minutes to let other vehicles overtake me.”
However, the situation got worse, and his car suddenly stopped.
He said: “I got to Five Oak Green road at the bottom of the hill in Tonbridge before my car went into limp mode, taking me at five miles an hour to within a mile of a McDonald’s charging point before ultimately coming to a stop.”
Russell contacted the leasing car company to find a solution.
“I phoned my leasing car company at 4.40 pm, and an automated message eventually put me through to the RAC.
“The lady said as my vehicle was under a year old, VW would arrange recovery and it would be free to the lease company.”
“The RAC lady gave me the VW recovery number and said good luck.”
Russell contacted the number and was told they would be with him within two hours.
However, they arrived six hours and fifty minutes later to help him.
He added: “When they eventually arrived after waiting for six hours and fifty minutes, they put the car on the back of a tow truck and drove to the charging point at McDonald’s.
“They left me to sit and wait another half an hour for the car to get a 30% charge to get home.”
Eventually, he arrived home at 12:30 am, and his wife was not too happy because he had missed out on a special meal.
Russell was particularly annoyed because it usually takes him 30 minutes to travel from Tonbridge to his house.
Russell revealed: “I was feeling distraught and angry with the experience. Would I recommend an electric car? Definitely not.”
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