According to the BBC, it “took 4 days, some serious thermal underwear, and copious amounts of waiting” to make the journey from London to Edinburgh (405 miles) by electric car (Mini adventure: how far can electric car go?). Such a trip should take seven to eight hours when driving a car powered by gas.
Christoper Booker asks, why not reinstate stage coaches? “[I]n the 1830s, a stagecoach was able to make the same journey in half the time, with two days and nights of continuous driving.” If the idea is to lower our carbon footprint and become more pastoral, why not indeed?
When I was a kid, gas (petrol) stations were not plentiful in some places, so it was common to see one or two five-gallon Jerry Cans filled with gas strapped onto the rear bumper of a car. Given the lengthy recharge times for electric (versus 3-5 minutes for refilling a gas tank), batteries should be interchangeable. You could strap seven or eight of them to your bumper, pull the spent one out, pop a fully-charged one in and you’re good to go. Larger cars and SUVs would take more batteries. A trailer might haul the spare batteries for long cross-country trips in the United States.
What do you think? Will stagecoaches or electric cars replace gas/diesel powered cars and trucks?
One thought on “Driving Missed Daily: London to Edinburgh by electric car”