The person who can’t remember to plug in their electric car every night is the same person who runs out of petrol on the motorway and buys fuel 5 pounds at a time. They don’t ever learn.

This reminds me of: "I'm sure in 1985, plutonium is available at every corner drugstore, but in 1955 it's a little hard to come by." - Dr. Emmett Brown:

Millions in the UK live in terraced houses with no off road parking, like me. For us I cant see an EV ever being an option

I ran out of fuel in an ICE car because I didn’t check the fuel gauge. Living with an ICE car for a week didn’t go well !!!

You didn't plug the damn thing in properly, do not blame it on poor planning, my god.

You didn't plug the car in stop being silly.

You are a clot for not making sure it was not plugged in correctly!

I made a long posts in reply to another comment but just wanted to comment on one thing you said in the video. Please remember, once you have a home charger installed, you won’t care if the nearest charger is 30 miles away. Close to home is not where you need rapid chargers to be. Was a good video, and many of your points are valid, but most of your issues would have been non-issues if a) you had a home charger and b) you actually plugged the car in!!! 😆 I know you yourself did make that point but as someone who recently made the switch, I get it worth emphasising. I’m surprised at how easy the change was. Didn’t require much of a change, and in fact it made life easier in many ways.

No, you don't need to plan. Your 3 trips that week were all within the range of that car. You had 0 planning for that and it was possible even on the plug you had if only you had plugged in the car the evening before your second trip. And while being on location, have a look if there are any chargers nearby that can even help you out further. The reason you didn't do that on your first trip was because you said to yourself: plenty of range left. When you own a plug-in car, think about the ABC: Always Be Charging. You also mentioned multiple times how Tesla has its charging infrastructure in order. My question then becomes: how far is the nearest supercharger from your location? And remember that fast/super charging is only there for long trips. Your primary charging source has to be your home plug. Otherwise, it would simply be too damn expensive.

Correct the expert: your charging/range issue is not “an EV problem” your problem is limited to that Audi eTron.

Oooh I like when cars give you bongs... and Audi's have the most polite, friendly bongs of them all

this is silly, it is like testing a ICE with a 5 litre can of fuel....and saying it did not go well... well duh!

I drive a plug-in hybrid and for the first 6 weeks I had it, I didn't have a charger at home. Once I installed the home charger, it was a world of difference.

Thats nonsense you hadn’t enough charge in your car, not through any lack of planning but because you hadn’t plugged it in properly. That’s not anything to do with planning it was down to you being careless. If you’d fill a diesel car with petrol, I’ve done that🤭 you’d be equally stuffed. At least you can go and rapid charge for 10 minutes to get out of trouble. Try doing that if you make a mistake with your ice car.

Watched this whilst having my breakfast and coffee. This is more like an awareness video. Chances are many people who have little experience when it comes to EV cars, can run into the same problem as well. The whole planning ahead and charging infrastructure when it comes to EV cars is something I'll be considering when buying an electric car. You made the mistake so we can learn from it. Thx for the video.

I'm going to make a video where I fill up my petrol car using a straw and forget to fill it up the day it needs it It'll prove how bad petrol cars are.

"Plan ahead with an EV and you will be fine" FFS check you plugged it in correctly and you would also be fine......

when you said oh i wont be able to use the clean car today as i did not plug it in .... you still did not plug it in .... still ice car fans will love this tale...

I think it's so great that Hugh Jackmann is taking us on a private tour while also talking about cars. Thank you, Hugh!

'if you don't plan for an EV you are stuffed' that is the killer fact. Enjoyable vid Pete, good seeing your work, great watching your EV adventures

My nokia 3310 lasted a week without a charge. Now i learned to plug in my phone everytime i get the opportunity. It is the same thing with an electric car. It only takes a few days to adapt.

Your 2nd EV video and the second video where you forget to check the car is charging and then complain about the car.

I agree.. I had a call 2 months ago saying that my mother was seriously ill.. 3.00am Sunday.. I jumped in the car and drove.. I couldn’t have factored in EV charging. I left the hospital at 11.00 that night... full EV will only work with decent network and much faster charging!

if you had plugged in there would be no problem .....

I’m a London Cabbie and the Government is desperate to force us into hugely expensive Electric cabs with an appalling infrastructure, no thanks, I’m going to keep my smelly diesel for as long as I can. (The new TXe only has a 50 Mile range)

Now try and get a week with Kona, E Niro or Model 3. They are more efficient and fit into parking bays better. Easier to live with and more forgiving when forgetting to plug in. Oh and cheaper.

Can you post a link to the video where you first drove a petrol car and also happened to forget to make sure the petrol pump was inserted properly when you filled it up? You know the one where you covered the forecourt floor in 50 litres of unleaded and then later concluded that the car you were driving had poor range.

The whole point about Rapid charging is that they are NOT on your doorstep. They are placed at strategic distances en route. So that a driver leaves for a road trip and fills when the car is down to 20% range left. And so on. And , of course the 3 pin charger is intended for emergency use. That's why we call it the 'granny charger' - to be used when visiting granny only.

The lower range in the e-tron really compounds small problems into giant problems. Informative.

There are three 50kW public chargers in Chichester, West Ashling and Emsworth. All three chargers are under 10 miles from Binderton.

You are correct that planning is needed. And anybody can accidentally find their overnight charge did not work. But for someone new to EV charging, you would check it was charging before going to bed. As others have said, that "slow" top-up on first night would have been enough to transform your week. And of course if you ever want a rapid charge, you'd build it into your route so it would not be a round trip of 70 miles to gain (unto) 200. You were right to explain the joy of not filling up (and paying for) petrol. In my 3.5 years I have saved £5,500 using a very modest ranged EV (even after paying for the electricity instead).

If he had the car for a second week he would have completely changed his mind. You can definitely over-think your charging routine starting out with an EV. I bought a 2018 Nissan Leaf (150 mile range) just over a year ago and was shopping around for a 240 volts charger and an electrician to install the line. In the meantime I used the included 120 volt charger. It turned out the I never even needed to buy the 240 volt charger. My daily commute is about 70 miles per day and then on weekends I drive the car another 70 or so miles on errands. I have 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 needed to charge at a public station. I'm still using the trickle charger. The simple rule is; when the car is in the garage, it is plugged in.

That was a nice insight into electric car ownership, including to forget to connect it properly, as these things probably would happen. It highlights the importance of setting up the charger at home, need for planning ahead, understanding what chargers available at what distance to your home/work, and be prepared when chargers are broken or not working, someone using it, etc.

For EVs to be practical we need to be able to charge at the same speed as filling up a petrol car, say 5 minutes charge for a range of 500 miles (like my current car). Thank you to all you early adopters but UK not ready for mass EV usage yet.

If you don't plug in the charger correctly, *then* you are stuffed.

Five minutes of context squeezed into a 24 minute video

The infrastructure issue is crucial for many people in terraced houses or in flats or apartments as they will not be able to trail a cable out to the car. Thus public charging stations are essential. I would also worry about on street charging as at some point you can bet your life a vandal will take an axe to your cable one day.

I think I made a comment when you first announced this review Peter that went something like; “Cart before the Horse” & at the speed this country invests in infrastructure that’s where we will find ourselves - back to Horses & Carts” !! I feel privileged to have lived through an era where motorised transportation brought freedom of movement to the masses, sadly with no thoughts of how the resources would eventually run out, cause damage to the planet & just how quickly we would have to find alternatives. The latter have begun to arrive but we’re far from prepared to support their use. Bitching session over, very nice car, excellent review and thanks for sharing. Cheers Geof

In this instance, you didn't need to plan ahead. You just have to properly plug it in before you go to bed just like you plug in your phone or camera equipment. When you own an EV, you have a proper wall charger. For longer trips, that's where Tesla shines. I drive regularly from NYC to DC. In my i3 Rex, I used more gas than grid power because the chargers were unreliable and out of service for months along the turnpike. Meanwhile, the red glowing Tesla superchargers taunted me from across the parking lot. So I bought a Tesla. For my 300 mile trip, I charge my Model X once mid-way while I get a coffee at the rest stop. So it takes no added time. For longer trips, I fly.

A reasonable solution would have been to leave half hour early for Oxford, get a fast charge while having a coffee and catching up on your email, but that would have been for someone that wanted this to be a successful trip clearly not the case here.

You should attend Fully Charged Live at Silverstone Friday 7 to Sunday 9 June to learn more. All current UK EVs will be on display.

I just don’t see how Audi can bring this “flagship” car out when it’s only got 200 miles of range. That’s not good enough especially when the competition are claiming 300 mile plus. No one seems to acknowledge this though but to me this would be a big blocker.

Thought provoking review, many thanks

Even basic cruise control, which is all I have is a godsend when going through those smart motorway works. Set and forget 👌

If you'd actually done a little research before filming this you would have found zapmap, which shows all chargers, speeds and if they are working. Not really a difficult thing to do. I agree that infrastructure is a big issue, however it should not have hindered your experience at all. I no longer own a car, but my last was a full EV and I never had to use public chargers. Always managed by home charging every night. If you have a 7kw installed at home it's likely you'll rarely use the public charging network.

I have done 40k miles over the last 14 months in a Renault Zoe with a max range of 185 miles with no major issues. I have had very few problems with public charging but I live in Perthshire and the charging infrastructure here is pretty good, we also have far less traffic so no getting stuck in jams. If they have a home charger, most people will seldom need to use public chargers because they will set out with enough range so I am not convinced that your conclusion is correct.

you're not stuck in traffic, you are traffic. Same paradigm, no matter the power source.

I have owned a pure EV with a similar range for 4 months and have used a DC charger three times. Once for 30 minutes, once for 15 minutes and once for 10 minutes. I have 3,750 miles of range. Most anyone with any EV experience with your car and itinerary would have been just fine, particularly if you just remember to plug it in (and had a 7.5 kW charger which gives more like 25 miles/hour).

A bit biased for your audience, don't really believe that you didn't plug it in properly.

Charge on your way home at the last fast charging point you pass, then connect at home to keep the batteries charged

Driving BEVs is a state of mind, unless you have made the commitment and plan your route well its not going to work for you. I did over 500 miles in mine in a day in October & 400+ miles last Tuesday into a very remote area. Both journeys were a breeze and very enjoyable. I'm on my 5th BEV and the thing I love most is the way they hold their value.

We don't call this a weakness of the vehicle, but carelessness of the driver. It it understood that you are not used to EV. In these cases, you need to be bit responsible & careful. I am pretty sure that very early car users (in 1890's) had experienced the similar situations with petrol. I am planning to move to EV with my next car. But I will buy the fast charger with it. Otherwise same thing which happened the mudaliyar (chieftain), who bought the elephant but did not by the goad (ankus) will happen to me.

Watching while nursing toothache like the pain of looking for a recharge 😄

A bad workman always blames his tools.

I totally agree. Had to train my mind when we had that Mitsy PHEV for 3 months. Great video as always pal, Thankyou.

People tend to forget where we come from! When the car started to replace the horse, there were no gas/petrol stations around. You had to buy the petrol at the local pharmacy - i small bottles. Any trip had to be carefully planned around the availability of petrol and pharmacies.

With the polarized glasses, leave them on and tilt your head to the right or left.

204 miles with a 95kw pack is one of the problems...

With reference to some of the critical comments below it is absolutely true that some of his problems were self inflicted but he nails the infrastructure thing. It absolutely is an issue and there are, still, charge deserts in the UK. As more chargers come on line, you'd think the deserts would disappear but they don't - check out the Peak District for example.

Thank you for your reply stating Tesla has build issues. I thought the same when I saw them in Hawaii and Sydney years ago . I bought my Metallic blue model S with cream interior sight unseen after going to an EV weekend and being a passenger in a Tesla and driving Leaf, BMW i3, Zoe, Kona, Ionique and later ipace. I was thrilled when the Tesla arrived on a truck after a 800km container journey and it is stunning and faultless build quality. Be fair Tesla has lead the field in sexy electric cars. If I , an old V8 petrolhead can release the noise and petrol fumes I’m sure you will in time and start to really live the future. You’ll just need to be more organised to drive the future . Cheers from South Island New Zealand

Won’t work out people, imagine if there’s a lot of them queuing up at a charging station and the whole process takes 3-5 hours. Future is hydrogen/fuel cell. In the meantime, if one absolutely wants to drive an electric, buy a hybrid....

Someone needs to make an in depth assessment of real life EV use including how the national electricity grid will cope with millions of 7kw chargers being added

People gripe that he didn't handle this properly but he still has a point. Charging infrastructure in nearly every country is inadequate at the moment. Not everyone can have a charging station at home, especially if you rent your accommodations. Only when charging is as fast as filling a petrol car to capacity will they be proper replacements for internal combustion engines and hybrids. And those charging stations as common as petrol stations (I have 8 or 9 within 3 kilometres of where I live) so the need for home charging stations aren't needed at all. The nearest ev charging station near me is around 10 kilometres away...that might not seem like much, but it is a big pain in the arse when it's through city traffic and right out of the way of most of my travels.

If the car had the range/efficiency Audi originally claimed you'd have had no problem - but it wasnt even close.

ZapMap shows quite a few chargers around there. Even a 50kW in Petersfield - at Waitrose I believe. 50kW in West Meon and more 50kW at Liphook serivces up the A3 (on the way to Oxford?). Nice one :(

59k views already - touched a nerve ?

Infrastructure is THE key to owning an ev. My state just got 350 kw dc fast chargers but they're 190 miles from my home. Granted #electrifyamerica is putting some dc fast chargers on my hometown within the near future this won't be an issue. But roll back to the early 1900s when the first ice cars came out. Fuel stations weren't readily available either. Just takes time and investment to get it started. It'll get there and I look forward to the day I'm able to justify a full ev for more than just local driving.

Another thing you touched on Pete, infrastructure absolutely correct, there is very little and yes it causes anxiety. I can also see people waiting to charge their cars at stations,because it takes to long.

Just drove to Silvestone from Utrecht in the Netherlands last weekend with a Hyundai Ioniq with a 28 kWh battery (3,5 times smaller) and back. Total trip of 1.400 km, haven't had any problems. It all comes down to knowledges about charging and having the right payments methods available!

So in other words, you forgot to charge it ... or in petrol terms. You went home and forgot to refuel it at a station.

Thanks for taking the time to post this short EV experePlanned & organised

The problem with public charging stations in London is that people use them as free parking- sure, they plug in, but then the car sits there for hours taking that charger out of circulation. There is a charger on the A23 near me in south London, it has the same BMW parked in it every time I pass. He uses it as his own personal parking space. As EV's increase charger rage will become a thing I'm sure!

I did my pre Uni 9 months in '60, at BMW, Munich. Electric Motors were huge and noisy. Batteries were even bigger and very ineffective. Both have improved since. Electric Cars shall never replace the Internal Combustion Engine for two reasons: a 100 litres diesel weighs almost 100 kgs. If an LPG tank is installed, the weight shall only increase by 100 + kg making a total of 200 kgs for fuel. So, roughly, such a vehicle can be drive for 2,000 km (1 litre for 10 km) with one filling ...I drive to Sweden and Turkey, at least once in 2 months ...I have a BMW 750 il, V12 ...with an extra LPG tank installed ...I live in London. I fill both tanks at Dunkirk ...I need no filling until I get to Sweden ...for Turkey I need one more filling ...No Electric Car can give me that range ... There should be a law forcing people to drive Electric Vehicles in Towns and Congested Areas like London to reduce Pollution. Most people do not drive more than 70 miles a day ...Electric Cars are ideally suited. Besides, Automotive Designers have to rethink Vehicle Design, making them lighter and functional. For tooling around town you need less gadgets and more room. Modern Cars are the leftover of the Iron age.

Reading through a lot of UNFAIR negative comments here, the point being made guys is it is VERY easy to forget to plug something in, we all do it, my phone was almost dead this morning, however Petrol Ped is highlighting the potential DISASTER if your car wont work in the morning due to lack of a decent charge. He makes clear that a decent over night charge will need a special charging port which could be tough luck if your not staying home that night. For EV transport to work the infrastructure needed is going to be enormous, our National Grid is currently over capacity by about 10% and for the EV future will require increasing multiple times, more power stations, more wind farms, more nuclear plants if it is to cope with powering all our transport needs. EV is the future but theres much work to do much money to find and NO forgetting to plug it in.

Great review from an non-electric owner. I really appreciate you recognizing the infrastructure is the lacking portion of EV ownership rather than just blaming the car or the whole idea of EV driving. I can say that I believe Audi missed a bit on this car by not doing a full re-tool and taking advantage of lightweight parts to increase the range. At just 200 miles, the e-Tron really does not work well for someone that does long journeys. It is still a great car for someone that can charge every night and only needs 50-75 miles a day. But, in Texas where I live getting anywhere on that range is nearly impossible. I drive a BMW i3 Rex and just getting to my annual maintenance is 120 miles each way. And they don't seem to have time to charge the car while I'm there. So I use the range extender and still get home with about 50 miles of 'original' charge, but having filled and emptied the 2.4gal fuel tank twice. I think that is a great option, but the push is for ALL electric and infrastructure really needs to improve if that is to be an reality.

You should try and find Istanvolt rapid chargers. They take around 40 - 45 minutes to charge. You do not need an app or company card; you can simply use your debit card at the machine. The cables are provided. Also, you can try Shell and Charge Master (BP) chargers. They are rapid chargers that do not need an app. Just scan your debit card and away you go.

When you own this type of car you plan your charging accordingly. I top up whenever I have some dwell time. It’s second nature when you own one for more than a few weeks. I did go all over Europe in a Tesla Model S for charity. 3500 miles to be exact in 6 days. But I did have free supercharging everywhere. Tesla Rocks! 😆👍

The most important message- it takes time to put electricity into a EV and that's the issue.

Well, he had a glowing review and recommendation of the Jaguar I-Pace.

Oh the joy of hydrocarbons!

I stopped watching when you said you need to plan with an EV... not for that kind of stuff. Always make sure you're connected properly. An owner would have a wallbox charger.

What you mean is, Charging infrastructure for anything Other than a Tesla is bad in the UK. I've driven 53,000 miles in 2 years for less than $1200. Never going back to a gas car

zapmap is the go to for finding a charging station in my opinion - where you live can dictate what you can drive but with the installation of a home charger it should help those who live away from main routes.

The etron was at the LA auto show and not ONE person was looking at it not one ! It basically looked like every other Audi suv sitting next to it ! Tesla exhibit had a line of people wanting to sit in the 3 X and S !

For all the haters- this is a real thing, I have a PHEV and forgot to charge a few times, in my case it didn’t matter because I could run in hybrid mode. His experience is just one example of why EVs will take a long time to hit the mass market...

Why do I think Petrol Ped also has issues keeping his phone charged...

A lot of pretty silly comments in here. Yes, he didn't plug the car in and yes it wasnt charged. But the point is that with a petrol car you dont have to fill it up every night before you go to bed, simply have enough fuel to get you to the nearest fuel station which is a 5 minute stop. With an EV that stop for charging will take some time and as the videos points out the infrastructure isn't there. If I remember rightly, he absolutely rated the car, its the UK EV infrastructure that is under critique here.

We have fast chargers here in NZ at some car outlets, shopping centers, camp sites, etc. ChargeNet is ensuring there is no more than 70 km between fast chargers. Good start here.

@ Petrol Ped i hope you have some coverage of fully charged live 7,8,9 june at silverstone.

It's not that you didn't plan ahead, it's the fact you didn't actually plug it in! Hope you put in a suitable home charger, your reviews will be better for it. You mentioned Tesla charging infrastructure, it is the big advantage they have, but they have have 11kw-22kw (depending on year/model) onboard chargers for even faster home use too. Other manufacturers need to step up to provide dedicated power networks and improve the onboard chargers. It's why Tesla are so far ahead of the competition.

Very good Mike 😉 nice real world test and very insightful. Nice to see you down with the SS crew on my turf too 👌

As somebody who street parks overnight has anybody given any thought to how you’d charge your car in that scenario. Clearly you can’t have cables running across the pavement for obvious reasons,and that’s if you can park outside your house. It doesn’t matter if you street park in Mayfair or Mansfield I can’t imagine the infrastructure ever being in place to resolve this.......unless I’m missing something!!

I’m so sad that you don’t have a good charging infrastructure. I live in the San Diego area in southern California and there are fast chargers at most 10 miles apart from each other. Here driving a ev is very feasible, hopefully in the future with more a demand the infrastructure in your area can develop.

Your not stuck in traffic, you are traffic!

"i may as well open the sunroof to let out that stress". No, don't open the sunroof, you'll waste more of that precious energy in the battery and then you'll only be even more stressed, hahah. I like how honest you were about your frustration, it made for good television. Plus it added some authenticity to your opinion on things that you were loaned a car which you could then point out a major flaw with. And it's not like Audi aren't short on other super cars with less stressful fuel options.

Really interesting video Pete ...how much extra are the quick charging stations for the home?

For something like 98% of most people's driving an EV not only works great but requires absolutely zero planning. The only "infrastructure" you require (and I do mean require) is a fast home charger. You simply plug in your EV every time you park the vehicle at home and every time you want to go anywhere you have the full 150 to 300 miles of driving range with zero planning required. Best of all no more wasting time stopped at a gas station and never ending up smelling of gasoline. You need to stop thinking about a fill up as something you do when the "tank" is getting low and simply plug it in always and stop thinking about "how full is the 'tank'". This also allows you to benefit from pre-heating and pre-cooling so the interior and battery temperature is always perfect for your regular commute and cheap electricity is used to precondition the vehicle and battery. One thing we (wife and I) don't understand is why everyone puts so much "value" on long trips. We never drive our EV on trips farther than its full battery range. For ALL of our longer trips we take our "old" gasoline powered car or SUV and if we didn't own one we'd rent a comfortable, luxury vehicle for all of our long trips. For daily driving EVs are so incredibly superior once you get used to plugging them in every time you park at home, that we will never buy a new gasoline powered vehicle again. EVs have the following HUGE advantages for daily driving: - Ultra quiet, provides an ultra-high end luxury car level of interior noise - Due to the silence, audio systems sound fantastic - Most EVs have exceptionally good throttle response and are fun to drive - Never need to go to a stinky gas station - Always have a full "tank" every morning - Vehicle is preheated and precooled for all planned trips. For unplanned trips remote start for 10-15 minutes can be used for minimal cost in the winter and hot days in the summer and again provide an optimal interior and battery temperature. - Cost per mile is a fraction of what a gasoline powered vehicle costs - Vehicle maintenance is essentially not required compared to a gasoline powered vehicle. Even things like brakes simply don't wear out due to how regenerative braking uses the electric motors as generators every time you step on the brakes. We just did our front brakes for the first time at 175,000 km and the rear are still original (and this is ALL rush hour type stop/go driving). Oil changes are also a thing of the past, etc. The only typical maintenance that compares to a gasoline powered vehicle is tires. - You save so much money driving an EV daily that you can afford to rent the most outrageously cool high performance vehicle for driving on longer trips and holidays - and still save a ton of money overall One thing every EV owner needs to accept though is you do absolutely require a fast home charger. Having a slow charge rate at home totally kills the enjoyment and causes range anxiety. You need to be able to plug your EV in and within 30 minutes have enough energy to drive to the store, etc. and within less than about 10 hours be able to fill the battery from zero to close to full (or at least ~200 miles of range). The faster you can charge at home, the more you will enjoy an EV and the less you will even think about range. Once you have an EV with a decent range (200+ miles IMO), have a fast home charger and you program yourself to plug it in every time you park at home, you almost never have to worry about things like "do I have enough in the tank to get me there and back", etc. Cost per mile is so low too that any time you feel the need to go anywhere (even just a "Sunday drive") you simply unplug and "go", guilt free.

Excellent video, demonstrating the plus and minus points of owning an EV. You hit the nail on the head when you were unable to charge at not one but two locations. This would NEVER happen with a petrol or diesel car as the chances of finding a fuel station that had no fuel at both locations is probably a million to one! The infrastructure is the major issue with these cars and this is why hybrids will dominate until such a time that the infrastructure is able to support these cars in the same way that petrol or diesel cars are at present

This makes me think about emergency situations. All well and good to plan, but when the unexpected happens, and you have no choice but to get going now, that hour could be impossible to find. In cases of power outages, such as is happening right now in Texas, you are stuffed. I keep a pair of 20 litre Jerry cans of gas in case of emergency. I can top up the car in minutes if need be, and that gets me about 300 miles of range. Given the distances that are quite normal where I live, that is quite necessary. The full charge range on that Audi is barely adequate under ideal conditions. Add in -40 degree temperature and a snow storm, and all bets are off. It won't make it. Very often I drive were there is no chance of finding a rapid charger, and the chances of finding somewhere to plug in for hours, or even a day on trickle, are slim to none.

Yay, Oxford...this time your 'near' Six Bells Warborough, the home of the Mega car club every second Tuesday of the month and the 'Mid Summer Murders' filming location 😆😆😆