Sparky

You'll probably know if you read the Scribbles that Family Squidge are working hard to help the environment. We're big recyclers, have solar panels on our house, save water for the garden, and own a wind turbine.

Recently, we took the next step; we bought an electric car.

Mr Squidge did a lot of research. And I mean A LOT. One obvious issue with electric cars is their range - you have to work hard at planning longer (ie 100+ mile) journeys to allow sufficient time to recharge the batteries. For a long time we ummed and ahhed as to whether to go for it now, or wait until vehicle range increased. But as I pointed out, most of our journeys are short (<50 miles) so we'd get there and back in one battery's worth of 'juice'. And isn't it better to do something now, rather than wait?

Depending on the car we might have chosen, there would have been up to an eighteen month wait on delivery anyway, so Mr Squidge looked at secondhand. Then he discovered the range extender.

Now, hybrid cars are a mix of petrol engine and battery power, but some electric cars have a range extender which - although it requires a small amount of petrol to work - does gice you a few extra miles if the battery's running low.

So we went on a test drive. For those who are interested, it was a BMW i3 with a range extender. (As far as I'm concerned, it's a car, has four wheels and it goes.) It was fairly easy to drive, even though I've never driven an automatic before. We were pretty certain that was the model we wanted, especially as it was very easy for both of us to drive without too many major adjustments to seat positions etc (6'3" vs 5'0" can make it a real faff before you actually drive anywhere).

The hunt was on. Mr Squidge found one in Stockport - and one in Edinburgh. The Stockport one was grey, the Edinburgh one, blue. Electric blue.

He liked the blue.

After a lot of negotiating, he bought the blue one.

Granted, I liked the blue more than the grey, but I did question the sense in flying to Edinburgh, (not so environmentally friendly), stopping overnight, then picking up a new car first thing and driving back home the next day, factoring in stops to recharge on the way.

But that's what he did. And so we took possession of Sparky.

I love driving it - it's really satisfying to be able to charge it via our own solar panels and by the very nature of how you drive. (The only downside was that the day after it arrived, I managed to smash one of the wing mirrors as I backed into the drive. Mr Squidge has since moved the gatepost and given us an extra 10" of manoeuvering room...)

We're still not entirely environmentally friendly in the car department; we decided to keep the diesel estate for the moment. Come September, both Squidgelings will be at uni, and the extra space will be useful to cart student clobber up and down the various motorways, although we have proven we can do a day's trip to Bristol with a charging stop quite comfortably. The insurance companies also won't insure Squidgeling T to drive Sparky until he is 19 and had at least a year of post-driving-test experience, so keeping the Astra means that at least he can get himself to gigs and rehearsals under his own steam. But in the long run, who knows...

Feels good to be going greener...