I just thought I'd share this article; this one was written in The Times Newspaper (so nothing to do with the Daily Mail).

It's a "must read" as far as I'm concerned, especially if you're considering an electric FFRR any time soon, or maybe even not so soon!

It's written by Giles Coren. For those who don't know, he's the restaurant critic who does the great hotels of the world TV programme with top female Chef, Monica Galetti and he's also the brother of Victoria Coren Mitchell, David Mitchell's wife,

This is his own first-hand experience of ownership and while amusing, unfortunately, it doesn't sound good.

Giles Coren - Why I’ve pulled the plug on my electric car

As I watch my family strike out on foot across the fields into driving rain and gathering darkness, my wife holding each child’s hand, our new year plans in ruins, while I do what I can to make our dead car safe before abandoning it a mile short of home, full of luggage on a country lane, it occurs to me not for the first time that if we are going to save the planet we will have to find another way. Because electric cars are not the answer.

Yes, it’s the Jaguar again. My doomed bloody £65,000 iPace that has done nothing but fail at everything it was supposed to do for more than two years now, completely dead this time, its lifeless corpse blocking the single-track road.
I can’t even roll it to a safer spot because it can’t be put in neutral. For when an electric car dies, it dies hard. And then lies there as big and grey and not-going-anywhere as the poacher-slain bull elephant I once saw rotting by a roadside in northern Kenya. Just a bit less smelly.

Not that this is unusual. Since I bought my eco dream car in late 2020, in a deluded Thunbergian frenzy, it has spent more time off the road than on it, beached at the dealership for months at a time on account of innumerable electrical calamities, while I galumph around in the big diesel “courtesy cars” they send me under the terms of the warranty.
But this time I don’t want one. And I don’t want my own car back either. I have asked the guys who sold it to me to sell it again, as soon as it is fixed, to the first mug who walks into the shop. Because I am going back to petrol while there is still time.

And if the government really does ban new wet fuel cars after 2030, then we will eventually have to go back to horses. Because the electric vehicle industry is no readier to get a family home from Cornwall at Christmas time (as I was trying to do) than it is to fly us all to Jupiter. The cars are useless, the infrastructure is not there and you’re honestly better off walking. Even on the really long journeys. In fact, especially on the long journeys. The short ones they can just about manage. It’s no wonder Tesla shares are down 71 per cent. It’s all a huge fraud. And, for me, it’s over.

Yet the new owner of my “preloved” premium electric vehicle, fired with a messianic desire to make a better world for his children, will not know this. He will be delighted with his purchase and overjoyed to find there are still six months of warranty left, little suspecting that once that has expired — and with it the free repairs and replacement cars for those long spells off road — he will be functionally carless.

He will be over the moon to learn that it has “a range of up to 292 miles”. No need to tell him what that really means is “220 miles”. Why electric carmakers are allowed to tell these lies is a mystery to me. As it soon will be to him.

Although for the first few days he won’t worry especially. He’ll think he can just nip into a fuel station and charge it up again. Ho ho ho. No need to tell him that two out of three roadside chargers in this country are broken or busy at any one time. Or that the built-in “find my nearest charge point” function doesn’t work, has never worked, and isn’t meant to work.
Or that apps like Zap-Map don’t work either because the chargers they send you to are always either busy or broken or require a membership card you don’t have or an app you can’t download because there’s no 5G here, in the middle of nowhere, where you will now probably die.
Or that the Society of Motor Manufacturers said this week that only 23 new chargers are being installed nationwide each day, of the 100 per day that were promised (as a proud early adopter, I told myself that charging would become easier as the network grew, but it hasn’t grown, while the number of e-drivers has tripled, so it’s actually harder now than it was two years ago).

There are, of course, plus sides to electric ownership. Such as the camaraderie when we encounter each other, tired and weeping at yet another service station with only two chargers, one of which still has the “this fault has been reported” sign on it from when you were here last August, and the other is of the measly 3kWh variety, which means you will have to spend the night in a Travelodge while your stupid drum lazily inhales enough juice to get home.

Together, in the benighted charging zone, we leccy drivers laugh about what fools we are and drool over the diesel hatchbacks nonchalantly filling up across the way (“imagine getting to a fuel station and knowing for sure you will be able to refuel!”) and talk in the hour-long queue at Exeter services about the petrol car we will buy as soon as we get home.

We filled up there last week on the way back from Cornwall, adding two hours to our four-hour journey, by which time Esther wasn’t speaking to me. She’s been telling me to get rid of the iPace since it ruined last summer’s holidays in both Wales and Devon (“If you won’t let us fly any more, at least buy a car that can get us to the places we’re still allowed to go!”).

But I kept begging her to give me one last chance, as if I’d refused to give up a mistress, rather than a dull family car. Until this time, a couple of miles from home, when a message flashed up on the dash: “Assisted braking not available — proceed with caution.” Then: “Steering control unavailable.”
And then, as I inched off the dual carriageway at our turnoff, begging it to make the last mile, children weeping at the scary noises coming from both car and father: “Gearbox fault detected.” CLUNK. WHIRRR. CRACK.
And dead. Nothing. Poached elephant.

I called Jaguar Assist (there is a button in the roof that does it directly — most useful feature on the car) who told me they could have a mechanic there in four hours (who would laugh and say, “Can’t help you, pal. You’ve got a software issue there. I’m just a car mechanic. And this isn’t a car, it’s a laptop on wheels.”)

So Esther and the kids headed for home across the sleety wastes, a vision of post-apocalyptic misery like something out of Cormac McCarthy, while I saw out 2022 waiting for a tow-truck. Again.
But don’t let that put you off. I see in the paper that electric car sales are at record levels and production is struggling to keep up with demand. So why not buy mine? It’s clean as a whistle and boasts super-low mileage. After all, it’s hardly been driven . . .

Put you in mind when the Government told us it was a good idea to buy diesel cars and we know how that went Time will tell, it a great idea but not well thought out.If electric cars were so good why did they stop making them?

1920 – 1935
Improved road infrastructure and cheap, widely available gasoline contributed to a decline in electric vehicles. Electric cars were limited to use in cities due to their slow speed and low range, and by 1935 they had all but disappeared.

We no longer have improved roads pot holes every where and not so cheap fuel here unlike other parts of the world.  2017 SDV8 4.4 silicon silver AB
2012 TDV8 4.4 Stornaway Grey AB
2011 TDV8 4.4 Buckingham Blue
2012 VW V6 3.0 Tougreg

Much of that is about the choice of vehicle rather than the category of vehicle. JLR are not good in the reliability stakes and definitely abysmal in customer care.
He mentions the range not being achievable, is that any different to an ICE vehicle, have you managed to achieve the figures published?
I do agree about the charging points, I have found many of them to be faulty, none of them work in the same way, when they do work it's great. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

AJA500 thanks for that, a very amusing read, I can imagine the country lane and the darkness but most of all the quietness  2018 SE SDV8 4.4 Byron Blue

My folks have got a 22MY I-Pace HSE that they bought new and have had for a little over a year and 8500 miles now.

They’ve not had a single issue with theirs and it’s been great.

If I didn’t need the 3600kg towing limit I’d have one in a heartbeat.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Ironically, the main issue that I-Paces have had is with their 12v lead acid batteries - the symptoms reported by Mr Coren suggest a fubarred auxiliary battery.

I’ve had mine for 4 years and bought it outright at the end of the finance period, because it is the best car I’ve owned. Gone D3
Gone FFRR L322
Gone FFRR L405
Now on the JLR electric highway ....

The 12v battery seems to cause issues on most makes of EV. Hyundai, Kia, VW and BMW for sure. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

I had a 300mile round trip in a friends Tesla last week and although the cars not for me (allot of cash for not a great build imo) the tech was superb!

He had enough range to get home, but wanted to top up so he had juice to head out again straight after, the car showed him all the charging points and even how many were in use etc, so he choose a services where the majority were not in use, plugged it in while we nipped to the loo and in that short period it added 55miles of range which I thought was impressive.

The Tesla charger recognised the car, so no need to do anything other than plug in.

I quite enjoyed the whole experience to be honest. Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

I read the article word for word & all the replies & have come to the following conclusions.

EV.s are not for everyone. (For those where it works for them good luck).

We as consumers must still have a choice.

It does point out a serious flaw in EV design though & that's the inability to move a completely dead EV to a save place or even to move it out of the way of other vehicles. Just suppose in the case quoted the dead EV blocked access to an emergency vehicle ?

EV's are in their infancy and what problems exist now can't be predicted to exist in future models or as a reason to stick with ICE's for ever. As consumers we won't have absolute freedom of choice now as we can't buy new diesel engine cars that don't have DPF's or petrol cars without CAT's. 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

SamThomas wrote:

It does point out a serious flaw in EV design though & that's the inability to move a completely dead EV to a save place or even to move it out of the way of other vehicles. Just suppose in the case quoted the dead EV blocked access to an emergency vehicle ?

It's good to read all your comments - I just thought it was an amusing article and of course a bit of an eyeopener from someone who has experienced two years of JLR full electric ownership.

Of course real world range is almost always different to manufacturer's quoted figures, often these claims are unachievable and based on what was realised in perfect / unrealistic conditions, but that bothers me much less when I'm not planning journeys based on it and when I know I'm never very far from a petrol station, where I can quickly and easily refuel.

At the end of the day, "you pay your money, you take your choice" - each to their own.

I'm not completely against battery cars, I currently have an L460 PHEV on order and I'm looking forward to some journeys being silent and free of engine noise, but would I dare to commit to "a car for all journeys" without the back up of a petrol engine anytime soon, or in 2024 when JLR are aiming to release their fully electric L460, personally, no I wouldn't and this article gives plenty of support to my concerns.

JayGee wrote:

EV's are in their infancy and what problems exist now can't be predicted to exist in future models or as a reason to stick with ICE's for ever. As consumers we won't have absolute freedom of choice now as we can't buy new diesel engine cars that don't have DPF's or petrol cars without CAT's.

Thanks for sharing your experience RRV8SC.

I get the feeling that electric cars are great for local runs, but it seems a certain amount of planning is usually required for longer journeys, which I'm not sure would work for me.

I took my folks I-Pace from 17 miles West of Glasgow to North Wales and back in 24hrs in July last year to collect a pair of cylinder heads for my L322.

We left home with it 100% charged. A quick 25 minute stop at Gretna Services for a cup of coffee and a top up charge (£15.92 rapid charge) saw us arriving at the hotel at Chester Services with 66 miles range left.

We left the hotel with 100% charged the next morning (£5.22 overnight charge), collected the cylinder heads and then headed back for home. Another 25 minute top up charge whilst grabbing a cup of coffee at Gretna (£14.20) gave us enough range to get home with 36 miles of range left.

In total it was 516 miles covered for a total cost of £35.34. It’s the first time I’d covered any distance in the IPace and must admit, I was really impressed. There have been times where they’ve had to wait a while for a charger and times they’ve found chargers that don’t work but it’s not been a big issue for them.

The I-Pace for them isn’t their only car, they’ve got 4 other cars that they use alongside the I-Pace, although, the only car they’ve done long distance in over the last 14 months has been the I-Pace. Their I-Pace replaced a 3.2 Freelander 2, initially I wasn’t convinced as I was trying to push them towards an F-Pace SVR. They chose the I-Pace though and I’m really taken by it.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior