Norq From Ork

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Conversations about cars with my husband, (for today let’s call him Orkney Stig) are usually short lived affairs.  When we looked at cars to buy a few years ago we narrowed it down to three to choose from.  My input was as follows ‘was that the blue one, the black one or the red?’ I couldn’t tell apart one car from the next and neither did I really care. So when I was asked to guest blog about cars, Orkney Stig thought it was absolutely hilarious.

We have been the owners of an electric car now for about 18 months; I had my first introduction to EVs a couple of summers ago.  Until then I don’t think I’d even heard of them.  We had gone along to the hugely popular Dounby Show in Orkney.  It’s an event held for farmers to showcase their livestock, parents to haemorrhage money on fairground rides for their kids and a chance to purchase anything from hot tubs to tractors.  It was a gloriously hot summer’s day and we stumbled upon the EV stand pretty early on.  I say stumbled up but I think in all honesty it was strategically designed by Orkney Stig for us to find ourselves there and so we ‘might as well have a look’  He was already sold on owning an EV having had the chance to drive one at work, it was me that was going to need convincing.

The man behind the wheel on that day was Jonathan Porterfield.  He’s Orkney’s poster boy for electric vehicles and was on hand to explain all about how EV’s work and answer  the many  questions I had such as :-

‘how long does it take to charge up?’

‘How far will it go on one charge’

‘Does it come in red?’

I don’t think I’ve ever paid so much attention to car talk in my whole life.  In fact if you were to add together all the conversations I’ve had about cars in the last 40+ years it wouldn’t equal the time spent that afternoon.   I even learned about range anxiety, this is fear of running out of battery power before you’ve reached your destination and it’s never happened yet. We had popped in for an hour and left 4 hours later; Jonathan is a patient man.

After asking every conceivable question we could, and having a test drive a few days later, we went away and decided it would be an economical option for us to buy an EV; and it was left to Jonathan to source one that would be suitable in price. When one was found we made our purchase and the battle of the ‘my car/your car’ began.  In the end we settled on the person doing the largest amount of miles that day would take the EV. We honestly have no regrets about owning one (other than there wasn’t a red one available at the time) and with my hugely limited car knowledge I can still manage to list some of the benefits.

Economical: Charging is free when out and about at one of the increasing number of charging stations and low cost when charging at home.

Quiet:  I once gave someone a lift and she wondered how I was making the car move without starting the engine.

Very little maintenance:  No need for me *ahem* Orkney Stig to check the oil.

No filling up at petrol stations: and the subsequent buying of chocolate when paying

Excellent after sales care: EV poster boy Jonathan really is passionate about electric cars and continues to keep in touch and answer questions some 18 months on.

All in all, if you’re swithering about buying I would say go for it and tell Jonathan I sent you.

I know you’re all wondering…….it’s blue.

For lots more information on EV’s please visit Jonathan’s eco-cars.net by clicking on the link.