Electric cars: your most-googled questions, answered

How long does an EV take to charge?

Depends on the charger. If, for example, you’re charging a Tesla Model Y from a regular three-pin UK wall plug, it’ll take something like 36 hours to go from empty to brimmed. Using a 7kW wall box reduces this time to around 12 hours. If you can find a 150kW public charge point, you can fully recharge in well under an hour, but you do also need to factor in the 20 minutes you’ll spend hunting down the eejit who left their petrol powered Suzuki Celerio blocking the charging bay, and the additional 20 minutes you’ll then spend informing said eejit of their many poor life choices.

Can I tow my caravan with an electric car?

So long as you’re only using it to tow your caravan to the nearest sea cliff before unhitching and letting gravity do its thing, sure, knock yourself out. (Only joking. Top Gear does not condone pushing your caravan into the sea to destroy it. An industrial waste compactor does the job far more efficiently.)

Why don’t EVs self-charge?

Hang on. You’re asking why an electric car can’t use its electric motor as a generator to top up its battery? The electric motor that’s powered by the very same battery? If so, may we please introduce you to our good friend, Professor Second-Law-Of-Thermodynamics?

Why aren’t electric cars covered in solar panels?

Because they’d be very hard to see out of.

How far can an EV go on a charge?

Which car? And, more crucially, which driver? If you’ve got a big batteried, low drag new EV like, say, the Mercedes EQS, and it’s being piloted by whoever it is that conducts the WLTP test – a driver, we can only assume, with a pathological terror of travelling faster than 35mph, and also of accelerator pedals – then covering 400 miles or more between charges is possible. If you’re driving, say, a Mazda MX-30, and you’re planning on using the throttle at least once on your journey, your real world range is ‘hopefully enough to get you to the nearest charge point’.

Can I charge my electric car in the rain?

You can and indeed should. Contrary to popular fears, introducing a few drops of water into the charging interface will in fact provide your EV with a peppy boost of power, much like injecting nitrous into the intake manifold of a petrol engine. On a totally unrelated note, you do own a big sturdy pair of wellies, right?

Why is my electric car humming?

Because it doesn’t know the words.