I quickly discovered two important things when recently taking a three week drive over several thousand kilometres in an electric car. The first is that “range anxiety’’ is very real. The second is that veteran EV drivers are often there for us neophytes.

First, some background. I’d always planned to get an electric car eventually – but then, just before Christmas, the petrol engine of our 17-year-old second-hand Subaru finally cooked itself after 360,000-plus kilometres.

Our house has largely been powered by solar panels and batteries for some years; the power company pays us a pittance for all the energy we export to the grid. Most of our driving is done in the city. It made sense to get an EV and charge it at home.

You know what happened next: America and Israel declared war on Iran without an exit plan, the strait of Hormuz was shut and the global oil crisis sent petrol and diesel prices through the roof.

Our timing was fortuitous: we hit the road with a full battery just before Easter for our long drive. The highways were notably quieter than usual. It was hard not to take notice of the fuel prices at the roadhouses we passed – just as it was impossible........

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