Pt5. Destination Suffolk

Join Tom Curtis on his ownership journey with his Nissan Leaf 24kWh. Tom bought his Leaf second hand and sight unseen, confident in the knowledge there’s little to go wrong. This time, Tom goes travelling… in winter… and finds out what range anxiety is the hard way.

- Thomas Curtis

Summer. Blessed, beautiful summer. The season of sea, sand and road trips. During the recent heatwave I reminisced about the first road trip in my Leaf. We hit the road after a fine Christmas Day meal, fully charged and prepared for the journey ahead. I had spent time assessing the route, downloading and setting up the various charging applications to ensure that we had sufficient charging options to cover the seemingly daunting 95 miles to Beccles. It was a crisp sunny morning as we hit the road. The car felt confident, purposeful and ready for the task ahead.

Slow and steady wins the electric race, so a heady 64 miles per hour would be my target. The monotony of the [lack of] pace was broken up by the classic game of truck, truck, caravan. The faster the speed the greater the force of friction upon the car. Reduce friction, reduce battery drain (reviving GCSE physics is yet another unexpected benefit of electric car ownership). I just needed to find something larger to follow. I felt like Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder as I chased caravans and trucks in the name of slipstreaming.

The remaining journey and the first service station charge point went without a hitch and we arrived with around 30-miles remaining range and a fine feast to enjoy.