Few people want the electric vehicle revolution to succeed more than I do. As a passionate advocate for net zero, I think EVs are crucial in reducing emissions and I believe they could have many other benefits.

But my faith has been tested by the real-life experience of buying and trying to use an electric car.

Together with my parents, who live close by, I purchased a new electric vehicle with the intention of reducing our combined car ownership from four to three. We had tried being single-car households but for various personal and professional reasons it didn’t work.

There were chargers at the shopping centre but other drivers had parked and blocked them

ALAMY

The electric car seemed like the solution we needed both cost-wise and environmentally — but now we have grave reservations about that.

On the car’s first