Samuel Gibbs finds out. T he alarm went off at 6am to kickstart our journey, and I was full of trepidation. But a quoted range of just under miles per charge, though one of the longest available, left me a little worried. Would we really get anything like that much milage, with a fully laden car, and at motorway speeds?
Would there be enough chargers along the way? And after the fourth recharging stop, would my passengers mutiny? I put those fears aside as we plugged the destination into the large 17in touchscreen that sits in the middle of the dashboard, tapping out Eurotunnel on the keyboard and setting a course for the nearest electric charger — something that would be an all-too-familiar sight as the journey progressed. As the clock struck 7am on a bright spring morning we were off, silently accelerating away with only the noise of the tyres and a quiet whoosh from the electric engine to indicate we were moving.
In the Tesla it would take almost 11 hours, not that we knew that yet, as we cruised happily down the M20 to the Eurotunnel. The 90D hits 60mph in 4. Find the gap, slam your foot on the accelerator and zoom into lane — no run up, high revving or dodging lorries needed. Super in both name and power: a full charge of the Model S takes only 70 minutes, which is a whole six hours quicker than most other chargers.
Only Teslas can use them, which really makes you feel for Nissan Leaf drivers. We arrived at the Channel tunnel just after 8am and ran into our first conundrum. But what if all the charging slots at Folkestone were taken?
How long should we allow? Finding the Folkestone charger was easy. We pulled up right in front of the terminal, reversed in, hooked up, shoved everything in the boot for safe keeping and went in for a full English. The powered tailgate had tried to shut on a bag strap and re-opened without me noticing. Panic set in as I ran over to the vehicle, but thankfully nothing was missing except my faith in my own faculties.
