Final summary

So there we have it. That’s it then. Let’s have a final summary of the maths.

We drove 2,261 miles over 16 days. It cost £325 in electric and £201 in tolls.

Now be in no doubt that if I drove more to the speed limits on the motorways you would be looking at reducing the fuel bill by easily £50.

Let’s compare costs, if I had still had the BMW 840i Gran Coupe that was the last ‘good’ petrol car I owned before going electric. (I still own other vehicles but wouldn’t fancy taking them on this trip)

Let’s assume I got 28mpg (this is being very generous) - I would need 80.75 gallons of Super Unleaded as that is what I always used.

80.75 gallons = 367.1 litres.
Average cost of Super Unleaded = €1.895
Convert to Pounds = £1.62
367.1 x £1.62 = £594.70

So there you have it, petrol would have cost me approx £270 more.

Now I know there are a lot of if’s, but’s and maybes and this isn’t a scientific test, but this is our experience.

Electricity cost us significantly less, at no point were we inconvenienced, I didn’t have to alter my driving style, we suffered no ‘range anxiety’, we didn’t need to stop for a charge over and above our normal stops.

You may say we were lucky to have chargers at the hotels, there was no luck in this. It was planned. You may say you had to spend time planning what hotels you were staying at. Well yes we did but we were planning what hotels to stay in anyway. The very nature of this trip demanded that. Besides in a few years time, the majority of hotels will have chargers.

I do hope that this blog can cut through the mountains of misinformation out there. Owning an electric car really is simple. Obviously it’s not for everyone but that’s ok. There is room on the roads for everyone. Just don’t be put off trying one when you are looking for a new car.

Elliott's final burger count - Apart from a couple of sneaky Burger Kings, most of these were delicious French 'steak hache', pure minced steak and so much tastier than your usual burger!

Beef: 6
Chicken: 1

We all had a wonderful time. Elliott was a very good boy who thoroughly deserved his Lego purchases. I wish I could have sat in Ayrton Senna's car, but if I had tried, I think I would still be stuck there now.

The three of us agree that Geneva was one of the high points of the trip, and it is cetainly a city that we'd like to go back to, in fact we'd like to see a lot more of Switzerland. Elliott said that he liked it because it was a country he hadn't been to before.

I found the driving on the whole, pretty easy, and dare I say relaxing (on the motorways) The car eats up the miles with ease and the only sound is either Elliott talking, or the music/ Harry Hill's podcast 'Are We There Yet'- the world's first family friendly podcast, as he tells us.

THANKS FOR READING. GOODBYE.Read more