Why There’s No Need for Alpine Anxiety on an EV Road Trip to the Mountains
What goes up must come down. And that’s extremely good news when you’re driving an electric car in the mountains.
While climbing through the switchbacks on a snowboarding excursion to Tignes in the French Alps I watched as the range rapidly reduced on the MG5 that the Avis hire-car lottery had delivered.
I’d booked a Volvo EX30, but instead got the “or similar” option which wasn’t the most enjoyable machine to hustle through the hairpins. Motion sickness threatened at every corner even at a pace that was far more conservative than my last alpine adventure in a Morgan.
I’d stopped at a Tesla Supercharger in Albertville to ensure that I approached the ascent with a full battery, but the climb took its toll and by the time I’d reached the resort 85km up the winding road the charge was down to 55 per cent. Would I make it back to Albertville or have to seek out one of the few chargers up in the resort?
A week later, I began the descent with the car’s regenerative braking feature in its strongest setting. While not offering a one-pedal experience, and being a little unpredictable, the MG rapidly began to recharge with the aid of gravity. With every kilometre travelled an extra kilometre of range was added. By the time I reached level ground there was more juice in the battery than I’d begun with, despite the distance travelled. I arrived back at the Tesla Supercharger with a comfortable 30 per cent charge still in the ‘tank.’
As Olympian Chemmy Alcott also discovered, it requires a little planning to master the mountains in an electric car, but there’s really no need for any alpine anxiety.
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