My plan is in tatters even before we set off from Dublin on a nervy cross-country drive in an electric vehicle that may or may not get us to a family wedding in Delphi, Co Mayo, on time. “Why don’t you charge the car overnight?” my wife suggests, sensibly. Favouring Netflix over a late-evening drive to the only public charging point close to home, I have come up with a better plan.
As we are not heading west until the next afternoon, we will have six hours of daytime to get the battery to 100 per cent before hitting the road. “We’ll be grand,” I assure her. READ MORE The battle for the hearts and minds of working class voters: Sinn Féin scrap it out on the doorsteps Netanyahu grapples with coalition threat over Gaza ceasefire plan Can we finally say goodbye to shaming women for letting their hair go grey? Conor Pope: The cost of just over 400km is about €40 – cheaper than petrol or diesel but by no means cheap.
Photograph: Alan Betson I understood her suspicious eyes. This time last year, heading to another family wedding, also in the west, I said much the same thing, and five of us ended up changing into our wedding finery in the car at an Ennis petrol station as we waited for an overly leisurely woman to finish charging her car so we could get enough juice into ours to cover the last 30km of the journey. “No, honestly, tomorrow will be grand,” I repeat.
“There’ll be no stress.” I live in a Dublin 7 terrace with on-street parking and can only drea.