- During our recent trip to Italy, my friends and I mistakenly rented an electric car.
- Initially, I thought it was a huge mistake as we had to charge the car for four hours.
- However, after getting used to it, we found that using an electric vehicle was convenient and gave us an excuse to explore new towns.
The electric car we rented in Italy was eerily silent, causing panic among my friends and me.
After charging the car for four hours in Lake Como, Italy, we realized the battery wasn’t fully recharged.
We estimated it would take us 12 hours to reach Florence, but we had only budgeted five hours for the drive.
One of my friends called the car rental company, hoping to exchange our electric car for a gas-powered one.
Meanwhile, I searched Google to learn how people manage with electric cars that take so long to charge.
That’s when we discovered our mistake – we had used a low-voltage charger. A high-voltage charger would have only taken 30 minutes to charge the battery to 80%.
Although relieved that we wouldn’t have to spend our entire vacation waiting for the car to charge, we still questioned if renting an electric car was a big mistake.
Planning our days around charging
Upon arriving at Milano Linate Airport, I went with a friend to the car rental booth.
The staff member there went over all the rental details, including informing us that we were getting an electric car.
Since we needed an automatic vehicle, the electric car was our only option.
We didn’t think it would be a big deal and proceeded with our plans, driving to Lake Como with two other friends.
We had enough charge to last us three days in Lake Como, but on the fourth day, we desperately needed to recharge.
That’s when we made the voltage mistake and realized we needed to map our route around charging stations.
But that wasn’t our only mistake. We often forgot to monitor the battery level, resulting in stressful searches for the nearest charger.
We also learned that the battery drained faster on highways, forcing us to constantly change our planned stops to accommodate the car’s needs.
