Crisis management

Paul Webb

Normally it’s not something that would cause too many problems. We tend to think nothing about a relatively simple 390-mile round trip. But when there’s a sudden problem with fuel supply as the gullible and foolish panic into filling up their cars and any jerry cans they could find in the garage, such a journey becomes potentially more fraught.

When I was driving a BMW 730Ld, I would fill up and have a range of 790 miles, Which is enough to do the Nottingham trip twice. But TfL has decreed that diesels can no longer be registered in London for private hire; you have to have either an electric car or a plug-in hybrid.

So the 730Ld has been replaced by a 745Le petrol-electric PHEV. It’s a comfortable, smooth and near-silent drive – but there is a drawback. The battery pack takes up much of the space previously occupied by the fuel tank – which means the 745Le has a petrol range of 300 miles with an additional 30 miles of electric range once fully charged. How would I get on? I would need to fill up at least once.

The journey itself was a dream. There was very little traffic (no fuel means no traffic!) so we could set the cruise control to achieve the absolute maximum fuel efficiency.

As the trip progressed, I started to check every filling station, while watching the fuel gauge like a hawk. All Isaw on the motorways were signs saying “no fuel”, so I was understandably starting to worry.

Luckily as I entered Nottingham I found a petrol station with fuel and – even better – no queue of cars, so I filled up the meagre tank to the brim, giving comfortable range for the return to Worthing.

Despite this attack of range anxiety, the 745Le is quite a machine. Its stately appearance turns heads – the admiring glances and comments underline just how good looking and fit for purpose this car is. I set the back seat to full executive recline for the journey home and watched a very tired passenger fall fast asleep enjoying a massage while the car ate up the motorway miles.

I decided to fill up again on reaching Worthing, as I had further trips to make in the week. This time, I had to queue for an hour to re-top the tank. There are plenty of advantages to running a PHEV – it may be pricier than a conventional-engined alternative, but you’ll pay no or very little road tax, and if you keep the batteries topped up and only do shorter journeys it’ll cost at least 50% less on fuel. It’s also reassuring to know you have the back-up of a combustion engine for longer journeys which for chauffeurs is still a must. On the downside, TfL has removed the congestion charge exemption for PHEVs from October 25, 2021, and this could spell the beginning of the end for chauffeuring PHEVs once pure electric luxury saloons such as BMW i7 and Mercedes-Benz EQS arrive in thecoming months.

We know that the good old days of 800 miles on a tank of diesel have gone for ever, so let’s hope that technologies will mean we will soon be enjoying that again. I don’t like filling stations, as they have too much temptation – something my waistline really doesn’t need.