This is the first entry of a blog I'm going to write about electric cars*.

My story begins at Sustainable Crediton's recent talk on electric cars. After my speaker dropped out at the last minute, I was forced to cobble together some (hastily googled) notes to try and salvage the evening. Fortunately for me, though, a local couple came along who actually knew what they were talking about. They had recently bought a Volkswagen eUp, and regaled us with stories of how they could bomb along the A377 and race away from other vehicles at green lights drive responsibly at all times. It was really helpful to hear of their experiences and, given that they'd decided to make the change to electric with (I'm guessing) over a hundred years of driving experience between them, I figured there was really no excuse for me not to give it go.

Fast forward a week to a test drive at Nissan Exeter. I decided to go for the Nissan Leaf Acenta with a 30kWh battery. I should point out at this stage that I know practically nothing about cars, but I chose this battery because it goes a bit further than the 24kWh model: the laboratory test ranges are 155 miles and 124 miles, respectively. I did my best to bluff it out with the (extremely knowledgeable) salesman, but my cover was blown when I asked if it was a manual or an automatic. In fairness to him, he did let me down very gently when he explained that all electric cars are automatic. From that point on, though, I decided to delegate all decision-making to my youngest daughter and she, after detailed consideration of all the technical specifications, decided that we should go for the red one.

Misunderstanding number two was that we thought we were only allowed to drive it around the block, so we were somewhat surprised when the salesman said we could take it for the whole weekend. Well it would be rude not to, so we roared off (very quietly) back to Crediton with the kids in the back under strict instructions not to touch anything. First impression: very nippy from a standing start and surprisingly fast up hills. Second impression: the lights on the dashboard look just like Knightrider**

Having longer than we expected with the car, we decided to give it a proper run out the next day. The plan was for a day out with the children's cousins just the other side of Taunton and, with 110 miles in the tank (err, battery), we thought we should be able to make the 45 miles there and back OK. At this point I should say that watching the range gauge can be a somewhat disconcerting experience for a newbie. Having thought we'd comfortably make it, I was somewhat perturbed when the expected range plunged below 80 miles on the motorway before we were even halfway there - premonitions of embarrassing phonecalls to Nissan, explaining that I'd had to abandon their vehicle in a Somerset hedgerow, started to race through my head…. Still, things levelled out a bit, and when we got there we still had around 55 miles left. All fine. Nothing to worry about. So we potter around Barrington Court, the kids fiddle with priceless antiquities and generally ruin a quiet afternoon for most of the other visitors, and a lovely time is had by all.

Get back to car, plug our address into sat nav. The voice says, "you may not have enough charge to reach your destination". Cue minor panic. Nothing else for it: we'll have to use a public chargepoint. To Taunton Deane and the Ecotricity rapid charge points. I'd been rather dreading this. I'd downloaded the Ecotricity charging app the night before, but it was far from clear that I would be able to make it work. (You should know that my technological ability peaked in about 1984 and it's been a process of managed decline since then.) After some tentative prodding with some strangely-shaped plugs, we eventually found the right one. Then we clicked through some buttons on the app and, miracle of miracles, it started charging! Cue smug feeling and stroll off to get a cup of coffee - just like they tell you in the sales brochures - and thirty minutes later we were back to 95% charge. Oh, and did I mention, as an Ecotricity customer IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FREE! So after basking in our own glory for a few moments more, we zoomed back down the motorway and were home in time for tea.

All in all, it had been a fun weekend and everyone decided they loved the car. So, to conclude in the style of Charlotte Bronte (who I'm sure would have been well into electric cars): Reader, we bought it!

Note: I am not being paid to promote Nissan and I intend to give an honest account of all my experiences (good and bad), but if you are interested in buying a Leaf, Nissan Exeter will offer a discount to Sustainable Crediton members. Contact me directly for more details.

*As a self-respecting environmentalist blogger, I have naturally chosen a Peter, Paul and Mary song for my title...

**For people under 40: this was a brilliant TV programme in the 1980s. You missed out big time.