The car left the coast at 06:00 with a full battery and a claimed range of 900 kilometres. The plan was simple: drive to the capital and back on one charge, at normal motorway speeds, with the heating on.

It nearly worked. The reasons it did not have little to do with the car.

The drive out

For the first three hundred kilometres the estimate on the dashboard fell exactly as fast as the road. At kilometre 612, turning for home, the display showed 31 % left.

The cabin is quiet enough that the loudest thing at speed is the tyres. The seats are firm. The boot takes two suitcases and not a third.

Where it went wrong

A headwind on the return leg cost more than the hills did. With 140 kilometres to go the estimate said 120.

"The car was honest the whole way," our driver noted. "It told us an hour ahead that we would not make it. The map was the part that lied."

The first charging stop the car suggested was closed for resurfacing. The second had four bays, two of them out of order and two in use. The third worked.

The numbers

• Distance on one charge: 787 km before stopping
• Average speed: 104 km/h
• Time lost to finding a working charger: 52 minutes
• Time spent charging: 14 minutes

Verdict

As a machine it does what the brochure says in mild weather and a little less in wind. As a way to cross a country it is still limited by what is at the side of the road.

The makers say a map update is due in the new year. We will run the route again when it arrives.