All you needed to know about buying an EV.

Thinking of buying an EV? Struggling with comparative battery capacities, acceleration figures and WLTP range claims? Charging station locations, connection cable compatibility and drive unit warranties doing your head in?

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Back in simpler times - in the days before the electric starter motor and Big Oil killed off the viability of emissions-free driving for the next century or so - carmakers like Baker made electric vehicle ownership sound so simple, with mercifully spec-free pieces of persuasive prose in ads like this.

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Range anxiety? Fear not; the vehicle's 'Refinements in construction' had got that sorted.

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Zero charging stations in your neck of the woods? Relax, the car's 'many exclusive improvements' will 'carry you as far as you want to go in a single day'.

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Zippy? Heck, as fast as a greyhound without, windscreenless, so much as ruffling the hair.

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And on the off chance you'd be searching for something vaguely factual among the rosy rhetoric, you could always send for a free booklet on 'a brief history of the Shaft Drive'.

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Aah they don't write automotive ads like that anymore. It might be a bit of a learning curve sorting your km/hs from your kWhs but with EV ads these days at least you'll be free of the niggling feeling that just because you're a consumer you must be an idiot.