The Hyundai Ioniq has its automatic gears on large, crude buttons that look as though they were designed to teach a baby how to spell. It doesn’t seem likely that hitting D will result in a forward movement, but there she goes, smooth and silent, a cheerful blue predator. All that stuff I would normally notice (the exterior, the cabin, the satnav, the driving posture): forget it. This is one woman’s struggle against her hybrid’s battery life, like Leonardo DiCaprio and the bear in The Revenant.

I set off for Oxford, 57 miles, with my 107-mile fully charged battery. Acceleration is great, but nothing on the smugness. Road roar is a bit of an issue, especially when trying to listen to a tense podcast full of deep southerners making racist remarks sotto voce.

Anyway, arrived safely, 50 miles in hand. Messed about doing stuff. Prepared to drive home.

Those charging posts in municipal car parks? You need to be a member of something to use those. Who knew? Thirty-five miles later, I’m hitting the red bars, trying to figure out the Ecotricity pump in a services. A curly nerd shows me how to plug in. I already feel like Blanche DuBois, but the help I get from strangers will run to many man hours by the end of this caper. Three hours 40 minutes to charge, it says. Huh. I’d read the superspeed ones took half an hour; this remains true. It’s just that all the pumps call themselves superspeed, the way adverts from the 30s call themselves modern. How are they to know they’ll be superseded?

A wonderful Hyundai lady finds me an actual superspeed pump 13 miles away, but I have decided to do an hour on the old school pump and drive 57 miles home with 61 miles of charge. The car enjoins me strongly not to do this, but I ignore it. Never ignore your electric car.

It is now 11pm. There is something magical about the return journey, so adrenalised by peril. I’ve never gone so sedately on a motorway with such a glad heart. I reach home so low on power that it’s on a go-slow, indicated with a flashing picture of a turtle. The rest of this is a thank-you note: thanks to the nerd and the Hyundai lady; thanks to the sociologists whose conference I was late for; thanks to the guy in Perivale who heated me a pasty; thanks to the AA man who pushed it to my front door so I could reach the plug; and thanks to Hyundai. This is the biggest adventure I’ve had in years.

Hyundai Ioniq in numbers

Price £26,869
Acceleration 0 to 62mph: 10.2 (normal) or 9.9 (sport)
Top speed 103mph
Electric efficiency (KwH per 100km): 11.5
Cool rating 8/10
Eco rating 10/10