A Shocking Story of Electric-Car Life

I recall two moments distinctly from my recent drive in a Volkswagen e-Golf. The first was marveling at how this electric vehicle's instantly available torque made it the best car I'd ever found for the cut-and-thrust of city driving. The second came only 80 miles or so later, as I was feather-footing the same car in the right lane of a divided highway, windows fogged because the air-conditioning was disabled, with a dashboard full of warning messages (including an illuminated turtle to let me know that all that zip I had enjoyed was gone). Most critically, the car's range gauge indicated it had juice to go only 10 more miles. My destination: a