I left the A1 and headed to Biel. I trusted the GPS because my mind told me that was the best thing to do. It wasn’t, of course. This was the first of two critical mistakes that was to have a defining effect on the outcome of my Volt Challenge.

The road quickly grew smaller and smaller until I ended up in the back roads leading to La Chaux de Fond, my final destination. I knew instinctively that I was in trouble, especially when I was travelling in pitch darkness that was only broken by lights in distant villages.

The constant changing from 50km/h to 80km/h and back was taking its toll on my power supplies, and the idiot who tailgated me for a good 20km did not help either (I hate tailgaters). This was because the closer he got, the slower I drove and we ended up creating a sort of concertina effect.

At this point I had around 65km of range left and the distance to base camp was barely 40km, so I was very confident I would make it, although I still had to keep in mind the fact that we had to drive the rest of the way uphill.

Then, disaster struck – the road was closed! Again, I trusted the GPS, which took me on a round trip back to where the road was closed. Making the same mistake twice was silly, but I was in a place I had barely visited before and by now it was night. Then, I engaged my brain and decided to follow the signs (detours are well signed in Switzerland) and I was back on track. But I had lost valuable range.

The second critical moment followed very soon after. The car stopped telling me what range I had left but only that my fuel was low and I had to charge or fill up (as if I didn’t know). I kept on going and going – but I had no idea of what range remained.

Disclosure: The author works for Chevrolet Europe as Coordinator, Product Communications. All views expressed in this blog are his own