JAMES May has revealed that he is still "conflicted" over EVs due to a key issue, despite his Tesla being "fantastic".
The Grand Tour star said there was a lot to like about electric cars but that "the ambition is way ahead" of the available tech.
Speaking on the Intercooler Podcast, he sang the praises of the Tesla Model 3 he currently owns.
The £39,000 all-electric sedan is the brand's best-selling model worldwide and boasts an impressive top speed of 125mph and a claimed range of 318 miles.
However, the former Top Gear presenter said that, in his opinion, there was still some way to go for the industry as a whole.
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He said: "I'm still conflicted about electric cars.
"I've had six now...there's a lot I like about them.
"I like the silence, it feels like magic and Star Trek to me...it's fantastic.
"But I still think the ambition is way ahead of the battery technology, it's still not really good enough."
His main issue was the nature of the charging network and the fact there "still aren't enough" high-speed chargers available to the public.
The motoring legend claimed drivers find themselves "navigating between high-speed chargers and hoping there aren't too many people on them".
He estimated that, by the time the ban on new petrol and diesel car sales comes into force in 2035, the UK would need millions more chargers to cope with the demand.
The latest figures from Zapmap show that there were 57,290 chargers in the UK in February 2024.
The company found that around 20% of these were in the "rapid or ultra-rapid" category and accounted for around 60% of the network's capacity.
James added: "You cannot get around the problem of even a quick charge taking 15 or 20 minutes.
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"I'm actually boring enough to have timed this.
"I do stop in my [Porsche] 911, which has a famously large petrol tank, and fill it up...and it can just be three minutes.
"I am a bad ambassador for the electric car really... [but] I think we've known since the beginning of the 20th Century that electric motors are the most sensible way to power a car."
He also suggested that what is usually termed "range anxiety" is actually "recharging anxiety" as it would be okay for an EV to have a range of just 150 miles if it recharged much more quickly.
However, he said EVs now "have to have a massive battery" in order to provide enough range to space out long waits for them to charge.
