Still, these two seaside trips have added quite a bit to the store of my practical EV knowledge. On one of them, I travelled in a loose convoy with a petrol car, whose driver made no particular effort to save fuel, cruised with the traffic (ie a bit faster), and stopped once for comfort (whereas I stopped for 15 minutes’ worth of 150kW of rapid charge) and beat me to the destination by six minutes.

On the other, a stiff westerly headwind was blowing, which meant that though I left Rye with a full charge on my 170-mile return journey, it looked for a while as if I might have to call into one of the M4 motorway service areas for a quick tickle just to get home. The way headwinds affect range is much more noticeable in an EV than in other cars, and on long trips you’d better not forget it.

On both Rye trips, we carried a comfortable full load: four adults and luggage for them all. There is theoretical seating for five, of course, but you wouldn’t inflict that rear-centre perch on anyone for very long.

It’s for your run to the station and no more. As it was, there were coos of approval from all three passengers (we have already long established that the driver’s seat is one of the best): everyone liked the firmer-than-usual shaping and long-distance support of the Audis sports seats, along with the excellent rear knee and foot room.

Having complained a lot about what I often see as the SQ8 E-tron’s excessive exterior bulk (and weight), I admit it absolutely came into its own this time. On the trip we made with the accompanying petrol car, there was a minor riot when one of the Audi’s outward passengers thought he might have to go back in the rear of a smallish Ford.

The SQ8 boot isn’t vast when it has to carry luggage for four, though there’s a compartment for oddments under the fairly high floor. At least the boot isn’t dogged by the usual jumble of EV cables (they fit neatly into a shallow ‘frunk’ under the bonnet) and the boot is quite long too.

Best of all, this car’s fastback shape means it doesn’t have (or need) a flexible, often flimsy luggage cover, and there’s very little noise from the rear.