Former Top Gear star James May has explained that electric cars still have one “massive problem” stopping him from being fully invested in the technological advancement.

May, alongside former Top Gear co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, currently presents Amazon’s The Grand Tour, which follows in a similar vein to Top Gear and its focus on cars, with information and entertainment flowing freely throughout.

With the recent rise in electric vehicles – particularly from the likes of Elon Musk’s Tesla – you would imagine he has a lot of experience with them, so his opinion is definitely one to listen to. And he thinks there is one major problem with electric cars that is holding them back despite the fact he owns a few.


In a video uploaded on March 7, DRIVETRIBE are trying to convince May that he should buy a Mini Electric, MINI’s first venture into what he calls “the electric future.”

Read More: Bill Gates explains the main problem with electric cars after buying one

Saying that he already owns an electric car, and has owned others in the past, he still has his concerns. “I just think that, despite being an advocate of the electric future, I think electric cars are heading for a massive problem.”

Expanding on why he believes this to be so, May says: “Whichever way you cut it, the problem is still the batteries. They’re a lot better than they were… but it’s still not good enough, [because] they’re too heavy, the range isn’t big enough and they take too long to charge.”

(Timestamp 10:00 for mobile viewers)


May later explains that his Tesla is “the longest range money can buy,” but if you’re traveling a lot like he has to sometimes, and start basing your travel around where you can charge, you might end up spending more time driving just to stay on top of it.

His final, resounding analysis is a simple one: “Until electric cars can charge in a few minutes, we’re going to be a bit shafted,” comparing electric vehicles to a “fantastic club” and that if lots of people start buying them, “we’re going to have huge problems.”