As Claus Makowka pulled out of his North Oakland driveway, his Tesla only had 12 percent of its battery charge left.

Our drive was supposed to take 30 minutes. It was a cold day — snowflakes had started to fall as we pulled away. Car batteries don’t keep their charge as well in the cold.

The city of Pittsburgh has made reducing emissions from driving a central part of its plan to tackle climate change. And electrifying the city’s cars is one of its key strategies.

Makowka, who has already driven his Tesla S across the country twice, promised to show me how easy the transition would be. So we set out to test one of Tesla’s new superchargers at a Sheetz gas station.

Makowka calmly pointed to the car’s dashboard screen, which indicated we would arrive with 6 percent to spare, after taking into account the temperature and changes in elevation.