It was the early morning of August 5, 1888, and her husband was still sleeping. She left a note for her husband on the table, saying that she and their two sons had already left to visit Pforzheim, Germany, 90 kilometers away. She purposely didn’t mention her means of transportation. It wasn’t until Carl Benz checked the workshop in his factory that he realized his family hadn’t taken the train. His new invention was gone.

Bertha had just committed the world’s first car theft. Her husband was a brilliant engineer who had designed the world’s first automobile in 1885. However, without sharp business mind, his product wasn’t going anywhere. Bertha understood what every modern business knows: marketing a product requires different skills than designing one. To provide a proof that the vehicle was reliable and could also master long-distance routes, she intended to drive with the motor from Mannheim to Pforzheim to show what it could do.

Once the three hit the road, they had to conquer novel problems. At 2.5 horsepower, they could not climb steep slopes without pushing it from behind. Going downhill, the car burnt out the brake shoes. Bertha stopped off at a cobbler and asked him to equip the brake shoes with a leather lining. In so doing, Bertha Benz became the inventor of brake lining. The fuel amount was also underestimated. Bertha made her first fuel purchase at the Stadtapotheke, where the store still proudly displays a sign of being the first gas station in the world.

Following the “first shock”, as written in his memoirs, Carl felt an inner pride in his wife’s daring “test drive”. And sales soon stepped up with the spread of Bertha’s daring trip. Today, drivers can still experience this part of Mercedes-Benz success story along the Bertha Benz Memorial Route between Mannheim and Pforzheim, just as the first woman driver did.

How to charge an electric vehicle (EV) is one of the biggest concerns people have when working out whether going electric is right for them.

It is true that sometimes gaining access to reliable charging can seem a bit tricky. 【小题1】

First, download an app with a comprehensive map of the public charging points showing their locations, how powerful they are, and whether they’re working. All this is vital information because, even if you have public charging points nearby, you will need alternatives in case they’re in use.【小题2】

A growing number of property owners are renting out their charging points and drive ways to other local EV drivers when they’re not using them.【小题3】 Thus, your car gets charged, the owners make money, and emissions are reduced.

【小题4】   For example, when your car is running out of juice, you’d just pull up to a battery-change station from your car brand and sit in the car while a fully charged unit is changed in. The Chinese EV brand Nio does this, but isn’t available in the UK as yet.

For now, if charging access remains difficult for you, it’s still possible to go electric-in part.【小题5】 Many hybrid (混合) cars are now good for 50 miles of electric running before you need to use the engine. So, if most of your driving is local, you might only need to find a charger once or twice a week, while you have the backup of a fuel engine for long journeys.