Stranded at 2%: the night three strangers showed up
A dead battery on the Silk Board flyover, one SOS tap, and a reminder that EV owners look after their own.
I did everything wrong. Left home at 9%, told myself the ORR charger was 'basically on the way', and hit the Silk Board flyover crawl at 2% with the range meter just showing three dashes and a shrug.
The tap
I pulled onto the shoulder, hazards on, heart doing something unhelpful. Then I remembered the little red button. One tap on SOS, picked 'Low battery', and the app pinged every Wattway owner within five kilometres.
Ninety seconds later my phone lit up: 'Rahul is 2.1 km away — on the way.' Then Priya. Then a third. Three strangers, rearranging their evening for someone they'd never met.
“Three strangers rearranged their evening for someone they'd never met.”
The rescue
Rahul got there first with a portable pack — enough to limp me to the BDA Complex charger a kilometre on. He wouldn't take money. 'Do it for the next person,' he said, and drove off before I could argue.
I've since responded to four SOS pings myself. Turns out helping is a little addictive. That's the thing nobody tells you about going electric — you don't just join a car, you join a crowd that shows up.