Recharging a flat battery on a McLaren Speedtail is hella complicated

Let’s assume you are one of the 106 multi-millionaires who own a McLaren Speedtail. Here’s a word of advice – never let the battery go flat.

Manny Khoshbin, who owns the one-off Speedtail Hermes Edition learnt this the hard way. He didn’t position the wireless charging pad properly and as a result, the battery couldn’t be topped up and went flat.

To connect a trickle charger, you need to open the bonnet. But, since the battery is dead, you cannot operate the electronic latches. McLaren has thought about this and has kindly provided a “special key”.

This key is hidden inside the key fob itself. Getting to it is a faff in itself. Once you have the key, you need to find the right keyhole that’s located under front splitter. That will pop the bonnet. Now, all you need to do is find the latch that’s holding on to it. Simple right?

As you can see, connecting a trickle charger to a McLaren Speedtail whose battery has gone flat is like solving the world’s greatest puzzle box. I’m not sure how many Speedtail owners would be keen to do all that.

In Manny’s case, the job turned out to be even more complicated.