Get an electric car, they said, it’ll be cheaper, they said, better for the environment, more convenient. Hmm…
To be fair, most of this stuff is true. It costs us about £5 once a week to charge our car from home, provided we aren’t leaving town. However, there is one area where electric cars can be an absolute nightmare: long distance journeys.
For example, we’ve got a 58kwh Cupra Born, which apparently comes with a range of 260 miles per full charge, but all EV owners know it doesn’t quite work like that. The range they give you is an absolute best case scenario, which means that in reality, you can forget it. You would need ideal Summer weather conditions, a mostly empty car, perfect driving technique – basically all of the things a normal UK family never has.
Coming back to long journeys then, the issue is obvious: you’re going to need to stop and recharge. A lot. Every two hours at least, more if your kids are annoying you because they’re bored, but that’s a different story.
This isn’t the worst thing in the world, you might be thinking, but let me explain why it can turn into a living nightmare, and how to avoid that nightmare completely.
The Trouble With Charging on the Motorway
When we charge the car at home, it’s with a 7.4kw Zappi we got from myenergi, and it takes hours for a full charge. So like everyone else, when it needs some juice we leave it plugged in overnight and it’s ready and raring to go in the morning. However, public charging stations are much stronger, up to 350kWh in some circumstances, so you can charge much faster.
This should make charging on long journeys easy, right? Wrong.
Remember, you’re not the only EV driver in the world. I have never known a worse feeling than pulling into a motorway service station after 2 hot sweaty hours in a car with two irritated children and a stressed out partner, only to see every EV charger being used and a queue of other drivers waiting for their turn.
I say queue, it’s not really a queue. There is no queuing system. People just park up as close as possible, then race for it when a charger becomes available. Meanwhile, you are sat watching, coming to terms with the fact you could be here for hours before being able to plug in, charge, and get back on the road. And you still have 5 hours of driving left to do.
It’s. Horrendous.
We have family all the way down south, so we have had to tackle this issue a number of times, and I think I have finally cracked it. So, here’s what you need to do.
Avoid Service Stations!
I don’t know why, but we tend to feel like we need to use service stations on long journeys. Get this idea out of your head immediately.
Avoid motorway service stations like the plague! They are busy, they are expensive, they are soulless, and they are full of people trying to use the EV charger that you need to use.
Instead, download an app like ChargeFinder or ZapMap before you set off, and plan your stops. Either go somewhere fun that also has EV charging points, or find a town just off the motorway.
These apps work a bit like Google maps, and show you all the different public charging options available in the area you are looking at. They even show you how many charging points there are and of which type (the different kWh levels), as well as how many are currently available and in use.
There are charging points everywhere, in retail parks, outside supermarkets, next to local amusements and entertainment complexes. You can park up, plug in, and go to the shops, or to the park, or to a local café where a coffee doesn’t cost £5.40. And you won’t have to queue either. The charge could even be cheaper as it’s not in such a high demand area as a service station.
There is an Instavolt charging park with about 40 stations just off the M40 at Banbury which we always use. You want to know why? Because it adds approximately 30 seconds onto our journey and there is a Hotel Chocolat cafe opposite. Get that delicious silky hot chocolate in my face. It’s a much more pleasant way to wait for the charge to complete, and of course, the kids never complain.
This is just one example. There will be gems like this up and down the country, so explore your route and enjoy your charge stops rather than dreading them.
Life is too short to be battling it out with other electric car owners at busy service stations.