Tips and Takeaways from My First 800-Mile EV Road Trip in Scotland

[woohoo]

What Make/Model EV do you own?

I have been wondering about purchasing an EV as the next car, but the cost and the faff is still putting me off, it may be the one after the next car.

I do like the look of the Ionic 5, I looked at the Namsan Edition but the interior was very bland for a £54K car.

Good post.

qh

I was charging next to an Ionic, it had the cameras as wing mirrors. It looked pretty amazing to be honest though I do wonder if camera wing mirrors are over enginering it a little. Just googled it and looks interesting inside of the car.

I think at the moment which EV you go for should really reflect what you need. Tesla seems to have the best combination of range and chargers at the moment but seem pretty bland. A mate went with the electric Volvo, hasnt arrived yet, which is the other thing wait times!

[woody1]

The only EV that I'd fancy is the Porsche Taycan (Tursimo for the dog obviously).

Maybe if I win big on the premium bonds...

[woohoo]

The only EV that I'd fancy is the Porsche Taycan (Tursimo for the dog obviously).

Maybe if I win big on the premium bonds...

They are great cars, the GTS is the sweet spot for me but massive waiting times, looking at a year.

Second hand market is apparently good for them if you have a spare 80-90k.

[vetran]

latest stats from the US are 50% of journeys are less than 3 miles.

I did about 50 miles today which was a longish distance for me. This weekend will do about 500 and another 500 in two weeks.

Electric vehicles have a place but there are bigger fish to fry.

[woohoo]

latest stats from the US are 50% of journeys are less than 3 miles.

I did about 50 miles today which was a longish distance for me. This weekend will do about 500 and another 500 in two weeks.

Electric vehicles have a place but there are bigger fish to fry.

I agree with you. Electric cars eco credentials arent that great at all. If we all switched to electric in this country wouldnt make a jot of difference. But I do prefer driving an electric car, quiet, smooth acceleration and love the gadget side of it.

[dsc]

not that boring..... But it's not convincing me to get an EV.
Too much planning needed.
For round the town, and short journeys I get it. For longer journeys it just doesn't sound like the infrastructure is there yet.

Which is why a hybrid is best of both worlds, electric for short trips, petrol for long ones.

Bottom line is, it's all about the charging infrastructure, recently I watched a short vid on hydrogen cell cars and currently they are uber tulipe compared to EVs as there's almost no "petrol" stations for them (vid was done in the US and they only have those in California).

[vetran]

Which is why a hybrid is best of both worlds, electric for short trips, petrol for long ones.

Bottom line is, it's all about the charging infrastructure, recently I watched a short vid on hydrogen cell cars and currently they are uber tulipe compared to EVs as there's almost no "petrol" stations for them (vid was done in the US and they only have those in California).

Agree Hybrid with enhanced emission reductions make a lot of sense. There was also a filter being shared on LinkedIn that could capture emissions and lower them significantly, fitting this to existing vehicles would make a lot of sense. Retrofitting Urea options to larger /commercial diesels also makes sense, there aren't enough vans for ULEZ so create some.

Hydrogen is probably better suited to larger vehicles, trucks, coaches, diggers etc. Same range as diesel, no emissions and a defined market that will maintain infrastructure. Benefits - No nasty batteries and Hydrogen can be created and stored as a byproduct of solar, wind or tidal.

[al_cam]

Great post.

I'm an EV driver for over 6 years now. I did a 600 mile trip from Glasgow, up the Hebrides, island hopping and back the mainland.
Choosing "destination" chargers works better - I charged in Mallaig at the hotel we stayed in before getting the ferry - overnight so no waiting.
I then next charged in Stornoway, where we were staying once when we arrived and again before leaving - again, no waiting.
Final charge was in Aviemore which we did while we had dinner.

Charging infrastructure simply hasn't kept up with EV adoption.
Chargeplace Scotland is brilliant - the idea being one card does all chargers but sadly more and more chargers aren't on the network which means it is becoming a pain like it is in England. There should be a law that all chargers are part of a national system, even if they want to run their own separate system in parallel.
OP - you should have called their number when you had a problem - the call centre is great.

Most are like me and mostly drive locally so the benefits of an EV outweigh the downsides. For me, having to fuel up my wife's car is a complete hassle.
If I couldn't charge at home though then I wouldn't get an EV.

Wife's company car is up soon and she's getting an EV as her next one. Company car tax rates are obviously a huge factor but she'd probably have gone electric anyway.

My advice right now - if you have more than 1 car in the household and can charge at home then get an EV but keep an ICE car for longer trips.
Once the charging network catches up then definitely move to EV. By that time ranges will be routinely > 300 miles and charging times down to minutes.
Yes, new technologies are coming along all the time but it's like mobile phones were - yes you can wait years until they become perfect or just go for it when they are as perfect as you require for the next few years.

[woohoo]

Great post.

I'm an EV driver for over 6 years now. I did a 600 mile trip from Glasgow, up the Hebrides, island hopping and back the mainland.
Choosing "destination" chargers works better - I charged in Mallaig at the hotel we stayed in before getting the ferry - overnight so no waiting.
I then next charged in Stornoway, where we were staying once when we arrived and again before leaving - again, no waiting.
Final charge was in Aviemore which we did while we had dinner.

Charging infrastructure simply hasn't kept up with EV adoption.
Chargeplace Scotland is brilliant - the idea being one card does all chargers but sadly more and more chargers aren't on the network which means it is becoming a pain like it is in England. There should be a law that all chargers are part of a national system, even if they want to run their own separate system in parallel.
OP - you should have called their number when you had a problem - the call centre is great.

Most are like me and mostly drive locally so the benefits of an EV outweigh the downsides. For me, having to fuel up my wife's car is a complete hassle.
If I couldn't charge at home though then I wouldn't get an EV.

Wife's company car is up soon and she's getting an EV as her next one. Company car tax rates are obviously a huge factor but she'd probably have gone electric anyway.

My advice right now - if you have more than 1 car in the household and can charge at home then get an EV but keep an ICE car for longer trips.
Once the charging network catches up then definitely move to EV. By that time ranges will be routinely > 300 miles and charging times down to minutes.
Yes, new technologies are coming along all the time but it's like mobile phones were - yes you can wait years until they become perfect or just go for it when they are as perfect as you require for the next few years.

Glad you found it interesting.

Yep, I like the idea of the destination charger, park up overnight and wake up to a full charge. We stayed pretty far out of the way and the hotel wasn't set up for charging, but it's something I would consider when booking a hotel in the future.

Chargeplace Scotland worked pretty well; the app is just a bit broken. I've seen similar issues online and I imagine if the charge card had arrived it probably would have been fine.

Agree with you about chargers and making it a legal requirement to fit into some kind of national system. It does feel a bit wild west at the moment. There was an article in the Daily Mail today about some people having 30 apps on their phone for payments.

Currently, we are getting around 200 miles out of an 85% charge; it's only going to improve and before long we won't even talk about charging. Hopefully, by then I can try out the new-fangled anti-grav cars powered by harnessing the smugness of anti-oil protestors.

[dsc]

Regarding charging infrastructure, recently in the area they opened up a Tesla charging station right next to a vineyard which is open to the public. I often go there in the evening for a walk and there's always at least 2-3 cars parked up charging with their owners sitting inside waiting for the charge to end. I'm sure it's not a massive issue to sit in a car for 20min or however long it takes (it would be a pain to do this daily though), but this vs just rolling up to a petrol station, filling up your tank in 1-2min and driving off feels a bit retarded.