EV vs Diesel - John O'Groats to Lands End Challenge - Part 3 - THE NUMBERS 

oh make sure you watch our other videos, North to South Wales (in a Mercedes CLS) and East to West (in a BMW X5 3.0 diesel) and be sure to SUBSCRIBE!

Just a quick point, I've never in 49 years of driving ever had to phone a oil company to tell them the fuel pump is not working.

£120k Porsche vs a £2.5k BMW. Porsche loses hands down- what a crazy world we live in.

Nice one guys. Imagine do the EV journey with kids to look after and entertain - absolutely nightmare.

For the EVangelists, “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” ― Mark Twain

No wonder Lee was wrecked. Huge cost, dealing with queues for the chargers, range anxiety, money spent on coffees etc. Everybody should be watching this road trip for a real world view

This is how I gauge the winner: Geoff was on his 5th beer when captain EV finally got to his first!

Great set of videos guys. Next challenge ... Crossing 'The Land of 20' North to South WALES, without losing the will to live !

This trip exactly mirrors my long journeys. I have made four 1300 km round trip (return) journeys in the last year. I have planned my route carefully and I now know the charging stations very well. I have not had one hassle free trip. My first trip took me nearly 16 hours for each 650 km leg. I've gradually whittled that down to 12 hours for each 650 km leg. That is still nearly twice as long as in my old petrol car. When I drive within range of my home charger, all's fine, but long trips are a total charging nightmare - though my costs are on a par with petrol. And you are quite right about the EVangelists. They are delusional. We need more rational discussion re ev's.

As a retired Taxi driver I have done some real long distance jobs in the UK. Many Manchester Airport runs that clocked over 200 miles round trip, Barrow to Aberdeen and Barrow to Dover even a couple of Heathrow fares. I cannot for the life of me believe that customers would be happy sitting around for 40 minutes plus waiting for me to charge an EV. mid journey. They just wouldn't want an EV to take them on a long distance fare. Bloody glad I am now retired. By the way my Son who was a PT Instructor in the British Army Did this run avoiding all Motorways, in 6 Days. Lands End to John O Groats on a push bike.

Lee hit the nail on the head when he said EVs are great for running around town. That's the whole point of them, the bastards don't want us travelling outside our 15 minute cities. Journeys like the one you guys just did (very well done btw 👍) or even Reading to Birmingham, will be a thing of the past. Depressing.

I drive long distance light haulage, my Sprinter Truck does about 30mpg, I often do 600 miles in a day. If the green morons force me to go electric, I doubt I could do 150 miles, and God knows the cost too. I saw Jay Leno looking at the Tesla Artic a little while ago, he was being told how great it was by the engineers, but nobody even mentioned the crucial questions that are the first any truck buyer will ask - weight, costs, and range. And still the electricity comes mostly from burning fuels! This was a great series by the way Geoff and Lee.

Brilliant job guys. 👏👏👏 Deepest sympathy to The MacMaster😢 EV's are crap for long journeys because the powers that be don't want anyone doing long journeys!

A petrol Porsche would also have cost twice as much in fuel as a diesel BMW, but a petrol Porsche would not have been *five hours late.*

Another glorious nail in the EV coffin 😂👏🏻

The other problem with lots of charging stops is your more tempted to buy a coffee and at £4 a time it adds up.

What an epic journey! I have absolutely no idea how I got to see you and Lee on this journey but I’m so glad I did! You guys are phenomenal! Just like the top gear of old days! Subscribed and I can’t wait to watch more content!

Whatever camp one is in I think the most important thing to extrapolate from this is that you two are both very good sports and that there’s still enough humour and goodwill left to make life fun .

Here in cold, remote Canada, I can’t see EVs as a realistic alternative

Even with the people who had to charge on the network for their 2x holidays per year, they still get the benefit of charging at home the other 360 days of the year. So even if it take an hour or two extra onto a journey to go on holiday, thats probably still offset by the 50 times you normally need to stop at a petrol station the rest of the year in an ICE

great road trip series geoff and lee - who needs Netflix when we have you two

Lee deserves a bloody medal, that must have been painful - we all know it, tired on a route and then dealing with extra shi7e is soul destroying. Super job lads

A Public Service Film about definitely never buying an EV whatsoever at all.

Electric cars have taken driving back to the 1950's. We drove from Chesterfield to Scarborough on minor roads (no dual carriageways or motorways) on holiday in three stages. Stop for fuel, stop to top up the radiator when the car overheated on the hills, stop for loos (kids in the car) and stops for sandwiches as it was taking so long we had to eat. Just like the EV trip.

I really feel it for Lee, I did that run in an Ex police Sierra many years ago, the roads were quieter, and no speed cameras. 12 hours driving, with an overnight stop in Inverness, (waking up to lovely Scottish mist and rain for my run down through Fort Willian and Glen Coe).... In reality, the drive the guys did was not from John o Grots to Cornwall, it was from Kendel to Cornwall, which is a much more 'normal' journey for people coming on holiday, therefore a very typical trip people will be making. Just imagine a couple of hundred electric cars descending on Mousehole in the peak Summer and all needing a charge! It's Simply not going to happen!

Let's not forget that Lee's charging time is almost a full working day, so adding a days work to the cost. For those saying that he should have driven down at night, I did 20 years of night trunking and there are dozens of major road closures at night which would add almost as much time as the daytime traffic

Absolutely brilliant best three evenings better than any Tv.

Well done to you both, this is just the kind of info that people considering buying an EV should see…

I drove to Sweden and back a several years ago. After disembarking the ferry from Sweden to Germany, I filled the tank with some particularly cheap diesel somewhere in North Germany, and continued home. I drove through Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, got in the ferry and then drove from the coast to my home in the English Midlands and still had two bars showing and making only local trips was using the German diesel for the next fortnight. The car had a K9K Renault 1.5dci engine which regularly achieved 80mpg on a longer haul with careful driving.

I can't believe I have spent about 3 hours plus watching the videos on two guys driving their cars... ...and enjoyed it. Mrs Starsky is worried. Come to think on it, I am worried too. That was some absolutely quality content and a challenge that us motorists are genuinely interested in - if you're a petrolhead you know about MPG, if you're an EVangelist you know about charging costs/rates/range - but this has been a great way to compare the two. I had thought diesel would win but I don't think anyone could have been confident. I feel sorry for @TheMacMaster. No shame in it, he clearly did his best and you could feel his pain. Well done to you both for this most excellent adventure.

They can install chargers till the cows come home but there's no more juice in the grid so it's pointless!

This has been a crackin' series of three - no, four - episodes covering an epic trip which changed from a bit of a laugh into a serious and very valid investigative report on the reality of driving long distances in the UK today. It's sobering to think that in Sunak's mythical 2035 all-electric nightmare, the infrastructure will probably not be appreciably better than it is now. Looking forward to this evening when I can watch Lee's vlog of his soul destroying experiences.

You two are brilliant. That was better than any of the best top gears hands down👏👏

Ask any lorry driver! Driving at night has so often become disadvantageous in recent years as Motorways are totally closed for maintenance. For me in the last 10 years this has happened twice for the M3, once for the M5 and twice for the A38 Expressway! Other roads are closed more regularly at night. Driving at night is therefore very often not an option!😊

He didn't make it to Lands End, but he was there in spirit, and in the hearts of all his new fans and subscribers after this epic trio of videos. And why on earth are charging points not under cover like pumps?

I go to a business networking group and one of the blokes is involved in the eco thing. A few months back, he stood up and said he and a couple of friends had taken an electric car (Ford Mustang, somewhat ironically) from Lands End to John O'Groats and that it was a great experience. Interestingly, he told us about the places they had visited, but he never once mentioned how many times they had to stop to recharge, how long each charge took, or how much each charge cost. Now I know why.

ev's....an excellent way of preventing people from straying to far away from where they live.

Great content Geoff and Mac. People need to see this and wake the chuff up. 😁⭐️

Crazy to think, if they left at the scheduled time, Geoff could have made it there and back before the EV got to lands end!

Just came back from a 500+ mile US road trip. Mix of freeway and steep twisty mountain roads, some heavy rain. 2003 RAM 2500 gas hemi, 6 person crew cab, 8 foot bed, 7000 lbs empty, at 236,000 miles. Drives like a dream. Very low maintenance, original engine, expect to keep it a while. Had to stop for a quick splash on the way back. Avg 20 mpg, but our gas is cheaper than UK. Total fuel cost $90 US. In the 20 years the truck has been in existence, no environmental cost was incurred for manufacturing a couple replacement vehicles. Truck has ground clearance to wade most floods. Sometimes haul loads at legal 3/4 ton weight limit, good trailer puller. Millions of Americans can say something similar. "Goodol truck!"

Hi Geoff buys cars, you and the Macmasters have save myself and my wife from switching in EV. Not sure EVs are tough enough to do the journeys I do. I am keeping my Phev and my wife keeps her diesel car. Thanks.

Lee, good to see you smiling a bit easier towards the end of this, just take some heart at the fact that yourself and Geoff are doing a damn fine job of entertaining us. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching this unfold, all credit to you guys.

That summary just shows that we are a long way from being able to discard petrol/diesel

WOW! This is epic and a real eye opener. We all knew, I think, that your BMW diesel would win the challenge hands down, but I was shocked to see the difference in the cost of the journey. Great vlog.😅😊

Yes! You both gotta do those challenges !!! Love it.. looking forward to it already 😮😂😊

Notwithstanding of course, the amount of money Lee had to spend on food and drink consumed whilst charging.

I realise traffic conditions are much worse than they were thirty years ago, but in 1992 twelve Austin Sevens (all over fifty years old at the time) managed John O'Groats to Lands End in less than 24 hours - that's less time than Lee's overall time spread across the two days!

Fantastic viewing loved all 3 vids, thanks to you both 👍🏻

I've been hearing peoples nightmares about chargers not working but no one was mentioning the cost of charging, the numbers you showed are scary 😳

This went exactly how I thought it would. I'm in Australia and I could tra vel further than you guys did and still be in the state I live in. Plus the infrastructure for charging here is worse than the UK. Someone the other day posted a picture of a charger that was powered by a diesel generator, that's what we face with so many remote areas.

Massive cost difference, and time obviously. Much respect to you both.

John O’Groats to Land’s. End. 874 miles. = approx 440 miles per day. Average EV = 270 miles range (mine does more) = 4.2 mKwh. Based on a 64 KWh usable battery. Drive 150 miles. Stop for Loo break and snack 20 mins charge at Avg 100 KWh. adds 140 miles range. Start next section with 260 miles range. Drive another 150 miles. Stop for lunch and another WC visit. 40mins. Charge up at (let’s be fair) Avg 75kwh. More than enough time to fill battery even though it will slow down significantly towards 100 %. Start last section for the day with 270 range. Drive to hotel (with charger or one near by) Repeat next day. And yes, I know there is some leeway in distance to suitable hubs. If and it is increasingly a big if, there are no chargers available, there is no need to queue, just go to the next one. Apps or the car will tell you which have free units. Cost: 100% battery from home = £6.08 Charges on road 33 KWh + 38Kwh @ £0.69 KWh (Gridserve) = £48.99 less the % left In battery on arrival = 33Kwh (£22.77) Total electricity used = £32.30. Diesel knackerheap doing 50mpg = (8.8 gallons) 40 ltrs @ £1.85 ltr [motorway)= £74.00 !!!! It will also need filling up on second day. So how is the diesel cheaper and quicker. Why does one use an expensive top range EV. With a shorter range and compare it economically with an old filthy diesel? Even so the Tycan can refuel a further 180 miles range in less than 15 mins! Add that to the 190 ish it can start with makes 440 achievable, easily in a day. God knows where all these long delays for charging come from. This has to be the most obviously contrived and dishonest stunt on RU-vid re. EVs. How about watching this ? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bM5hYkEXOVM.htmlsi=YUIpQpwkNWMEtITh 2019 model S Tesla. Current value approx £38,000. (Not £120,000] This was a proper, (and honest) challenge. Or this one; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X5bFUMGEN48.htmlsi=RTSiJgc0-FObJ9OW 500 miles with the car needing just one of 30 minutes. Still, I expect you will carry on with your disingenuous bovine excrement just to get your clicks.

The cost comparison you shared pretty much sums up the whole thing. Not even taking the terrible waste of time waiting for the charge process and the additional time waiting for a charger and the non-working chargers. Lastly, I love that manual transmission diesel BMW you found for $3300. US. Normally I’d run very fast from any BMW here in The States. That car looked quite nice too.

I live in South west Turkey, I saw a Tesla on UK plates last week 😳 I spoke to the guy and said how was your trip from the UK , he put his hand over his eyes and said" never again it's been a bloody nightmare" Ah ok !! Have a great day everyone 👍

I’ve watched this with interest! I once had a contract to work in Aviemore for six months. I live in Newquay Cornwall. I was driving up and back every other week. My car was an Audi A6 Avant 2.0 tdi. My quickest time was 10.5 hours including, one stop - splash and dash. On one occasion I did it on one tank of fuel 700 miles with some left in the tank…

I’m a Blackcountry boy who lived in Mousehole (Mouzel) for 25 years. Great place but you don’t know how lucky you were parking on the Harbour piers. Where Geoff parked, I’ve seen cars flattened to knee height by waves crashing over the sea walls in sudden Autumn storms. I also saw Annette, the female parking attendant, mischievously direct one of our EU friends in his huge posh Merc down to where you finally took Lee - ‘We cannot go there!’ he protested. ‘Pity you didn’t think that when you drove into Poland’, she responded! They drove off. 😀

Fantastic videos, Top Gear rebooted 👍 very much looking forward to the east/west and USA challenges 😁

Geoff could probably have done it in a smart car and still got there first 😀

Respect to Lee for this, EVs may be the future, but not this generation with this battery range and charging infrastructure.

19:22 Mrs Geoff has got some serious "credits" coming next year. Like a all girls holiday to the Caribbean. 🏖🍹

Geoff & Lee, my every day car is a 54 reg Nissan Almera (yes it's 20 years old next year!) with 58,000 miles on the clock. We live in Cheshunt Hertfordshire and drive up to Edinburgh (400 miles) several times per year to visit family. Here is our entire journey plan baring in mind we break up the journey with an over night stay in Corbridge Northumberland:- (1)Book hotel accommodation. (2) Car is serviced, is road worthy and has correct tyre pressures. (3) Fill tank with petrol = 60 litres - £90 (minimum 600 miles range at 55-60 mph). (4) Route plan - A1 north, exit at J58 onto A69 to Corbridge. Our final leg to Edinburgh is 94 miles - A68 north and A702 to Edinburgh which usually takes around 2 - 2.5 hours. This entire route usually takes us around 7 hours of driving depending on traffic and includes one stress free comfort break on the first leg to Corbridge. That's it! We usually leave at around 10.30am and arrive early to mid afternoon in Corbridge. No travelling over night and overall a very nice relaxed journey. Our biggest stress point is at best finding a parking space within 50m of the hotel in Corbridge! If the range anxiety and extortionate vehicle charging expense Lee experienced is the future of EV motoring then its not for me. This EV planet saving scam has to be shown for what it really is and these two RU-vid videos demonstrate this perfectly. This experiment had to be done and proves without doubt the EV market is dead in the water!! Thank you both!

How much did Lee spend in Costa and Mac Donald’s that he wouldn’t have spent if he hadn’t stopped so many times

Ive posted on Lees channel, not yours Geoff,sorry,not yet. I'm a petrol/diesel head. This video has now MADE me want to do the journey you chaps have done with my 2 boys 15yrs & 17rs old . Before 1, i can't do the drive because im old, 2, the roads won't allow,potholes roadworks,etc and 3, my boys won't be driving at all.....maybe. I hope not though. Anyway EVs. What a waste of RESOURCES. A complete waste of time, money , resources and the whole Ev. Thing.Pffft. The Government....No i have to stop... Thankyou Geoff and Lee. Gems both of you.❤

Best comparison, challenge videos ever 💯 Really looking forward to the USA road trip

*Love the chemistry between you both. More challenges and videos together.*

For use as a second car or just a city run about maybe EVs make sense, but as a long distance GT car, absolute madness.

Really useful test, thanks both for going to the effort to get these numbers. Will come in useful as a reference.

Well done guys. A brilliant ray of sunshine in this gloomy time we live in.

Who spent the most? The MacMaster Who waited the most? The MacMaster at the charging stations, Geoff at the hotels Who drunk the most beer at the hotel? Geoff, The MacMaster was too stressed and too late for boozing...

Thanks to both of you for this, i have really enjoyed watching this 'challenge', irregardless of which vehicle 'won' you have both shown yourselves to be first class blokes.

That was a great challenge. Geoff has surely killed the EV market lol I find it an inconvenience having to stop for fuel most times. I don’t want to ever be in the position where I’m forced to hang about charging stations and put with that crap!! Especially don’t want to put up with the wokies that frequent these places. Lee deserves a medal after that sh*t show.

This is a great example of why I now only use RU-vid for interesting viewing. Well done gentlemen, you're doing work that the mainstream media aren't doing. Relative topics investigated and some interesting points discussed. I think that a nightmare will occur at Christmas for those travelling in EVs. Just like last year, still not enough chargers. EVs ok for local journeys, but not for long trips.

Well done chaps. I'm pleased you found the 'delights' of the cart track called the A9. The SNP promised (in about 2011 if I remember correctly) to have the whole length between Perth and Inverness dualled by 2025 and as you have now seen most of it has yet to be done. Another of many promises they have failed to deliver to the good people of Scotland.

Yup this just confirms everything I already knew about Electric cars, but the difference in price was staggering.

Apologies again for multiple comments. I have to completely agree about the fully charged comment right at the end - for those of us that live in relatively far away, places, the necessity to do journeys of up to 600 miles, and in a day, is considerably greater than for you pasty southerners. There still isn’t an EV that would reliably get me from where I live on the West Coast of Scotland to the so-called capital of the Highlands, Inverness, and back again in the day without having to find somewhere to charge. I can’t charge at home, and relying on the one charger we have in the village wouldn’t be a good basis on which to buy an EV in the first place. On the subject of fully charged, the bloke who heads it up is clearly minted, you only have to look at whatever his financial outlay was for the stupendous quantity of solar panels and batteries and switchgear and everything to see that you need money in the first place. I don’t have the money to replace my current 16-year-old car with another old banger that might have a few years left, never mind an electric vehicle that just won’t get me anywhere.

In defence of EV's, in the near future their prohibitive costs, limited range and logistics of charging away from home will only be an issue if you're granted permission to leave your 15 minute city, which you won't be.

A great challenge that I have enjoyed watching. A reflection of how utterly crap the UK's EV charging infrastructure is. It doesn't particularly matter if EV drivers normally do shorter journeys as they are still subjected to the same infrastructure which is shared between an increasing number of EVs. Based on £1.60 a litre, £122 and 900 miles, I work out that Geoff has averaged 54mpg in his BMW. Based on the same cost per litre, £259 and 875 miles, mileage reduced as Lee did not go to Lands End, the Porsche Taycan did the equivalent of 24.5mpg - worse than most ICE Range Rovers. EV drivers must be so glad that they are doing so much to save the planet!!!

This was a great series and well worth your efforts 👍 Longer journeys = turbo diesel ..... local/city travel, EVs make sense with home changing....if you have a garage or driveway...but then your BMW only cost £2600 😮 turbo diesels still make a lot of sense !!

Great videos Guys. Thanks. It reminded me that last New Years I drove from Bristol to the Lake District for a short break (in a petrol car). We stopped at a services on the M42 & it was packed (I kind of expected that). Queuing for ten mins for a Costa was nothing compared to the cars queuing to get to the EV charge points! If we had been in an EV, that one stop would have put 2 hours on our journey easily! Ridiculous. Keep up the good work!

Brilliant analysis, very interesting

Much respect to you both. What turned into a bit of fun for entertainment, had actually turned into a truthful , realistic and highly informative vlog. It had confirmed everything I suspected about EVs . Good for city driving, crap for everything else. Things will only get worse as more and more devices need charging putting more and more pressure on the grid. If we all went to EVs by 2030, the grid would collapse and the economy would collapse..maybe this is why Rishi made the announcement about 2035, as they know the truth about Grid capacity. Boys , thank you. It's not often I look forward to YT posts . Keep up the great work.!!!!

A pro production - Pro edit job and all that - You are miles ahead of the bbc top gear team - Well done Geoff & Lee - looking forward to you next " top gear special" style production 😎😎🚗🚗

Brilliant and very enjoyable set of videos thank you. I have just worked out that I could have done that trip for about £30.00 less than Lee but about £100 more than Geoff in my Xj8 4.2 2008 Jaguar.That is nuts. Again, like Geoff, I would only have had a couple of short pitstops for refuelling etc. Something is terribly wrong in the world of EV Evangelism. Can't wait for your next challenge.

It's been fun to be along for the ride.😁

A foregone conclusion and no contest. Who would have thought it.....? Just every sensible person with a brain....! Well done and thanks to you both for making the effort! Top stuff!

I loved watching this Geoff although I've not watched any of Lee's footage and think I can do without the stress. It's been great and an indisputable victory. Well done to you both !

Great stuff! And interesting post-match analysis.

Loved all the challenge videos, can't wait for the future projects 👍

I strongly suspect it would be faster to go by national coach or similar operator than it took this e.v. , on this occasion. Even if not, it wouldnt cost £250 f ing quid!

Thanks to you both. There will be detractors claiming the challenge was invalid but so is waiting for the milk float to charge up!! Your experience of Lands End is why I havent been back there - they just want to hose your wallet!! Great video guys, looking forward to the next. 😁

Great info guys I feel better

I work on an electrical plant. I can tell you, that if everyone would start making night drives, you would end up A) making electricity more expensive or B) you would have the same problems with charging. Money Electricity plants turn down production because the price is to low for them to make a profit. but if demand would go up, so would the price of electricity do. And have a look at this podcast, it will explains a lot as well about the problem: " HUGE problem with EV Charging Stations that no one mentions | MGUY Australia "

Mr MacMaster is 100% right, small electric cars are brilliant for local journeys. Our BMW 13S can deliver a realistic 150 miles which allows us to do London to Oxford and back with a safety margin, any further and I would take my petrol or diesel car. Also, these 'private' charging stations are free to charge whatever they want whereas we charge overnight at home with no drama and at domestic electricity rates.

Fair do's to Lee for being a good sport

Good sport Lee - Fair play to ya - I'd have thrown in the towel in Kendal - No BS and truthful comparison- Well done lads !

Loved watching you two roll on the next road trip

Both of you showed great sportsmanship. ♥️

It was great to watch this as it confirmed all along what I’ve told my friends about EVs ,in particular the Porsche,as my friend who has one but hardly ever leaves the city ,,was ignorant to what I was saying,logistically it’s not viable cost wise and reliable,plus cost ,,so I thank you both for a excellent choice of task for EVs ,, can’t wait to show this mr know it all 😅.

Proper real world challenge. I live in Scotland myself where, as you noticed, the weather can be 'a bit iffy'. Quite a few times now in weather where it's dull and raining where you really need your lights on i've seen a few EVs, mostly Teslas, driving with no lights. Just makes me think they're trying to nurse their battery. "Wipers or lights?, wipers" kinda thing. Thanks guys👍

Love the video it's a real eye opener