I drove an EV from Scotland to England in winter.....here's how it went. 

Glad I’m not the only one trying to add some balance to counteract some of the BS. Great video 👍

Good and informative video. I went to North Berwick in Scotland from North Wiltshire…over 400 miles in a very busy August in my Megane. It was almost impossible to travel much more than 65 mph on the motorways because it was so busy. As a result we decided to take our time and cruise at just over 60 mph. We averaged over 3.8 miles per kWh both ways. We did two recharge stops each way which was quite impressive. Range was about 240 miles. The Megane as you say is really comfortable quiet and relaxing to drive.

I’m a motorcycle reviewer in Australia thinking of getting an EV, it was nice to see a real world example of a reasonably long journey in an EV, in particular the one I’m considering. We have as you would imagine have a lot of long distance driving here, our main problem is the lack of charging infrastructure. However with some planning prior to hitting the road it’s do’able (if that’s a word). The point you make about stopping one or two times more often than if you were maybe in an ice vehicle in very interesting, one of the biggest contributors to road crashes in Australia is lack of concentration & tiredness on country roads. An extra stop or two is probably a good thing, have a stretch, a cuppa etc and just wake yourself up a bit before continuing on your journey. It was also nice to see a video with no drag racing or talking about how it handles at 80mph through 90 degrees banked turns etc or 15 minutes talking about the sat nav system with ten thousand features (if you get my drift) Well done.👍

I drove my Renault Zoe 2022 r135 52kwh from Stockport to sitges in Spain in September this year 2023 and it performed very well. Mostly charged up at tesla and some ionity chargers through uk, France and Spain. It was a 2000 mile round trip. Took ferry from Portsmouth to st Malo. It can easily by done. It was the 1st time i had ever driven in Europe.

I regularly do Livingston to Milton Keynes in the enyaq. My first stop is either Carlisle or porsche but bladder determines that. Porsche staff are lovely and always like to discuss how I'm finding the enyaq. Stafford is my second stop too. I always aim to stop around 15% or lower because then you get faster charging. Definitely wouldn't dream of stopping if I was still at 40%.

Such a nice change to see a journey as I would do it. There's a lot of click bait on RU-vid and sensationalism is the way to lure folks in. I'm a former professional driver and anyone who tells you he can drive 6 hours non stop is an accident waiting to happen. Just because the car virtually drives itself leads to a sense of relaxation it's hard to snap out of when an emergency happens. So vigilance is vital. So why do I drive an EV? Comfort, quietness and cheapness. I did a 266 mile round trip last weekend. I charged up overnight at 9p per kw so from 20% it cost me around £3.50. I cheated by charging at my relatives home while I was there and arrived back home with 35% left in the battery. So a weekend away for 1.32 pence per mile and less than a minute of my time wasted on charging. It's like Jim Starling says on RU-vid recently. Driving an EV. Boring!

Düsseldorf not very glamorous? It's the centre of the German fashion industry. It's one of Germany's wealthiest cities and is a major centre for the arts, design and the media.

Thanks for the content. Nice to have a sensible balanced view. I’m enjoying my first EV. I have a Škoda Enyaq 80 coupe. No home charger,and in the 1200 miles I’ve done, including two long trips, no stressful issues. My “milk float” is suiting me fine. Thanks again for vlog.

Great vlog, I do all so have a megane E tech and love it , can I ask you question please do you have issues with your parcel shelf vibrating ?

If you're doing long journeys outside your EVs range weekly then it might not make sense, but for people like me that charge at home and rarely need to charge out and about they make perfect sense. I can get from Hampshire to Manchester and back with one charge in my i4

Great video. Completely agree with everything. I regularly drive from Oxford to Telford and back, 230 miles, in a Tesla Model Y. I charge from home (full charge 250 miles costs £4.80) and although I could just about do the round trip without charging at all, I will normally charge for 5-10 mins when I need a toilet stop anyway, just to give me a little buffer, and it will only cost me a few quid at a Tesla supercharger. Total cost for 230 miles, £8 ish. That would be £35 odd in my diesel VW. The whole driving experience is much nicer too, one pedal driving, quiet, instant speed when you need it, just a better experience. My diesel hardly ever gets used now except for trips to the dump ;)

Great video sir, professional and helpful as always. Thank you.

Peugeot E208GT driver here. Pluses .. handles and goes like a stabbed rat, it spins its wheels in sport mode! Pretty good range on a dry summers day. Minuses , best to keep it at 60 or below on the Motorway. Range takes a massive dip in winter, even driving at 50mph max and not using the heater .I’d always take the diesel on a longer or unpredictable journey in winter.

I have been driving a LEAF for just over 10 years, and last year uprated to the 59Kwh version. With home charging it was 5 months before I needed to use a public charger. With heater/aircon on and air temp around 6C my range is 200 miles, in summer it exceeds 236 miles. Last summer I drove from Havant to Scotland, the first day was to Gretna Green. I 'top up' charged twice on the way, Warwick services M6 and Tibshelf services.. We arrived at Gretna Green services with plenty still in the tank. The days trip 364 miles, time was around 8 hours. At my age that is enough for the day. One of the biggest holdups was slow traffic on the M6 past a total blockage on the Southbound lane. The slow speed gave me a return of 3.9mkwh. After an evening plugged into the Gridserve AC socket I had a full 'Tank' for the following day as we headed for the West Coast 500 route. Over the next couple of weeks we wandered around West Scotland, The North and Finally Aberdeenshire before driving back south. 2042 miles in total. Being somewhat 'old and decrepit' the most frequent stops were for Public Toilets, at several of which we found Rapid chargers! Not sure if popping down to Bridport for lunch (200 miles return ) counts as a long trip, but that was last week, plus Swanage on Thursday (175 miles) I spashed out £3.45p at Rownhams on the Bridport trip as the satnav warned us of road closures on our route home that were cleared by the time we got there. In short, for my lifestyle, an EV works well. For long and short journeys.. (24000 miles in the last 13 months)

I use the Shell station in Etruria Stoke on Trent to recharge on my trips back to my home land. I use the Octopus card and wonder if that will work with the Porche charges? I often see them when planning routes on a Better Route Planner

That's The MacMaster you are on about. I wish people would just watch his content and take it for what it is: entertainment and the fact that the video you are on about is two guys in two different cars doing a fun road trip. It... is... a... bit... of... fun!

Most of the people who complain about having to charge an EV for 30 mins during a journey, are likely only going to do a trip like this a few times a year. The vast majority of us use our cars for commuting, shopping and other short trips...where an EV is more than enough. The complaints come from people being misinformed by the media. Even the fears around battery fires are blown out of proportion, particularly when you realise that a fossil fueled car is more likely to catch fire than an EV, by a rather large margin...because you're literally driving around with gallons of flammable liquid sloshing around in a tank under a chunk of metal flying along at 70mph.

Was there much wind noise when on the motorway? My Megane you would think the window was down, no issues when driving around town. Thanks 🙂

I bought a new VW Golf just under 5 years ago under the VW diesel scrappage scheme. My old VW Golf which I bought new in 2006 was traded in for a brand new Golf 1.5 150bhp petrol with the new price was around £25k...I got £6k for my old Golf and also some extras plus discounts... Overall my new VW Golf GT cost me around £19K cash. So I have this great VW Golf which has done around 15k miles and is still like new as I keep it in a garage over the winter......A full tank can take us anywhere in the UK without any hassle. Looking at new VW EVs...The ID3 for example.....For an equivalent to my trusty VW Golf, a new one would cost around £50k!! Trading in my Golf which I reckon would be worth around £15k if I am lucky, I would have to fork out £35K to go electric!! Obviously, like the Golf I owned previously (2006 to 2018), and 12 years old and very reliable, I think that I will stick with my trusty newish VW Golf for another ten years at least.....That will take me to 87 years old.... Why on earth anybody would buy an EV is beyond comprehension.....The prices are just far too high. (By the way a new VW Golf petrol now cost around £30k with the extras....£20k less than a new ID3). They would be better to buy a S/H VW Golf, if they can get their hands on one and stick with it.....

It would be interesting to know how many kWh you used in driving your 340 miles? That would give a good estimate of range for such a trip, at motorway speeds anyway.

This has been very educational indeed ... Watching the real thing how EV's could get you in a relaxed time is an eye opener ... Brilliantly done Bryan, thank you for the brilliant video. I'm after the all new Peugeot E3008 which will be out soon I suppose. I also love the Renault Megane E and you're correct, you've made it home safely and looking rather fresh ... God Bless from Melbourne, Australia

Thanks for uploading, it’s good to see how the megane performs. When you mention it’s not got the range Renault say it should have do you mean WLTP or from the Renault mileage calculator on their website?

Awesome I enjoy these road trip videos

I own the same car for the last 4 months and am as enthusiastic about it as you are. But l feel that your test did lack some useful information such as. What power mode did you drive the car in and what level of regen did you use, as both of these factors have a huge impact on potential range and very little on real world performance. I regularly achieve 235 ish miles driving the same kind of route as you and in similar temperatures, but l do also use the seat heater on the number 2 setting for extra comfort. Renault's range figures are not achievable in the real world or any other. But with planning these cars are everyday usable, but not in the same way as fossil fuels.

I was running a 44kWh MG until recently. Not the greatest range but I still did long journeys easily. I’ve gone for an Ioniq 6 this time so I’ll chat with you at SMMT next time about it.

Rishi can’t stop the boats but he can stop Net Zero 🤣🤣🤣Expect the same from Sir Keir .

The only thing I'll add is you know where these stops are which makes it stress free. I have an EV for work and I don't regularly travel long distances but when I do it's in different areas of the country and it can be stressful finding a suitable charge point.

From the charging figures you gave, this EV seemed to have been charging at 40-60kW on average. That’s pretty low for such a recent EV. My Ioniq 28 does 66kW near constant 15-80%😅

I regularly drive from Hampshire on the sea front to Norwich in Norfolk [so have to go around the dreaded M25]. On other times I go from Hampshire to North Wales, [so have to get past the dreaded Birmingham] On both journeys If I leave at 4am it is a straight through journey with hardly anything else on the road, everything is laid back and hassle free, the services areas are half empty, no queues. No stress.. On the way back when I leave at 8.30 am it’s a bloody nightmare. The roads are full, start stop journeys, constantly changing speed to adjust to traffic conditions, everyone on the road is congested, impatient and angry, all of the service areas a full of people queuing for everything . The point being … the time of day you travel is one of the most significant factors in any long distance journey. It affects the economy of your vehicle, your stress levels, and comfort and anything you want to do at a service area.

I find resetting the trip meter helps as doing lots of short runs, the energy used to heat gets factored in like it thinks oh he does 4 x 5 mile runs daily so I’ll need the same energy to heat every time I start up.

A Merry Christmas to you and have a very good and happy New Year for 2024 and of course, plenty of safe, driving

We started 8 years ago with a Zoe at 100 mile range. Suffolk to Outer Hebrides over a few holiday days no problem. Now with a Kona Premium 250 miles one charge no problem, then stop for lunch and a charge. We go anywhere in it, don't think about it. And the Kona is 5 years old, goes lovely and quick.

Another informative video, thank you. Reinforces my hankering after the Megane, especially as I spent a frustrating hour this morning in my Zoe at a 150KW Shell charger to get from 49% to 86% (admittedly at 1 degree Celcius). Much as I like the Tebay services, Southbound the chargers are Tesla only. I know that you can gain access to Northbound, but at the time of writing, only 1 of the Gridserve CCS chargers northbound was in service. Finally, although I have not tried this personally, according to ONTO, the Ionity chargers should work with a Shell Recharge RFID card. Keep up the good work!

Very informative video, thank you

I think a lot of people would like to get an EV, but the cost is prohibitive and charging is still a concern. For a second car with short journeys, I think they're fine. The constant stops to recharge would do my head in. I have discussed with several friends that do a lot of miles about getting an EV. They would be cheaper to run and save several hundred pounds a month. But they don't have a driveway and so can only charge at overpriced charging stations, so the cost saving is negated.

My usecase of 90% daily city drive to work would be no issue. Anyway I am thinking about Scenic with big 91kwh baterry (87kwh usable) which could leave range anxiety behind in winter and on highway in the same time.

Agree 100% - we drove an MG4 from the Midlands and stayed in South Brittany earlier this year, used rest breaks for charging on the journey and village/shopping centre chargers while we were touring around in France. We never once had to sit in the car while it charged.

Good video. Tried to back calculate your range at 3’C in Lockerbie ?200 for 100%. Megane was my 2nd choice but went for Kia Niro because I could get a £3000 discount. I am getting 240-250 in winter but most journeys are fairly local. Got 3.8 m/kWh on round trip of 180 to IOW with temperatures -2’C to 4’C = 240 range. Probably still think I made right choice The Banbury charging station would be ideal for me from Sussex heading up north. I wish we could get better infrastructure along the south coast as most of my longer trips are to and from the West Country. Thanks again and all the best for festive season.

My golden rule is when doing a longer journey in my id3 is never let the charge drop below 35% when going to a charge point. That way if their is a problem then plenty left in the batteries and no stress for the next charger. Thanks for the video 👍🏻

Honestly this is what we need to actually show - realistic journeys, and an honest level of timings. No "All the chargers don't work" or "EVs don't work for long journeys" bollocks you find from (more clickbait and echo chamber) RU-vidrs. Even the highway code tells you to have a 15 minute break every two hours. In the case of the Megane, that'll get you another ~100 miles at a 150kW point. With UK traffic and my trips, it's about two hours for ~100 miles anyway! Realistically, most owners will probably do around 3-4 hours (~200 miles) and stop for 30 minutes, which is possible with the Megane and a lot of other EVs on the market.

78p/kwhr at Porsche South Lakes. Have you found any deal or provider to get it cheaper? Electroverse? Bonnet?

Just done 360 mile round trip in my Cupra Born to the coast. Stopped once each way for 20 mins charge and stretch of legs. No problem! 😊

Hi. Thanks for the very useful video. I have perhaps the worst EV ever produced if you listen to most people. It’s a top trim 2023 Mazda MX-30 and I don’t think it’s perfect but it works well for my wife and I. We do 10000 km a year and don’t really do road trips. I plug it in at home 2 nights a week and never need to use public chargers. My commute is 12 km return 5 days a week and we use it for shopping and appointments on the weekends. My point is range isn’t everything. Plan your stops to fast charge and buy what works for you. This is my first EV and I’ll never go back to gas cars. 😊

My parents have a BMW i4 edrive 40 and went on their first road trip last weekend. To Dunsborough, Western Australia. 270 km arriving with 200 km left. The hotel didn't have charging infrastructure so they drove to a different hotel for dinner that did. However, the charger broke part way through the charge and they had to keep resetting the charge session to crawl to 79% (watching the charge with the BMW app). The second charge was in the middle of town, unfortunately the person using it wasn't using Plug Share so they stayed in the car to wait. Wasn't that long since Tesla's charge fast. Third charge was on the way back on a well known super fast charger on the way back, smooth and fast. Australia's charging infrastructure isn't anywhere near as good as the UKs yet unfortunately. So I have driven their BMW to take them to the airport and the first thing you notice is the lack of vibration through the steering wheel and that makes driving long distances so much more relaxing.

I love how you start the video with gripes about another video you saw where the guy basically complained about the traffic and food which aren’t relevant to the topic at hand - then you spend about 1/6th of this video gushing about the staff at Porsche Centre South Lakes and how good the coffee was and complimenting how using the M6 toll avoided the traffic through Birmingham 😂😂

That South Lakes Porsche charger is also on Elli and likely a lot cheaper than using Shell Recharge.

I have an EV & a hybrid, always use hybrid for long journeys, much easier/quicker.

Forget the inconvenience of recharging (as you allude to, your other car would do it without refueling (mine would do the entire return trip)) they say the true cost of motoring is the depreciation. Your Megane is 4 months old and has lost in the region of £17,000, roughly 45%! THAT's what the "other chap" goes on about. It would be interesting if you did a similar trip but not a route you know extremely well to see how well you faired.

How are the headlights in the Mégane? Just saw a little bit of night driving at the end and it looked okay? Nice and blue hue and an okay brightness?

in 2017 i commuted daily 180 miles in a renault zoe on dual carriage way in devon and Cornwall, hilly and during winter. Also commued weeklly from london to cornwall and mainly during winter, only pain was I wish i got the 43kw quick charge version £1000 extra and slightly lower range. I did experience 1 december a cold battery on mid journey and only getting 7kw charging on a 50kw charger.

Bit of a long shot but could it be something to do with the frequency it uses to unlock the car when the key card is in my pocket, just a thought because our range rover was parked right next to it unlocked and I wondered if this interfered in some way? Probably talking a load of rubbish. One more question if you don't mind? What mode do you usually drive in? ECO is really sluggish but obviously saves the range. Thanks again.

Nice video thank you. I don't frequently do long journeys but I am not bothered by the idea of them. The idea of micro stops is interesting and I can see how they would work.

I love my megane in iconic spec, ceramic grey. If your journey is planned and you stop for lunch and plug into a decent DC charger you can travel the majority of England.

Currently looking at an I4 eDrive 40. I do a lot of miles and have had test vehicles which I've struggled with at times. If i have a busy day of meetings and I plan in stops, i have experienced broken chargers or chargers in use. There is no way round the planning of this unlike an ICE car that you just dont have to think about. All the planning in the world can't get round a charging site that is in use or has cars charging by the time you arrive or having to deal with a charger that decides to go awol. I really want to give EV a go for my daily hack, but there still seem too many variables that can screw a day up over and above an ICE/Hybrid. My current C300de will do nigh on 600 miles on a tank if driven conservatively. I know I will have to adjust my planning and the way I manage my days, but the public charging network (which I'd have to rely on heavily) still is not great although granfed, it is getting better. Public charging is also ludicrously expensive (before the miriad pf subscriptions etc). I4 eDrive 40 should give me around 280-300 I'd like to hope, so I would generally just top-up as/when, but there are still parts of the UK that had a very poor network; parts of Wales, Norfolk, parts of Scotland.

Getting 220 in winter in my Mégane. Most I’ve had in summer was 292! It’s very useable range. Done 15k miles in 9 month since I got my Mégane.

I drove ID3 58kwh twice from England to Poland. Had no stress at all. Took just a tiny bit of preparetion to find out chargers along the route. 6 charging stops and around 4 hours.

Hi. No EV yet, next car will be. One of my criteria has been to be able to drive to London and back - about 200 miles return - without charging. Many EVs can now do that. It seems to me that EV driving requires a tad more planning for long trips but that's no bad thing. A good SatNav is also a big help. It's a rapidly developing form of transport - in a few years time the energy storage will make today's battery technology look archaic. There's a lot online about 'range anxiety', not so much about environmental benefits - and I have a grandchild and that comes into my thinking. There are always naysayers - some are frightened of the 'new'. The worried, the genuinely concerned, need some help, like this nice video, the others perhaps would benefit from a pinch of salt.

Very interesting, thanks. One question please. As someone about to venture into the EV world i'm wondering what the ettiquette at charging stations is when you and others are waiting for a place to charge. Is it a free for all like some supermarket carparks?

Nice view over the loch at Lochmaben

Thank you for a honest review vid on EVs. If only the Luddites who watch those two clickbait buffoons would watch factual vids like this.

At Banbury you'd probably save a lot of money skipping Instavolt and using the Tesla chargers that are 5 mins further from the M40.

Great videos, I've just bought a 23' megane Etech EV60 iconic with 14,000 miles on the clock, only had it 2 days and absolutely love it. Good to watch you doing a long trip in it and the porsche chargers are not too far from me so good to know they're worth stopping at. Have you had the car make any strange loud noises? I left my mobile in the car and when I went to get it the car unlocked itself as it does but when I open the door a really loud low booming base sound and like feedback started coming from the speakers, full volume, I closed the door and locked the car only then did it stop, I unlocked the car again, opened the door and it started again until I'd closed and locked it again. It wasn't music just a horrible loud noise. Any ideas please? Thanks

Enjoyable video; thank you. What is the UK regulation or advisory on the maximum duration of driving before taking a mandatory break or rest stop? I think it's crazy not to take a break after driving non-stop for 2 or 3 hours.

Very interesting to see the journey from North to South! Also to hear your thoughts about taking the trip in an EV vs. your Jeep. Time aside - How would you rate your charging experience compared to the experience you have when feeling a car?

Its the ABC of electic car ownership

Hi Bryan, I run a 2021 MG ZSEV with an official range of 243 kms. What I actually get varies - like they all do - due to temperature, heating/aircon, speed atc; but what surprises me is that even in winter with heating on and cold temps I still 243 kms on GOM and still get in reality over 200 kms. I charge overnight at home via the granny charger and a quality 16a exterior socket on cheap-rate electric. During summer months my best ever range has been, up to now, 330 kms. What I love about my EV is that : 1. It is cheap to run - 20Kw/hr charge overnight costs less than 3 euros, even in todays barmy energy market prices; 2. It is soooo smooth and quiet to travel in, almost like a private train; 3. I lurve the fact that I can fuel-up at home and have a full tank every morning if I want or need to have; On the subject of your video "Doing longer trips" I'm old, retired and can't be arsed to do 'em ! Pretty-much all the journeys we do in the MG can be catered for with one overnight charge; however I have occasionally done them and I found that with my ChargeMap card and my Tesla app. I have no trouble at all. (I do still lust after a new version Tesla Model 3 with heat-pump though. Over here in France we still get a 7000€ gov. grant for buying a new EV. Ooooooh the temptation...)actually

Would the costs be higher if you chose to use the chargers on the motorway services as opposed to those you know about?

I used to put £20 of diesel in my Peugeot every 2-3 weeks, with no `local` or `regional` journeys - I have a company car for that. Now have an electric car and use the same amount of electricity. My next company car will be electric because there's NO DIFFERENCE in practical ownership costs - but I've yet to spend ANY dough on my E-208 in 12 months/25.000 miles...

Comedy gold.3 charging stops and 7.5 hours with a cost of £75 to do a wee 340 mile trip and this is the future.I regulary.In my 19 year old Celica do a similar trip in 5 hours for £50 in fuel.and i am NOT forced to stop every 100 miles as i have a range of 600 miles.

We've had a Megane etech since October and a Hyundai Ioniq EV for 3 years before that. Never needed public charging so far as we haven't done any long trips. But if I was going to do a long trip (we plan to do this in 2024) I'd plan it around the range of the vehicle so that I could do the whole trip on one charge OR I would stay at a hotel that had chargers.

How many cards and Apps do you have currently though?

Bryan, many thanks for your interesting diary video for a journey that I do on a regular basis (Edinburgh to London). As I'm seriously considering an EV for next year, my question for you (or any other readers) is regarding the cost of changing during the journey. Is it worth the time/inconvenience of leaving the motorway in search of cheaper charging points? Any thoughts/insights would be welcome.

Very good video👍

McMaster ….. the voice of reason ❤

Lots of big charging stations now opening plus bigger batteries means that range is no longer the issue it was. However i still feel the elephant in the room with EV's is the battery warranties not being long enough, most only cover the first 7-8 years which is about half of the lifetime a car, which you would expect to last around 15 year's. Plus of course there's often a limit of 100k miles as well, once you go beyond this the warranties void as well regardless of age. The high cost of replacing or repairing an EV's battery could effectively mean the car is worthless once the battery warranty has expired. We're already seeing high mileage (50k miles+) EV's depreciate massively as they get closer towards the 100k mileage limit (ironically helped by bigger batteries and more charging stations etc). There's no question EV's have improved massively over the last 5 years but the manufacturers warrenties haven't kept up. If solar panels can come with a 15-20 year warranty why not EV batteries?

I think the missing point here is spontaneity - you cannot jump in your ev and drive; you have to plan your journey and where I live there is no network

This video just confirms my thoughts about EV. Road trips with EV, cost more and takes more time, most esp if the journey is more than the range of the EV. My prius 2020 phev does about 600 miles and that is abt 38 litres or £55. With my car, this journey would cost me max £35. I would take 15 mins breaks, 4x and my journey time would just be 6hrs 30mins. I enjoy driving EV but would stick with phevs for now.

Great video 👍

It would be interesting to see the same test tomorrow (Christmas Eve) or on a Bank Holiday - at these times I think you will find the current UK infrastructure “stressed”…whereas an ICE car wouldn’t generally not require refuelling.

Fair and balanced review. Did 500 miles one weekend in my Corsa, bit of planning for stops and no issues at all. Regular breaks make a difference and so what if it takes a little longer

*Do the Same Journey on Christmas EVE !*

I'm sorry but it's daylight robbery if the "fuel" costs are the same! I had no idea roadside charging was that expensive! Add into that the extra time required sitting around drinking coffee, as a business user regularly doing longer trips, it's not enough for me yet.

I have the Megane e tech and don't understand the so-called stress. If I'm on a long journey, I top up & have a BIG MAC, no worries. 😜

I live in a location that can have seasonal temperature ranges of +45C to -35C. I frequently drive long distances and the weather can be really extreme with deep snow, high winds and torrential rains depending on the season. I purchased a PHEV and it is absolutely fantastic in these conditions. I can drive in EV only when I am grinding through city traffic and doing my daily commutes. I am always safe on the long hauls in inclement weather, because I can run in Hybrid or petrol only across long expanses with very little charging infrastructure.

Hi, great vid 👍. I’m currently looking at EV’s on the motability scheme and have definitely come to the conclusion that a home charger would be a requirement for me. It was certainly informative to see your journey and charging experience but I was very surprised to see the cost of charging. EV’s are touted as saving on fuel costs but that doesn’t appear to be the case if you are only charging away from home. Is there a fuel ‘tax’ component to the charge?

Enjoyed the video and you have over 500 comments. A couple of questions. No heavy traffic, did you do the journey on a Sunday?. If you had decided to do journey on 2x charges and then got stuck in traffic, would you then have got somewhat stressed out :)

All too much hassle for an ole fella. I just roll up onto the forecourt in my trusty Austin 7, fill her up, and off we go. Been a doin that for the last 66 years, an ain't goin to change anytime soon🙃

MacMaster has it in for EV’s. 🙁. You are fair & level headed thank goodness.

I appreciate your honest account. You mentioned that you don't have a home charger, this, economically, makes all the difference. The first portion of your long run is at very cheap rate (7.5p/kwh Octopus Go) and then, depending on your trip you may have to charge at 75p/kwh. Then all the trips around home are at the very low rate. I've had my first EV for 5 months, I've driven 2,094 miles with 3 overnight trips. For the 3 overnights stops with charges, the first was 21kWh @ £16.66 (Electovers/Osprey), the second occasion was again Electovers/Osprey 28.8 kWh but I never got charged and the third occasion it was the chargers in a hotel car park which was free. All the rest of the miles were local with overnight charges. The 2,094 files I've done to date have cost me £38.11. I calculate that would of cost me £222 in my previous diesel car. Nevertheless, with my low mileage (4,000 miles/year) it will probably take me 10 years to recover the extra £5,000 cost of the EV.

Our Ioniq has an official range of 193 and obviously is lower In normal use. I’ve used it to travel the 260ish miles to the office via the M6 toll and M40, with a single charging stop at Banbury (when they had only 16 chargers). I thought about stopping at Cobham services on the M25, but it looked like I would get to Hayward’s Heath with the remaining range. Turns out I cut it very close; I got to work with 4% and less than 14 miles range. As a pod point customer I was able to charge overnight in the carpark at the train station for free, so I had 100% available for the journey home the following day which again was completed with a single stop, but this time at Warwick services. EV ownership isn’t for everyone, but nor is it a complete nightmare of an ownership proposition. Loving your road tests, keep them coming.

Sick listening to him going on and on and on

I wonder how accommodating the Porsche dealership would be if you had 2 snotty toddlers with you........because then in general your stops are not relaxing coffee breaks but a 30-40 minute toddler entertainment mission. Which can add a huge amount of stress.

I did similar in the autumn in my 62kwh Leaf, from Lincoln to Fort William ~390 miles. In an ICE vehicle I used to stop once or sometimes twice and feel knackered once I got there. With my EV I stopped/charged 3 times (Barnard Castle, south of Glasgow and Loch Lomond) no problems at all, I'm certain I arrived less tired, stressed and worn out. No concerns about doing it again in the future.

Are the homechargers a lot cheaper getting this car in few month

I used to stay in Lockerbie and now stay in Moffat. I have a VW ID.3 and the majority of my driving is on the A74(M) and M6 as I prefer shopping in Carlisle and Lockerbie. I have family in West Yorkshire and Derbyshire and don’t ever get “range anxiety” when visiting them. Planning the journeys doesn’t take long and I always use the same public chargers. Taking regular stops reduces fatigue so waiting for the car to charge isn’t an issue as like you said, you can get coffee and something to eat by which time the car has charged. My ID.3 is my first EV and I’ve had it for 15 months now. I’ll never return to ICE vehicles, they cost way more to MOT and service, and are much noisier! I hope you’ve had a great Christmas and Hogmanay and look forward to more videos from you in 2024!

100% agree I’ve had my Born for 18 months and done quite a few long journeys. I’ve only ever had one public charge issue in cobham that was ridiculously busy. Went on ABRP found another charger 4 miles away so used that. I am lucky enough to have a home charger and the biggest issue with having an EV is the price to charge using the public chargers. I never pay more than a fiver at home and when on a long journey the £20 really hurts. Maybe a comparison video of range between winter and summer? The biggest shock I’ve had is summer running I get 4.2-4.8 m/kwh during winter 2.6-3.5 the normal so it is a massive loss. Born during summer is 80% 230 miles winter is 175.

We do a regular 240 mile run most weekends in summer, charge to 280 at home and return with 20 to 30 miles to plug back on at home costs about £5, less if the solar is working well

I definitely drive more sensibly now I have an EV compared to my previous 500 bph Alfa Romeo. But I now never charge above 80% and I plan to drive 2 hours and use that target to find a charging stop usually not for more than 30 minutes.

You failed to mention costs though? I checked, the chargers you used were 86p a KWH, and you were getting 3 miles from each, giving a cost of 28 pence a mile. That's the same cost wise a petrol car that does 22 MPG. Wow 😳

The problem is when there are no chargers available so you have to wait for ages or when they aren’t working. Which is all too common.