“BUT That drive I do…”
I find most drivers, even hard-core petrolheads, are at least curious about EVs. When I ask them if they would ever buy an EV, the range is the most common obstacle. I find drivers tend to fixate on their outlier journeys. Often, they have a particular drive in mind. Something that is exceptional compared to their daily lives, but regular enough to cause them concern.
For the pre-EV me, that drive would have been to Bristol where my daughter Emma lives. It is 150 miles from home. If I do the return journey within a day, it is at least 60 miles over my Jaguar I-PACE’s maximum real-world range. This means public charging is necessary. It just so happened that I had to deliver my daughter and her boyfriend Thom back home to Bristol on New Year’s’ Eve 2021. This gives us a chance to dig deep into the journey stats and see how an EV copes as the clock prepares to call time on 2021.
I-PACE Log entry for Bristol to Chester in the iOS app
The conditions were mild for December (15°C) and mostly dry, but windy. We were heavily loaded, which taken together with the weather, meant I expected a maximum range of about 220 miles. The route is mostly single-lane rural highways, with a 60 mile motorway section at the end. The traffic was fairly heavy - typical Friday stuff.
We set off at 10:30 with the plan of stopping for lunch and a charge at our favourite motorway services near Gloucester 116 miles away. The chargers there had just had one of GRIDSERVE’s interim updates - up from 1 50KW CCS to 3 120kW CCS. We got to Gloucester Services at 1 pm only to find all the chargers busy. We could have moved on, but we all needed the restroom, so I queued at the chargers whilst my passengers went in and bought a take-out lunch. I was lucky, it only took 5 minutes for a charger to become available. The new GRIDSERVE chargers are much easier to use: plug in the nice long cables, contactless credit card swipe and you are off. We charged for 45mins and added 36kW - taking us from 45% to 88%. It was about 10 minutes more than we actually needed for lunch, but only because Omicron-fear was keeping us out of the main restaurant. I dropped off Emma and Thom at their flat in Bristol with about 73% remaining. After a quick cuppa and goodbyes, I did the journey home non-stop in 3 hours - arriving at 18:15 with 22 miles of range to spare (9%).
I feel this journey was a pretty good indicator of the state of the UK EV experience at the close of 2021. Aside from those designed as city cars, most modern EV’s could have done this journey with the same 1 charge stop. Their range is well in excess of most passenger’s endurance. Without compromising my passengers’ comfort, using my last fossil car might have saved 10 minutes on the journey time. However, it would have cost £45 for fuel, not the £15 the I-PACE cost. I think that is a fair exchange and one that the EV-curious will begin to recognise.
The UK charging infrastructure is improving constantly, but the trunk route capacity expansion needs to accelerate to keep up with rising demand. Every car that leaves Gloucester Services passes the charging stalls. Seeing queues form will only bolster their driver’s EV fears. My recent experiences with GRIDSERVE and Instavolt show that the charging interface no longer needs an IT degree and a certain grim determination.
Ease of use, charger capacity and running costs - these are the key factors for turning the EV-curious into EV Owners.