Anyone taken an electric car down to Penzance for a week

I'd be tempted to hire a different car for the week. What a faff

I do see that. But if my phone dies on a family holiday then it is an annoyance at best. But if it was my car that would be enormously inconvenient to say the least! And I have a range of options for phone charging, every building I go to, the car, a battery pack if I'm that concerned. But it looks like Cornwall really doesn't have a sufficient range of options to avoid very careful planning and a lot of time spent dealing with the car.

I'd love an EV, we have solar panels, a driveway, and live in a fairly well provisioned area and everything. But life is just not ready yet to rely on it as the only family car. I hope one day most petrol pumps are replaced by super duper fast chargers so most people can make the change.

Was about to comment but can see that @TizerorFizz is clearly an expert ( and judging by their posts a second home owner) so won't bother.

@cantkeepawayforever When you are out in Cornwall there are not a lot of “technical options” for charging an EV. There’s private charging points and a handful in car parks. When we first got a plug in hybrid, Cornwall had 30 charging points in their car parks! It was dire. Look at Padstow. Their parish council says you need to go to a garage or garden centre! They have two car parks for the town. Ditto Port Isaac. One new huge car park but no chargers at all. Great if you stay somewhere with a charger but it’s dire if you don’t. We now have an EV but it’s not our main car although it is quite a decent size. It’s not going to Cornwall. Life is too short!

I think it’s not so much an inconvenience as a change of mindset. If travelling with a mobile phone, you don’t fret that the train charger isn’t super-fast, or that the phone doesn’t go from empty to full while plugged into the car fir a 20 minute journey. You don’t run the battery flat and then seek a full recharge. We’re used to topping up phone charge as and when, using a wide variety of technological options.

EVs are the same - but we are so used to ‘buy petrol when the tank is empty, and fill it to the brim’ that it takes a little while to adjust.

There are a couple of fast chargers at a petrol station just outside of town - we went a couple of years ago with a couple of years had 140 miles range.

Ugh, I hope you get it sorted op, it sounds like pps have given some good advice.

I really hope the whole country catches up soon, but until it does, this is why I haven't got an EV. Cars are for your convenience, having to plan and worry to this extent isn't convenient. If we get a second car it will definitely be electric, but at the moment the infrastructure just isn't there to rely on.

I hope you have a great holiday!

Padstow and North Cornwall coast are poorly served too by the way. I don’t think Padstow has any.

@LondonPapa I agree that lack of chargers in some areas in Cornwall is a challenge. Our large village has two but only in one car park. The new car park has none. Wrong phase of electricity. I think people renting places with no charging facility will begin to find it very difficult in peak times.

Penzance? No. However, I have taken my EV to Cornwall a few times and used a wall socket to charge overnight - is that an option?

Unfortunately, most of the EV chargers seem to be from Truro upwards. The further south you go, the less infrastructure there is.

@oddandelsewhere
same as @Longma

as long as you have offstreet parking for charging it’s a game changer and saves us loads of money- long term it’s cheaper than an ICE car. We only use public chargers a handful of times a year as the vast majority of charging is right outside the house while we sleep. I must have saved hundreds of hours not queueing at petrol stations.

I do acknowledge though that if you can’t charge at home or at work it’s (slightly) less convenient and probably not such a cost saving measure. But chargers are everywhere now it’s far less of an issue than it was.

I assume you have no real knowledge of owning an EV.
I’ve had EVs for the past 7 or 8 years; dh has had EVs for the past 5 years.
Have absolutely no issues with them and have driven all over the country in them, as well as taking them into Europe.
We have always stopped after driving for long distances anyway - 20 minutes fast chargers whilst we stretch our legs, get a drink and nip to the toilets. Safer all round anyway - it’s advised that you should have a break every couple of hours when driving long distances,

Most parts of the country now have ample charging options in our experience.

About 4 years ago we drove from South Yorkshire to,Cornwall, spending a fortnight down there in various places.
We did have one hotel chargers but the rest we did at supermarkets, car parks etc. using the fast chargers. As the were fast chargers the time limits didn’t matter. They are dearer to use than slow chargers, but still cheaper than patrol ime.

We used Zap Map to plan where to park and charge, and just fir it into our plans as an when required.

We used the Bodmin/Cornwall services. We also found a country pub that had chargers tucked around the back. Will need to ask husband where that was.

I live in Cornwall and have an electric car with my partner, no charging at my house. Charge at work and Aldi. We regularly drive to London without any problems too.

Haven't read thread but just to say we regularly have weekends in Cornwall and it's a non issue with our Zoe. Loads of chargers in Cornwall, including at a number of the main attractions and town carparks so if you're going somewhere for the day just plug in. On the way down dartfarm and Cornwall services. Honestly Cornwall is one of the easiest places to drive electric.

We have been as far down south as Hampshire and north to Northumbria in our electric car, never had an issue charging.
We queued once in 2 years and that was for 10 minutes
We mostly charge at home but last month alone I saved £170 vs diesel, plus I like my car

Oh yeah, or Strawberry fields at lifton. No idea if they're fast charging but they definitely have them and it's a nice place to visit :)

Plymouth is not on the way. Cornwall services on the a30 is around 75 mins or so from Exeter though.

There are far more chargers than petrol stations in the country and it takes 20 mins to charge. It’s extremely easy owning an electric car

We have done Northumbria, we managed to find a hotel within walking distance of where we were staying with a slow charger and just left it there over night
We did little and often rather than the almost to full charging we normally do

Gloucester to Penzance is fine but it’s the Cornwall bit that’s an issue. No chargers take 15 mins unless they are rapid and loads are not. There’s lots of breezy talk about how easy it is, but often cars in winter don’t do 300 miles and it can be very awkward if there’s nowhere where you are staying. All the planning is a faff but it had to be done. If you are going to Cornwall from Oxford, I don’t go near Gloucester! A34, M4, M5 to Exeter then into Cornwall.

We charged in Bristol

Getting used to an EV is just a bit different. Like having a toddler needing snacks - just top up wherever you are, whenever you see a charger, for as long as you’re in that area doing an activity.

Not a ‘fill up from empty’ - lots of little ‘top ups’ wherever you are.

Brilliant !! Thank you