How easy is it to recharge an electric car from south to north?

[ToughTimeLately]

I need to go back to my home town up north quite a few times over the next few months as I have a sick elderly parent. I live down south.

I have an electric car, but I’ve only ever used it locally. I always recharge it at home.

I need to drive up the M6, and I’ll need to recharge on the way. I’m really worried about this. We drove round a European country this summer in an electric, and it was a piece of cake, but I’ll be on my own this time.

Anyone schlep up and down the country in an electric car? I’m just worried about getting to refuel and the chargers being broken or a big queue which is not what I need on a dark night in the middle of nowhere.

The North West is huge. The M6 ends just before the border of Scotland and starts at Leicester.

How many miles do you have to travel and what's your milage?

Stafford North definitely has loads of chargers. We don’t have an EV but we were there a couple of weeks ago. I’d be surprised if there aren’t any at the others. Once you’re back, there’s plenty of places to charge. In Manchester, I’ve seen whole forecourts devoted to EV charging. Not so many around our way but still plenty about.

Stafford North definitely has loads of chargers. We don’t have an EV but we were there a couple of weeks ago. I’d be surprised if there aren’t any at the others. Once you’re back, there’s plenty of places to charge. In Manchester, I’ve seen whole forecourts devoted to EV charging. Not so many around our way but still plenty about.

Stafford North definitely has loads of chargers. We don’t have an EV but we were there a couple of weeks ago. I’d be surprised if there aren’t any at the others. Once you’re back, there’s plenty of places to charge. In Manchester, I’ve seen whole forecourts devoted to EV charging. Not so many around our way but still plenty about.

Stafford North definitely has loads of chargers. We don’t have an EV but we were there a couple of weeks ago. I’d be surprised if there aren’t any at the others. Once you’re back, there’s plenty of places to charge. In Manchester, I’ve seen whole forecourts devoted to EV charging. Not so many around our way but still plenty about.

Remember, rapid chargers are at their fastest when your car battery is lower. Charging from 20% to 50% might take around 5-10 mins, but going from 50% to 80% will take another 10-20 mins, and charging from 80% to 100% will take maybe another 30 mins on top of that.

So best to wait as long as you dare before charging if you want to be as quick as possible. And don't bother to charge above 80%, it's quicker to stop again if you need to.

M6 is no problem at all. All the service stations along there have loads of fast chargers. Same for most motorways - they've all tripled or quadrupled the numbers over the past couple of years. And all tap and go, no need to faff with apps (although I think you get marginally better pricing on the Gridserve ones by using the app).

The stories about always having to queue are nonsense. I hardly ever have to wait and never more than a few mins; it's far more common for them to be over half free than to be full.

Easy, takes time and it's expensive ... hence I have a plug in hybrid. I wouldn't buy an all electric car.

Chargers at motorway services are even more expensive than their petrol. Maybe for an occasional journey, but regular use is a no.

Look for Tesla chargers. Get the app and it’ll tell you what ones you can use if non tesla car. They are the cheapest and best technology out there. Not all are open to non Tesla but 100’s are. You get to the charging station pull into one and tell the app where you are eg charger 1A, 2B and it starts charging. It is amazing.