To wonder how people can be bothered with electric cars on long distances.

[dixeypeach]

We've had to rent a car for a week, only one they had ready was a fully electric Mercedes, never drove one but we thought they must be alright as loads of people have them. Dear god. Since Tuesday it's had to be charged 4 times and the nearest fast charging one from us is 12 miles away. Full charge gives you 200 miles (219 max miles) which I think is rubbish also if you can't find a fast charging one some take 7 hrs to fully charge 🤦🏻‍♀️ Got caught short yesterday trying to find a charger that wasn't in use or blocked by someone parked in front (not using) the whole thing just gives me bad anxiety😬 at 3:30 today we've got to do a 370 mile round trip to pick our daughter up, we haven't even set off and it feels like a huge effort to find somewhere near her to charge it up to drive home 😳 I mean yeah people have them at home if they own one but surely when doing long journeys you feel the same panic I do!?

You don’t need to charge at the half way point, find somewhere on the way (maybe 50%+ of the way there) and stop for a coffee/charge the car. Keep going, collect daughter, then do the same on the way back if needed.

The Zapmap app will plan the journey with stops for you.

Db has a fully electric Audi and feels like this

Search on ZapMap for chargers near your daughter’s house. In fact - say where are you going and maybe I or someone else can recommend somewhere.

The eat thing is to look out for somewhere with lots of charging points then there is likely to be one available.

Are you able to charge it at home overnight?

We use ZapMap to plan your long journeys and charge around our stops, meals or day trips. Thankfully I've never been caught short but it does take an adjustment in thinking when switching from petrol cars!

I wouldn't go back as I love the drive, and knowing it's clean when stuck in traffic jams etc. Also you do pick up how to drive them to eek out the charge and use the kinetic energy to boost battery but again it takes s bit of getting used to!

But yes the gov need to roll out more fast chargers!

I agree. I regularly travel about 120 miles with limited charging points en route so I couldn’t make the move to fully electric for a while yet.

This is why I have a hybrid. I could not be doing with the anxiety of longer journeys.

There is always some knob parked in the charging spot not charging.

All my short journeys I do on electric but I only really charge at home.

@SlipperyLizard we'll have to stop and eat on the way there as we have our 6&9 year old with us. But what if there's no available chargers or you have to wait until someone's finished. I suffer with anxiety anyway but I'm gonna be grey after this weeks done 😬

This is what stops me buying one. There are very, very few chargers around here - and I've been really looking out for them. I simply won't have the time to keep stopping on long drives! Stopping for 5 mins for petrol is one thing. Stopping for an hour+ to charge is quite another. I'd have no option to charge at home, and even if there were 'a charger on every lamp post' in the street it wouldn't be nearly enough for everyone's car.

It's a shame really as I quite fancy one. But not if its going to be a total pain in the arse which it what it seems like right now. There's no way my local council will sort out any decent infrastructure for this.

@Nothanksthanksanyway that's what happened yesterday. One charger near a row of shops and someone was just parked in front of it blocking anyone trying to use it 😤

@HowardBoom this is the nearest one to us and it's 7 miles away. Look how long it was going to take 🤦🏻‍♀️

We've got a fully electric and drive long distances. It takes a few weeks to get used to the concept of charging a bit more frequently, rather than 'filling up' totally. Needing a few apps and cards is annoying, but ours does have the advantage of being able to use Tesla chargers which are a really good infrastructure (not a Tesla though).

I have one and regularly do a 160 mile journey. But I have a charger at home, and at my second property. There are also chargers at both companies I do advisory work for. So I never have range anxiety, and the car is always fully charged when I get in it. I agree that relying on public chargers en-route definitely adds a level of stress, but as mine will do 250/280 miles in the real world it's not anything I have to deal with.

Mine is amazing. I love it. I’ve travelled all over the place and never had a problem. This is the future so you’re gonna have to suck it up. Climate change is an ongoing nightmare. Inconvenience yourself for the sake of you and your kids future.
I’m going to Cornwall this weekend from London. I’ve done it before and it was fine.
Anti EV car people are tedious dinosaurs.

What do you drive? A Tesla?

I think you underestimate how little infrastructure there is in place in many areas for charging. Most of my driving is motorway driving. I can't charge my car at DD's, and every car park I have seen with charging points has two or three and that is it.

I wish they'd gone down a replaceable battery design path

Dh wanted to get one. But we can't have it as the main car as we do loads of long journeys to parents etc. Thinking of getting whatever the smallest one there is just as the local run around-shops and gym and school run etc as we could get a charge point on the drive and plug it in overnight. Plus they seem to be building a huge 40
Car charge point on the a road near us which is peace of mind if our at home charger doesn't work I suppose.

We drove full electric for several years, the latest car we had has quite a long range. We have a charger at home, which makes it easier but it’s only more recently we have had issues. We have switched to hybrid as more people are driving electric but the infrastructure hasn’t caught up. We really struggled on a drive down to Cornwall last year. I prefer electric cars and would like to go back to one. I have also driven electric in several countries on mainland Europe. No problem with finding fast chargers there.

I love mine but there definitely needs to be more fast chargers but over time you get to know the best networks (Instavolt are generally available and reliable if the motorway charging network is busy or not working) and I plan long journeys before and check out on Zapmap the comments on the chargers to check they’re in service etc the night before I travel and so know which to not bother with.

Big cities often have both fast and slower chargers at the park and ride so you can leave it on to charge on a slower charger while going into town so it’s full again ready for your return journey - I did this when travelling half way across the country to visit universities with my daughters - Nottingham had a good one. I usually stop for a coffee and loo stop every 150 miles and then a half hour-ish stop gets me up to 250 miles again. I’ve travelled all over the U.K. now and it’s ok with planning but will be better when there are more fast chargers.

I get free charging at work so most days it charges while I work so no faff but I do long distance journeys of 300 miles plus fairly regularly - the ease of driving it day to day and how cheap it is for me to run and the incredible torque is worth the extra faff of the planning on long journeys.

DH and I both have fully electric cars and never have any issues.

My regular commute is around 130 miles, I make it there and back with plenty of battery. I just charge at home overnight on a cheap tariff, easy peasy!

We have a long journey tomorrow (300+ miles) but will make one stop to charge on the way and then again on the way home. Yes you have to be a bit more organised but zap map does most of the hard work.

We have a Kia, does about 250 miles on a charge. We have a charger at home and plan longer journeys around fast chargers. Not an issue.

At the moment they are not really for people who want to travel long distances. But I would buy one if I could afford it. We have two cars but only need one to be capable of doing long distances. The other one would just be used for going to work, shopping etc.

I'm not anti-EV at all but the most I have ever spent on a car was £1800 - they are going to have to get a lot cheaper before I can run one, and they aren't the answer to climate change - they are just shifting emissions.

Sounds like an absolute ballache

Despite several people on here saying they use them for long distance frequently?

I do a 260 mile round trip weekly in mine.

I've been up north (proper up north) and all the way down south with no issues.

Even east to west without a problem.

It's about planning. And knowing you're likely to find chargers in unexpected places (looking at you McDonalds in Rhyl) (and you, weird shopping precinct in the middle of a random village near Durham)