Anyone taken an electric car down to Penzance for a week

[Springsnowdrops]

Booked in over Easter
No chargers at property
Can only see 4 rapid chargers in whole area on zap map
The rest are 6 hour chargers ,but in supermarket car parks ,where if it's anything like home ,you can only stay for 2 hours ..
Starting to think this is going to be a disaster
Anyone successfully done a week in Penzance in an electric car

I’m in my second EV, as is my husband. You quickly adapt to what works for you. As a simple example, when looking at a hotel or holiday home I’d only book one with chargers or allow you to plug in to charge. I’d also be looking at routes before booking to see where I’d charge. My current workplace is a round trip of 220 miles, so I just stop on the way for breakfast at one of two places with very fast chargers and the journey is fine. It’s also worth noting that your car will charge faster when it’s lower battery, so you’re better off stopping when your car is down to 20% than doing 50% - it might save time overall

That was the first time we had taken it on any distance away from home
So maybe as it becomes more familiar,we will become more confident.
Currently on the motorway it needs charging every two hours ,that's not letting it get below 40 miles before we start looking to charge .
We definitely did plan our stops ,and back up stops for if any chargers were busy

I think we were quite anxious having not gone a long distance before in it .
We are definitely keeping it
The saving each month is enough for us to put up with the discomfort of charging on a holiday or day out
Yes definitely to booking places where we charge where we stay ..that absolutely would of made a huge difference,we are learning as we go ,it's all new at first

Is there a better app than the zap map for up to date free chargers
What's everyone else using

Sorry your first long trip in the EV was challenging OP! As others have said, it gets easier as you're more used to it. My first EV had a 150 mile usable range (less in the winter) and I ended up replacing it with a longer range version of the same car (I had a Leaf and now a Leaf Plus) which has a 200 mile usable range. That extra 50 miles has made all the difference to me because I do a lot of journeys which are about 150 miles round trip and it was too stressful in the old car.

I took my new car from the South Coast to Co Durham recently, and was worried about the charging but it all worked out fine. I had planned ahead and had a couple of options up my sleeve in case one was broken/blocked. I do use ZapMap quite a bit, or the app of the charging company I plan to stop at (mostly Gridserve for motorway services). You do have to refresh it as you're getting nearer though (which is easier if there's someone else in the car with you).

The infrastructure has improved massively in the 5 years since I've had an EV, but there are still problematic pockets of the country, and I really resent having to download a billion different apps and do so much planning. I think it will improve a lot more in the next 5 years.

We will swap ours within 2 years as we want to keep a car with a warranty,so will definitely buy the same again .
I think I was a bit negative after that long journey,but I've realised,it's all a learning curve and next time will be easier.
What we should of done was go on shorter journeys and get used to planning and charging, before a long journey..but it's done now ,we survived,the car survived..so it's all good

@Hoppinggreen via a company is a whole different tax ballgame though. Buying it yourself is very expensive. The op could not afford the £4,000 extra for a bigger battery. Company car users would not have to worry about this. Probably won’t pay the new purchase tax either. And can charge at work. For business use, EV make sense but high depreciation is a big issue for private buyers and sales are static amongst those people.

Sales are driven by businesses and business lease deals are not available to private buyers. We have gambled that we still have a car worth £16,000 in 3 years time - list price £68,000 in May 2024. 8 months old £46,000. Business leasing (as we used to do) is a much better deal. We are ok with this car but it won’t be going to Cornwall and I never drive 110 miles and stop for breakfast!

So I understand, your car has a 170 claimed range. Based on your driving/overall car weight (conservative 3mi/kWh), and not allowing it below 40 miles, I can assume your battery size is roughly 50kWh. Useable amount slightly under? This means you’re looking for a charger when the battery is about 26%. You can go so much further than you realise.

While I plan my trips with e-ROUTES, the same principle works with ZapMap so I don’t understand why it didn’t align properly. Especially as it should state which has working chargers. If your car is compatible, try e-ROUTES for planning, and use Waze for the actual driving navigation. You’ll get the hang of it.