Scotland Road trip

[HarryHuk]

Got back yesterday from my Scotland road trip.

Stayed in Wetherby on the way up, and in the Lakes on the way back, to see friends and sightsee.

100% before leaving, got to York and then Wetherby with about 12% where I charged to 80% on the Gridserve rapids. Topped up to 100% on the AC when I got up and had breakfast.
Saw Cragside, then charged at Alnwick Ionity (4 chargers) (I have a PowerPass subscription price). Had to wait while someone faffed around signing up to Ionity. he gave up after 30mins. Charged to 90%
Got to Glasgow hotel with <15% again, by careful driving. Charged in the morning at Ionity nearby (Polmadie - a good one - 6 chargers).
explored the countryside on the Sunday, and charged at Polmadie again to 80%
Monday drove down to the Lakes, stopping at Gretna Ionity (4 chargers, 1 broken, 1 temperamental, 2 Polestars wanting to charge to 100% ) waited 30 mins.
Nice drive to hotel via Ravenglass Rly. Charged overnight for free on their AC to 100%. Pumped up tyres.
Yesterday got to Leeds Ionity with around 15%, charged to 90% while I had lunch, and then got home with 12% (South Cambs)

Got around 3.7 - 3.8 miles/kWh, on some parts up to 4 miles/kWh. Depended on terrain and speed.
Driving from Glasgow to Gretna is mountainous, got around 3.0 miles/kWh on that leg.

I think with planning, road trips are not too hard in even an iV60. I could've managed without the overnights in York and the Lakes without problem.

[RichR]

Very nice economy figures . That's what I'm finding too (albeit in an 80) - with a little planning to work out where you might stop for a bit of charge, some food/drink and the loo the charging infrastructure is adequate. Not perfect, but certainly not prohibitive. I've done Cornwall to North Yorkshire with just one stop - not something I'd recommend though due to drinking too much tea before setting off.

[HarryHuk]

My long term average last summer was up to 3.46, went down to 3.25 over winter, and over the last month has so far got back to 3.33

[BioHzrd]

Not a bad we trip, starting to see alot more Enyaqs on the road up here now.


Should have signed up to Charge Place Scotland would have increased your chargers 10 fold !

[HarryHuk]

Not a bad we trip, starting to see alot more Enyaqs on the road up here now.


Should have signed up to Charge Place Scotland would have increased your chargers 10 fold !

I did (app only, didn't order an rfid card)! But the Ionity in Glasgow was just over a mile from the hotel, so I didn't have a big need to use it.
I should have looked in Gretna, I suppose, but I wanted rapid charging >50kW

[CrowSysE243]

The only CPS charger I have found at Gretna is 7kW at the station, but this is shown as not having communicated with CPS since migration and may or may not be useable with the RFID card but not useable by webpay or the app. It appears to have been removed from the app. There are 50kW BP at The Famous Blacksmith's Shop, and 60kW Gridserve as well as Ionity chargers at the Gretna Green services.

We found that many of the CPS chargers in smaller towns and remote areas could only be used with the RFID card, although some of them in Dumfries and Galloway have been swapped with new units recently. The new units work well with the app provided that you have adequate data connection, which may not be the case in remote areas, but the newer ones appear to accept contactless mobile payments.

[Walter Eagle]

I've used ChargePlace Scotland on a few occassions. I have to say that if it hadn't been for support and promotion by the Scottish Government there are probably many remote areas of Scotland that would have been completely inaccessible to EVs. I suspect the mainstream commercial charging operators would have concentrated on the central belt between Glasgow and Edinburgh, plus service stations on the M74, and that would have been it. Population density and demand wouldn't have justified the investment in many other areas.

One really good experience I had about 4-5 months ago was at a park-and-ride just outside Stirling. There were maybe out 700 parking spaces and a regular free shuttle-bus in to the centre of Stirling itself. CPS had about 70 (!) chargers on site. Most were 7kW but I'd guess a third were higher rated units. The 7kW wasn't a problem. You drive to the park-and-ride, put the car on to charge, catch the bus in to town to work, shop or whatever, and then return at the end of the day to a well-charged car. And, did I mention the chargers were all free! Stirling Council, who operate the scheme, decided to subsidise it to get vehicles off the road altogether and to reduce emissions. I've no idea how long that system will persist but kudos to the local authority for taking the action in the first place.

[MikeJL]

The Stirling park & ride is now £0.25 per kWh for the AC chargers, which is still a bit of a bargain. So far I’ve only found 1 free charger in the Stirling area (heading there tomorrow).

[Rhys66]

Interesting comments on Gretna Ionity, I had a similar experience there last Tuesday lunchtime on my way south to Manchester in that 3 chargers were occupied and the free one I pulled up at wasn't working ! Luckily a Porsche on one of the other units was almost done, so only had to wait a couple of minutes until he was gone to get onto a working charger. My son and I then walked over to the main services building for the loo/get some lunch and by the time we got back there were 2 other cars waiting to charge. There is going to be another Ionity site opening in nearby Carlisle with 12 chargers I think, just off junction 44 of the M6 so that should take some of the heat off Gretna services.

Agree about Polmadie though, I live in Glasgow so pass by there relatively frequently and get good use of the Powerpass subscription !

[BioHzrd]

We used Stirling Park & Ride Rapid on our way home from Inversnaid today, bit annoying your only allowed 40 minutes on a rapid specially when you genuinely only get 30/38kW charge from them.

The RFID really is a must, for a one of £10 fee get it as it gives you access to all of the chargers no matter the mobile network coverage plus the ancient units only work with the card as no app access.


They seem to slowly be replacing the old ones but I mean SLOWLY !!