I drove 350 miles in an EV – there are two big | Tech News

Something like 13 years in the past, I was given the chance to take a Nissan Leaf for a check drive over a number of days. It was the trailblazer for mainstream electric autos in the UK.

Prior to the Leaf’s arrival, we had solely seen a handful of quirky metropolis vehicles produced in restricted portions, but it surely was the Leaf that actually ignited our transition to electric autos. However, these have been nonetheless early days and regardless of the Leaf’s groundbreaking standing, the initial model might barely handle 100 miles earlier than requiring a recharge.

Moreover, public charging amenities have been few and much between, and relatively sluggish, rendering the car primarily appropriate for native journeys adopted by in a single day charging at home.

Fast ahead to the current day and the panorama has undergone a dramatic transformation. After Tesla made its debut in the UK market, I had the possibility to drive its Model S in 2015, which marked a important development with its prolonged vary, positioning it as a viable various to petrol and diesel autos.

Nowadays, practically each car producer boasts an all-electric model and, crucially, the charging infrastructure is vastly superior in comparison with when I first drove the Leaf, with charging factors now extensively out there. Over the years, I’ve additionally taken a number of different electric autos out for a check drive.

However, I by no means felt solely comfy embarking on long journeys due to the concern of operating out of charge – a phenomenon generally known as ‘vary anxiousness’.

A pair of years in the past I determined to put this to the check for the primary time. The vehicle chosen for this experiment was a Volvo C40 Recharge Twin Pro, generously loaned to me by the Swedish automaker for a week.

The plan

Every couple of weeks, I embark on a 350-mile spherical journey from my home in Cornwall to Bristol for household and footballing causes. The query wasn’t whether or not the journey was possible, however relatively how handy it might be, the fee concerned, and how it might examine in phrases of time.

The competitors for the Volvo was robust – my trusty BMW 318 diesel, now more than 18 years outdated, which persistently delivers between 55 to 60mpg on this route and may simply cowl close to 700 miles on a full tank. Filling up the tank prices me roughly £80, takes solely a jiffy, and I by no means have to fret about operating out of fuel during my 350-mile journey.

The build-up

The Volvo, a twin-motor absolutely electric model boasting 408hp, arrived on a Tuesday, giving me ample time earlier than my Saturday experiment to get acquainted with the car and, crucially, be taught how to charge it. My analysis indicated a plethora of charging choices out there.

The slowest technique is utilizing a customary three-pin plug at home, which, so far as I can inform, gives round 2.4kw to the car. This technique takes roughly 20 hours to totally charge the Volvo.

However, these forking out on an electric vehicle will virtually definitely match a home wall charger, boosting the charging capability to at the least 7kw and drastically lowering charging time. Despite latest power price hikes, charging at home stays probably the most wallet-friendly technique.

During this trial, my electrical energy prices hovered round 25p per kWh during daytime and 20p per kWh after darkish. This equated to roughly £20 to totally juice up the Volvo, which boasted a theoretical vary of 273 miles.

The price will fluctuate for every family based mostly on their electrical energy tariff – quite a few suppliers now offer EV tariffs with in a single day charges as low as a few pence, permitting you to replenish a car for round £5, possibly even much less.

Public chargers, then again, inform a completely different story. In my quest, I encountered costs spanning from 28p per kWh for a leisurely 7kW grocery store car park charge (those at Tesco have been as soon as free, however no longer) to a whopping 79p for a faster enhance of up to 350kW.

What you are shelling out for right here is pace. That 79p charger might replenish an EV battery in roughly half-hour, however it might set you back a hefty £60 or more.

In the run-up to my journey, I devoted a appreciable quantity of time to pondering strategy and price. It was evident that a spherical journey with out recharging was out of the query.

As a outcome, I needed to plan for a fast fast charge at a motorway service station alongside the way in which, adopted by a sluggish top-up at a relative’s home in Bristol, and one other stop for a enhance on the return journey to keep away from the peril of being marooned on Bodmin Moor after sunset.

The thought of this seemingly more difficult journey stuffed me with a cocktail of trepidation and thrill. Would I attain Bristol?

Would the chargers on the service stations perform correctly? What in the event that they have been out of service?

Would I discover myself getting home hours later than ordinary after spending a lonely Saturday evening at an empty motorway service station, ready for the battery to recharge? This was set to be a fascinating journey.

The journey

As I alluded to earlier, I frequently embark on this journey in my trusty, barely long-in-the-tooth, Beemer. At present diesel costs, it units me back roughly £40, assuming 55mpg and 139.9p per litre, which is the speed at my native grocery store in August 2025. When I did the journey in 2023, diesel was more like 173.9p. Small mercies.

Setting off at round 8am, the journey usually takes me about two hours and 45 minutes. I solely normally pull over if I need a consolation break.

Assuming no site visitors snags, I’m in Bristol earlier than 11am, typically nearer to 10.30am. However, I was conscious this journey would seemingly be a completely different kettle of fish.

Before hitting the street on a Saturday morning, I made sure the Volvo was absolutely charged to present myself the best potential begin. Although it is typically beneficial to not charge to 100% to lengthen the battery’s lifespan, I selected to ignore this for the journey.

Despite the battery indicating a full charge, the precise vary displayed was merely 180 miles, falling short of Volvo’s official declare of a theoretical 273-mile vary. This meant that I had simply enough to cowl the 175-mile journey.

I had anticipated a bit more leeway. Factors corresponding to exterior temperature, driving situations and utilization of facilities like climate control and heated seats can have an effect on the vary.

However, in order to make a truthful comparability with my earlier diesel car, I determined to not sacrifice these comforts to increase the vary.

Setting off with a vary of 180 miles, I was already feeling barely uneasy. Fortunately, the car got here geared up with Google Maps, which incorporates a helpful function that estimates how a lot battery can be left upon reaching your vacation spot.

If it predicts you will not make it, it suggests charging stations alongside the route, offering particulars about every one’s detour distance and charger sort (medium, fast, and so forth).

I had hoped that the 180-mile vary would stabilise and even increase as soon as I was on the transfer, just like how your miles per gallon improve while you transition from stop-start driving to regular cruising. However, this wasn’t the case, though it did appear to hover round a median worth between a high and low level, in keeping with the car’s laptop.

However, my deliberate charging stop was at Taunton Deane companies on the M5, a comfy 120 miles away and effectively within my remaining vary. I pulled in there at 9.40am, with 25% battery left and 45 miles of vary to spare.

This marked my first encounter with an on-the-road charger. At the time of my journey, Taunton boasted a Gridserve fast charger, succesful of delivering 60kw to the car at a fee of 65p per kWh.

The course of was swift and easy, with the charger’s own cable extending out very like a petrol pump, plugging immediately into the car with none need to mess about with the cables that include the vehicle.

Once linked, you merely faucet your contactless cost card and the charging begins. When completed, you press ‘stop’, the fee is displayed, you unplug and also you’re in your method.

Typically, I’d take a transient 10 or 15-minute break right here and revel in a cup of tea. But this time, I needed a completely different variety of power, so I waited till 10.20am, by which level the battery had recharged to 60%.

Improved charging technology since my experiment – I’m reflecting now on this journey back at the beginning of 2023 – means this may now be quicker.

The whole course of had been fairly simple, but it surely hadn’t been low-cost. The price was £19.62 so as to add 55 miles.

Blimey – 55 miles in my BMW would devour about a gallon, costing much less than £7.

I lastly arrived in Bristol simply previous 11am, a delay of about half an hour from my ordinary schedule. Upon reaching, I discovered my battery had dwindled to 35%, with a remaining vary of 60 miles.

I promptly plugged in at a relative’s home for a sluggish recharge utilizing a customary three-pin plug. By 6.30pm, I had managed so as to add one other 30 miles to the car’s vary, costing round £5.

The return journey was riddled with anxiousness. Throughout the day, I evaluated my charging choices for the return journey and realised I had neglected a superior option.

Gridserve operates a bigger charging station at Exeter companies, roughly midway by means of my journey, offering super-fast chargers that ship 350kw, a important improve from the 60kw charger I used at Taunton. Since enterprise this journey, it has expanded even additional and is now a main charging hub.

I set off for home at 6.45pm, the standard departure time for today journey, having managed to charge the car up to a 90-mile vary, or 52%. Exeter was 75 miles away.

It was going to be a close call, however I was resolved to achieve it with out having to stop twice on the way in which home. I was assured that the super-fast charger would come to my rescue, supplied I might make it there.

The following hour was extremely tense. I barely made it to Exeter with a mere 7% charge left, displaying a vary of 14 miles.

The final 20 minutes earlier than reaching Exeter have been notably nerve-wracking because the vary appeared to decrease more and more.

However, I managed to hook up with the charger at 8pm. The course of was so simple as it had been in the morning, initiating the charge swiftly and simply, albeit this time at a fee of 66p per kWh.

The charger did not fall short on pace – it clocked up to 130kw during the charging course of. Despite slowing down because the battery stuffed up, the pace was impressively fast – it is exhausting to not marvel at how far we have include charging technology in latest years.

That mentioned, it wasn’t low-cost. I meandered round a comparatively abandoned service space till 8.45pm, halting the charge at 84%, equating to a vary of 140 miles – comfortably more than the remaining 100 miles to home.

The speedy charger had effectively added a tidy 126 miles in simply 45 minutes. The catch? It set me back by £43.45.

The second leg of the return journey was considerably much less nerve-wracking, figuring out that I had enough vary to make it back. I did precisely that, arriving at 10.20pm, 50 minutes later than ordinary, with 25 miles and 16% battery nonetheless left.

By this level, nevertheless, I was nearing my restrict. The whole day had been mentally taxing, continuously calculating distances and strategising the best stopover factors on each legs of the journey.

All issues thought of, I felt a sense of reduction upon reaching home, but in addition a distinct feeling of having been fleeced.

Costs

Full charge at home earlier than setting off: approx £20; miles added: 180

Quick top-up at companies on outward journey: £19.62; miles added: 55

Slow top-up in Bristol: approx £5; miles added: 30

Quick top-up at service station on return journey: £43.45; miles added: 126

Total: £88.07

However, when you’ve got an EV-specific home tariff, which I did not, you possibly can probably carry this complete price down to roughly £70. Regular customers of public chargers also can go for subscriptions, which may additional scale back the expense.

Diesel price for similar journey: assuming 55mpg and 139.9p per litre, £40

Petrol price for similar journey: assuming 45mpg and 130.9p per litre, £46

The vehicle

Before we draw any conclusions, let’s focus on the relatively spectacular Volvo C40 Recharge Twin Pro. This top-of-the-range model packs a highly effective 408hp punch, promising thrilling drives.

Its electric powertrain ensures instantaneous and swift acceleration, catapulting you from 0 to 62mph in a mere 4.7 seconds.

It affords an exceptionally easy trip in each sense and is undeniably a luxurious car. The inside is elegantly minimalist, with a lot of storage space, ample room in the back, and a host of devices.

Features embody adaptive cruise control that modifies your pace based mostly on the vehicle in entrance, in addition to technology that retains you within your lane by adjusting your steering if needed. These options theoretically make the car virtually autonomous, but it surely offers you a mild reminder in the event you turn out to be too relaxed.

The car is provided with a 360-degree parking digital camera, offering an invaluable fowl’s eye view for navigating tight spots. The seats and steering wheel are heated for consolation, the sound system is a top-notch Harman Kardon setup, and there’s a wi-fi cellphone charger for comfort.

A panoramic roof provides a sense of spaciousness to the inside, whereas a easy foot gesture underneath the rear of the vehicle opens the tailgate to reveal a beneficiant boot space. All these options mix to ship a seamless driving expertise, one thing Volvo is famend for.

The C40 is solely out there as an electric vehicle, marking a first in Volvo’s historical past the place a model has been supplied solely as an EV. An various alternative is the single-motor 231hp Recharge model, which can not offer the identical efficiency – hitting 62mph in 7.4 seconds – however does theoretically promise faster charging and higher fuel effectivity.

This variant was priced at £47,100 on the time, whereas our check car was valued at £61,950 on the time of writing in 2023.

The verdict

I genuinely hoped this could work out. However, after what I deemed to be a thorough real-world check, I could not reconcile the figures that I encountered and the additional journey time proved problematic as effectively.

Regardless of how I crunched the numbers, the spherical journey took an extra 90 minutes and price practically £40 more than ordinary. This was surprising – two of life’s great compromises proper there: time and money. Even if you will get the prices on par, which is doable with low-cost home charging tariffs and public charging low cost schemes, your journey will take longer and there’s no getting away from it.

It appears that the dedication to environmental conservation by means of zero-emission autos carries a personal price tag, in phrases of each time and probably money.

The drawback does not lie with the car itself, which was excellent, as are many different fashions on the market at the moment, however relatively with the high prices related to on-the-road charging. My solely gripe with the vehicle was its incapability to ship on its marketed vary, which finally drove up the fee as I wasn’t getting as a lot bang for my buck as anticipated.

A full charge yielding round 220 or 250 miles would have been more passable. Until the fee of on-the-road chargers aligns more intently with home charging charges, long-distance journey turns into a complicated equation.

Had all my charging been performed at home charges, the day’s bills would have painted a fully completely different image. However, this wasn’t potential, as long journeys necessitate reliance on public chargers and their hovering prices.

This brings me to the conclusion that the continued discourse about electric vehicles stays complicated. If, like many people, your driving is especially native (commuting, purchasing, eating out, and so forth.) with the occasional long journey each few weeks, it makes a lot of sense when most of your charging could be performed at home. This is very true when you’ve got a correct home charger put in and are not resorting to operating an extension lead out of a window as I was.

For these frequently embarking on long journeys, the present high prices of service station chargers stay a important hurdle, even more than two years since I undertook this drive. If I had relied solely on the 79p charger, as an illustration, my complete price would have rocketed to £130 – roughly 4 instances the fee of diesel.

This does not even issue in two different important concerns – the car’s price tag and its environmental affect. Given that electric vehicles emit zero carbon, you could be prepared to pay more to cut back your carbon footprint.

So, whereas we have made super strides over the previous decade, we’re not fairly there but in the event you do a lot of long journeys.

Car technology has superior dramatically and charging infrastructure continues to grow quickly. However, roadside chargers need to proceed getting quicker and considerably cheaper.

Despite the environmental advantages, electric autos (EVs) nonetheless have a long method to go earlier than they will compete with the comfort of petrol or diesel vehicles. At current, no mainstream EV can cowl 700 miles on a single charge.

The time when everybody can be driving an electric car is probably going a number of many years away. If you are contemplating shopping for a new vehicle, it is definitely value considering an electric one.

However, this is not a resolution to be made impulsively with a sudden declaration of ‘I should buy an electric car’. There are quite a few elements to think about and the practicality of switching to electric will fluctuate from individual to individual.