What name would you like to appear in your article?
George
What is the make, model and year of your EV?
BMW i3 BEV 2014
Introducing your road trip
Blackburn in my BMW i3 to collect some wheels and tyres in the day.
Planning & preparation
Used the Electric Highway website to find chargers.
Charging
I no longer recall the precise locations though they were all Ecotricity chargers on the M6. They were all free in those days but 50% of them didn’t work and I had to cross the motorway twice to find one that did. At one location, Charnock Richard I think, on the only side of the motorway that the chargers were working there was a Mitsubishi PHEV plugged in at one of the chargers that had been there for hours and another i3 that had fortunately finished charging even though nobody was with it so that I could unplug it and charge mine.
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The EV itself
The car performed faultlessly, being extremely comfortable and easily accommodated the load of four wheels and tyres. I used cruise control frequently but don’t have other driver aids on the car. Bearing in mind this is an early EV with a design range of approximately 80 miles, I needed to charge 4 times on this journey to be sensible.
Road trip conclusion
I have done other longer journeys, though not very many at all as most of my journeys are within range from base. My only concern then was the lack of reliable chargers but that situation is much better now, though still not perfect. When the stated government intention of rapid chargers every 37 miles on major roads has been achieved, offering contactless card activation then there would be no reason not to go anywhere even in an EV with a limited range.
See other road trip reports here
