Mark Gaudie & family drove from the North West of England to the Scottish Highlands in a Vauxhall Vivaro-e Campervan 75kWh 2020.
Introducing your road trip
We picked up the fully electric Vauxhall Vivaro-e Campervan from a lovely guy called Munro Wilson in Duns, just over the Scottish border. They run a solar installation company and are very passionate about EVs and renewable energy. We had the camper on hire for 6 days as a family of 4 and travelled all over Scotland.
Day 1 was a trip up to Edinburgh after visiting a lovely pit stop lunch at Drift near North Berwick. We used one of the 45 Pod Point chargers in the multi-story car park (St James QuaRter) in Edinburgh and had a lovely walk up to the castle. Day 2 was A trip up to Inverness after a very wet night at Witches Craig campsite in Stirling. Day 3 we headed up to Dunrobin Castle which was beautiful and well worth a visit. Day 4 was a trip up to Brora and a night’s stay at the local Motorhome Club site. Charging hadn’t been an issue at all as ChargePlace Scotland rapids are everywhere!
The owners of the Campervan kindly supplied us with the RFID card and we didn’t pay for any charging on the whole trip. With the van having a large solar panel on the pop roof we could happily camp off-grid as the leisure battery was always topped up. Day 5 we headed back down to Loch Ness and had an amazing day on the lake with a boat trip and castle excursion booked.
We did notice that all of our rapid charging stops were very convenient as we had to stop for lunch anyway and the battery was full within 45 minutes. I found myself nipping back to the van to move it as I didn’t want to block the charger from others wanting to use it.
Day 6 was an epic trip via Glencoe after we had seen the Glenfinnan Viaduct the previous day. Our route back down to Duns was a long one but the van had no trouble doing 170 miles+ on a full charge. If you kept under 60mph it could easily achieve 180 plus miles. Not bad for a large-ish heavy camper fully loaded. We did stop for a charge at the Park & Ride charging hub in Stirling which was brilliant! All in all we had a stress-free road trip of a lifetime and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
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Planning & preparation
I mainly used PlugShare to plan all my charging stops and Google Maps to search for campsites. It was pretty straightforward but I did stress about some of the faulty chargers in the far north of Scotland on the NC500. But I would say to anyone, please check that the campsite has EV charging facilities on-site. You’d be surprised how many will let you charge or have dedicated charge points to help promote cleaner transport.
Charging
Charging was super simple. I stuck to one network and that was ChargePlace Scotland rapid chargers. All of them worked bar one but luckily they had more on-site to use. Never had to wait in a queue for a charger at all. Thankfully, there was no cost to me as the owner of the Campervan supplied the RFID card and covered any fees. But from what I could see the chargers were all around 30p per kWh and £1 connection fee. Our charging locations were super easy to find as Scotland seem to place them in most car parks or community centres etc.
Did you encounter any great driving roads on your road trip? If so, where were they and why were they great?
Yes the A68 up through Jedburgh across the Scottish border. The A9 up to Inverness was also very beautiful but the best by far was Glencoe!
The Vivaro-e Campervan
The seats were not the comfiest for long hours of driving up front. But overall the van was powerful enough and the economy was more than satisfactory for what we needed. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one. In terms of practicality you can’t go wrong with a fully kitted out camper.
If you’re looking for a 100% electric zero emission road trip then please visit their website ampervans.com
Road trip conclusion
Loved every minute of it even though I did stress a little leading up to the trip as I was unsure of the range capabilities of the van. But after having the Vauxhall Vivaro-e Campervan for 6 days I didn’t need to worry at all. Would I do it all over again? Yes, in a heartbeat and I’d recommend it to anyone!
See other road trip reports here
