Nigel drove from Maryport to Waterlooville, Hants in his Hyundai Kona Electric Premium 64kWh 2021.
Introducing your road trip
This is the longest trip we’ve done so far in this vehicle: leaving from near Maryport (in NW Cumbria) the week before Easter and heading across to Scotch Corner. Then down the A1(M) and across East Anglia to Clacton to visit my wife’s sister. then south round the M25 and down to Waterlooville to visit our daughter, before returning home via the A34/M40/M6.
The total distance, once I added in local visits and a tedious detour because the M40 was closed, was a gnat’s whisker less than a 1,000 miles. I should probably mention that the third passenger was a small dog, not least because it means we have a genuine reason to stop other than simply charging.
Planning & preparation
I’ve had the car for a year and a half so I’m reasonably comfortable with what it can achieve in terms of range. A quick look at ‘A Better Route Planner’ suggested a two-stop strategy for the first leg but ABRP is always a bit conservative so I decided to go for a single charging stop at Newark (Osprey chargers), with coffee/doggie walk stops as required. Why Newark? Because it was far enough off the motorway that most holiday traffic wouldn’t bother or about 5-10 minutes. 🙂
There were plenty of other chargers en route but Zap Map showed that the area around Clacton is short of rapid chargers, other than a brand new GeniePoint hub at Morrisons so my plan was to charge there while visiting, then we could get to Waterlooville without a need for another charger…though we did stop at Reigate Hill to enjoy the walk.
On the way home I planned to stop at Tothill on the A34 and the bp chargers at Stafford Northbound on the M6. Why these? A quick calculation showed that subscribing to Elli would get me reduced rates at several of these locations…more than enough to cover the cost of the subscription for several months, so I’m quids in for the rest of the year!
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Charging
I’ve outlined my charging strategy above and it worked pretty much as intended. Newark was 190 miles in and I arrived with plenty of range to spare. Predictably, I chose the one charger that didn’t want to talk to the car but swapping to the one next door (there were 4 – all unoccupied) resolved that in less that a couple of minutes. While the car was charging we found some coffee & food and wandered along the Trent. The car actually finished (47kWh for £23) while we were still watching the first House Martins over the river.
We stopped once more en route for another coffee and to let the doggie do his thing before arriving in Clacton (162 miles). I did one big charge at Morrisons GeniePoint (sister-in-law was handy to the supermarket so no time wasted here either) and a couple of top ups to make up for local trips, so we could set off to Waterlooville a couple of days later with 80% in the ‘tank’ (total charging 50kWh for £32).
Reigate Hill – where we stopped on the way to Waterlooville for a walk in the sun had a destination charger which we didn’t use, so we arrived (147 miles later) without needing a charge, as planned. I put 22kWh (InstaVolt for £16) in the car at a local garage in Waterlooville so I didn’t bankrupt my daughter, who kindly let me top the battery off with their granny charger.
On the way home I put 14kWh in at Tothill (£10.30). Sadly I had to pay full price as the Elli card failed me but I have a Shell Recharge RFID card which worked perfectly. While we were enjoying a coffee I took the opportunity to help out someone who was using an electric car for the first time which resulted in a pleasant coffee and chat in the sun.
I could have got a lot further but I wanted enough oomph to reach Stafford Northbound because a charge to 80% there would get me home without another stop. I won’t mention the delights of negotiating the detour around the blocked M40 but we eventually arrived at Stafford (180 miles) for a late lunch and added 41kWh (£20) before the 175 mile slog home.
Did you encounter any great driving roads on your road trip? If so, where were they and why were they great?
The A1M is a really easy driving road, much nicer than the M6, with an ample supply of chargers if you don’t tie yourself to those immediately on the motorway.
The electric car itself
The car performed pretty much as expected. It is comfortable, adequately roomy for our purposes (2 people/small dog/associated baggage) and turned in about 4.1 miles per kWh, which was pretty much what I’d hoped given the weather was not particularly warm. Eighteen months with the Kona has removed my range anxiety. Automatic cruise control makes long motorway hauls a doddle and the Android Auto integration means we get to listen to our own choice of music.
Road trip conclusion
The total distance travelled was 987 miles and a rough cost calculation suggests I’d have needed 77 mpg out of a petrol vehicle to achieve the same economy. I got the charge stops right but next time I’d listen to Google Maps when it told me to take the long way home, it would probably have saved a good couple of hours of travel.
With a small dog charge stops are not an issue there are other things which dictate how often and for how long we have to stop. And finally, always have more than one way to pay. Subscription cards and contactless are usually pretty reliable but a couple of RFID cards from the big networks are always a useful standby in the glove box.
See other road trip reports here
