Marcho drove from Surrey to Rochdale in his Mustang Mach-E ER AWD 98kW 2021.

Introducing your road trip

A trip from Surrey to Nottingham to visit friends and then across to Rochdale to visit family and then back to Surrey (over 5 days).

Planning & preparation 

Used Google Maps and Ford’s route planner to check the route & Zapmap to check charging stops with multiple chargers and high kW output (over 50kW).

Charging 

Day 1 – Surrey to Nottingham: 156 miles, stopped at Esso Leicester MFG Desford with 7 rapid chargers, most unused so easy to top-up charge as not too many high wattage chargers at destination. 20 min stop with lunch (Charge cost – £17.53).

Day 2 – Nottingham to Rochdale, 90 miles, top-up charge at BP MFG and again 7 rapid chargers, most empty, short charge but stopped for lunch break (Charge cost – £31.61).

Day 3 – Last section back to Surrey, 233 miles, stopped at InstaVolt J11 M40, Banbury, 24 rapid chargers and Costa on site. 30 min stop with coffee and cake, charge completed before we were ready to leave! (Charge cost – £22.34).

Did you encounter any great driving roads on your road trip? If so, where were they and why were they great?

No, mostly motorway to get to our destinations. Therefore, most of journeys were travelling at 65 to 70 mph so not the most economical for EVs.

Mustang Mach-E

Perfect, intelligent cruise made the journeys relaxed and less tiring.

Road trip conclusion 

We have done several long trips since 2021. Initially, the only problems were activating charge stations but with experience and planning I’ve no problem now with long journeys. I will always select 50- 350kW rapid locations (car will only charge at 150kW max) and if possible, choose locations slightly off motorways as they’re usually less busy. It’s been unusual for me to find more than 1 or 2 already in use.

See other road trip reports here