‘Road to the Scottish Highlands’ drove from Guildford, Surrey to Nethybridge, Scotland in his KGM Korando e-motion 61.5kWh 2024.
Introducing your road trip
We set off from Guildford, south west of London early on Friday morning with the ultimate destination of Nethybridge in the Scottish Highlands. It’s a total of 566 miles. This was the biggest test so far for my 5-month old KGM (Ssangyong) Korando e-motion. This was our annual family holiday to the Highlands and the journey was in 2 stages Surrey to Gretna and then Gretna to Nethybridge.
Planning & preparation
I used Zapmap as my main source of information but cross referenced with the specific charger apps to make sure they are still valid. I selected the great hub at NEC Birmingham for the first charge followed by another hub at Crow Orchard, near Wigan. This would get us to Gretna. A charge at Gretna followed by a hub at Glasgow and a final charge at Bankfoot on the A9 completed the journey at Aviemore for a last charge at the Tesla Supercharger.
Charging
Charging at home to 100% got us off to a good start. First charge was the bp pulse Hub at the NEC Birmingham. 30 chargers and the only one charging! It took 30 minutes and a quick coffee from the Starbucks on site.
Second charge was at a small hub at a BP petrol station at Crow Orchard. There were only 8 chargers but I drove straight in and started charging. Another 30 mins and easy again using the bp pulse app.
We arrived at our first night destination, Gretna, with 18%. This was followed by a relaxing night and a charge to 80% on a IONITY charger at the service station.
The 2nd day (first charge) was at Palace Ground in Glasgow. A Fastned hub of 8 chargers which took 30 mins and we were off again. We then stopped at Taste Perthshire Visitor Centre in Bankfoot on the A9. It was my first charge using ChargePlace Scotland chargers. A good speed for a 50KW charger pulling 47.4kWh. 40mins charged to 80% and we were off on our last stage to Aviemore where we charged at a Tesla Supercharger station which was by far the cheapest at 45p/kWh.
Did you encounter any great driving roads on your road trip? If so, where were they and why were they great?
The A9 from Pitlochry to Aviemore is always a stunning drive from the gateway of the Highlands and up through the mountains to Aviemore.
The KGM Korando e-motion
The journey went extremely well, the car was comfortable and easy to drive. The intelligent cruise control is amazing on those long stretches of dual carriageway and motorways.
Road trip conclusion
This trip of nearly 600 miles has proven to me that long trips are practical in an EV. For my next road trip I think I would plan charge point to charge point and not waste time trying to put the whole route into the sat nav.
See other road trip reports here
