Renault Zoe 2024: Road trip report – Scotland to Southampton & back

Graham Castle drove from NE Scotland to Southampton in his Renault Zoe R135 GT Line 2021.

Introducing your road trip

Two to three times a year we travel from NE Scotland to Southampton to visit relatives which is a 1,200 mile round trip. We have done this since 2021 in our Renault Zoe. We do the trip over two days staying overnight around Preston.

Planning & preparation

We use Zapmap to plan charging stops. We have a plan A and a Plan B so that if we stop to charge and the chargers are full or broken we adopt plan B.The car sat nav is also useful as it shows EV charging stations in your vicinity, their maintenance status and whether they are busy.

Charging

We’ve used most of the charging stations on the M9, M74, M6, M42, M40, A34 and M27.We have never experienced range anxiety although back in 2021 the NW of England was bereft of public chargers. Consequently, we often used supermarket chargers and IKEA chargers. We also found InstaVolt chargers to be very reliable and available within easy reach of the motorways. In Scotland, we use ChargePlace Scotland with Stirling being a favourite as it has about 74 chargers.

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

Nope, almost exclusively motorways and dual carriageways so not at all interesting or enjoyable.

The Renault Zoe

The Zoe is most comfortable & stress-free car of any of the journeys we have completed over the last 40 years. Much less tiring, less stressful, quiet and comfortable. You don’t get out of the car with your head thumbing after a day’s driving due to the fact its an EV not an ICE car.

Despite the Zoe’s modest range, travelling a long distance wasn’t a problem. We would normally take a comfort break every couple of hours or so, so stopping to charge wasn’t an inconvenience. By the time you had a wee, a walk around the service station and/or a coffee, the Zoe was charged. 30 to 49 minutes to stop was all that was required. I actually think having to stop to charge made the journey less stressful too.

Road trip conclusion

Every trip has been completed without problem and zero range anxiety.The charging networks today are much improved from what they were in 2021 and getting better every day.

Our personal experience is that range anxiety is a myth and that an EV with even a modest 159 to 200 mile range is all that you need, even for longer trip. When we replace the Zoe we will probably go for an EV with similar range.