Here on EVs Unplugged, we like our holidays in Devon and Cornwall – it’s a great opportunity to explore some of the brilliant beaches that the UK has to offer.
However, for the second year in a row, we’ve encountered small hiccups with charging. As we’re driving a plug-in hybrid at the moment, it would make sense for us to be able to granny-charge via a three-pin plug, as we often do at home. It would help us to cover those short journeys that you tend to do plenty of on holiday in EV mode and reduce our use of the petrol engine.
Except that in the small print of the contract for the holiday let, it specifically states that we shouldn’t charge an EV during our stay – and yet there are no other charging facilities nearby. And to be honest, we wouldn’t want to use up a public charging space for a plug-in hybrid.
A similar thing happened the previous year too, but this time driving a different PHEV, where all of the holiday lets had specific charging points fitted (again using three-pin charging was specifically mentioned and outlawed in the lease) but the tenants had to pay a steep £35 for a week’s use of them.
Even for a full EV, you’d have to do an awful lot of miles during the course of a week on holiday to make that worthwhile, so for a PHEV that just wasn’t viable. That £35 is the equivalent of 116kW so roughly 464 miles, which very few holidaymakers are going to cover in seven days.
Surely there has to be a happy medium between those two somewhere? Offer granny charging on an outside socket for a limited amount of time each day or for a nominal fee for the week rather than one that’s so obviously profiteering? Or fit one of two chargers, and charge users on a pay as you go basis with a small percentage on top? After all, this is a question that those offering holiday lets are only going to be asked for more in the future.