It was the classic example used as an argument by those against EVs – a long-distance family emergency.
It our case it was even worse than that – a family funeral that necessitated a 500-mile round trip and then a 200 mile journey just two days later for a family holiday.
All this in the Renault Megane E-Tech that we run which shows a 235 mile range when fully-charged, but at motorway speeds is closer to 190 miles, so how did we get on?
Monday evening
Thankfully, the journey was being broken up by meeting some family members at an overnight stay in Honiton – 160 miles from our base in Marlow. A late night drive down the A303, along with frustrating diversions, meant the traffic wasn’t too bad. Better news came in the form of our overnight stay at the Premier Inn which had the choice of two rapid chargers, a 150kW BP Pulse and a 60kW Geniepoint.
Upon arrival, both were free, so I gave the Renault a quick top up at the BP Pulse charger while I unpacked the car (the Renault can charge up to 130kW), with the plan to use the Geniepoint to max charge in the morning. It wasn’t long on the BP Pulse charger, but I figured every little helped.
Tuesday morning/ afternoon
In the morning, I saw the BP Pulse was in use, so I jumped on the Geniepoint over breakfast. With the contactless not working, I had to use the Geniepoint app and unfortunately Honiton seems to be in a mobile phone blackspot, but eventually managed to get it charging ok.
We left an hour later with a full charge, bound for Bodmin, the funeral location. Having arrived with plenty of time, half my mind was already on my return journey that night. The Megane would (just) make the return back to Honiton, but I then had to continue back to Marlow. So we stopped at a new Ionity bank of 350kW chargers at Bodmin Retail Park and had a coffee. By the time we’d finished our coffee and done some of the crossword, the Renault was back up to 100% once more.
Family duties done with, we set off back to Honiton to return family members to the Premier Inn for the evening.
Tuesday evening
Returning back to Honiton, I wanted a quick turn around with a rapid charge for the car, a rapid change of clothes out of my suit for a more comfortable journey back to Marlow.
Except for the fact that the BP Pulse charger that had been working perfectly the night before and I’d seen others using that morning, was suddenly out of order. No amount of poking via the app or the touch-screen would summon it to life, so I resorted back to the 60kW Geniepoint again – slower but better than nothing.
I got changed and was left waiting for all of an extra 10 minutes before reaching a comfortable buffer of charge for my return journey. With some A303 diversions, I didn’t want to be left in the lurch due to any extra mileage, but in reality I didn’t need to worry as there was still a decent amount of charge left on my final return home late that night.
Wednesday/ Thursday
As we’re currently without a home charger, all of our home charging is via a granny lead (not advisable, we know), so I was interested to see if I could get a decent level of charge by Friday without necessitating a need to resort to public charging. Partly an experiment, partly it was my wallet not wanting to pay public charging fees.
Aside from a brief commute to the train station on Wednesday, the Renault remained mainly at home on charge.
Friday
By Friday morning, when it was time for our holiday trip, I’d managed to get the Renault up to 97% and we were on our way – proving that charging on a three-pin is possible when you really need to.
More than that, however, by the end of Friday, we’d put another 200 miles under the wheels of the Renault, notching up more than 700 miles from Monday night to Friday night. The Renault’s 60kW battery and its motorway range aren’t the largest, but even with a modicum of forward planning, it showed just what is possible in an EV and just how charging needn’t be the inconvenience that some imagine it to be – even in emergencies.