GG, it sounds plausible, but if you dig a little deeper, it’s not so certain. 95% of your driving elec is fine, so you are inconvenienced by only that 5% that’s left. If you change your Scotland route to accommodate an EV, and with a little planning that’s not too difficult then you will have no problems. You have to plan like crazy off grid anyway, since you aren’t going to ‘happen’ on accommodation in the middle of nowhere. Take again, the 95% If you do 10k miles that’s .5k to think about. Being more realistic, a long tour will add greatly to the actual percentage above 5%, and to the planning, but given you won’t be spending all that time putting fossil fuel it, you will actually spend less time in garages. If you combine it with a restaurant, cafe or comfort stop, the problem reduces again. As someone who has let holiday cottages I know that owners will increasingly offer onsite charging. And we are talking about a 3 yr lease here. The problem of charging when away may have almost disappeared in a year. I have rented a holiday home this year and the place has a charger 50 metres away from where I am staying. Again, if you took a tour of say 3k miles at 50mpg @£6 per gallon, which is an optimistic mpg, then it will cost £360 in fuel, charging an EV will save a hundreds, money that can be spent on something else. I would heartily concur with everything GG has said, and all his points are valid. But in just a years time how true will that be? And in 2 years. I think the argument for embracing EVs now is very strong. On a personal note, I could not believe how much space forward of the front seats was available on a test ride. The absence of an engine meant I could sleep stretched out in the passenger seat if I wanted, or stretch out either leg whilst driving on a long journey. Given the extra £800 freeby of a charger and unless you absolutely cannot have one on disability grounds, then I would say go for it and turn away from the dark side. And I never thought I would say that.
Plus another way to look at it, the savings in fuel costs over the 95% of normal day to day driving could easily cover the costs of hiring a lovely ICE to do your tour, where despite everything, you still had range anxiety!
In the end, you make your choices and you take your chances. I wish I had a garage and could charge at home, but 10 weeks into EV driving, zero range anxiety, although my longest drive in one day so far is only 370 miles, but I have saved over £600 in fuel costs. I think in 3 years time, the EV world will have moved on so far, non EV options will be minimal, is that good or bad, who knows, but it is the future of motoring.
Previous Motability Cars
2006 - 2009 Skoda Superb VR6 2.0tdi
2009 - 2012 Citroen C5 2.0tdi VTR Nav
2012 - 2015 Nissan Qashqai 1.5dci tekna
2015 - 2018 Ford Kuga 2.0tdi Titanium X
2018 - 2021 BMW 220d X drive 2 Series Active Luxury
2021 - 2023 Hyundai Kona Electric Premium SE
2023 - Hyundai Kona Electric Ultimate