Long Distance Travel In An EV - It's Cheap

Today we test out the VW E-Up, a low range BEV, over 500 miles to see how it holds up. Designed typically for town use it really is out of it's comfort zone over these distances. Lets see how it goes.

[@RWBHere]

The short range of the VW 'Yorkie' certainly seems to make for a challenging journey, unless you plan well, and unless the charger system is working well. But at least you (just!) made it without the ignominy of having to call for help. Well done! The CCS 'highway' is an interesting variation, too. Perhaps Jonathan should find a Zöe for you to deliver? ;-) Thanks James.

[@Jamesandkate]

RWBHere I feel quite lucky as I don’t often plan, through laziness more than anything. I just expect it to work, especially now we are paying for it. A Zoe is on the list but the battery lease turns people away in favour of the Leaf generally which is sad as it’s a great little car.

[@RWBHere]

Looking forward to that, and yes, it is an interesting vehicle. I hear that some are available without the battery lease. Thanks again.

[@JonathanPorterfield]

Great drive James. I know all those views too ! Great to see a CCS drive too. Now let's see what other differant EVs I can find for you 😉

[@Jamesandkate]

Jonathan Porterfield a nice van would be interesting I reckon 😉👌🏻

[@kenchristie9583]

Jonathan Porterfield : I see a preference on the way between Perth and Abington to route via Kinross rather than sticking to the "main" dual carriageway past Stirling/Dunblane. Am I missing something? Cheers

[@greygameruk]

Good idea about a van. Waiting for something the size of the Renault Trafic to be manufactured that can be converted to a camper, Kangoo is too small for my needs. I would appreciate a review of any vans.

[@ewdack]

Travelling long distance in a short range EV reminds me of the mini motorbike scene in the Dumb and Dumber film. It maybe very energy efficient but it looks painful.

[@craigevans6156]

You looked absolutely wrecked when you got to the ferry! Next time you are up, do get in touch if you need a lift to the airport or somewhere to chill out.

[@Jamesandkate]

Craig Evans I was pretty done in but luckily Chris Ramsey picked me up and he and Julie made me a really great dinner. I will be up again very soon though, thanks 🙏🏼

[@craigevans6156]

James and Kate Yes, hopefully with our secondhand Leaf that Jonathan is hunting for!

[@michaelowen7694]

Quite retro James - winging it as per your first Leaf vid!

[@Jamesandkate]

Michael OWEN standard practice, but o very nearly got caught out 🙈

[@BobEarnshawMoHo]

Been thinking about the e-up as our next car. We have an Up at the moment as a A-frame towed car behind our Motorhome. Two things put me off- 68 mile range and I assume I couldn't tow it?

[@SunWindWave]

What's with all this, 'no lighting or canopies' at the charge points? Really not helpful especially for ladies who own these cars. Anyone know if this issue is being addressed? Great video, just proves it can be done if you have the patience! Cheers.

[@doubledutch13]

James there’s a cracking triple head unit at the Forth Bridges visitor centre on the south side, as well as 3 at Broxden Perth. Dundee ice rink also has McD. Stirling has a triple near the services at Forthside Way, has facilities too. Also consider the rapid at Glenrothes. On A92 for Dundee and has a BP connect opposite, great grub and coffee.

[@Jamesandkate]

John vanDieken honestly, I think my head was in the clouds. I just don’t know what I was thinking. I’ll remember this for next time, cheers John 😊👍🏻

[@robsmith1a]

It is a pretty small battery so I am not surprised it charges quickly really. I'm not sure I'd be up for that journey without the heater on at times. The relatively short range really does seem to make a difference in terms of not being able to drive to the next charger if one isn't working. No doubt doing triathlons gives you the stamina for this sort of stuff. There should have been someone to give you a medal at the end of the journey.

[@Jamesandkate]

Robert Smith is much prefer to do it in a 40 Zoe, with the heater. As AC and Chademo are so readily available. That said the CCS was perfect until I came off Ecotricity. No medals this time but a really nice dinner with Chris and Julie Ramsey was just the ticket 😊👍🏻

[@kayeriley275]

James and Kate we have a 24kW Leaf and a Zoe 40 Q90i and am a bit nervous on longer journeys in the Zoe. It's a great car but most services only have one AC rapid charger a they can be temperamental with The Zoe however Chademo tends to be more reliable and often most services have two of them. Given the choice of a 40kW Zoe or Leaf for a long journey the 40kW would win hands down.

[@robsmith1a]

Kaye always nice to hear of other Zoe owners. I think Renault are missing a trick with the AC chargers, from what I understand they are fairly cheap to install so having some at a few extra carefully chosen locations would really help (so many fast chargers in restricted areas as far as I can tell other than the Ecotricity ones that are in great locations). I have the non quick charge ZE40 and I haven't yet had any problems with charging it and it always seems to get 22kwh charging speed at Ecotricity chargers (not that I've used them much because the range means I can get to most places quite easily). It does look like the Shell chargers will have AC though.

[@kayeriley275]

Robert Smith the range is great the only time we need to charge away from home now is on very long journeys. Since we got it in April it has been to the Isle of Wight, Plymouth and then another trip to Bude 🏄. Which from Colchester is over 300 miles only needed to stop twice to charge. Well technically we needed to stop for comfort for ourselves and the dog.

[@stevenlawrie7819]

Oh and the dealer said new env200 with 40kwh battery arriving soon as well so should be able to replace our Transporter as well :-)

[@Jamesandkate]

Thats another ace move. Apparently a 60 is next for both :-) and upgradable with a straightforward swap

[@fineartz99]

Road surfaces there, during daylight, appear to be smoother than most of ours in Texas.

[@Jamesandkate]

were pretty well looked after tbh Daniel. locally it's a different story

[@marks-0-0]

Watching this in 2020 and CCS is everywhere and the new standard, nice car James 👍

[@hazzerhazzer2741]

Next question is, in your opinion was this car worth the money vw asked of it when new compared to what else was on the market at that time?

[@collywobbly]

im sorry to ask thisbut are the chargers working day and night or do they close ar 6 pm lol i know its a silly q but im a little worried ta

[@johannbraunstein1190]

I can see you're suffering heart burn from all the recharging coffee breaks.

[@midwestslim]

maybe you would rather drive a Tesla roadster 2020!

[@Jamesandkate]

Robert Mitchell you’re not wrong. The problem there is, it’s just too easy. At that point everything changes, 200kWh battery pack completely writes off ICE 😊👍🏻

Stewart Nyland's let himself go.

[@Trades46]

Cheap and possible, but the time spent sitting still charging is worth it?

[@MichaelWilliams-mo1vv]

These are far too many miles to drive in one day/ night.

[@dorsetengineering]

Great video guys... have you ever driven an ampera?

[@dlittlester]

Another great video, James. Thanks. Not important, but did you know that at the end it says "Remeber to like and subscribe"? Sorry if I seem picky. I really enjoy your posts.

[@Jamesandkate]

Don Little kill me now. Tbh, it was rushed. I did watch it a few times before posting too 🙈

[@dlittlester]

Shouldn't even have mentioned it. My bad. You must have been knackered after that trip.

[@bertie1989]

Another excellent video James, new to your channel but really enjoying the videos. Can you please explain to me the difference between CCS and Chadimo (prob spelt wrong) I’m considering a hybrid as our next car (not fully convinced there are enough charging ports around to jump to full EV).

[@ZJC743]

This shows that if you have a charging network in your country you can still use a short range EV, if your not doing a drive like this more than two or three times a year that is. Thanks for the video, Zach from Perth Australia.

[@407bug]

I use a small oil filled radiator to keep me warm, ev heating needs sorting :>( just clocked 5800miles - £116 so far :>)

[@jamesknightreading]

Hmm. But isn't it the rest of us who pay for Scottish free charging?

[@goldilocks878]

NO!

[@SCYorks]

Bloody hell that was cheap to get there.

[@jtchivers]

Well done! Another mission successfully completed!

[@Jamesandkate]

John Chivers I’ll take you next time 😊 that’ll be fun

[@markcornwall8132]

Well done James, despite cutting it so fine at one point. Currently doing the odd 500-700 mile trip in our Soul and waiting on something with 150ish miles next year but only if its Chademo. CCS is just to sparse for regular long trips.

[@bendixon2898]

Sitting here in Rye Victoria on the deck 32 deg c.

[@hazzerhazzer2741]

With all the charging and driving what was the battery temperature like?

[@Jamesandkate]

Perfect, never caused any issues.

[@markgaudie80]

You have the patience of a saint James. Great video as always 👍

[@Jamesandkate]

mark snoopyakabigbird thank you, it was actually pretty easy as everything was working well m so didn’t try my patience too much 😊👍🏻

[@AndrewGoodladIchorus]

I can’t think of any CCS in Scotland apart from Ecotricity units that aren’t “Unknown” status. Great video, E-Up seems like a great car.

[@digitalzoo999]

I want to say I really appreciate the great work on promoting and demystifying the ev path with the real live reviews and personal comments about the cars you and Kate try. Just to take it to perspective and compare (I'm 1.80m) would be nice to know Kate and yours height, after watching your review of the e-up I am considering it as our second car. thank you and a happy 2019

[@dobbers24]

Good video James and the soundtrack was fab - can you list the artist? What is a worry for me is that there are so few quick chargers at each stop which was fine on an overnight trip at this time of year but if repeated in summer with extra traffic around or if one or two chargers are down then you could be left stranded or waiting ages. About time the government had a plan to roll out 10 to 20 chargers at each motorway services site over the next 18 months before the ramp up when 2018/2019 longer ranger models start appearing. When the public switch over to EVs they will expect long distance travel to be easy like they currently enjoy in ICE vehicles.

[@Jamesandkate]

david nield I’ll dig the soundtrack out for you, is it the first, second or third one??? I agree, they need more. I believe Ecotricity, Eon, BP and Shell are adding these so it won’t be long 😊👍🏻

[@KimonoSkunk]

Oh ok... I was wondering what the first song was, i love the guitar playing... ^^ Cheers Kimonoskunk < 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, 51-52

[@stevelamb8849]

There seems to be a covering of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game early on.

[@martijnkosters9024]

Why the overnight trip though?

[@JeanPierreWhite]

I think the speed of charging is mostly down to the fact the e-Up accepts a rapid charge very well, and less to do with it being CCS.

[@carlharvey7098]

Always look forward to your videos....What do you think of the Tesla Roadster then? Very, very impressive if the figures turn out to be true

[@Jamesandkate]

Carl Harvey Honestly, it’s completely out of my price range and alway will be, but for the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche and others, they will need to try and justify their outrageous price tags. I thank Tesla and Elon for what they are doing and forcing others to follow 😊👍🏻

[@carlharvey7098]

Ive always loved Ferrari, Lamborghini etc but this thing just blows them out of the water and shows just how outdated they are now....Plus the roadster is the base model and still does 0-60 in 1.9 for god sake! Thats crazy

[@pault5179]

I'm impressed with 80 kWh in the model 3. 200 kWh is amazing (x 5p/kWh = £10, with massive range)

[@PravinPatil41]

How much would it have costed in a similarly sized petrol (gasoline) and a diesel car?

[@ephphatha230]

Weird question but what make is that jacket?

[@Jamesandkate]

ephphatha230 Under Armour 👍🏻 £120 in a sale 👍🏻

[@cartman668222]

I always loved driving in scotland and hope to do it again some time unfortunately it wont be in an EV

[@gazzrobb2366]

Charnock Richard near to my house you should have gone into Waitrose for a free coffee

[@gnomaedh]

That's a really cute car. It reminds me of a Smart EV.

[@tbrdoescinema]

SOD THAT. Well done.

[@Jamesandkate]

i did think this a few times :-)))

[@pete9b]

Great video James, thanks. 👏🏻

[@alisonm8078]

Is it going to stay cheap with all these "connection charges" though?!

[@Jamesandkate]

Being Ecotricity customers they are free for us but i agree, £3 connection is excessive. That said it's still cheaper than ICE.... For now

[@rhinovulcan]

James and Kate I used to be with Ecotricity for my domestic supply but am now with Bulb - still 100% renewable on the electric but cheaper tariffs, other suppliers are also available. I guess it depends how often you make use of the Electric Highway - for me not enough when compared to charging two EV's daily at home. Great video as always James.

[@Jamesandkate]

rhino vulcan that’s the deciding factor to us staying with them. They aren’t the cheapest but we save around 25/30 a month on the EH so really makes sense .

[@RenaultZoeZEOwnersClub]

It was a half trip like what we did ;)

[@dannyotter7247]

How much time spent sat stationary charging in total?

[@Jamesandkate]

about 4 hours.

[@FFVoyager]

God's teeth!

[@dannyotter7247]

James and Kate - and the equivalent in your MS? And I assume that you couldn’t have done that trip a year ago?

[@Jamesandkate]

Danny Otter the S would be 2 stops. First at Tebay and then on to Dundee, both around 30 mins. They work quite well as each keg is about 3 hours. Last year would have been possible but different chargers as they’re both quite new.

[@dannyotter7247]

James and Kate - so that’s not too bad for the E Up exclamation mark, given it’s limitations. I am seriously considering an MX next year, but I still think more readily available charging needs tone in place to convince me. My daily commute is over 100 miles and I don’t want to spending along time waiting for power. :-)

[@stevenlawrie7819]

Excellent video as always James- but why do you spoil it by flying home :-( surely the train would be more eco? By the way our 2 work Kangoo ZE arrive next month and popped to my local Nissan dealer to chat about new Leaf - brochure in hand should be Feb with 40kwh battery :-)

[@Jamesandkate]

it was price and availability tbh. A flight was £48, the train was £150. Also much quicker, but i take your point, not the most eco travel method. Really looking forward to the Leaf, they'll sell really well I'm sure

[@craigbrown5667]

Get some sleep James :)

[@andrew1977uk]

I am impressed with how cheap that was.

[@Jamesandkate]

If you had a longer range EV they really do make sense. If i did this journey in our Tesla and used Ecotricityt it would have been £16, still mega cheap :-)

[@andrew1977uk]

James and Kate I’m considering a Renault Zoe as my next car. Unless anything else hits the market sub 20,000 with a decent range.

[@Jamesandkate]

Great little car, 40kWh...??? I'm still waiting for one of these for this particular trip up to Aberdeen but people shy away from the battery lease and opt for the Leaf mostly. That said, you'll love the Zoe

[@andrew1977uk]

James and Kate yeah alas the new leaf will cost 26k, which is out of my budget. It does look fantastic however and I’ll go into my local Nisan dealer and ask what deals they have.. but I am fairly certain it won’t be in my budget 😩 wish they started at 18!

[@Jamesandkate]

Andrew C maybe a 40 Zoe will fit in to that gap. I think there are some ex demo and 2nd hand models on the market now 😊👍🏻

[@Zimpaz]

Our second car is an ICE VW UP, lovely car but would never do a long trip like this in it!!

[@Jamesandkate]

Zimpaz have to say, I’d much prefer a Leaf, Zoe or bigger for this again. Interesting though, and very very cheap.

[@Sofala]

Cheap travel but no alternative to petrol.

[@Jamesandkate]

Sofala not with this size of battery you’re right. But the newer BEV’s will give ranges of 150-350 miles so these are a no brainier against ICE.

[@banpowel9784]

Done this journey in my lovely euro 6 diesel, stopping once for a coffee, and quick fill, heated seats and heater on the whole way and no stressing about range, absolute bliss

[@davidwestwoodharrison]

The eUp looks completely out of its depth there. Alright for around cities, but for that kind of journey, i'll stick with diesel.

[@Jamesandkate]

David Harrison completely, it’s ok for towns and short hops. But the new Zoe and Leaf will run the same efficiency levels but travel much further. Maybe worth considering

[@DennisBloodnokPhotographyVideo]

I think that the UK government needs to do a deal / agreement with the oil companies and supermarket chains so that all UK filling stations have at least two electric fast / rapid charging points and at least one hydrogen full-cell filling point. This would deal with the whole range issue.