How to prepare for your first long EV drive

EV expert and CBVC Vehicle Management consultant, Jon Burdekin, shares his tips on how to prepare for that first long journey in an electric car.

If you’re new to electric cars (EVs) then your first long journey can be worrying. Because you’ll need to charge your car’s battery at a public charging point and it can feel daunting.

Well, don’t worry, you’re not alone. It’s the same for most people.

So here’s how to plan for that first long journey in an EV with helpful tips from Jon Burdekin. Or, as Jon says, “all the things I wish I had known before I took an EV.”

Make a plan

The main point of difference is in the planning. In an internal combustion engine (ICE) car, you can roughly know when you’ll need to fill up and generally you should be able to refuel – even if it is at an expensive motorway forecourt.

With EVs you need a little more planning. There are many Apps (such as Zap-Map pictured) and planners to assist you with this, so give yourself some time to familiarise yourself with each of these.

You can input your car and its range into the planner and it works out routes for you based on where your vehicle will need to charge. You can modify the parameters such as arriving at a destination with, say, 20% battery capacity left, having four people in the car, and so on.

Typical examples are Zap-Map, Plugshare and A Better Route Planner.

Make a backup plan

Do not rely on your first plan – just in case. You might find that the chargepoint you plan to use is out of order, or there’s a queue of EVs waiting there to charge.

So have an alternative plan, ensuring that you will have enough charge to get you to plan B’s charging point – arriving with just 2% charge left in the battery is not good for your blood pressure!

(“It might also be a good idea to have a plan C in your back pocket, just in case,” advises Jon.)

Try and combine your charging stopover with the need to take a stop for coffee, a toilet break, a stretch of the legs and so on, so it’s worth ensuring your chargepoint has the facilities you expect to find there.

Remember, if this is a regular journey you take – to see family, friends or a regular holiday haunt – then you only need to plan the once.

What chargepoint operators should I look out for?

Jon says he sticks to those he finds reliable and easy to use. Look out for rapid chargers to ensure you don’t have to hang around for too long.

Motorway service stations are now a reliable source of chargers since Gridserve has been upgrading the Electric Highway, but he warns they can be busy.

Otherwise his go-tos are InstaVolt, Osprey, Shell Recharge, Gridserve and Ionity. All bar Ionity can be paid for by contactless payment, while Ionity you either pay through the app, or the QR code on the charger.

The most popular EV charging networks by user choice

The EV charger finding Zap-Map, has ranked the most popular networks by user vote. In 2021 the the top six were:

1 InstaVolt

2 MFG EV Power

3 Osprey

4 Pod Point

5= Gridserve

5= Shell Recharge

Know your maximum charging rate

It’s important to know what is the maximum DC charge rate for your car – then try to select the most powerful charger under (or just over) that figure) . If your car can charge at 130kW, try to look for a 100kW or 150kW charger, rather than a 50kW charger – in that way you will spend less time charging.

However, if your car can charge at 130kW, then there’s no point hooking it up to a 350kW charger – it won’t charge any quicker than its maximum charge rate of 130kW.

Don’t overcharge the battery

It’s tempting to think you should charge the battery to 100% capacity, but don’t.

There are several reasons. The first, and most important, is that you will save money. Public charging, rather like motorway fuel costs, is the most expensive way to charge your car, so just put in enough (plus a 30 mile ‘buffer’) to get you to your destination.

Second, don’t charge beyond 80% on a public rapid charger. The speed of charge slows dramatically over that last 20% to full. Jon’s analogy is that “it’s like watching drips of petrol fall into your petrol tank. You wouldn’t deem that a good use of time either”.

Keep your mobile phone topped up

Keep your mobile topped up like your electric car. You may need it to locate chargepoints, pay for chargepoints, or even sometimes call the chargepoint helpline. Jon adds: “Don’t let a phone with no charge stitch you up.”

When it’s cold, your range will drop

You will notice a difference in the range your car gives you during the summer and what it will offer you on colder days. It also might take longer to charge up when it’s very cold as batteries don’t work so well at a lower temperature.

There are some good tricks to embrace when it’s cold.

• While you’re home charging, pre-heat your car while it is still plugged in to avoid drawing range from the battery to heat or defrost the car
• If you’re driving and it’s getting chilly, use the heated seats and heated steering wheel (if you are lucky enough to have this feature). These items do not impact range (unlike a fan heater) – a case of heat the person not the cabin
• If you do need to use the aircon, use it tactically and appreciate it will take a few miles off your range (in the same way it impacts fuel efficiency in an ICE vehicle) . So only turn it on if it’s necessary, aim it at the driver only, and aim it at the face, not the feet. In that way range impact will be minimised.

Keep the tyres pumped up

Tyre pressures on EVs are usually higher than on ICE vehicles, mainly because the car is heavier and the tyre sidewalls need to support a greater weight.

So under- or over-inflated tyres will impact your car’s efficiency. Make sure you check your tyre pressures before you leave on a long journey.

Lastly…more planning, but less cost

If this has made driving distances in an EV sound a drag then really it’s not. The first few times might seem daunting but you soon get the hang of it.

And remember, if you were doing this in a petrol car it would cost you more filling up with petrol – even with the recent energy price hikes.

“A bit of planning unlocks those savings (and environmental benefits if that is important to you),” adds Jon.