Head to the Highlands: Ioniq 6 vs Kia EV6
At Fleet Evolution, we practice what we preach. Some of our team have been driving electric for years, long before it was fashionable! Our MD’s first electric car was a 2012 Nissan Leaf, as was our senior account manager’s, Charlotte. Albeit, in those days, Charlotte was part of the Driverline Team and only needed to go to the office and back. But how have things moved on since then? Well, we can’t drive 300 miles in a diesel car to shout about how great electrics are, can we? We have to practice what we preach!
With this in mind, we set off north on 18th July at 9:30 AM from Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent with 2 electric cars; Jordan H in her Kia EV6 and Andy and Jordan F in a sporty looking Ioniq 6. Both EVs fully charged at our offices, partly courtesy of the solar panels at the farm, but ignoring that, this cost around £21 to fill both cars.
The First Stop was an Essential One…
Coffee for the drivers and a chance for Jordan F to join Jordan H, as Andy had the Ashes cricket on Test Match Special via the DBS radio – about as appealing to Jordan as watching Love Island would be to Andy… From there, at around 11 AM, it was onto Gretna Green and Ionity chargers, promising up to 350kw of charge per hour. Time for a maths lesson, fun!
Our cars have a battery of 77kw and we both had about 30kw left when we stopped or 100 miles. A home charger is 7kw, so it would take around 11 hours to fill full from empty. A car park charger would be the same or 22kw, so 3.5 hours full from empty. The slowest motorway chargers charge at 50kw, taking around 1.5 hours full from empty.
However, Electric Car Charging Slows When Reaching 80%…
We charged 80%, adding about 140 miles in 12 minutes each, costing £11! We charge a lot publicly, so it makes sense to pay £14 a month for a charge card, which slashes costs at many pumps. We did have to wait 10 minutes to charge as some idiots were charging to 100% (and there was only 4 pumps, but there are more points going up all the time). After that, we continued north, coming off by Greta for some pub grub where they also had a Chargepoint we didn’t use. The Jordans reached the Dumbarton hotel by 5 PM, Andy by 6:30 PM via a meeting in Glasgow, both with around 100 miles left!
So, that’s 315 miles in 7 and a half hours with a 45 min lunch stop, 22 min charge stop, and 10 min coffee stop. The total cost up there is £42.
After a blissful night at the marvellous Gleddoch Golf and Spa Resort, we left at 10 AM to head around the estuary to Dumbarton. The launch was well received as were the cars and we were treated very well by Aggreko, who laid on lunch and a tour of their factory; they power most of Glasgow at certain times and also power some colleague’s cars for free! Our free workplace chargers will add to that!
We left Aggreko Not Long After 1
We drove to Abington Motorway services, where they have a plethora of charge points, including 8 x 150kw chargers. This was perfect for us and just the 2 of us there, despite it being the Scottish school holidays. After coffee and Haribo Tangfastics, we moved on 20 minutes later with enough electricity to get home; Jordan had one more 45-minute stop by Manchester (as she can’t charge at home) where she arrived at 8:30 PM. The 45-minute stop didn’t delay her journey by much as it was around 5:30 PM when the motorways were at their busiest.
So, Could You Do This Journey?
315 miles in 7 and a half hours would be a decent time even in an ICE car. In my case though, the whole trip cost me around £50 as I pay for a subsidised charging account (so include £3 for a week’s membership). That’s only really worthwhile if you do lots of public charging, so £53 for a big coupe for 630 miles!
Jordan spent more; her last charge was without my card, so £45 for another 200 miles and she got home with 120 miles range left for the weekend. So the total spend is around £100 for a 630-mile trip plus the 120 miles remaining for a large sporty Kia.
The EV6 was a legend, it could probably have made it to Dumbarton on one charge and we stuck to 70 when possible on the motorway. The Ioniq 6 looked amazing but very different to the Niro. Despite a more aerodynamic appearance, it had a slower performance and real-world range of about 260 miles. Odd as both have the same battery, maybe I am the problem!
So, the Moral as Before
With a small amount of planning, you can basically do any road trip as quickly as in an ICE car, assuming that you would stop either way for a comfort break. The cost can be much cheaper if you have a charging account, but if you don’t charge publicly regularly and pay ‘retail’, it’s about the same as motorway petrol. One last thing though, probably avoid the share bag of Tangfastics if you are on your own, mine were gone by Penrith!
Tags : electric, electric car, ev charging, hyundai, ioniq 6, Kia EV6, Public charging