Planning An Electric Road Trip

Planning a road trip is never an easy task, and you might think adding an EV to the equation would make it more difficult. Well, good news. It’s now easier than ever to own an electric car. Here are our top tips on planning a road trip with an electric vehicle, just in time for that long-distance journey.

Distance

The distance can be one of the key anxieties of any long journey. Factoring in that you’d need to charge your electric vehicle can make it all the more daunting. But with the right planning, motoring with an EV is comfortable. To reduce this anxiety, it’s important to plan your trip before you set off. You should know how many miles your EV can cover before it needs a charge. Be sure to keep an eye on the amount of charge you have left when driving. This way you can never run out during your journey! Plus with apps like Zap-Map, or the newly integrated charge point feature to Apple Maps, it’s effortless to find the next charging station in your journey. Even if you just plug-in while making a quick pit-stop on the way, it’s better to charge with miles left than to run out.

Hotels with Charging

As mentioned before, charging throughout the day is very useful and can often keep you out of a bind. However, it is also very convenient to wake up to a fully charged car. This will completely rid the stress of trying to find a charger to fill up before you can set off on your journey again. This is why finding a hotel, or anywhere to stay that offers an electric vehicle charging station, is a perfect way to end the day and wake-up refreshed and worry-free. It’s best to find hotels with charge points before you start your journey and book your room before arrival. You can find hotels with charging stations on websites such as chargehotels.com.

Check Out Local Networks

If you’re going somewhere and don’t know the area, try to have a look on the internet before you leave to see what’s going on. It might just save you getting stuck in that traffic jam or even getting completely lost and having to worry about your next charge.

Breakdown Plan

This is such an important point. No matter how meticulously you have planned your journey and how perfect you think it might be, it’s best that you have a back-up plan. Expecting the unexpected is to be prepared. It’s always useful to keep a recovery number with you, whether it’s the Green Flag card you’ve had forever or the breakdown plan you’ve never needed. It’s always better to have a back-up. This will help to reduce the stress levels of your journey exponentially. Better safe than sorry!

Cable

This is one of the obvious ones, but also the most important. Do not forget your charging cable! When planning a long trip, there is often so much to account for that the most simple things can be overlooked. The charging cable is as imperative to the journey as the vehicle itself.

As mentioned before, the key to a successful journey is planning. One of our favourite route planning apps is EVTripping, and we definitely think you should check it out if you’re planning a long journey in your electric vehicle.

Don’t have an EV? Why not! It’s the perfect time to go green and join the electric revolution!