I’m taking my leaf on its first long journey today (driving my parents). I’d normally take the train, but it’s a pandemic so...

I have “101” miles of range with eco on (this was with it off), so the first thing I did was look up the journey home. It’s something like 180 miles, so in theory, 2 charges.

In practice...I did a 40 mile journey last week that with 60 miles range and I was down to 7 miles when I got there.
So to be on the safe side, I looked up a few chargers on plugshare. In case you’ve ever wondered about this - the UK has a gooooood network and the M1 is

According to google maps, I looked up a rough midpoint which appeared to be Watford gap - it’s a little before the midpoint (only 50 miles), so to be optimistic, I added a stop at Leicester forest.

Reached Watford gap. 16 miles to spare.

In my optimistic brain - I could squeeze a bit more out, maybe pull off to a stop before Leicester as I’m deffo not going to make it that far.
But, nah, we’re good. Let’s be patient.

The reason a lot of people probably think there aren’t a lot of chargers in the UK is they look somewhat like parking meters and they’re hidden in random car parks. They’re usually near the building so the cables don’t need to run far. Compare to ICE fuel stations

Unfortunately for me today, there’s another leaf parked at the meter so I’ve got to wait, and then wait some more before my car is actually charged. But it’s a minor inconvenience. I could easily drive on and find another charger quickly if I really wanted to.

The downside (and why I’ve learned not to drain the battery super low) Is you can get to a charger where no ones bothered to maintain it. @BPChargemaster in particular have a lot which are old.
But like I said - there’s loads! You’ll find another one.

Thing with driving for 3 hours is
1. you should probably take a couple of breaks anyway. Shouldnt be a skill to concentrate for 3 hours without stopping - your driving will get worse towards the end.
2. You get better range if you drive slower. Which is good for others....

And 3 - the M1 always has chunks that are being fixed up and have lower speed limits. I love limit and cruise control for this (I know that’s not electric only, just a modern car, but still)

range degradation on this thread looks a lot worse than it is - if I was really trying I could get further. I had a point where I wanted to get from 50 to 70 quickly for fun so that knocked off a good chunk (was open, empty stretch of m1 lane at the end of a speed limit change)

The point I kind of want to make is - we’re still in early adoption of EVs. There are teething problems still. But you absolutely can make the switch if you take on a couple of minor inconveniences.

EVs are also massively fun to drive. I don’t think I’ll be going back.

Also this is legit an avoidable issue in normal circumstances (I take the train) and not a journey I need to take often. Most long journeys aren’t something you’ll think about. They’re a desire, not an absolute necessity

I’m now at my second charge of the day. I should reheheally have moved on from Watford gap rather than wait, but this should be my last stop :) the other thing to note - charging it from 15 miles or so to full takes 40 minutes. Charging it to 80% takes 20...

So...I don’t charge it to full. I move on a bit, charge it again, move on a bit, charge it again.
Weirdly...this place has 2 chargers so I wouldn’t have had the same problem as I would at Watford gap. This seems odd to me given its waaay busier on the M1 down south.