As always I have been 100% open and honest to make this video as factual as possible to help people make up their own minds. It is NOT a video about the advantages or disadvantages of towing a caravan with an EV, which you will find elsewhere on this channel. Thanks for your understanding.
I wish you were still doing your Caravan Journo video's you are still the best Caravan Journo on YT, whether I agree or not with all the video's You are still the Best.
Interesting video Andrew. Thanks for taking the time and skill to put this together. I’m very sceptical about the planet saving benefits of EV. Lithium batteries appear to generate significant amounts of CO2 in their production and are very short lived. I’ve just invested in a 1999 newly converted Toyota Grand Hiace that runs off petrol and LPG one of the cleanest and most effective fuels. It’s what many European countries are investing in whilst this country turns its back on it! Madness.
Thank you for the video. This is putting me off EVs as a viable option in the near and medium term. Will be sticking to petrol and diesel cars for at least the next decade until infrastructure catches up
Andrew this just convinces me more that I’ll hang on to my diesel until they prise the key from my cold dead hand! I did the trip from Bunree to Strathclyde and then onto Staffordshire, I could just about have done it all on one tank but topped up at Tebay as I had to drop off the caravan and then continue to Birmingham. Total stopped time to refill 10min! Taking into account the capital cost of buying an EV being twice what I paid for my top of the range IC car, I’ll not be changing. The CaMac situation is dire, we had planned to visit Mull this year instead of the Outer Hebrides but with the risk of being stranded with caravan in tow due to short notice cancellation we decided to head to Morvich instead.
I salute your time and effort Andrew for producing these videos but every time you do a long journey with that set up the more inclined I am to hang on to my diesel motor home. A few weeks ago I traveled from Ullapool to South Wales , stopped twice for fuel and one overnight camp site. The technology is some way off to tempt many long distance travellers away from our diesel or petrol guzzlers. Many thanks
Hi Andrew - interesting and informative as always. As an early EV adopter and motorhome owner we did try touring with both driving the vehicles separately. But despite some improvements to the charging infrastructure, like you, we found too many chargers broken, busy or ICE'd; so I am afraid to say we gave up and bought a small petrol car that we now tow - a much better and less stressful experience! I thought I had seen it all in my six years of EV ownership with chargers but the one requiring you to calculate your power requirement was frankly bizarre!
Truly fascinating and very informative Andrew! A joy to watch but as others have said you are extremely patient. With a family in tow I think I'd find it very stressful and time consuming! Keep up the great work. We should watch this again in 5 years time to see what has improved or changed for better or worse!
@Andrew Ditton encouraging. I guess it would be a completely different experience in the cold and rain having to unhich to charge etc. We tour all year so a similar report in winter would be appreciated. On the wish list please?
Hi Andrew. I had battery anxiety watching this. I am all for EVs, but I feel that the infrastructure has lagged behind what will be required in a few years' time. I have an electric bike, and I had battery anxiety using that for long journeys. I now have 3 batteries for it and can relax, knowing that I have plenty of power. It's not something that you can do with an EV. I feel that the government is leaving it for others to sort out instead of investing in it. Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed.
Wow, what a lot of hassle, caravan off and on for charging and short distances between, you had less trouble with the old pickup truck. Love the way Dougal and Ted have bonded, We got caught up in the ferry shambles as well, but a Calmac big breakfast helps make the journey feel shorter.
Without the cocktail lounge background music, I think I would have found the frustrations of charging too much. Thank God you're young (ish) fit, healthy, traveling alone and organised or this would have been a road trip to Hell ! This is the crucial difference with EV's compared to ICE; you have to have a plan and be prepared for unexpected delays. When solid state batteries are available, we'll be wondering how we tolerated lithium. On a positive note, Dougal looks rejuvenated with his new companion!
But that's just a small caravan, not a family of 4 fully loaded. What a nightmare as such waste of time spent topping up. Well done for highlighting this real problem.
Andrew did a towing comparison between a late single axle and the small one in an earlier video and found the weight made little difference compared with the aerodynamic losses. (I don't know if that was a hilly trip though)
Another really informative video, thanks Andrew. I have cancelled the EV6 as the dealership were making all sorts of promises about build slots etc, also promising me monthly updates which I never got and I was dealing with different people each time I went in for an update which appeared to be due to staff turnover. I was starting to get slightly nervous about the charging network reliability which your video confirms some of my fears. In addition speaking with EV owners in East Cornwall, who are always willing to chat when waiting for vehicles to charge, the few chargers available are often not working and seldom charge anywhere near the capacity advised. I have now ordered a Tesla Model Y which I have delayed collection until mid July as we are away in the motorhome. The main reason for this is the charging network. We travel to east Cornwall around once per month and we can stop at Exeter Services or Dart Farm where we have a choice of 28 well maintained supper chargers over both sites along with a further 6 in Lifton if the Exeter ones are full. I still like the EV6 and don't rule out the possibility of having one in the future if the charging network improves.
Sorry to hear about the EV6, but your fellow Tesla owners who comment rave about the charging network - it sounds to me like you've done the right thing. Enjoy your trip away in the moho and enjoy the Model Y when you get it. All the best.
Very informative video. Has certainly put me of owning an EV for towing. Andrew you are a pioneer in this field and your deeds should not go unnoticed. Keep up the good work.
Great video Andrew as always but as a caravanner my self there is no way on earth I would put up with all the faff and messing about like you have on this trip the having to charge alone is enough to put anybody of an EV Keep up the great work with the videos always a pleasure to watch
Hi Andrew- just saw you guys out for a walk as we were packing up from our stay at Killin. We find your videos really useful so it was great to see you. We were too late to say hi so saying hi now 😊👋🏼
Hi Andrew! Really enjoyed this one! Shame about the ferries, a lot of money will be lost! I am so looking forward to my trip in July, only 4 weeks away now! We're right in the middle of a humdinger of a thunderstorm, literally right above us, made me jump it was so loud!! Half expected a dog to come scurrying up to me! Your videos are always so full of useful information for people thinking of taking that next step into EV driving! More needs to be done as you say, sooner rather than later by the looks of things! Not sure where you are at the moment but wherever that might be, take care the three of you! Keep making these great videos, we can't get enough of them! Love and hugs xxx 😘🥰🐶🐕
Andrew, as always good to see you and the boys. A fascinating video but I do think that you have the patience of a saint. There is a lot of anxiety ensuring that the journey s not held up with road works and accidents and that the chargers are working. I have encountered five hour delays on the M40 as a result of a crash whilst towing. My claim to fame is that I have used the caravan washroom facilities whilst in the middle lane of the M40!! As you freely demonstrated, not all chargers are in working order. However good to see that you had a safe journey. Best regards.
Great video Andrew! We run 2 cars, one a small ev (mini) the other a diesel for towing and commuting.. i couldn't bring myself to leave the caravan unattended at the services ... the odd long journey taking a bit longer i can live with..especially how much cheaper overall running costs are.. also I'd buy one a few years old after depreciation 👍
I can only imagine the frustration of cancelled ferry crossings, seems madness to me with the holiday season upon us, why they’d do that. Very informative and exceptionally well edited video as always. The ending of your videos with the dogs is brilliant. 😊
It's really good to see someone actually towing with an EV, proving it is possible and that caravans do have a future. But the "2.5 hours longer" is not quite representative, as with a ICE car that journey would probably only have take one overnight stop. 2.5 hours travelling is maybe 100-120 miles extra an ICE could have covered, 25% of the total distance. We often cover 300 miles in a day towing, range on a tank is 400ish miles, so the EV is only covering 66% of the distance per day. In terms of costs you have to then factor in an extra night's stay. Now I understand "don't rush to get there", but sometimes you want to cover distances.
What no one seems to test on EV range is how it works with a family. All road tests seem to be a single adult who doesn't have all the stuff a family will carry (including children), and how that will impact on range.
I'm guessing you missed my video from a few weeks back towing a caravan that was 500kg heavier and assessing its impact? Please check it out. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Autocar did a long term test in an e-niro in 2019. Covered family trips away and full car of 5 plus camping equipment. Fortunately ecotricity has been kicked out so the charging experience is much better now...but still recovering from their poor management.
Thankyou very much for the video! One charge station I have 'scouted' is the Fastned one just outside Glasgow 1 of the 8 chargers is a drive through one.
Don't know how you do this, Andrew, but your videos always makes the viewer feel like they've come along for the ride with you - it's very relaxing. Must say your Xplore looks very smart and comfortable, too!
Glad you enjoy it Mr Le Cap. If you think about it, there are two styles: The 'Look at Me' style where it's all about the presenter looking at something, and the 'Look at This' style, which immerses the viewer into the experience. I make my videos in the latter style - it's all about the experience, it's not about me ;) Thanks for watching, Andrew.
I have to be honest but it is likely that I shall use petrol for the rest of my life. Living in a an apartment on the 2nd floor means that home charging is not an option. Charging an EV on the go seems about as stress free as running from a pack of feral dogs. Also I just wont be able to buy one of those expensive modern computers with wheels attached to them. I am awfully sorry Earth, you will simply have to take that 0.000000(add some more)0000000000001 percent global warming that I manage to contribute.
I can't understand your calculations. I came up from Teesside to Bunree ( about 300 miles) in a diesel in one day and no refueling. So if I were to travel 500 miles, that would mean one overnight stop on the journey, if I decided to stop, apart from refuelling, not 2 like you did. Therefore your extra journey time over a diesel is at least 2 1/2 hours plus the extra overnight stop. Also all that coupling, securing, charging, unsecuring, recouping, chargers not working or in use, iced charging bays etc. on arrival equals stress, stress, stress. I completed my 300 mile journey at 29 mpg and 44 mph average doing 50 mph where I could and had a quarter of a tank left when I arrived on camp after circa 7 hours with just toilet stops. No stress, no refuelling at all. I wouldn't dream of taking my other electric car on a long journey, caravan in tow ( if it could, which it can't ) or not. My over 7 years EV experience has taught me that it is just not worth it, even with a bigger batteried more modern EV like yours, which would take more time to fill with electricity incidently but less often obviously but nowhere near the range that my diesel has. One thing you were correct about is the A82 past Loch lomond. We went the Stirling route as well and will be returning that way tomorrow.
@@muteposting most rapid charging stations, even now are 50 kw units, charging at the same rate as my car, big or small battery, old or new cars. It also does not alter the fact that he made one more overnight stop than I would need to do in my diesel car.
@@stevezodiac491 no sure what chargers you are using but if I’m not charging at home I’ve never used one under 75kw, and most are 150kw+ when en-route…
@@muteposting come up north, never mind 50 kw, a lot of areas are EV deserts like East Yorkshire etc. Scotland is much the same. No tesla north of Inverness either. At home I charge on Octopus go at 9.5 p per kwhr now between 00.30 and 04.30. The EV is ok tethered to it's home charger range, a nightmare on any long run, which I don't do anymore. Not worth the stress.
@@stevezodiac491 I live in the north ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I towed from Preston to Farnborough and back at end of April and we’ve done two trips to Snowdonia this month
Even though you make it look like a relaxing thing to charge your car, i can only guess that it is in fact not. What a looong trip, and the wobbly start with the ferries - heavens! Watching you doing „normal“ travel stuff with a caravan is always a pleasure😊 cheerio to all three of you
p.s. I’ve just been in Pembrokeshire (Wales) and was very impressed with how many charging points there were wherever I went. Even the car park at the beach had charging points, plus there were several just outside the docks for the ferry at Fishguard. Well done Wales.
Thanks for another well produced an informative video, Andrew. I admire the way you dealt with the various issues along the way. I remain open-minded about EVs, but I do wonder how or whether the number of charging stations will scale to match any future wholesale growth in EV ownership, for those EV owners who need to charge away from home. If it takes approximately a 5 minute stop to fill up on petrol or diesel using pay at the pump, but it takes approx 30-40 mins at an ultra fast charging point for an EV to obtain a decent charge range, then the number of properly maintained EV charging points needed will be huge. There are big questions here for the future of EV ownership.
Indeed! What you say is correct, although you can do 10-80% in under 20 minutes at an Ultra-Rapid, about the time it takes to go to the loo! Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Excellent video as usual, Andrew! Reading the comments, I find it quite amazing how the subject of electric cars divides and polarises opinions. The problem is that no technology provides a one-stop solution for all tastes and needs. Electric motors are far more flexible and have so many advantages over ICE cars for the serenity of the drive, gentleness of pulling away, creeping along without engine noise, clutch use full stop/go cruise without braking. They are the right way to power vehicles. They will be ideal for towing! Creeping in/out of campsites without waking anyone! As a retired engineer, my own opinion is that most land transport in the foreseeable future will be powered by electric motors. The internal combustion was always a stop gap solution lasting longer than it should have done but what is less certain is what will supply the electricity to power vehicles. Current batteries are not the longterm answer but future energy storage technologies will be developed over time. Current EVs are the first waypoint on the roadmap to the ideal electrically powered cars and there is a market for them NOW, especially for those buyers who don't have long-range needs and will most likely charge cheaply at home and rarely use public chargers. Another market is those people who are approaching a certain age, like me, who want to experience a piece of this future before they're too old to see it come to fruition. Now, if I was in my 30s or 40s I probably wouldn't be able to afford what I can now and I certainly wouldn't be buying an EV until prices have dropped and better range was supported up by easily replenishable power Technologies. So here I am with an eight year old Peugeot estate which I've had since new and wanting a piece of the future and hopefully 10 years of enjoyable life health permitting. Which is why I'm watching Andrews blog on EV caravaning so my wife and I can do similar and from what I've seen, provides a relaxing slow way of life that I can easily cope with. A bit of touring: less than 200 miles a day. Sounds great! I'll probably give it a year to see what cars materialise on the market before buying!
Very interesting, thank you. Made me miss having a touring caravan, although staying in hotels is definitely simpler! Very sad to see that charging hub not being maintained and updated. It could be a flagship facility.
Andrew, a very interesting Vlog but I have to confess I would be stressed out with all the hassle you had unhitching etc. I will keep my 2005 diesel vehicle.
When the EVs become mega popular the fuel companies will drop the prices of fuel and make the EV unvirable and with increasing electricity prices the EV will be dead , and if they have faulty EV charging stations every where their off to a bad start already , i recon the hybrids will be the future its a no brainer
I haven't bought one but I've tried 2: the ev6 and polestar 2. They knock the pants off any ice car for driving pleasure. I have to have one before I get too old! They are nearly there!
I didn't mean just for pure speed. I meant for the serenity of the drive, gentleness of pulling away, creeping along without engine noise, clutch use (including automatics clutch) full stop/go cruise without braking
My daily right now is a Genesis GV60. No towing bar. And better this way, too less mileage for the size of the battery. The hydrogen Nexo I'm normally using these days would be the easier way, filling up is not more time consuming than with a internal combustion engine. Last week i had a trip from Oxford back to Germany, a full size SUV, BMW X5 xDrive50e. Impressive. Excellent assistence, no emissions where you don't want any, enourmous amount of power, comfy and quiet. Ok, carzy expensive and much too much car for just one person. But nearly 500miles without needing fuel in such a big car. Your video? I like them more and more. Well produced, with a good mix of information, opinion and best of all: Your love of the two gangsters! :)
Another interesting and factually informative video. I really like the slick and professional production of your videos as much as the informal presentation. The Caravan Club and others need to adopt a more proactive approach to charging onsite. Really interesting to see the cost comparison for the journey too.
Very interesting as I live in the Highlands. I wish you well but I will stick with my Isuzu D'max with it's 520 mile range and fantastic average 35 mpg including towing . And off roading. On a long run it does considerably more , but living in the steep mountains we don't get chance to be on nice duel carriageways very often. Then there's the deep winter snow for 6 months of the year. I couldn't wait to partially charge an EV for such a long time. Local chargers here are few and far between . By the time I've charged and got home , especially in the winter months , it would be time to go back and charge again. We can't have a home charger in our remote area as the infrastructure was never designed to take it. Image if everyone in our lane ( 15 miles long but only a small amount of dwellings) had the oven on etc and then plug the EV in. Boom ! The ancient overhead cables on telegraph poles and transformers would go into melt down. Let's just see what the future brings ! Probably a Hydrogen Hi-Lux for us although we love the D'max !
Excellent and informative as always. Not too much extra time really over a ICE vehicle. Unless I needed to stop elsewhere, personally I would have driven directly to Commons Wood from Strathclyde without stopping, once to refuel (towing) for the entire journey. I love EV's, but the infrastructure is pants.
16 bay Tesla site planned for Gretna Caledonia park. Hopefully they'll be open to all as they still have the regular Gretna one at the services just up the road.
Another very informative video Andrew. Thank you. We'll be keeping the Ssangyong Rexton you reviewed. Can't find anything to compete, for what we need. Isn't Ted coming on, but I reckon Dougal thinks he's a bit above all that! Love them both though. 🥰
Imagine if you come across roadworks or an accident that means you have to take a lengthy diversion. And, as you divert, you watch your battery depleting with nowhere to top-up. If I can do 400 miles in a Santa Fe, I don't NEED to top up on diesel. So less "fuel worry".
Just catching up on some of your vlogs. I flip flop so much on getting an electric tow car: oh btw, our Xplore 304 is no more. We loved it but decided to make a change…
I enjoyed this video as always. An honest portrayal of your trip and wonderful scenery. I recently towed our caravan to Pembrokeshire and back for a week holiday with an EV. I didn't find dropping the caravan to be time consuming (I didn't worry about security after the first drop - didn't seem necessary although no doubt insurance would have been the issue). Charging was quick at Gridserve high power chargers - quicker than we spent time to eat and walk the dog. We charged the car at the campsite through the caravan and were topping up to 100% by day 3 over a 5 day stay - with lots of local exploring during the day. The biggest obstacle was having to get from the caravan area at Service stations back to the EV chargers against the one-way system. In France, Belgium, Germany I've seen that they tend to have the EV chargers at the back of the service stations near the lorry and caravan parking which must be better. I was impressed with your 120 ish mile trip on the last leg with 24% remaining - that level of range is going to give confidence in these longer legs. Great to see Dougal and Ted enjoying the trip.
Cheers Andrew. I tend to review potential stops on Google Earth before travelling to check for those pesky one-way systems. As I had with Petrol Stations in years past, I also have my favourite charging stops. I think Leeds Skelton Lake is my favourite at the mo. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Interesting charging decisions. On a longer journey i tend to worry about location rather than cost. You had enough charge to get to strathclyde. I would have parked the van there and driven 3.5 miles to fastned hamilton, (one pull through) done some shopping at asda or lidl. Also at gretna there are applegreen chargers with plenty of chargers rather than waiting at ionity
Great vid Andrew. May I just say that 2.4 m/kWh is amazing towing a caravan. I took my Elddis AVante out at the weekend, behind my BMW i4, for a test run of 50 miles, along the A50 betwen Stoke and Derby. I did 60mph all the way, there and back, and only averaged 1.7 m/kWh. The Caravan weighs 1460kg fully laden. I can only dream of getting over 2 m/kWh. So my range is around 120 miles, between 100% and 10%, and only 90 miles between 80% and 10%.
Hi Nick, you'll see I only got 1.6 mi/kWh when at a constant 60mph. I find keeping it nearer 55 on motorways and not overtaking every lorry makes a huge difference, as does using 2 way A roads which is where I got the 2.4 kWh. At the moment (solo) I'm pootling about on A & B roads and getting 5 kWh.
@@andrewjditton Wowsers, that's very good. I don't know if I could stand a 300 mile trip at 55 mph. I find that I feel safer when I'm overtaking the lorries at 4mph differential, rather than them overtaking me at a 1mph differential. To each, their own though. 👍
A tip for the chargers at Stirling (both Forthview in town and at the Castleview hub which are my local chargers when I cannot fill up from sunbeams at home) - the 90 minutes return to charger mentioned on the notices means not to return to the same unit not to the whole hub so if you need more than 40 minutes worth of charge if the next door 50kW unit is vacant move onto it and start a new 40 minute session on a different unit……….. also you get 10 minutes grace on the 40 minutes if you really want to stretch it to a 50 minute charge…….. there is also a Gridserve unit at J9 services near Bannockburn
There should be a check in option in apps at chargers especially where only a few chargers so you could see how many in queue before you diverted there.
Campsite charging needs to become the norm. We are tent campers and bought our first EV in March this year. A couple of weekends back we were camping and as we do, we don't have an electric pitch. I asked the site if I could plug the car in and pay for juice on a hookup pitch on our last evening as the place was almost empty. The site owner agreed and just charged me his kWh rate I paid 30 pence per kWh. I have a charger with a ceeform plug (the blue plug that caravanners use for hookup) and set it to 10 amps, the bollard rating, and all was well. Plugged in at 6pm and by breakfast time I had a car with 100% battery ready to go. We had taken about 30kWh of charge in our ID.3. Wherever we plan to go now I shall call in advance to see if they will do me a similar deal.
Great to hear Michael. I think a lot of operators are unaware of the ability to program the draw of such a plug. If they were, I'm sure a lot more would be happy to let people plug into unused bollards. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Funnily enough I’m off to a site near York this weekend end, they expressly forbid parking EVs with your van and state that charging your car is not allowed, good job I’ve still got a good old ICE…
Another great video Andrew. This is what it is really like! The infrastructure is at a point where it is doable (obviously) but still takes longer. I think there is soon to be a glut of bigger EVs with bigger batteries which will give you a range of 400 miles / 200 towing which all helps. Improvements in charging facilities and more sites providing at least 7kW chargers (ie enough to fill battery every night) will be a game changer. Starting at 100% with a 200 mile range every day would be great.
Getting there but not there yet is a good summing up. Interestingly we have just completed a trip from North East Scotland to North Norfolk stopping at both Gretna and Wetherby but stopping because we wanted to rather than having to. More about a loo stop and refreshments than having to top up the car. Please continue making these extremely interesting EV car videos as it will be great to compare how the network improves or otherwise helping people like myself make an informed choice about an EV purchase in the future. Didn't Stirling look a sad place!
This video is really helpful. I will never buy an EV or a caravan. I recently drove from London to South Uist in a petrol car and did it in 15 hours and two tanks of fuel, about £90. EVs are a complete waste of time.
2 and a half days to get from Scotland to outside of North London is a crazy long time, In March 22 I drove from London to the Cairngorms in 10 and a half hours driving and below Highway Speeds, But with a Caravan you are speed Limited to 60mph so it does have a major impact on travel times, Being able to pull in to a camp site with a caravan on long trips is a much better way of doing things, WTG Andrew.
Fascinating. Very informative. I love the EV6 as a piece of kit, but however positively you try to look at it, I think EVs and the infrastructure that they need, are not practical and never will be, for the type of touring most of us want to do, and continue to want to do. Sad times ahead for the caravan industry I think.
Good honest warts and all review. Harry's garage did an EV charging system infrastructure review, Tesla charging vs 'all the others' .....he found 'all the others' a shambles of different credit card systems, broken chargers, no availability etc etc .....just like you experienced. The Tesla network was a completely different set up, consistent, most working , fast charging as standard and of course Tesla will pre book you're time slot ahead for you if you use the sat nav system......needless to say he said the only electric car he would live with was the Tesla purely because of the charging infrastructure. I'll stick to towing with my diesel Shogun, after all it's more green than replacing it with 'new' as it's carbon footprint has already been 'paid for' and it'll see me out !!
Excellent video, really well made. I do think the bubble for EVs has burst, ev sales are less and charging stations either don’t work, lack of maintenance or like the one shown here, won’t be long before derelict. If it was me doing the same trip it would have probably cost about £130-140 instead of £120 (diesel power) so me personally I’ll pay more using diesel without the charge delays or limited charging facilities.
Yes, absolutely. I can travel 1400 kilometres in my twin tank diesel Landcruier in Australia. Electric for shopping "maybe" but not for the distances we are used to.
@@andrewjditton Used values dropping more than ICE in % terms though. Also friends who bought as company tax efficient buys are dumping them just not useable enough (range ) and costs rising.
Petrol bubble has also burst. Petrol stations everywhere are closing or turning into shops. Popular spots like the Peak District or the Lake District were a black hole for petrol stations 5 years ago. Can't imagine it has got any better.
@@watcher24601 have noticed a lot of smaller independent ones closed but iv put it down too increase in supermarkets who come along in places like Lake District and add petrol station on there site, undercutting the normally more expensive independent one. There is one independent near me there always a good 10-15p more per litre on both fuels no wonder they close.
Well done Andrew. A dose of reality for me. 2 miles per kWh. I can see the charging structure going the same way a mobile phone service, do the population centres and screw everywhere else. Shame on Stirling Council for letting that facility go to waste. How can people have confidence in changing to EV’s when you see things like that. If I used a caravan I’d be sticking to an ICE. Sorry but I cannot justify the price premium of EV’s
One thing that is concerning for me is the seemingly global issue of the lessening of ferry services. So many cancellations and route adjustments. I understand that the bulk of folks using ferries in some places are tourists (tourist monies are important!), but they also forget about the actual residents that need ferry service to live a regular life.
I recently spent almost two years on Arran (concluding Sep/2022) dealing with my late parents' house in Sannox (Andrew, in one of your older videos you went right past the house, it's how I found your channel); the ferry services there are a complete mess, but not just in terms of vessel cancellations. A lot of money was spent on a new terminal building which ended up being badly designed (or implemented, depending on opinions, eg. large flights of stairs instead of escalators, just one tiny lift), along with a very long elevated transfer tunnel to get on & off the ferry which has tripled the time taken to do so, making it harder to reach the buses in time, while of course being a complete pain for the elderly, infirm, those with a lot of luggage, families, etc. The new setup also completely separates out those arriving from those departing, so it's not possible anymore to have any social interaction with passers by, eg. when one recognises a neighbour or somesuch. The design of the terminal also meant the ferry has to do a complete 180 as it enters Brodick bay in order to dock, a slow process, making delays more likely and increasing the risk of shore or pier collision, aswell as making the process more vulnerable to onshore wind effects. So it's not just the ferries themselves that have been messed up; aspects of infrastructure and just the way the systems are operated have become annoying. I became a regular sight for the crew when I travelled because, barring unforseen events, I was always the first in the queue to get on and likewise to get off, because that meant for the former I could secure the seat I preferred in the bar lounge (by a hidden power socket), while for the latter it minimised the chances of missing the northbound bus if there was any delay, and increased the chance of obtaining a decent seat on the bus (extremely busy during the summer). If the ferry is late, the buses may or may not wait, and even if they do there's no hard set time limit, it seems to vary, made worse by the fact that in the summer there are buses for the north island only for every other ferry, halving the number of viable sailings to/from the island if one requires bus transport in said direction, so missing a bus can mean a multi-hour delay (or an expensive taxi). One of the worst foulups occured when an incident at Ardrossan South Beach (just one stop from the ferry terminal) held up the train at the road crossing. Despite the driver having communication with whoever (I could see him using the phone unit on the station platform), with the train in the end only being a few minutes late, the ferry did not wait, which was quite incredible. The later ferry was cancelled for unrelated reasons and then the one after that was diverted to Gourock, so we all had to go by coach up the coast to meet it, which meant an even longer journey to Arran; my very early travel schedule in order to reach the house on Arran with half a productive day still in hand was hosed. At such times it's easy to understand why passengers can get angry with terminal staff, though of course it's not their fault, it was the Captain's decision to leave, the really dumb part being these ferries are more than capable of making up time if they leave late because normally the engines are actually run quite slow, otherwise they'd reach the island too fast (the transit times are defined by matching the bus timetables, not by how fast the ferry could actually cross 16 miles of water). Scotland of course is mired in scandal about its ferry services because of the total fiasco concerning the construction of new vessels which has gone massively over budget and been delayed again and again, due to major mismanagement by the Scottish govt. I miss the island dearly, but I do not miss the ferry journies; all too often one had to alight via the car deck, which meant a difficult climb and descent of some very steep steps. Never mind the vessels breaking down frequently, often the gantries were not working properly either. I also notice for some reason ferries are cancelled due to far less severe weather conditions than would have been cause for cancellation many years ago, even though modern vessels have stabilisers. Back in the 80s, the old Clansman would sail more or less upside down in bad weather if it had to. :D Locals knew the routine, head to the centre-line seats in the bar or lounge, for minimal roll effect; tourists would rush to the window seats, wherein not many minutes after departing they'd be running for the side deck to barf over the side. :D Now though it doesn't take much in the way of wind speed and sailings are cancelled. And as you say, island residents depend on these services to survive, inparticular the import of vital provisions now that in so many areas local industries are largely gone. Arran is a typical example, it depends heavily on tourism, yet a bizarre set of policy choices have made life rather difficult for locals, especially during the summer, ie. passenger ticket prices were greatly reduced some years ago, likewise for cars, which sounds good because it means more tourists, but there was no related plan at all to increase resource provision on the island to cope with increased visitor numbers, while at the same time the local council closed all the island's public toilets (some reopened after being taken over by local volunteer groups or newly formed charities, the loo in Sannox being of particular note, an elderly lady in her 90s walks there every day to empty the honesty box). The higher tourist numbers mean there is great strain on the island's small number of supermarkets and other stores, basics often run out, which of course encourages locals to visit the Asda on the mainland instead for larger and cheaper resupply, negating the income gain from more tourists at the main Coop in Brodick. Higher demand has also raised pricing for B&Bs, hotels, restaurants, house prices, etc., so now young couples can't afford to buy a home there. It's made it difficult to encourage future generations of trades people to remain on the island, or bring in such persons from the mainland; shrinking numbers of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc. means higher prices, longer wait times, etc. I dealt with these issues by teaching myself what I needed to know, including tree felling, fence building, dry stone wall construction, masonry, all sorts of DIY, etc., only resorting to professionals when it was necessary, such as certain electrical work or essential regular oil heating system maintenance. However, a guy I met who was restoring a cottage in Whiting Bay told me he had to wait 13 months to get a boiler installed. It depends on the task. I'm sure these issues plague many of the islands around Scotland, and perhaps in equivalent form beyond British shores. I could cite many more examples of how things have been allowed to degrade, mostly via bad decision making. I don't think it's so much an issue of funding, more just bad policies, eg. Arran desparately needs a new residential care home (has done for years), especially after the island's only private home recently closed, yet even a decade after the council's own report laid out the need for such provision there are still no plans to build anything. It means the elderly who cannot live at home anymore are far more likely to have to move to a care home on the mainland, cutting them off from those they know and making it much harder for loved ones to visit them, especially in winter; such a change has a direct health impact, they would live longer and be more likely to recover if they could remain on the island. One final example, and I doubt Arran is unique in this. After someone has had a stay in hospital, normally they should be able to benefit from convalescent care back at their home, but on Arran this is not available at all because the required staff are not available (even though already some care at home staff come over from the mainland each day, or reside in the council care home at times, taking up valuable rooms). In the past this meant making use of the private care home in Whiting Bay (if there was a room available), but that no longer exists. Instead, someone in need of such care now would more likely have to move to a mainland care home (the council home in Brodick is almost always full). I mention this because island life can seem very appealing, for numerous sound reasons, but there are definitely caveats, especially with regard to the nature and scope of social service provision. Health related actions can be slow, so sometimes it's best just to go private if possible, eg. live-in carers provided by mainland companies. The big plus of course is the more close knit social life, on Arran while out walking it would be regarded as weird if a passing stranger did not say hello, or even pause for a brief chat, whereas a city is place where one can be surrounded by a million people and yet still be completely alone. Getting to know locals who run the shops, the bus drivers, trades people, neighbours, etc. is a big bonus of island life, and most tourists are generally decently upstanding aswell, as I discovered when I held a 9-day yard sale last August, that was quite the experience. Sorry for the broad segway, but your mentioning the impact of ferry problems for locals prompted me to pen a few words in more depth about these issues. I don't know the other islands up the west coast at all so I don't know to what extent similar issues exist elsewhere, but I would be surprised if they have little in common with Arran. For all that though, I'd still prefer to live there or on some other western isle if it were viable, which it sadly isn't atm for various reasons.
@@mapesdhs597 I read your response and completely agree. Even though I don’t have the same needs and requirements for ferry service, I recently needed these services and was shocked how much worse things are than when I last used them. My recent experience was in Washington State, in the San Juan Islands. As it had been a while, and we had a pretty long drive to the terminal, I downloaded the text alert system about a month before. Daily there were multiple alerts of cancellations and rerouting. I consider myself lucky we both got on and off the island okay. The folks a week later were not so lucky. ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND they canceled all incoming and outgoing ferries for the last day and a half of the holiday, leaving outgoing passengers sleeping in their cars and no resupply of the stores that were decimated by all those holiday tourists.
@@peterfitzpatrick7032 There's always CTRL+P, hehe. ;D Hmm, I did write quite a lot (reread it all just now, blimey, and still two typos I somehow missed, grr!), but I often do that, get into a groove, and I type fast. I guess for me the topic touched a nerve because, beyond mere inconvenience when things go wrong, I've seen these issues be severely socially disruptive (as Erin describes above with the holiday weekend cancellations) but also potentially cost lives, or at least shorten them. There's one other angle I didn't mention because I can't verify it: a taxi driver on Arran (one of those days when a delayed ferry had no bus connection) told me that to some extent the ferry services becoming more unreliable was a deliberate regional govt policy in order to disuade people from visiting the islands, because there was a belief this was a better eco tactic (I did ask him for evidence and indeed he provided some info which I won't repeat here). So on the one hand ticket prices are lowered to make island travel initially easier, but on the other they close the toilets and do other dumb things which can make the visiting experience miserable. Would a visiting family go again if they have a rotten time? Would they recommend the island to friends? Leave a +ve review on travel sites? Probably not. Disruptions were bad enough for me, I dread to think what it must be like on a busy summer day for a couple with children to manage. Ordinarily I would be most sceptical of such claims, but personal experience talking one time to a local council member (who just assumed I would agree with her) about the nature of potential demographic change on the island proved that those in power absolutely do believe they have the right to impose disruptive policies if they think it will benefit their ideological goals, though whether such things are sanctioned by the party they represent is another matter, could just be individuals acting of their own accord. Either way, if true, it's another layer of potential rot that's going on behind the scenes (or was), and it would help explain why the ferry renewal programme keeps being delayed, ie. those in power don't like the natural political leanings that tend to be the norm among island communities. There have always been tensions between urban mainland populations and those on the islands, though the causes vary. Some years ago the regional council moved a whole bunch of people from a Glasgow housing estate to the island; unsurprisingly those of such urban nature were of a different character to the locals, but more importantly it resulted in drugs becoming a problem at the island high school for the first time ever, ie. the council brought teenage drug use to the island (there was no such thing when I attended the school in the 80s).
Excellent video Andrew, perhaps you could persuade someone to lend you a big twin axle to do the same trip. That would then show the two extremes for the same journey and then one would speculate that an average caravanners experience would be somewhere near the middle between the two.
Very useful and interesting video, with lots of useful and relevant data. As for the desperately neglected Stirling hub - what a sad and heartbreaking sight. Why did they bother? Thanks so much!
Andrew another great video , great to have to costing included . hopefully in years to come these green cars will be able to do more miles . but with the range at the moment i think it would stress me out 🥵
Last year i went from Dover to Isle of Sky Portree with large caravan and family of 4 during 2 days. Range rover eith 3.5 tonnes caravan, engine is diesel and hydrogen and average wad 38 mpg.
How on earth is any of this enjoyable ? Imagine you have your annual 2 week holiday, most of that would be spent planning so many stops and hitching and unhitching your caravan...
I'm about to tow my caravan to Cornwall behind my BMW i4. Yes, I am planning like mad, to make sure there are chargers within range. Yes, it's a pain, BUT, it's only for 2 days out of the whole year. For the other 363 days, I can charge at home, and owning the EV is brilliant. So I will suffer the poor charging network, and just clock the extra journiey time as part of the holiday. No rush. Yes, there is un-hitching etc to deal with, but as long as you tell yourself it has to be done, then you just get on with it. We used to stop twice with the diesel, as it only had a 50 litre tank, and I only have a 2 to 3 hour bladder, so with the EV, we will be stopping 3 times instead. It will maybe add 2 hours to our 6 hour journey, but I don't mind.
@@El-Tel63-Terry. Like I've said before though, the inconvenience of the long trip is only for 2 days out of the whole year for us. For the other 363 days, it's a dream, charging from home.
Evening Andrew, Oh my, Dougal & Ted are just adorable together, I’ve watched you’re EV journey from day one , and at first I was convinced it was a great way to go, but the amount of extra hassle involved in uncoupling the caravan and then worrying about security etc while you are away from it really don’t inspire me to follow you into this line of caravanning just yet , plus the range just doesn’t come close to a Diesel 4x4 tow car per fill up , I think the simple truth is , being able to pull in , fill the tank , possibly change drivers and carry on the journey all in 5 mins , really does negate any EV savings, I’ll genuinely get excited about EV if it ever gets close to a normal M-Way stop 👍🇮🇲
That’s what Scottish people get for voting SNP …. Ferry chaos. No excuse for the shabby chargers as well - buying a Tesla is the only way around that to get access to the supercharger network
@@stevezodiac491 Yep, Twin tank diesel Landcruier in Australia 1400km..or 900 with a 21 foot caravan.. Electric going to be useless apart from a shopping cart.
Good work but does really seem so much hassle towing with an ev to me I couldn’t be bothered with unhitching then charging then back to hitch up the waiting around would drive me mad! Great informative video though
Hari OM Excellent info, as ever, Andrew! As I am looking to take off in The Grey next weekend for an extended trip, it will be interesting to see how I go. I am signed up to Ford Pro with Blue Oval access (primarily BP pulse and Ionity) and also Chargeplace Scotland; I have a 3-pin 240v to Type 2 charge cable arriving this week also... as will be parking up at various folks' homes, overnight boosting that way will be a great help (and it has a meter on it so can pay them appropriately!) The Grey may not be in full fit-out state, but that first big trip will teach me lots and should make the finishing off more focused when I get back to The Hutch... YAM xx
SQUEE! Ooh, how exciting! Will be following your adventures ;)
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Miles instead of Kilometers...oh my!!! I understand that, your target audience is British but... what about the others? Another great video, thank you.
I really wouldnt relish the hassle of removing the caravan, locking it and the risk or leaving it to get charged. This week, i am towing a boat to the coast near Bordeaux. My Megane 1.5 will easily get there on one tank of fuel. Its over 1000 miles. It will be quite hassle free.
I can understand why you think you would be constantly be stressed. I have had an EV for over 3 years and I am rarely stressed even when away from home. I also spend considerably less time at public chargers than I used to spend at filling stations. My most recent longish trip was Midlands to Central London to Gatwick to Kent and back to the Midlands. I charged for ten minutes at Dartford 2 minutes off route!
@@leecromer3289 I used to go to the filling station every week and more than that on long road trips. I go to public chargers only on long trips and go for months without using a public charger.
Really sad to see the state of Stirling Low Carbon Hub. When I saw it in one of your previous videos (towing to Germany), I thought it looked like an incredible facility. Looks almost abandoned now!! What a real shame. Hopefully, they'll make necessary repairs and upgrade some of the chargers to > 100kW ones.
I'm curious about your decision at Gretna. The video implied there are just the ionity chargers, but there are also Gridserve chargers, another at Todhills services or even a few more at Southwaite services on the M6. A simple check on the map would show availability. The first fuel station maybe convenient, but for a few extra miles, it is often possible to find a charger without a queue.
I think a shift in people’s must get here asap mindset is needed. Relax a while. However, do this same journey in November or February when it’s 4 or 5 degrees and persisting it down, id be a lot less chipper. I’m sticking to my ageing 13 year old diesel Kuga for now. But an EV would do most of my towing journeys there and back with no bother.
As much as I love EV's the logistics this journey required were beyond my, admittedly, limited mental faculties! Also, wtf Cal Mac. Also, great vid obvs.
Shame about Stirling, another case of a council showing great initiative, but no follow through and just letting their investment determinate and go to waste. (Not mentioning budgeting holes) 50kwh chargers and a 45 limit is what we had 5 years ago! Technology has moved on since.
Great video as always - shame about the CalMac ferries. You don't get much choice where you are. Regarding the charging, this is my experience as well: very busy chargers most of the day now at the key service stations. EV's are so popular now, they are 17% of new car sales as per SMMT. Fortunately motorway service stations are now quickly ramping up the build, for example there is a new one on the M74 at Welcome Break Abington with 8 CCS chargers. If for any reason you used the A1, at Welcome Break Newark, there are 12 CCS chargers. Both these stations have been added in the last month. Therefore I expect that if you did this trip again in a year, the wait time would reduce further. Unfortunately, few if any of the new stations are drive through - so it will mean backing in and hence the hassle of unhitching the caravan.
Will the infrastructure ever keep up with growing capacity demands, I very much doubt it. We stop every two hours of driving for 15mins to exercise the pets etc. however this stratedgy is of our own making and not governed by a battery meter. Some of the older caravan sites have very dodgy electrics and power outages do occur on cold damp nights, imagine a time when we also charging more EV's at the EHU as well as running the power hungry caravan heating systems etc.
Why are charging points like that at the hub at sterling not being maintained just as their petrol pump counterparts? If electric is the way forward this isn’t very encouraging, it’s very rare to see a petrol pump not working!!
There are some other chargers at Gretna (Apple green branded - who own welcome break). Cost a lot though compared to preferential rates with Tesla or Ionity (if you have them). You’ll not see any more Ionity, Tesla or Gridserve units there because welcome break want to roll out their own apple green units.
As always I have been 100% open and honest to make this video as factual as possible to help people make up their own minds. It is NOT a video about the advantages or disadvantages of towing a caravan with an EV, which you will find elsewhere on this channel. Thanks for your understanding.
I wish you were still doing your Caravan Journo video's you are still the best Caravan Journo on YT, whether I agree or not with all the video's You are still the Best.
Interesting video Andrew. Thanks for taking the time and skill to put this together. I’m very sceptical about the planet saving benefits of EV. Lithium batteries appear to generate significant amounts of CO2 in their production and are very short lived. I’ve just invested in a 1999 newly converted Toyota Grand Hiace that runs off petrol and LPG one of the cleanest and most effective fuels. It’s what many European countries are investing in whilst this country turns its back on it! Madness.
Thank you for the video. This is putting me off EVs as a viable option in the near and medium term. Will be sticking to petrol and diesel cars for at least the next decade until infrastructure catches up
Andrew this just convinces me more that I’ll hang on to my diesel until they prise the key from my cold dead hand!
I did the trip from Bunree to Strathclyde and then onto Staffordshire, I could just about have done it all on one tank but topped up at Tebay as I had to drop off the caravan and then continue to Birmingham. Total stopped time to refill 10min! Taking into account the capital cost of buying an EV being twice what I paid for my top of the range IC car, I’ll not be changing.
The CaMac situation is dire, we had planned to visit Mull this year instead of the Outer Hebrides but with the risk of being stranded with caravan in tow due to short notice cancellation we decided to head to Morvich instead.
I salute your time and effort Andrew for producing these videos but every time you do a long journey with that set up the more inclined I am to hang on to my diesel motor home. A few weeks ago I traveled from Ullapool to South Wales , stopped twice for fuel and one overnight camp site. The technology is some way off to tempt many long distance travellers away from our diesel or petrol guzzlers. Many thanks
Hi Andrew - interesting and informative as always. As an early EV adopter and motorhome owner we did try touring with both driving the vehicles separately. But despite some improvements to the charging infrastructure, like you, we found too many chargers broken, busy or ICE'd; so I am afraid to say we gave up and bought a small petrol car that we now tow - a much better and less stressful experience!
I thought I had seen it all in my six years of EV ownership with chargers but the one requiring you to calculate your power requirement was frankly bizarre!
Andrew, another nice one. For me a little stressful electric cars. I can do 700km on a full tank
Truly fascinating and very informative Andrew! A joy to watch but as others have said you are extremely patient. With a family in tow I think I'd find it very stressful and time consuming! Keep up the great work. We should watch this again in 5 years time to see what has improved or changed for better or worse!
Cheers Richard. As I mentioned, it's 'one hour' better this year than last year, so it's moving in the right direction.
@Andrew Ditton encouraging. I guess it would be a completely different experience in the cold and rain having to unhich to charge etc. We tour all year so a similar report in winter would be appreciated. On the wish list please?
Hi Andrew. I had battery anxiety watching this. I am all for EVs, but I feel that the infrastructure has lagged behind what will be required in a few years' time. I have an electric bike, and I had battery anxiety using that for long journeys. I now have 3 batteries for it and can relax, knowing that I have plenty of power. It's not something that you can do with an EV.
I feel that the government is leaving it for others to sort out instead of investing in it.
Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed.
Wow, what a lot of hassle, caravan off and on for charging and short distances between, you had less trouble with the old pickup truck. Love the way Dougal and Ted have bonded, We got caught up in the ferry shambles as well, but a Calmac big breakfast helps make the journey feel shorter.
Without the cocktail lounge background music, I think I would have found the frustrations of charging too much. Thank God you're young (ish) fit, healthy, traveling alone and organised or this would have been a road trip to Hell ! This is the crucial difference with EV's compared to ICE; you have to have a plan and be prepared for unexpected delays. When solid state batteries are available, we'll be wondering how we tolerated lithium. On a positive note, Dougal looks rejuvenated with his new companion!
Young? You've made my day, thank you :)
@@andrewjditton young- ish ! 😆
But that's just a small caravan, not a family of 4 fully loaded. What a nightmare as such waste of time spent topping up. Well done for highlighting this real problem.
A larger caravan with a family of 4 could have done that with an extra ten or fifteen minutes I would say.
Andrew did a towing comparison between a late single axle and the small one in an earlier video and found the weight made little difference compared with the aerodynamic losses. (I don't know if that was a hilly trip though)
Hi Ian, please check out my previous video towing a larger caravan in filthy weather. Cheers!
Another really informative video, thanks Andrew. I have cancelled the EV6 as the dealership were making all sorts of promises about build slots etc, also promising me monthly updates which I never got and I was dealing with different people each time I went in for an update which appeared to be due to staff turnover. I was starting to get slightly nervous about the charging network reliability which your video confirms some of my fears. In addition speaking with EV owners in East Cornwall, who are always willing to chat when waiting for vehicles to charge, the few chargers available are often not working and seldom charge anywhere near the capacity advised. I have now ordered a Tesla Model Y which I have delayed collection until mid July as we are away in the motorhome. The main reason for this is the charging network. We travel to east Cornwall around once per month and we can stop at Exeter Services or Dart Farm where we have a choice of 28 well maintained supper chargers over both sites along with a further 6 in Lifton if the Exeter ones are full. I still like the EV6 and don't rule out the possibility of having one in the future if the charging network improves.
Sorry to hear about the EV6, but your fellow Tesla owners who comment rave about the charging network - it sounds to me like you've done the right thing. Enjoy your trip away in the moho and enjoy the Model Y when you get it. All the best.
Very informative video. Has certainly put me of owning an EV for towing. Andrew you are a pioneer in this field and your deeds should not go unnoticed. Keep up the good work.
Really interesting Andrew. You have the patience of a saint. I could not be bothered with what you have to go through to charge your car.
Great video Andrew as always but as a caravanner my self there is no way on earth I would put up with all the faff and messing about like you have on this trip the having to charge alone is enough to put anybody of an EV Keep up the great work with the videos always a pleasure to watch
Hi video really really good
Lifestyle is so appealing
Would love to visit these islands. All the very very best
Another very honest story thank you. I wish other EV social media presenters were as honest as you.
Many thanks!
Hi Andrew- just saw you guys out for a walk as we were packing up from our stay at Killin. We find your videos really useful so it was great to see you. We were too late to say hi so saying hi now 😊👋🏼
Hello back! :)
Hi Andrew! Really enjoyed this one! Shame about the ferries, a lot of money will be lost! I am so looking forward to my trip in July, only 4 weeks away now! We're right in the middle of a humdinger of a thunderstorm, literally right above us, made me jump it was so loud!! Half expected a dog to come scurrying up to me! Your videos are always so full of useful information for people thinking of taking that next step into EV driving! More needs to be done as you say, sooner rather than later by the looks of things! Not sure where you are at the moment but wherever that might be, take care the three of you! Keep making these great videos, we can't get enough of them! Love and hugs xxx 😘🥰🐶🐕
Thanks Anne, not long to wait now for you ;)
Andrew, as always good to see you and the boys. A fascinating video but I do think that you have the patience of a saint. There is a lot of anxiety ensuring that the journey s not held up with road works and accidents and that the chargers are working. I have encountered five hour delays on the M40 as a result of a crash whilst towing. My claim to fame is that I have used the caravan washroom facilities whilst in the middle lane of the M40!! As you freely demonstrated, not all chargers are in working order. However good to see that you had a safe journey. Best regards.
Great video Andrew! We run 2 cars, one a small ev (mini) the other a diesel for towing and commuting.. i couldn't bring myself to leave the caravan unattended at the services ... the odd long journey taking a bit longer i can live with..especially how much cheaper overall running costs are.. also I'd buy one a few years old after depreciation 👍
I can only imagine the frustration of cancelled ferry crossings, seems madness to me with the holiday season upon us, why they’d do that. Very informative and exceptionally well edited video as always. The ending of your videos with the dogs is brilliant. 😊
You just convinced me not to buy a EV.
You must be the most patient man 😊
It's really good to see someone actually towing with an EV, proving it is possible and that caravans do have a future.
But the "2.5 hours longer" is not quite representative, as with a ICE car that journey would probably only have take one overnight stop.
2.5 hours travelling is maybe 100-120 miles extra an ICE could have covered, 25% of the total distance.
We often cover 300 miles in a day towing, range on a tank is 400ish miles, so the EV is only covering 66% of the distance per day.
In terms of costs you have to then factor in an extra night's stay.
Now I understand "don't rush to get there", but sometimes you want to cover distances.
Dealing with a couple of humdingers there, Cal Mac and Stirling Council.
You have my sympathy
What no one seems to test on EV range is how it works with a family. All road tests seem to be a single adult who doesn't have all the stuff a family will carry (including children), and how that will impact on range.
The extra weight with more passengers and luggage will make a modest difference as that only impacts rolling resistance and not aerodynamics.
I'm guessing you missed my video from a few weeks back towing a caravan that was 500kg heavier and assessing its impact? Please check it out. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Autocar did a long term test in an e-niro in 2019. Covered family trips away and full car of 5 plus camping equipment.
Fortunately ecotricity has been kicked out so the charging experience is much better now...but still recovering from their poor management.
Thankyou very much for the video! One charge station I have 'scouted' is the Fastned one just outside Glasgow 1 of the 8 chargers is a drive through one.
Wait, what!? I shall seek that one out, thanks for the info!
@@andrewjditton it's technically an end space, but you can definitely drive through it, unlike the other spaces which are separated by a curb.
Don't know how you do this, Andrew, but your videos always makes the viewer feel like they've come along for the ride with you - it's very relaxing. Must say your Xplore looks very smart and comfortable, too!
Glad you enjoy it Mr Le Cap. If you think about it, there are two styles: The 'Look at Me' style where it's all about the presenter looking at something, and the 'Look at This' style, which immerses the viewer into the experience. I make my videos in the latter style - it's all about the experience, it's not about me ;) Thanks for watching, Andrew.
I have to be honest but it is likely that I shall use petrol for the rest of my life. Living in a an apartment on the 2nd floor means that home charging is not an option. Charging an EV on the go seems about as stress free as running from a pack of feral dogs. Also I just wont be able to buy one of those expensive modern computers with wheels attached to them. I am awfully sorry Earth, you will simply have to take that 0.000000(add some more)0000000000001 percent global warming that I manage to contribute.
Very interesting and informative
Glad it was helpful!
I can't understand your calculations. I came up from Teesside to Bunree ( about 300 miles) in a diesel in one day and no refueling. So if I were to travel 500 miles, that would mean one overnight stop on the journey, if I decided to stop, apart from refuelling, not 2 like you did. Therefore your extra journey time over a diesel is at least 2 1/2 hours plus the extra overnight stop. Also all that coupling, securing, charging, unsecuring, recouping, chargers not working or in use, iced charging bays etc. on arrival equals stress, stress, stress. I completed my 300 mile journey at 29 mpg and 44 mph average doing 50 mph where I could and had a quarter of a tank left when I arrived on camp after circa 7 hours with just toilet stops. No stress, no refuelling at all. I wouldn't dream of taking my other electric car on a long journey, caravan in tow ( if it could, which it can't ) or not. My over 7 years EV experience has taught me that it is just not worth it, even with a bigger batteried more modern EV like yours, which would take more time to fill with electricity incidently but less often obviously but nowhere near the range that my diesel has.
One thing you were correct about is the A82 past Loch lomond. We went the Stirling route as well and will be returning that way tomorrow.
Modern EVs often charge more capacity faster than older, slower charging EVs with smaller batteries
@@muteposting most rapid charging stations, even now are 50 kw units, charging at the same rate as my car, big or small battery, old or new cars. It also does not alter the fact that he made one more overnight stop than I would need to do in my diesel car.
@@stevezodiac491 no sure what chargers you are using but if I’m not charging at home I’ve never used one under 75kw, and most are 150kw+ when en-route…
@@muteposting come up north, never mind 50 kw, a lot of areas are EV deserts like East Yorkshire etc. Scotland is much the same. No tesla north of Inverness either. At home I charge on Octopus go at 9.5 p per kwhr now between 00.30 and 04.30. The EV is ok tethered to it's home charger range, a nightmare on any long run, which I don't do anymore. Not worth the stress.
@@stevezodiac491 I live in the north ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I towed from Preston to Farnborough and back at end of April and we’ve done two trips to Snowdonia this month
Even though you make it look like a relaxing thing to charge your car, i can only guess that it is in fact not. What a looong trip, and the wobbly start with the ferries - heavens! Watching you doing „normal“ travel stuff with a caravan is always a pleasure😊 cheerio to all three of you
From what I can see EV touring equals faff! Not a practical option yet for us yet but thank you so much for the factual vid of the experience.
Although I don't currently have an electric car - it was very interesting for the future, which I hope can only get much better.
p.s. I’ve just been in Pembrokeshire (Wales) and was very impressed with how many charging points there were wherever I went. Even the car park at the beach had charging points, plus there were several just outside the docks for the ferry at Fishguard. Well done Wales.
Thanks for another well produced an informative video, Andrew.
I admire the way you dealt with the various issues along the way.
I remain open-minded about EVs, but I do wonder how or whether the number of charging stations will scale to match any future wholesale growth in EV ownership, for those EV owners who need to charge away from home.
If it takes approximately a 5 minute stop to fill up on petrol or diesel using pay at the pump, but it takes approx 30-40 mins at an ultra fast charging point for an EV to obtain a decent charge range, then the number of properly maintained EV charging points needed will be huge. There are big questions here for the future of EV ownership.
Indeed! What you say is correct, although you can do 10-80% in under 20 minutes at an Ultra-Rapid, about the time it takes to go to the loo! Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Excellent video as usual, Andrew!
Reading the comments, I find it quite amazing how the subject of electric cars divides and polarises opinions. The problem is that no technology provides a one-stop solution for all tastes and needs.
Electric motors are far more flexible and have so many advantages over ICE cars for the serenity of the drive, gentleness of pulling away, creeping along without engine noise, clutch use full stop/go cruise without braking. They are the right way to power vehicles. They will be ideal for towing! Creeping in/out of campsites without waking anyone!
As a retired engineer, my own opinion is that most land transport in the foreseeable future will be powered by electric motors. The internal combustion was always a stop gap solution lasting longer than it should have done but what is less certain is what will supply the electricity to power vehicles.
Current batteries are not the longterm answer but future energy storage technologies will be developed over time.
Current EVs are the first waypoint on the roadmap to the ideal electrically powered cars and there is a market for them NOW, especially for those buyers who don't have long-range needs and will most likely charge cheaply at home and rarely use public chargers.
Another market is those people who are approaching a certain age, like me, who want to experience a piece of this future before they're too old to see it come to fruition. Now, if I was in my 30s or 40s I probably wouldn't be able to afford what I can now and I certainly wouldn't be buying an EV until prices have dropped and better range was supported up by easily replenishable power Technologies.
So here I am with an eight year old Peugeot estate which I've had since new and wanting a piece of the future and hopefully 10 years of enjoyable life health permitting.
Which is why I'm watching Andrews blog on EV caravaning so my wife and I can do similar and from what I've seen, provides a relaxing slow way of life that I can easily cope with.
A bit of touring: less than 200 miles a day. Sounds great! I'll probably give it a year to see what cars materialise on the market before buying!
Very interesting, thank you. Made me miss having a touring caravan, although staying in hotels is definitely simpler! Very sad to see that charging hub not being maintained and updated. It could be a flagship facility.
100% Ali! Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Another insightful video
Andrew, a very interesting Vlog but I have to confess I would be stressed out with all the hassle you had unhitching etc. I will keep my 2005 diesel vehicle.
When the EVs become mega popular the fuel companies will drop the prices of fuel and make the EV unvirable and with increasing electricity prices the EV will be dead , and if they have faulty EV charging stations every where their off to a bad start already , i recon the hybrids will be the future its a no brainer
I haven't bought one but I've tried 2: the ev6 and polestar 2. They knock the pants off any ice car for driving pleasure. I have to have one before I get too old! They are nearly there!
@@grantrandall1674 driving fast is cool and the excelartion is fun but not 4 ya licence tho if ya need the licence for ya job 😉
I didn't mean just for pure speed. I meant for the serenity of the drive, gentleness of pulling away, creeping along without engine noise, clutch use (including automatics clutch) full stop/go cruise without braking
@@grantrandall1674 one day I'll take one out 4 a spin and feel the pleasure 😀
Strewth what a faff to get from A to B.
My daily right now is a Genesis GV60.
No towing bar.
And better this way, too less mileage for the size of the battery.
The hydrogen Nexo I'm normally using these days would be the easier way, filling up is not more time consuming than with a internal combustion engine.
Last week i had a trip from Oxford back to Germany, a full size SUV, BMW X5 xDrive50e.
Impressive. Excellent assistence, no emissions where you don't want any, enourmous amount of power, comfy and quiet. Ok, carzy expensive and much too much car for just one person.
But nearly 500miles without needing fuel in such a big car.
Your video?
I like them more and more.
Well produced, with a good mix of information, opinion and best of all: Your love of the two gangsters! :)
Another interesting and factually informative video. I really like the slick and professional production of your videos as much as the informal presentation. The Caravan Club and others need to adopt a more proactive approach to charging onsite. Really interesting to see the cost comparison for the journey too.
You have the patience of a saint! I get stressed enough just putting diesel into the camper van...
Dougal and Ted!!! Ohh and Andrew! Great vlog! Big hugs from Susie, Benny and Pepsi @Wagtail Country Park at the moment!😊
Fantastic video Andrew telling it how it is not a chance I would entertain an electric car, best regards
Agreed! Volvo say it takes 9 years for their EVs to show environmental benefits. And look at the infrastructure - it’s madness!
@@Perthshire According to some independant studies, it's less than 20k miles, which is less than 2 years.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting as I live in the Highlands. I wish you well but I will stick with my Isuzu D'max with it's 520 mile range and fantastic average 35 mpg including towing . And off roading. On a long run it does considerably more , but living in the steep mountains we don't get chance to be on nice duel carriageways very often. Then there's the deep winter snow for 6 months of the year. I couldn't wait to partially charge an EV for such a long time. Local chargers here are few and far between . By the time I've charged and got home , especially in the winter months , it would be time to go back and charge again. We can't have a home charger in our remote area as the infrastructure was never designed to take it. Image if everyone in our lane ( 15 miles long but only a small amount of dwellings) had the oven on etc and then plug the EV in. Boom ! The ancient overhead cables on telegraph poles and transformers would go into melt down. Let's just see what the future brings ! Probably a Hydrogen Hi-Lux for us although we love the D'max !
Excellent and informative as always. Not too much extra time really over a ICE vehicle. Unless I needed to stop elsewhere, personally I would have driven directly to Commons Wood from Strathclyde without stopping, once to refuel (towing) for the entire journey. I love EV's, but the infrastructure is pants.
16 bay Tesla site planned for Gretna Caledonia park. Hopefully they'll be open to all as they still have the regular Gretna one at the services just up the road.
Another very informative video Andrew. Thank you. We'll be keeping the Ssangyong Rexton you reviewed. Can't find anything to compete, for what we need. Isn't Ted coming on, but I reckon Dougal thinks he's a bit above all that! Love them both though. 🥰
Imagine if you come across roadworks or an accident that means you have to take a lengthy diversion. And, as you divert, you watch your battery depleting with nowhere to top-up. If I can do 400 miles in a Santa Fe, I don't NEED to top up on diesel. So less "fuel worry".
Just catching up on some of your vlogs. I flip flop so much on getting an electric tow car: oh btw, our Xplore 304 is no more. We loved it but decided to make a change…
I enjoyed this video as always. An honest portrayal of your trip and wonderful scenery. I recently towed our caravan to Pembrokeshire and back for a week holiday with an EV. I didn't find dropping the caravan to be time consuming (I didn't worry about security after the first drop - didn't seem necessary although no doubt insurance would have been the issue). Charging was quick at Gridserve high power chargers - quicker than we spent time to eat and walk the dog. We charged the car at the campsite through the caravan and were topping up to 100% by day 3 over a 5 day stay - with lots of local exploring during the day. The biggest obstacle was having to get from the caravan area at Service stations back to the EV chargers against the one-way system. In France, Belgium, Germany I've seen that they tend to have the EV chargers at the back of the service stations near the lorry and caravan parking which must be better. I was impressed with your 120 ish mile trip on the last leg with 24% remaining - that level of range is going to give confidence in these longer legs. Great to see Dougal and Ted enjoying the trip.
Cheers Andrew. I tend to review potential stops on Google Earth before travelling to check for those pesky one-way systems. As I had with Petrol Stations in years past, I also have my favourite charging stops. I think Leeds Skelton Lake is my favourite at the mo. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Interesting charging decisions.
On a longer journey i tend to worry about location rather than cost.
You had enough charge to get to strathclyde. I would have parked the van there and driven 3.5 miles to fastned hamilton, (one pull through) done some shopping at asda or lidl. Also at gretna there are applegreen chargers with plenty of chargers rather than waiting at ionity
Great vid Andrew. May I just say that 2.4 m/kWh is amazing towing a caravan. I took my Elddis AVante out at the weekend, behind my BMW i4, for a test run of 50 miles, along the A50 betwen Stoke and Derby. I did 60mph all the way, there and back, and only averaged 1.7 m/kWh. The Caravan weighs 1460kg fully laden.
I can only dream of getting over 2 m/kWh. So my range is around 120 miles, between 100% and 10%, and only 90 miles between 80% and 10%.
Hi Nick, you'll see I only got 1.6 mi/kWh when at a constant 60mph. I find keeping it nearer 55 on motorways and not overtaking every lorry makes a huge difference, as does using 2 way A roads which is where I got the 2.4 kWh. At the moment (solo) I'm pootling about on A & B roads and getting 5 kWh.
@@andrewjditton Wowsers, that's very good. I don't know if I could stand a 300 mile trip at 55 mph. I find that I feel safer when I'm overtaking the lorries at 4mph differential, rather than them overtaking me at a 1mph differential. To each, their own though. 👍
A tip for the chargers at Stirling (both Forthview in town and at the Castleview hub which are my local chargers when I cannot fill up from sunbeams at home) - the 90 minutes return to charger mentioned on the notices means not to return to the same unit not to the whole hub so if you need more than 40 minutes worth of charge if the next door 50kW unit is vacant move onto it and start a new 40 minute session on a different unit……….. also you get 10 minutes grace on the 40 minutes if you really want to stretch it to a 50 minute charge…….. there is also a Gridserve unit at J9 services near Bannockburn
Really enjoyed that, you can really see how as EVs become more popular the infrastructure is causing issues. Thanks as always.
I did that route 2 weeks ago and for the same reasons! We also made an unscheduled stop at Mull, because overcrowding on the quayside.
There should be a check in option in apps at chargers especially where only a few chargers so you could see how many in queue before you diverted there.
YES!!!
Campsite charging needs to become the norm.
We are tent campers and bought our first EV in March this year. A couple of weekends back we were camping and as we do, we don't have an electric pitch. I asked the site if I could plug the car in and pay for juice on a hookup pitch on our last evening as the place was almost empty. The site owner agreed and just charged me his kWh rate I paid 30 pence per kWh.
I have a charger with a ceeform plug (the blue plug that caravanners use for hookup) and set it to 10 amps, the bollard rating, and all was well. Plugged in at 6pm and by breakfast time I had a car with 100% battery ready to go. We had taken about 30kWh of charge in our ID.3.
Wherever we plan to go now I shall call in advance to see if they will do me a similar deal.
Great to hear Michael. I think a lot of operators are unaware of the ability to program the draw of such a plug. If they were, I'm sure a lot more would be happy to let people plug into unused bollards. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Funnily enough I’m off to a site near York this weekend end, they expressly forbid parking EVs with your van and state that charging your car is not allowed, good job I’ve still got a good old ICE…
Another great video Andrew. This is what it is really like! The infrastructure is at a point where it is doable (obviously) but still takes longer. I think there is soon to be a glut of bigger EVs with bigger batteries which will give you a range of 400 miles / 200 towing which all helps. Improvements in charging facilities and more sites providing at least 7kW chargers (ie enough to fill battery every night) will be a game changer. Starting at 100% with a 200 mile range every day would be great.
Absolutely! Thanks for watching.
Looking forward to the tax they have planned for EV’s in 2025?
Thanks again. Just readying to make the leap from Inversneckie to Portsmouth, towing. Brittany Ferries here I come.
Bon voyage!
Getting there but not there yet is a good summing up. Interestingly we have just completed a trip from North East Scotland to North Norfolk stopping at both Gretna and Wetherby but stopping because we wanted to rather than having to. More about a loo stop and refreshments than having to top up the car. Please continue making these extremely interesting EV car videos as it will be great to compare how the network improves or otherwise helping people like myself make an informed choice about an EV purchase in the future. Didn't Stirling look a sad place!
Many thanks Richard.
This video is really helpful. I will never buy an EV or a caravan. I recently drove from London to South Uist in a petrol car and did it in 15 hours and two tanks of fuel, about £90. EVs are a complete waste of time.
Correct about EV's, I own one and it has been a nightmare over the over 7 years I have owned it !
2 and a half days to get from Scotland to outside of North London is a crazy long time, In March 22 I drove from London to the Cairngorms in 10 and a half hours driving and below Highway Speeds, But with a Caravan you are speed Limited to 60mph so it does have a major impact on travel times, Being able to pull in to a camp site with a caravan on long trips is a much better way of doing things, WTG Andrew.
Fascinating. Very informative. I love the EV6 as a piece of kit, but however positively you try to look at it, I think EVs and the infrastructure that they need, are not practical and never will be, for the type of touring most of us want to do, and continue to want to do. Sad times ahead for the caravan industry I think.
Good honest warts and all review. Harry's garage did an EV charging system infrastructure review, Tesla charging vs 'all the others' .....he found 'all the others' a shambles of different credit card systems, broken chargers, no availability etc etc .....just like you experienced. The Tesla network was a completely different set up, consistent, most working , fast charging as standard and of course Tesla will pre book you're time slot ahead for you if you use the sat nav system......needless to say he said the only electric car he would live with was the Tesla purely because of the charging infrastructure. I'll stick to towing with my diesel Shogun, after all it's more green than replacing it with 'new' as it's carbon footprint has already been 'paid for' and it'll see me out !!
Yes, Tesla is streets ahead on infrastructure.
Excellent video, really well made. I do think the bubble for EVs has burst, ev sales are less and charging stations either don’t work, lack of maintenance or like the one shown here, won’t be long before derelict. If it was me doing the same trip it would have probably cost about £130-140 instead of £120 (diesel power) so me personally I’ll pay more using diesel without the charge delays or limited charging facilities.
Yes, absolutely. I can travel 1400 kilometres in my twin tank diesel Landcruier in Australia. Electric for shopping "maybe" but not for the distances we are used to.
The latest figures from the SMMT don't seem to show any bubbles bursting ;) But yes, charger maintenance needs improving.
@@andrewjditton Used values dropping more than ICE in % terms though. Also friends who bought as company tax efficient buys are dumping them just not useable enough (range ) and costs rising.
Petrol bubble has also burst. Petrol stations everywhere are closing or turning into shops. Popular spots like the Peak District or the Lake District were a black hole for petrol stations 5 years ago. Can't imagine it has got any better.
@@watcher24601 have noticed a lot of smaller independent ones closed but iv put it down too increase in supermarkets who come along in places like Lake District and add petrol station on there site, undercutting the normally more expensive independent one. There is one independent near me there always a good 10-15p more per litre on both fuels no wonder they close.
Well done Andrew. A dose of reality for me. 2 miles per kWh. I can see the charging structure going the same way a mobile phone service, do the population centres and screw everywhere else. Shame on Stirling Council for letting that facility go to waste. How can people have confidence in changing to EV’s when you see things like that. If I used a caravan I’d be sticking to an ICE. Sorry but I cannot justify the price premium of EV’s
Wetherby is always manic.
One thing that is concerning for me is the seemingly global issue of the lessening of ferry services. So many cancellations and route adjustments. I understand that the bulk of folks using ferries in some places are tourists (tourist monies are important!), but they also forget about the actual residents that need ferry service to live a regular life.
It's been pretty shocking recently Erin. :(
I recently spent almost two years on Arran (concluding Sep/2022) dealing with my late parents' house in Sannox (Andrew, in one of your older videos you went right past the house, it's how I found your channel); the ferry services there are a complete mess, but not just in terms of vessel cancellations. A lot of money was spent on a new terminal building which ended up being badly designed (or implemented, depending on opinions, eg. large flights of stairs instead of escalators, just one tiny lift), along with a very long elevated transfer tunnel to get on & off the ferry which has tripled the time taken to do so, making it harder to reach the buses in time, while of course being a complete pain for the elderly, infirm, those with a lot of luggage, families, etc. The new setup also completely separates out those arriving from those departing, so it's not possible anymore to have any social interaction with passers by, eg. when one recognises a neighbour or somesuch. The design of the terminal also meant the ferry has to do a complete 180 as it enters Brodick bay in order to dock, a slow process, making delays more likely and increasing the risk of shore or pier collision, aswell as making the process more vulnerable to onshore wind effects.
So it's not just the ferries themselves that have been messed up; aspects of infrastructure and just the way the systems are operated have become annoying. I became a regular sight for the crew when I travelled because, barring unforseen events, I was always the first in the queue to get on and likewise to get off, because that meant for the former I could secure the seat I preferred in the bar lounge (by a hidden power socket), while for the latter it minimised the chances of missing the northbound bus if there was any delay, and increased the chance of obtaining a decent seat on the bus (extremely busy during the summer). If the ferry is late, the buses may or may not wait, and even if they do there's no hard set time limit, it seems to vary, made worse by the fact that in the summer there are buses for the north island only for every other ferry, halving the number of viable sailings to/from the island if one requires bus transport in said direction, so missing a bus can mean a multi-hour delay (or an expensive taxi).
One of the worst foulups occured when an incident at Ardrossan South Beach (just one stop from the ferry terminal) held up the train at the road crossing. Despite the driver having communication with whoever (I could see him using the phone unit on the station platform), with the train in the end only being a few minutes late, the ferry did not wait, which was quite incredible. The later ferry was cancelled for unrelated reasons and then the one after that was diverted to Gourock, so we all had to go by coach up the coast to meet it, which meant an even longer journey to Arran; my very early travel schedule in order to reach the house on Arran with half a productive day still in hand was hosed. At such times it's easy to understand why passengers can get angry with terminal staff, though of course it's not their fault, it was the Captain's decision to leave, the really dumb part being these ferries are more than capable of making up time if they leave late because normally the engines are actually run quite slow, otherwise they'd reach the island too fast (the transit times are defined by matching the bus timetables, not by how fast the ferry could actually cross 16 miles of water).
Scotland of course is mired in scandal about its ferry services because of the total fiasco concerning the construction of new vessels which has gone massively over budget and been delayed again and again, due to major mismanagement by the Scottish govt. I miss the island dearly, but I do not miss the ferry journies; all too often one had to alight via the car deck, which meant a difficult climb and descent of some very steep steps. Never mind the vessels breaking down frequently, often the gantries were not working properly either. I also notice for some reason ferries are cancelled due to far less severe weather conditions than would have been cause for cancellation many years ago, even though modern vessels have stabilisers. Back in the 80s, the old Clansman would sail more or less upside down in bad weather if it had to. :D Locals knew the routine, head to the centre-line seats in the bar or lounge, for minimal roll effect; tourists would rush to the window seats, wherein not many minutes after departing they'd be running for the side deck to barf over the side. :D Now though it doesn't take much in the way of wind speed and sailings are cancelled.
And as you say, island residents depend on these services to survive, inparticular the import of vital provisions now that in so many areas local industries are largely gone. Arran is a typical example, it depends heavily on tourism, yet a bizarre set of policy choices have made life rather difficult for locals, especially during the summer, ie. passenger ticket prices were greatly reduced some years ago, likewise for cars, which sounds good because it means more tourists, but there was no related plan at all to increase resource provision on the island to cope with increased visitor numbers, while at the same time the local council closed all the island's public toilets (some reopened after being taken over by local volunteer groups or newly formed charities, the loo in Sannox being of particular note, an elderly lady in her 90s walks there every day to empty the honesty box).
The higher tourist numbers mean there is great strain on the island's small number of supermarkets and other stores, basics often run out, which of course encourages locals to visit the Asda on the mainland instead for larger and cheaper resupply, negating the income gain from more tourists at the main Coop in Brodick. Higher demand has also raised pricing for B&Bs, hotels, restaurants, house prices, etc., so now young couples can't afford to buy a home there. It's made it difficult to encourage future generations of trades people to remain on the island, or bring in such persons from the mainland; shrinking numbers of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc. means higher prices, longer wait times, etc. I dealt with these issues by teaching myself what I needed to know, including tree felling, fence building, dry stone wall construction, masonry, all sorts of DIY, etc., only resorting to professionals when it was necessary, such as certain electrical work or essential regular oil heating system maintenance. However, a guy I met who was restoring a cottage in Whiting Bay told me he had to wait 13 months to get a boiler installed. It depends on the task.
I'm sure these issues plague many of the islands around Scotland, and perhaps in equivalent form beyond British shores. I could cite many more examples of how things have been allowed to degrade, mostly via bad decision making. I don't think it's so much an issue of funding, more just bad policies, eg. Arran desparately needs a new residential care home (has done for years), especially after the island's only private home recently closed, yet even a decade after the council's own report laid out the need for such provision there are still no plans to build anything. It means the elderly who cannot live at home anymore are far more likely to have to move to a care home on the mainland, cutting them off from those they know and making it much harder for loved ones to visit them, especially in winter; such a change has a direct health impact, they would live longer and be more likely to recover if they could remain on the island.
One final example, and I doubt Arran is unique in this. After someone has had a stay in hospital, normally they should be able to benefit from convalescent care back at their home, but on Arran this is not available at all because the required staff are not available (even though already some care at home staff come over from the mainland each day, or reside in the council care home at times, taking up valuable rooms). In the past this meant making use of the private care home in Whiting Bay (if there was a room available), but that no longer exists. Instead, someone in need of such care now would more likely have to move to a mainland care home (the council home in Brodick is almost always full). I mention this because island life can seem very appealing, for numerous sound reasons, but there are definitely caveats, especially with regard to the nature and scope of social service provision. Health related actions can be slow, so sometimes it's best just to go private if possible, eg. live-in carers provided by mainland companies. The big plus of course is the more close knit social life, on Arran while out walking it would be regarded as weird if a passing stranger did not say hello, or even pause for a brief chat, whereas a city is place where one can be surrounded by a million people and yet still be completely alone. Getting to know locals who run the shops, the bus drivers, trades people, neighbours, etc. is a big bonus of island life, and most tourists are generally decently upstanding aswell, as I discovered when I held a 9-day yard sale last August, that was quite the experience.
Sorry for the broad segway, but your mentioning the impact of ferry problems for locals prompted me to pen a few words in more depth about these issues. I don't know the other islands up the west coast at all so I don't know to what extent similar issues exist elsewhere, but I would be surprised if they have little in common with Arran.
For all that though, I'd still prefer to live there or on some other western isle if it were viable, which it sadly isn't atm for various reasons.
@@mapesdhs597 I read your response and completely agree. Even though I don’t have the same needs and requirements for ferry service, I recently needed these services and was shocked how much worse things are than when I last used them.
My recent experience was in Washington State, in the San Juan Islands. As it had been a while, and we had a pretty long drive to the terminal, I downloaded the text alert system about a month before. Daily there were multiple alerts of cancellations and rerouting. I consider myself lucky we both got on and off the island okay. The folks a week later were not so lucky. ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND they canceled all incoming and outgoing ferries for the last day and a half of the holiday, leaving outgoing passengers sleeping in their cars and no resupply of the stores that were decimated by all those holiday tourists.
@@mapesdhs597 Can I get that comment in hardback too ?... 🙄😂
Just pullin yer leg, you make great points.. 😎👍
@@peterfitzpatrick7032 There's always CTRL+P, hehe. ;D Hmm, I did write quite a lot (reread it all just now, blimey, and still two typos I somehow missed, grr!), but I often do that, get into a groove, and I type fast.
I guess for me the topic touched a nerve because, beyond mere inconvenience when things go wrong, I've seen these issues be severely socially disruptive (as Erin describes above with the holiday weekend cancellations) but also potentially cost lives, or at least shorten them.
There's one other angle I didn't mention because I can't verify it: a taxi driver on Arran (one of those days when a delayed ferry had no bus connection) told me that to some extent the ferry services becoming more unreliable was a deliberate regional govt policy in order to disuade people from visiting the islands, because there was a belief this was a better eco tactic (I did ask him for evidence and indeed he provided some info which I won't repeat here). So on the one hand ticket prices are lowered to make island travel initially easier, but on the other they close the toilets and do other dumb things which can make the visiting experience miserable. Would a visiting family go again if they have a rotten time? Would they recommend the island to friends? Leave a +ve review on travel sites? Probably not. Disruptions were bad enough for me, I dread to think what it must be like on a busy summer day for a couple with children to manage.
Ordinarily I would be most sceptical of such claims, but personal experience talking one time to a local council member (who just assumed I would agree with her) about the nature of potential demographic change on the island proved that those in power absolutely do believe they have the right to impose disruptive policies if they think it will benefit their ideological goals, though whether such things are sanctioned by the party they represent is another matter, could just be individuals acting of their own accord. Either way, if true, it's another layer of potential rot that's going on behind the scenes (or was), and it would help explain why the ferry renewal programme keeps being delayed, ie. those in power don't like the natural political leanings that tend to be the norm among island communities. There have always been tensions between urban mainland populations and those on the islands, though the causes vary. Some years ago the regional council moved a whole bunch of people from a Glasgow housing estate to the island; unsurprisingly those of such urban nature were of a different character to the locals, but more importantly it resulted in drugs becoming a problem at the island high school for the first time ever, ie. the council brought teenage drug use to the island (there was no such thing when I attended the school in the 80s).
Excellent video Andrew, perhaps you could persuade someone to lend you a big twin axle to do the same trip. That would then show the two extremes for the same journey and then one would speculate that an average caravanners experience would be somewhere near the middle between the two.
Hi Andy, do please check out my previous video with the Adria Altea Dart, the largest I can tow with my EV6. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Very useful and interesting video, with lots of useful and relevant data. As for the desperately neglected Stirling hub - what a sad and heartbreaking sight. Why did they bother? Thanks so much!
Andrew another great video , great to have to costing included . hopefully in years to come these green cars will be able to do more miles . but with the range at the moment i think it would stress me out 🥵
Last year i went from Dover to Isle of Sky Portree with large caravan and family of 4 during 2 days. Range rover eith 3.5 tonnes caravan, engine is diesel and hydrogen and average wad 38 mpg.
How on earth is any of this enjoyable ? Imagine you have your annual 2 week holiday, most of that would be spent planning so many stops and hitching and unhitching your caravan...
I'm about to tow my caravan to Cornwall behind my BMW i4. Yes, I am planning like mad, to make sure there are chargers within range. Yes, it's a pain, BUT, it's only for 2 days out of the whole year. For the other 363 days, I can charge at home, and owning the EV is brilliant. So I will suffer the poor charging network, and just clock the extra journiey time as part of the holiday. No rush.
Yes, there is un-hitching etc to deal with, but as long as you tell yourself it has to be done, then you just get on with it.
We used to stop twice with the diesel, as it only had a 50 litre tank, and I only have a 2 to 3 hour bladder, so with the EV, we will be stopping 3 times instead. It will maybe add 2 hours to our 6 hour journey, but I don't mind.
@@Nick_Smith1970 Enjoy your holiday. EV are just not for me.
@@El-Tel63-Terry. Like I've said before though, the inconvenience of the long trip is only for 2 days out of the whole year for us. For the other 363 days, it's a dream, charging from home.
Gretna is very busy but at least they are building another new Ionity site at Carlisle.
I've heard that Phil, will keep an eye out for it. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Evening Andrew, Oh my, Dougal & Ted are just adorable together, I’ve watched you’re EV journey from day one , and at first I was convinced it was a great way to go, but the amount of extra hassle involved in uncoupling the caravan and then worrying about security etc while you are away from it really don’t inspire me to follow you into this line of caravanning just yet , plus the range just doesn’t come close to a Diesel 4x4 tow car per fill up , I think the simple truth is , being able to pull in , fill the tank , possibly change drivers and carry on the journey all in 5 mins , really does negate any EV savings, I’ll genuinely get excited about EV if it ever gets close to a normal M-Way stop 👍🇮🇲
That’s what Scottish people get for voting SNP …. Ferry chaos. No excuse for the shabby chargers as well - buying a Tesla is the only way around that to get access to the supercharger network
Buy a diesel, no charging at all needed with a typical 650 mile car only range on most journeys.
@@stevezodiac491 Yep, Twin tank diesel Landcruier in Australia 1400km..or 900 with a 21 foot caravan.. Electric going to be useless apart from a shopping cart.
Good work but does really seem so much hassle towing with an ev to me I couldn’t be bothered with unhitching then charging then back to hitch up the waiting around would drive me mad!
Great informative video though
I was looking at a polestar 2 for towing but so many chargers are broken.
So we are going down the V60 twin engine route in august
Hari OM
Excellent info, as ever, Andrew! As I am looking to take off in The Grey next weekend for an extended trip, it will be interesting to see how I go. I am signed up to Ford Pro with Blue Oval access (primarily BP pulse and Ionity) and also Chargeplace Scotland; I have a 3-pin 240v to Type 2 charge cable arriving this week also... as will be parking up at various folks' homes, overnight boosting that way will be a great help (and it has a meter on it so can pay them appropriately!)
The Grey may not be in full fit-out state, but that first big trip will teach me lots and should make the finishing off more focused when I get back to The Hutch... YAM xx
SQUEE! Ooh, how exciting! Will be following your adventures ;)
Miles instead of Kilometers...oh my!!!
I understand that, your target audience is British but... what about the others?
Another great video, thank you.
I really wouldnt relish the hassle of removing the caravan, locking it and the risk or leaving it to get charged.
This week, i am towing a boat to the coast near Bordeaux. My Megane 1.5 will easily get there on one tank of fuel. Its over 1000 miles. It will be quite hassle free.
Very interesting video. If I had an EV, I’d be constantly stressed out running out of juice. Hopefully, more charging points will be installed.
I can understand why you think you would be constantly be stressed. I have had an EV for over 3 years and I am rarely stressed even when away from home. I also spend considerably less time at public chargers than I used to spend at filling stations. My most recent longish trip was Midlands to Central London to Gatwick to Kent and back to the Midlands. I charged for ten minutes at Dartford 2 minutes off route!
Hi Christopher, do check out Zap Map - you'll be amazed how many thousands of chargers there are everywhere. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
@@SimonEllwoodhow on earth can you spend ‘considerably less time less time at public chargers’ than at filling station? That’s a ridiculous statement…
@@leecromer3289 I used to go to the filling station every week and more than that on long road trips. I go to public chargers only on long trips and go for months without using a public charger.
Really sad to see the state of Stirling Low Carbon Hub. When I saw it in one of your previous videos (towing to Germany), I thought it looked like an incredible facility. Looks almost abandoned now!! What a real shame. Hopefully, they'll make necessary repairs and upgrade some of the chargers to > 100kW ones.
I'm curious about your decision at Gretna. The video implied there are just the ionity chargers, but there are also Gridserve chargers, another at Todhills services or even a few more at Southwaite services on the M6.
A simple check on the map would show availability. The first fuel station maybe convenient, but for a few extra miles, it is often possible to find a charger without a queue.
interesting video ❤❤❤❤❤
Love your video's.
Thank you! :)
I think a shift in people’s must get here asap mindset is needed. Relax a while. However, do this same journey in November or February when it’s 4 or 5 degrees and persisting it down, id be a lot less chipper. I’m sticking to my ageing 13 year old diesel Kuga for now. But an EV would do most of my towing journeys there and back with no bother.
Really enjoyed the video Andrew , but I wouldn't get an ev personally , too much hassle . Keep up the great work though 😊😊.
I have had one for 7 years plus and you are 100 % correct. I aim to buy a new diesel car in December 2029 if the ban goes ahead.
As much as I love EV's the logistics this journey required were beyond my, admittedly, limited mental faculties!
Also, wtf Cal Mac.
Also, great vid obvs.
I must be using a different calculator. My calculation is approx. 5.2 hours difference, but at least it shows it can be done in an B,E,V
Shame about Stirling, another case of a council showing great initiative, but no follow through and just letting their investment determinate and go to waste. (Not mentioning budgeting holes)
50kwh chargers and a 45 limit is what we had 5 years ago! Technology has moved on since.
Great video as always - shame about the CalMac ferries. You don't get much choice where you are. Regarding the charging, this is my experience as well: very busy chargers most of the day now at the key service stations. EV's are so popular now, they are 17% of new car sales as per SMMT. Fortunately motorway service stations are now quickly ramping up the build, for example there is a new one on the M74 at Welcome Break Abington with 8 CCS chargers. If for any reason you used the A1, at Welcome Break Newark, there are 12 CCS chargers. Both these stations have been added in the last month. Therefore I expect that if you did this trip again in a year, the wait time would reduce further. Unfortunately, few if any of the new stations are drive through - so it will mean backing in and hence the hassle of unhitching the caravan.
Very interesting, thanks Alex! Yes, I think once we get to know the 'good' services we tend to plan around them. Thanks for watching, Andrew.
Will the infrastructure ever keep up with growing capacity demands, I very much doubt it. We stop every two hours of driving for 15mins to exercise the pets etc. however this stratedgy is of our own making and not governed by a battery meter.
Some of the older caravan sites have very dodgy electrics and power outages do occur on cold damp nights, imagine a time when we also charging more EV's at the EHU as well as running the power hungry caravan heating systems etc.
Great journey and nice video documentation. You'd think that you should be able to charge the EV while on the 5 1/2 hour ferry crossing.
Not on a 34 year old ship though :-/
Why are charging points like that at the hub at sterling not being maintained just as their petrol pump counterparts? If electric is the way forward this isn’t very encouraging, it’s very rare to see a petrol pump not working!!
There are some other chargers at Gretna (Apple green branded - who own welcome break). Cost a lot though compared to preferential rates with Tesla or Ionity (if you have them). You’ll not see any more Ionity, Tesla or Gridserve units there because welcome break want to roll out their own apple green units.
Interesting! Thanks for that Luke. My preferential Ionity rate expires in 2 weeks... :-/ Thanks for watching, Andrew.