After a year of driving an electric vehicle, I thought I was well-prepared for public charging. However, a recent return trip from Minehead, Somerset to Folkestone, Kent, revealed just how unready the UK is for the promised shift from petrol to electric cars by 2030.
The journey was about 242 miles and should have taken roughly 4.5 hours according to Google Maps—without stops or heavy traffic. My Mercedes EQC, registered in 2020, has a maximum range of 235 miles on a full charge, so we planned a quick top-up at a service station en route.
Electric vehicles are smart and alert you well before needing a recharge. Most also come with apps that show when you can finish your trip without interruption. On the way to Minehead, this system worked flawlessly. We stopped at Amesbury Service Station, where rapid chargers gave us an extra 120 miles in under 30 minutes, costing around £30—a price many EV drivers find reasonable for fast charging.
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Confident from this experience, I expected a similarly smooth return trip—but I was wrong.
Our first stop was Leigh Delamere Service Station on the M4, where nearly every fast charger was occupied. A group of drivers was gathered, discussing a frustrating issue: the chargers were slow, and using more than one car at a time degraded the speed further. After waiting 30 minutes, we gained fewer than 40 miles of range. Frustrated, we decided to try another station.
Next was Chieveley services, about 57 miles further along. Upon arrival, the scene was chaotic. Several chargers weren’t working, some wouldn’t accept card payments, and others didn’t recognize plugged-in vehicles. Only one charger was free, but it was clear the facility was struggling to meet demand.
With no guarantee the single remaining charger would work or that we could reach another station, we waited. Other EV drivers circled the lot or parked in non-charging spaces, desperate to recharge. We even met a mother and son coming from Heathrow with just 15 miles left on their charge, forced to wait for a functioning charger after a long flight home.
After nearly an hour, our charger finally started working. Though relieved, we lost 1.5 hours trying to recharge, dragging out an already long journey with a four-year-old prone to travel sickness.
Was this ordeal necessary? Unfortunately, yes. Although chargers are now common at motorway service stations, the quality and reliability vary enormously. Without prior knowledge of which chargers work best, drivers face a gamble.
Charging technology is not immune to failure or slowdowns. And as EVs become more popular—sales increased 40% in March compared to last year—Britain’s charging infrastructure has to catch up quickly. The government plans to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 (hybrids allowed until 2035), yet fast, reliable chargers need to be everywhere, especially for those without off-street parking at home.
For EV drivers embarking on long trips, experiences like ours should be rare exceptions, not the rule. Until then, the UK still has a long way to go in supporting its electric vehicle future.