3sheds
Established Member
Last Sunday driving back home from Christmas break I discovered that Leicester Forest services has finally installed a decent number of working rapid chargers... and they worked without a hitch!
We regularly make a 130 mile trip from Cambridgeshire to Derbyshire to visit family. Its west along A14, north along M1 and then West on A50. When we first got our MG 5 in 2022 there was only one possible charging stop along the route at Donnington Services, with only 2 rapid chargers. You had to be lucky to find one free! Consequently I had to make sure I had 100% charge before setting off, which is sometimes a hassle as we can't charge at home. There were also numerous times we got caught short of range on other motorway trips when we couldn't find a charger, or one wasn't working, or all chargers were occupied. Other times we could only find a working charger at an isolated lorry park on with no toilets or cafe which was no fun at 10pm with small children.
Over the years more and more reliable rapid charging locations have sprung up along the route, and at most other services I've visited in England. I have now realised that there are at least five locations along the 130 mile route where they have mulitiple chargers and usually toilets, convenience stores and dining options. Cambridge Services now has 20+ chargers with at least 10 more installed over the last year. There's around 10 rapid chargers next to a nice drive-in Costa Cafe on Kettering bypass. Most of the services along the A50 have multiple rapid chargers and Donnington now has more than 10 rapid chargers. The whole experience of long motorway and dual carriageway trips in Enlgand in an EV has transformed in 4 short years... and now I realise that any range anxiety I had about my regular trip has disappeared. The installation of chargers at Leicester Forest East was the final piece in the charging puzzle. There are now no charging deserts along the route. On average there is a decent rapid charging location every 25 miles along the route. So I no longer need to plan breaks. Just break whenever is convenient for us, or when someone needs the toilet. I don't really even need to check how much range is left in the car before setting off. As long as the remaining range is above 25% I'll still have 50 miles of range so can always stop at Cambridge services along the way. No problem! No longer do I even have to worry if one of the services has had a freak power cut! I will almost always have enough range to just drive on to the next stop.
So it got me wondering whether other people have been aware of this massive improvement of our charging experience over the last few years? Have you also noticed that we're now so much better served in English services for rapid chargers? Do you still have any range anxiety? Or has it disappeared like mine?
We regularly make a 130 mile trip from Cambridgeshire to Derbyshire to visit family. Its west along A14, north along M1 and then West on A50. When we first got our MG 5 in 2022 there was only one possible charging stop along the route at Donnington Services, with only 2 rapid chargers. You had to be lucky to find one free! Consequently I had to make sure I had 100% charge before setting off, which is sometimes a hassle as we can't charge at home. There were also numerous times we got caught short of range on other motorway trips when we couldn't find a charger, or one wasn't working, or all chargers were occupied. Other times we could only find a working charger at an isolated lorry park on with no toilets or cafe which was no fun at 10pm with small children.
Over the years more and more reliable rapid charging locations have sprung up along the route, and at most other services I've visited in England. I have now realised that there are at least five locations along the 130 mile route where they have mulitiple chargers and usually toilets, convenience stores and dining options. Cambridge Services now has 20+ chargers with at least 10 more installed over the last year. There's around 10 rapid chargers next to a nice drive-in Costa Cafe on Kettering bypass. Most of the services along the A50 have multiple rapid chargers and Donnington now has more than 10 rapid chargers. The whole experience of long motorway and dual carriageway trips in Enlgand in an EV has transformed in 4 short years... and now I realise that any range anxiety I had about my regular trip has disappeared. The installation of chargers at Leicester Forest East was the final piece in the charging puzzle. There are now no charging deserts along the route. On average there is a decent rapid charging location every 25 miles along the route. So I no longer need to plan breaks. Just break whenever is convenient for us, or when someone needs the toilet. I don't really even need to check how much range is left in the car before setting off. As long as the remaining range is above 25% I'll still have 50 miles of range so can always stop at Cambridge services along the way. No problem! No longer do I even have to worry if one of the services has had a freak power cut! I will almost always have enough range to just drive on to the next stop.
So it got me wondering whether other people have been aware of this massive improvement of our charging experience over the last few years? Have you also noticed that we're now so much better served in English services for rapid chargers? Do you still have any range anxiety? Or has it disappeared like mine?
