Electric vehicle road-trip in Scotland: everything you need to know

Written by Tolt

Published on November 25, 2024

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending two weeks in Scotland, where I obviously travelled by train. But on the spot, we wanted to try out the road-trip aboard an electric car. In this article, I'm going to share with you our experience and practical advice if you too want to discover the Highlands without a combustion engine.

But first, it's worth asking yourself whether choosing this mode of transport really makes sense, as there's unfortunately still a lot of misinformation out there about electric cars.

Is it really worth renting an electric car for your road-trip to Scotland?

Thermal car VS electric car

According to the International Energy Agency, transport will account for 43.1% of CO2 emissions in Europe in 2022. It is therefore the sector that contributes most to global warming, and we urgently need to rethink the way we get around, in favor of public transport and cycling in particular. Unfortunately, in some situations these modes of transport have a number of drawbacks (too slow, insufficient frequency...). The electric car can therefore be an interesting solution for discovering a region or a country, since it offers more freedom than public transport and allows you to get around more quickly than by bike, without emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the process.

However, to calculate a vehicle's carbon footprint, we also need to take into account upstream GHG emissions (manufacturing, production of the electricity used to run the car) and downstream GHG emissions (battery recycling and treatment of other vehicle components at end-of-life).

When all these elements are taken into account, we can see that the production and end-of-life of an electric car emit far more GHGs than a combustion-powered vehicle. However, these excess emissions can be largely offset during use if the electricity used to power the car is low in carbon. In France, for example, an electric car needs to be driven more than 30,000 to 40,000 km for its carbon footprint over its entire life cycle to be better than that of a combustion-powered car (source). But what about Scotland?

Scotland in an electric car: a good idea?

Scotland's electricity mix is excellent! For example, in 2022, 87,9% of the electricity produced in Scotland was low-carbon (renewable or nuclear). And this figure is set to rise even further in the years ahead.

Finally, we should bear in mind that, unlike private cars, which remain stationary 95% of the time (source : Ademe) and have a low occupancy rate, with an average of 1.43 passengers for journeys of less than 1(source : ecologie.gouv), rental cars have a much higher utilization and occupancy rate. The carbon “debt” associated with battery production is therefore amortized all the faster.

In conclusion, renting an electric car for your stay in Scotland is an excellent solution for limiting the carbon footprint of your trip. However, you can also discover the country by public transport. We're working on a car-free itinerary that we'll be sharing with you shortly.

Road-trip in an electric car: how much does it cost?

To calculate the total budget for our electric car road-trip (transport only), I've identified three areas of expenditure: vehicle rental, recharging and miscellaneous costs (parking, parking tickets, etc.).

Electric car rental

For the use of a Polestar 2 LR SM (so a rather high-end car) at the end of August, the rental at Hertz cost us around €370 for 11 rental days. This was slightly more expensive than renting a Kia Picanto and slightly cheaper than a Vauxhall Corsa over the same period (prices can fluctuate depending on the time of year you rent).

Electric recharging

For this trip, recharging cost us around €200 for 2,170 km covered. That's about €0.09 per kilometer. Note that the price of chargers depends on their power (the faster the charge, the more expensive it is), and that it is possible to recharge free of charge in some hotels. By way of comparison, 1 liter of petrol cost around €1.75 at the time of our trip. According to ADEME, a recent petrol car consumes an average of 6.8 L / 100 km. We can therefore estimate that the cost of fuel for a petrol vehicle is €0.12 per kilometer: a combustion-powered car would have cost us €260 in petrol for 2,170 km.

Miscellaneous expenses

In addition to the rental charge and electric recharges, we had to pay €41.20 for parking. Mind you, in the UK, the vast majority of parking lots are chargeable, even those of some supermarkets, and we paid the price! After leaving our car at a charging point in a Lidl parking lot for around 2 hours, we were unpleasantly surprised to receive a £87 fine. A sign indicated that vehicles parked for more than 90 minutes would be fined, but we had no idea that this also applied to vehicles charging. We therefore recommend that you check the signs carefully when you park your car anywhere, whether simply to park or to charge.

Including this unforeseen and rather expensive charge, this brings us to a total of €715.20 for an 11-day electric car road trip.

How do you recharge your electric car in Scotland?

Our electric road trip experience in Scotland enabled us to make a number of mistakes, and to identify a number of tips to make your trip more enjoyable. Nonetheless, every adventure has its share of mishaps, and that's what makes your trip so special 🙂

Download apps and create an account beforehand

One of our main mistakes was not to plan ahead enough. Recharging obviously takes longer than filling up with petrol, but above all, it's much more complicated to pay! Forget the idea of simply pulling out your credit card like you would at a gas station. I admit it's still a mystery to me, but at the vast majority of service stations, you have to download the app (and unfortunately, each service station has its own app), create an account and add your means of payment. It's a process that can take up to 5 or 10 minutes, and can quickly become frustrating. So here's a non-exhaustive list of apps to download first.

Charge Place Scotland

ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) is Scotland's largest network of electric vehicle charging points. With over 1,500 publicly accessible charging points across the country, including over 250 fast charging points, it's really essential to download the app from Google Play or Apple Store. The Chargeplace Scotland network has been developed by Transport Scotland, the National Transport Agency, using grants awarded to local authorities and other organizations to install publicly accessible charging points. Transport Scotland works closely with the entities responsible for the charging points (local authorities or private organizations, if a charging point is located on their land and funded by the Energy Saving Trust) to provide charging points for electric vehicles in their area. However, it is up to the host to decide, at his or her discretion and under his or her responsibility, on the type of charging points to be installed (7 kW, 22 kW or 50 kW) and their location.

Pod Point

With several hundred public chargers installed in the UK, Pod Point is also a good app to download in advance from Google Play or Apple Store. Note that the charging points are often installed in the parking lots of Tesco, Lidl and other supermarkets. So they can be a good option if you've got shopping to do. Just be sure to check the parking time limit, as mentioned above.

Tesla Superchargers

You probably know the car brand, but Tesla is also a network of over 60,000 superchargers worldwide, including a dozen in Scotland. The recharging speed they offer can be interesting, so remember to download the app from Google Play or Apple Store, then create an account.

Connekt

We were also able to test a Connekt charger. These charging stations seem to be installed in hotel parking lots. The application is also available on Google Play or Apple Store.

How to find charging stations?

Google Maps is a very good tool for finding charging stations, as it brings together all the operators and enables you to generate a direct route to the station, or to find one on your route. What's more, it's possible to see comments or reviews left by other users, sometimes with photos or videos, so you know better what to expect. However, the information is obviously not always up to date, and this doesn't prevent unpleasant surprises... The best thing, especially when you're in an area with few charging stations and only a few dozen kilometers of autonomy, is really to anticipate well by taking the time to look at the comments, then cross-check the information with other applications like ChargePlace Scotland or zapmap.

Take every opportunity to charge your vehicle

As I said earlier, with electric vehicles, we have to forget all the habits we used to have when filling up with petrol. Even if you see a charging station nearby, you can still get a nasty surprise (station out of order, station already in use...). In my opinion, it's better to take advantage of every opportunity to recharge your vehicle.

Need to go shopping? Choose a supermarket with a charging point, even if it only takes 15 minutes! Wavering between two hotels? Choose the one with a charger, so you can recharge overnight and leave the next day with a charged battery. The idea is not to spoil your trip by thinking only of charging your battery, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's that an electric car road trip requires a little more forethought.

No need to recharge your battery to 100%!

Another habit to reconsider: wanting to “fill up”. On a long journey, it's sometimes better to stop twice to recharge to 80% than to stop once to reach 100%. In fact, on some models, charging to 100% is not recommended, as it could damage the battery.

Is the range of electric cars sufficient?

This obviously depends on the model and age of the vehicle. However, one thing is certain: the range of electric cars has improved significantly in recent years. In the case of the Polestar 2 LR SM (Long range Single motor), the model we used on this trip, the manufacturer claims a range of up to 659 km. In reality, you can expect a range of 450 or even 500 km. That's more than enough range to explore a country like Scotland, where distances are relatively short.

How to maximize the range of your electric car?

To maximize your car's range and limit your recharging needs, here are 3 practical tips:

1. Adopt eco-driving

This is the most important factor. Adopting a smooth driving style, anticipating braking and avoiding sudden acceleration, will not only make your journey more pleasant for your passengers, but will also enable you to consume much less energy. On an electric car, you often don't even need to press the brake pedal at all; simply lifting your foot off the accelerator pedal engages regenerative braking, which already slows the vehicle down considerably.

2. Reduce your speed

Speed also has a major influence on battery life. Driving at 110 km/h instead of 130 km/h won't necessarily get you to your destination any faster, since the minutes you save on the journey can quickly be lost on the load.

3. Go easy on the air conditioning and heating

On the face of it, there's not much reason to use air conditioning in Scotland, but you never know! Heating and air-conditioning obviously consume electricity, so opt for eco mode and keep your sweater on.

To sum up, this first electric road trip was very satisfying overall, and gave me a lot of reassurance on the subject. The beginning is a bit frustrating because you have to put aside old habits, but thanks to this article, you should be better prepared than we were. Don't hesitate to share your feedback or any additional information that might be useful in keeping this information up to date 😉