The EV (Electric Vehicle) Rally of Scotland is taking place from 8-12 November as part of COP26, covering more than 1,200 miles to showcase the charging infrastructure around the country. A few weeks ago, Craigh Hunter embarked on his own EV adventure, from Glasgow to Skye and back, to put the system to the test.

By Craig Hunter

Like many Govanhill residents, I do not own a car, and get by with public transport, cycling and walking around the city. However, relying on buses or trains to move around the Highlands puts a severe restriction on the possibilities of your trip, and the pandemic has made my preferred method of traversing rural Scotland – hitchhiking – untenable.

With this in mind, and the need to occasionally escape the city or visit family and friends, I decided to join CoWheels, a car-share club, which has various vehicles in thea area. I was particularly drawn to the fact that my ‘fuel’ costs were non-existent on their electric vehicles.

Cars have their own charging point and should be raring to go. However, having had a couple of trial runs where I could not access the charging space or it only had enough power for 25 miles when I picked up (it helpfully tells you how far you can expect to travel on your current charge), I was understandably wary with such a long trip planned.

The Zap-Map app highlights where charging points are located across the country, and whether they are in use or out of order. My journey to Skye seemed to include a few possibilities, so I rested easy and worked out a sensible schedule. This was the plan:

5.30 pm: Pick up car and drive to Fort William; have dinner while charging. Continue to Broadford on Skye; have a 30-minute break to fill her up. Arrive at destination 23 miles away at around 11.30 pm, with plenty in the battery to comfortably see us through the next day’s trip to Portree, where I could again top her up as required. Piece of cake.

The primary concern was how to ensure the car was charged at pick-up. I spoke to a friendly customer service agent who said they would happily give me remote access to the vehicle ahead of my booking to plug it in, which gave me some comfort. What if a fellow CoWheeler only returned from a long trip 15 minutes earlier, with no time to charge? This was a risk I had to take.

Thursday arrives and the car is at 27% when I check online at lunchtime, and not plugged in. Not ideal. It’s ok though – there are no bookings for the afternoon so I can correct this.

I pop over and another car is in the socket. The second one is broken so our ‘unique charging point’ has become anyone’s charging point. I go back a few hours later and the other car is still plugged in. A plan B is required.

We scour the map and find a local fast charger in Mount Florida, a mile in the wrong direction. Unsure how long it takes but presumably we will be on our way by 6.30 pm. Stay calm.

It is around 5.45 pm by the time we have picked up the car, found the refuelling station and worked out how to use and select the correct charger. The numbers start creeping up at a satisfying speed and we calculate a trip to the shops for supplies will usefully fill the 40 minutes this looks like taking. We lock the car and suddenly an error message appears. Oh no! There are no other fast chargers here and this one is broken.

Rather than try to find somewhere else, we use the slower one, hoping to get sufficient power to reach Fort William or that the fast charger will correct itself. We return from the shop to find the fast one fixed and another car using it, while ours is only at 44%. Wah! My partner walks home for some forgotten items while I wait on the chance to fast-track this ordeal.

The opportunity arrives five minutes later and suddenly we’re speeding through the numbers again. We give up at 7.15 pm and 94% (116 miles), and finally leave Glasgow just as darkness is setting in.

Trying to make up time, I stick close to the speed limit down a surprisingly quiet Loch Lomond, and notice after around 30 miles that my available distance has shrunk from 116 to 78 miles – a difference of 38. Hmm. We check the map and the charger at Fort William is out of action anyway, even if we could have reached it.

We pull in at Crianlarich after 58 miles and we are back where we started at 28%. It is 8.40 pm. Things are not going well.

The earlier-than-anticipated stop also means that another is required before Skye. With Kyle of Lochalsh and Shiel Bridge joining Fort William in being broken, the only option is Roy Bridge, a three-mile detour and six precious miles needing charged again.

Important lesson here: charging = time. On part of this leg we get stuck behind a queue of campervans at around 40 mph and the miracle of fuel efficiency becomes apparent. We travel 20 miles and it only goes down by 15. On occasion, it jumps up – amazing!

With petrol the incentive to be efficient is hidden, and the punishment is financial. With electric vehicles you are literally wasting your time driving fast as you will spend it waiting for a charge as you stand outside a community hall in a highland village late at night instead.

We leave Roy Bridge around 11.40pm, knowing we will still need to stop in Broadford for the next day’s power requirements, and resigned to a 2am arrival at our destination.

Unfortunately, the fates were not letting us off that easily. We arrive at Invergarry 20 miles later to find the road to Skye closed. Panicking, we pull over and speak to a man in hi-viz about the situation. It turns out a 17-mile detour to Invermoriston is required and more time spent charging ahead. Roadworks were being carried out after midnight as “you don’t get a lot of people driving to Skye at this time of night”. He is right. Not my preference either.

We arrive at 2.45am at the cottage, three hours later than anticipated, relieved, drained but slightly entertained by our experience. Lessons have been learned about fuel efficiency, but unfortunately the main lesson is that the infrastructure will need to get a lot better if this is to become the norm.

In the interest of balance, the return leg via my parents in Mid-Argyll goes exactly as planned. We drive to Broadford in the morning, grabbing a coffee while filling up, continue to Ballachullish and charge over a picnic lunch. On to Lochgilphead where we catch up with my family during the final boost before the last uninterrupted leg to Glasgow.

Also worth recording is the total cost of the three-day journey – £115 in total, compared to £150 car hire and around £100 in fuel. It’s a significant saving. There is a financial incentive to protecting the environment here, not a cost.

Sure, you have to plan your journey around charging, but the main criticism is the lack of working stations in the Highlands. Three of the seven Chargeplace Scotland locations along our route were out of order, and the broken double-charger the car should have been attached to on pick-up sent the whole trip out of sync.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will stop in 2030 (with some hybrid vehicles allowed until 2035) so this is the future of car travel and we need to get used to it. But we also need the infrastructure to support this transition or we won’t be going anywhere fast.