266 The Emergency Journey Episode
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Hi, I'm Gary and this is EV Musings, a podcast about renewables electric vehicles and things
that are interesting to electric vehicle owners.
And on the show today we'll be looking at the topic I hear about from time to time, which
is the emergency long distance EV journey.
Our main topic of discussion today is focused on doing emergency journeys in an electric vehicle.
Now, I was chatting with an acquaintance of mine recently, a Tesla Model 3 driver of around
five years, who said that he was going to sell it and get a hybrid.
And when I asked him why, he trotted out a number of reasons, not of which were entirely
valid.
But one that he did come out with, which I found interesting, was the emergency journey scenario.
And it looks a little bit like this.
My daughter is at the University of Edinburgh and I live in Maidstead and Kent, and what
if I have to make an emergency journey to Edinburgh to see my daughter and my EV is only at
30% state of charge.
Now, I've heard variations of this a couple of times over the years, and let me start
by recognizing that it's absolutely a genuine concern.
If our children or other loved ones are in danger or suffering or needers, then the last
thing we need are things that can slow us down from getting there.
But this scenario does tend to break down just a little bit if you look at the detail
around it.
The key thing is that it assumes that if you had a fossil fuel car, you would be
able to do that journey in a much shorter time and that it's just the charging that
would slow you down.
Now, to illustrate why this is a little bit specious as an argument, I want to give you
a slightly alternative version of things.
Now, let's have a look at the fossil fuel version of this.
I have a car with a third of a tank of fuel and I need to do a 500 mile journey across
the country.
So I set off immediately.
At some point, I'm going to have to stop.
Let's assume I just stop, I fill up and I head off.
Let's assume that the petrol station is open, that there's no queues to either charter to
fill or to pay.
So I'm in and out in 10 minutes.
I'm then going to travel from Maidstone in Kent to Edinburgh, which is a journey
of without stopping or slowing down 430 miles and a journey time of around 8 hours is
a minimum.
So let's set aside the dangers of travelling that far without stopping both from a health
and a fatigue point of view.
The other thing that you need to remember about this is that it's not going to be 8
hours.
That's assuming you're travelling at the speed limit and part of that journey is
around the M25 and across the Darwin crossing, which even as I record this on a Sunday
afternoon in summer, there are delays.
So you're not going to be doing that journey in the time that you think you're going to
be doing it.
But it's also assuming that you're doing this when there are no accidents, no rush
hour traffic, no diversions for roadworks, and you're hoping that the M25 is not closed,
all of which have happened in the last six months on this route.
In reality, your journey is going to be more like less than 8 hours, probably 10 hours.
So let's look at the same journey with a Tesla.
Now, according to the Zatmap route planner, you can do the same route using only Tesla
superchargers and three stops of around 30 minutes each.
Now, other than the first stop, which tops up the 30% charge, the other two stops are
at least two hours apart.
Total travel time is a little under 9 hours and you arrive in a fresher, more relaxed
state than if you were having to do the complete journey without stopping.
If your car had started with 80%, it may stone your journey would have been even quicker
with three stops of around 15 minutes and an 11 minute top up for a total of 54 minutes
stationary and a travel time of 8 hours and 11 minutes.
Now if there's time, you could pop to the nearest Tesla supercharger in Maidstone and
spend 30 minutes there and that makes your next two stops around 30 minutes each, again,
two hours apart.
Now if you have set off with a 100% full battery, your travel time would have
been 8 hours and 5 minutes with 51 minutes of charging time.
In other words, the time saving in this Tesla between setting off with a 100%
state of charge and a 30% state of charge is a mere 49 minutes, which is about the time
it took me to travel from central London to Hammersmith last Sunday around 6.30pm,
which was a distance of about 10 miles.
Now if you're thinking that 49 minutes is going to make a life and death difference,
then bear in mind that the last journey I took from Reading to Birmingham, a two-hour
journey in which I didn't need to charge at all, delays and traffic added 40 minutes
to my travel time.
Friend of the podcast and my London Bright and Amsterdam EV rally co-driver Tim Rolt-Smith
was with his partner in Exeter recently when she learned that her mother was gravely ill,
her mother lives in St Andrews, Scotland, they jumped in his Model S and headed off,
stopping for a break in charging as they went, neither of them were unduly stressed
about the journey and the 500 mile trip took around 10 hours.
Now what this means is that using the family emergency excuse when it comes to electric cars,
it's something of a red herring.
This is a factor that plays into your insecurity about EVs when it really shouldn't.
Now the other aspect of this is the actual lightlihood of the scenario occurring.
Imagine the set of circumstances in which someone has been driving the car all day long
or has done a long distance journey, has arrived home with a relatively low state
of charge and before any home charging or public charging on local AC units could take
place there's an immediate need to do a long distance journey there and then.
Now is that scenario more or less likely than someone having a puncture in their vehicle
and not being able to swap the tire out because remember we don't have spare tires
anymore and punctures need to be taken to a nearby tire shop for replacement.
According to the AAA and RAC punctures and 12 volt battery issues are the most common
cause of vehicle collapse in the UK regardless of fuel time.
Now is that scenario more or less likely than having someone send their vehicle in for service
and not having the car until the car comes back from being at the service which is
a situation that you can easily remove if you use a company such as Cleveland EV
Mobile who comes to your house to service your car.
Is that scenario more or less likely than living somewhere in the north of Scotland where petrol
stations close at 6.30 or 7pm at night and often only operate six days per week.
What happens when you need to do an emergency journey at 7am Sunday morning and you short
of petrol.
Now I put it to you that the number of instances in which people have failed to
reach loved ones in time due to having to stop and charge an EV are so small
as to be almost zero.
Now I further put it to you that these instances are heavily outweighed by the number of instances
in which traffic, road works, a flat tire, an accident have delayed people to the point
where they've missed a loved ones final moments.
Now I think we also need to consider what we mean when we talk about getting there
in time.
If the loved ones are on the point of death and the delay means the difference between
getting to see and speak to them before they pass or not then obviously any delay
could be seen as disastrous.
But I also think that if a delay means the difference between getting to an injured or
distressed child in five and a half hours or six hours or even seven hours if the charging
aspect is included that's probably the least of your concerns.
But I would point out that delays on the UK roads are pretty much guaranteed nowadays.
Only recently I was heading down to do some work on the south coast of England as I passed
the Winchester junction on the M3 at 5.30 in the morning a truck had ridden up on one of
those concrete bollards used to separate carriageways on a contraflow and it had ended up blocking
the motorway completely in the north bank carriageway whilst also leaning over at a precarious
angle meaning it wasn't easy to clear without potentially tipping it over onto the carriageway.
I tracked the M3 for the rest of the day and I found that there was between 35
and 70 minutes of delay on that stretch for pretty much 12 hours as they diverted traffic
at the Winchester exit over the roundabout and back onto the motorway at the other side.
I wonder how many people were on urgent missions of mercy in that queue.
Of course the other issue with this scenario is it implies that this is an issue for any
parent or child with elderly parents with an EV but again this scenario is very specific.
It involves a long distance journey in this case kent to Edinburgh for 150 plus miles and
the implication that because of this long distance someone would need to spend a long
time charging but the reality is probably different on multiple levels.
What if the journey is only 150 miles?
Even a short range EV could cover that from a 30% state of charge with a stop of I
don't know 50-20 minutes.
What if the journey is in an ultra rapid charging car such as a Porsche Taycan or
an 800 volt Hyundai or Kia again the charging time would be minimal.
Essentially it would be longer than just filling with petrol assuming there are no
queues to fill up with a local petrol station but it's not going to be anything
like the hour, two hours that people believe a charge will take.
Of course the other issue that I'm not taking into consideration here is the
emotional stress associated with a journey such as this.
If the journey is urgent which we assume it is due to the nature of the
emergency and the fact that we can send about time wasted charging anything that
can slow down or prevent you from making that journey in the shortest time
possible is going to cause stress and distress I recognize that and I
understand that but at the same time as I've already noted these stressors the
delays and issues are not necessarily EV related anything that can cause a
delay can be of concern roadworks traffic an accident a detour or
diversion acute the petrol station focusing on the EV aspect of this is
probably creating an issue where one doesn't really exist now the big elephant
in the room here of course is why are we actually using cars to do journeys like
that if we take it as a reasonable that time is the key issue here and that by
definition if you need to get to a loved one as quickly as possible when
it's not an issue then surely it would be quicker to take the train sure
it's been more expensive sometimes a lot more expensive when she booked a journey
leaving pretty much immediately but looking at the train timetables the
journey from Mason to Edinburgh would take six hours stations to station and
yes there are a couple of changes to make and yes you're the vagaries of
natural rail services if times your main driver surely a train's easier let's
consider someone living in central London want to get to Edinburgh the road
journey is seven and a half hours with no stops that's a petrol car
that has a large enough tank to cover the 400 miles without needing to stop the train
journey direct out with no changes is as short as four hours 22 minutes so in
summary yes there's a valid concern that having to stop and charge your EV in an
emergency could delay you but there are valid concerns related to all aspects of
delays due to driving most of which are complete outside your control the
chances of a specific situation occurring where a vehicle is in such a
low state of charge that having to stop in a long journey would mean the
difference between life and death are phenomenally small finally stopping to
charge an EV is not something that takes all day despite what some naysayers
will have you believe quick and often is a good way of charging several short
stops to take advantage of the charging curve when your car charges and its
fastest can decrease charging times alternatively slow and infrequent can
work if you decide to stop for something to eat for example while you
charge public transport is also a quicker alternative on many long distance
journeys and is more relaxing because you can do things on the way rather than
having to focus a hundred percent on the driving so what do you think have
you had instances where having to stop and charge has delayed you to such a
point that it's caused an issue if it has if you also have times where
things other than charging have caused your issues traffic accidents
diversions vehicle problems let me know
I'm Ford EV musings.com
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About this episode
Exploring the common concern about emergency long-distance journeys in electric vehicles, this episode breaks down the myth that EV charging significantly delays urgent trips. Using a real-world example of a 500-mile journey from Kent to Edinburgh, it compares EV charging times with petrol refueling and highlights typical road delays that affect all drivers. The discussion also covers alternative travel options like trains, the rarity of critical delays caused by EV charging, and the emotional stress of emergency travel. Practical insights and personal stories help demystify EV range anxiety in urgent situations.
Original notes
In this episode of EV Musings, Gary explores the commonly cited concern about making emergency long-distance journeys in electric vehicles .
The discussion is prompted by a Tesla Model 3 owner considering switching to a hybrid due to fears of being unable to reach a loved one quickly in an emergency.
Gary dissects this scenario, comparing EV and fossil fuel vehicle travel times, and highlights that delays are often due to traffic, roadworks, or other unpredictable events—not EV charging.
He argues that the emergency journey concern is largely a red herring and that EVs are more than capable of handling such situations. He also suggests that public transport may be a faster and less stressful alternative in many cases.
The EV Musings Podcast is sponsored by Zapmap, the go-to app for EV drivers, helping you find and pay for public charging with confidence.
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Episode produced by Arran Sheppard at Urban Podcasts: https://www.urbanpodcasts.co.uk
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The EV Musings Podcast
Gary Comerford
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