The BMW M3 is a fast version of a regular BMW 3 Series, made for sporty driving. It’s designed to handle well and accelerate strongly, not just to look good. The podcast brings it up as one of the performance cars you could choose on that route.
Charging points are the places where you plug an electric car in to charge it. Some chargers are faster than others, so the car may charge quicker at one spot than another.
The Dodge Charger is a bigger car that’s built to feel powerful when you drive it. People often choose it when they want strong acceleration and a sporty feel. In the podcast, it’s mentioned as a possible option instead of going somewhere else.
Term
connected
When they say “connected,” they mean the car is properly talking to the charger. If that link isn’t right, the charger may stop or refuse to keep charging.
WLTP is a standard test used to estimate how far a car can go on a full charge. It’s a lab-based number, so your real range can be different depending on driving conditions.
Kilowatts (kW) tell you how strong the charger is. A “seven kilowatt” charger charges more slowly than the really fast ones, so you usually need more time to fill up.
Folkestone is where they’re charging at the moment. It shows EV trips are typically planned as several shorter charging stops rather than one long session.
Drive modes are buttons in the car that change how it behaves. For example, they can make the car feel more relaxed or more responsive when you press the accelerator.
The M25 is a big highway that circles around London. It’s the kind of road where traffic and speed can affect how far an EV can go.
Place
M20
The M20 is a highway in southeast England that heads toward the Channel ports. It’s the kind of route you’d take when traveling toward places like Folkestone.
Term
operation stack
“Operation Stack” is when authorities create a temporary queue system on the motorway to manage lots of cars heading to the ferry. It can mean long waits, which matters for EV planning.
Place
Dartford Crossing
The Dartford Crossing is a major route over the Thames near London. It’s often busy, so it can affect how efficiently an EV uses energy in traffic.
The BMW M2 is a smaller, sportier BMW that’s meant for fun driving. It’s designed to be quick and handle well, especially on roads with curves. The podcast mentions it as one of the sensible choices in a list of BMW models.
GridServe is a company that runs electric-vehicle charging stations in the UK. They’re sponsoring the show and offering a membership that can make charging cheaper.
An EV charging network is a group of electric car charging stations in different places. It usually comes with an app or membership so you can locate chargers and pay for them.
EV health checks are service add-ons offered during charging that assess the condition of an electric vehicle. While the exact scope isn’t detailed here, the term generally refers to quick diagnostic checks aimed at identifying potential issues before they become problems.
LIVE
Welcome to the motion podcast recharging round Britain on Tuesday the 14th of July 2026.
Hello, I'm Alan.
Hello, I'm Andrew.
And on this day two catch up, you'll hear how the width of the bottom of England is
a long way.
We've learned what not to do when the car is charging.
And also sitting in a traffic jam doesn't make your EV efficiency brilliant.
Bench is driving really.
Oh, okay.
Right.
It's easy to get in with these early on.
The good thing is you can't reach me to hit.
Oh, no.
Do we want to quickly start off with just a quick reminder in case you missed yesterday's
catch up, you should go back and listen to yesterday's catch up.
Quick reminder, we are driving roughly around the outside of Britain, roughly the same route
as we did 10 years ago.
And we're trying to find out if it's harder or easier, if the cars improved, has the charging
network improved and the availability of chargers.
All of those things that people kind of question, but we're doing that and we're trying to relate
it back to how we got on 10 years ago.
Yes.
Today, we started out from Bodmin Moor.
We did.
And we left Bodmin Moor at eight nodes.
Before eight.
Was it before eight?
Yeah.
Really?
Okay.
So around eight o'clock-ish and we are now sitting at Folkestone Services in the Insta
and it is now, we've been here, what, 20 minutes?
We've got here about seven o'clock.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's now seven o'clock in the evening.
We haven't had food yet, but we will do that.
We are very near to our hotel.
Plan is, what we're doing in a minute is we're charging up tonight and that means we can
be up and out, up and out tomorrow.
But yeah, we started out from Bodmin, we went down to Falmouth.
Yep.
We then went along to Southampton, we went for a quick nosey down at the docks.
Yes.
Which we'll talk about at some point, but yeah, maybe.
And where did we go?
And then we came up.
We ended up coming up the M3, around the bottom of the M25 along the M20, because we know
that tomorrow is a bit of a monster.
Yeah.
We say all of that compared to last year, today was a piece of cake, about the day two
last year.
Yes.
In terms of every time we made it easily to the charging points, we were able to charge.
One was slightly, just because it was an older setup, was a bit trickier.
We did have to wait for at least, what, a whole two minutes before someone vacated.
Yeah.
Well, and that was, we had the choice of we could have gone straight to another charger,
which is a kill of the walk.
We thought these other ones were more powerful turned out they weren't.
And then some idiot turned the car on once it was plugged in on that older charger.
It decided it was going to stop the charge.
So we almost had some drama and excitement.
Well we did, because whilst we were having our refreshment, you suddenly stood up and
left because you went, the car stopped charging.
I think I said, oh goodness, the car stopped charging.
There was some hickory-backery, yes?
Yes, because we've been following along on the grid server and it shows what's happening
and whether you're still connected and these kind of things.
So it's quite nice to have it open, if you're nearby, just to make sure.
Worth mentioning, let's go back to right at the beginning, worth mentioning last night
when we spoke to you, we commented that the car was on charge and sure enough we went
out this morning to the car and it was showing 220 miles exactly of range, which is the WLTP.
Yes, that's the Max WLTP.
So that was good.
That charged overnight.
We just left it on us, a little seven kilowatt job and it was all done by the morning.
Yeah, it's all done by about midnight.
Ready to go.
Yeah, exactly.
So today, we have charged four times.
We charged in Exeter.
Yes.
That was our first of the day.
We charged, we did the little mini charge at Southampton.
Yes.
That was the one that was pretty slow, so we kind of gave up and we knew we had just about enough.
Yeah, we got 20 miles over what we needed, so we left.
Stopped at Cobham, briefly.
That was quick.
For a little while, that was a super quick charge.
It wasn't quite as quick as this one that was going on right now.
And we're at Folkestone and we're charging right now.
As we speak, I have a funny feeling.
I think it's finished.
I think it's finished.
But we'll get on with that.
Because I'm speaking to you, because you are the controller.
We will get onto that when we finish the update of today.
Yes, we will.
That's basically me telling me not to get distracted.
385 miles covered in total.
Yes.
And some of those miles have felt very long thanks to traffic.
Lots of traffic, lots of little wiggly Cornish roads, then the start, it took quite a long time.
That bit wasn't too bad, because we timed it well.
Yeah.
The worst bit was after Exeter to get to Southampton.
Yeah, that bit is always a slog, but it was even more of a slog than I expected it to be.
We should have come along the A303.
We tried to stick a little bit closer to the coast,
and to come along and join the end of the M27.
It was very pretty.
The route we went on was very pretty.
Don't get us wrong.
It's so nice down in that part of the country, it really is.
And I think I was a bit previous, because I think from Exeter services,
I sort of Instagrammed or whatever, that, oh, that's great.
It's been lovely, but now we're free of the Cornish roads.
We weren't.
I was wrong.
We found Dorset roads.
We did.
Anything else we should cover, really?
No, I think that's the charging inside of things all sorted.
Yeah, the car's been great.
It's been absolutely fine.
It just sits and does its stuff and just does what it does, and it's comfortable,
and it's nippy enough.
It's definitely nippy.
Yeah, there's several drive modes.
And if you, like yesterday, there was one car on one particular patch of road
that we needed to get around quickly.
So we put it in sport.
It was on a truck, actually.
And it was, no, it was just a cash guy.
And then we just went straight past it, and then it was back in normal.
So it was the only time I've taken it out of normal.
I think you've pressed eco and gone, oh, look, there's more range,
and then put it straight back in normal.
So we basically just left it, and pretty much what an owner would do.
You throw it in normal.
You set your settings as you want them, and off you go, and it's just and car.
The fact it's electric is neither here nor there.
We've covered everything, from little Cornish lanes to getting stuck on the M25,
and then the M20, which is a delight at the moment.
They're all ready for operation stack, so there's something for us all to look forward to.
Tomorrow then.
Tomorrow, tomorrow.
Folkstone, where we are now, over through the Dartford Crossing,
Breen Tree, Burieson-Edmonds, did it?
It was a bit of a debate.
We aren't sure yet.
We're going to have to play this one by ear in the morning,
because tomorrow we end up, we will be ending up in Washington,
and we have to go via a special grid serve location,
which, more on that tomorrow, which drags us back inland quite a bit.
From us trying to replicate as much as possible what we did previously,
tomorrow is going to take us away from that in quite big chunks,
and we haven't decided whether we just go completely off it,
up to seeing grid serve, and then try and replicate some of it again,
or whether we try initially to replicate bits of it.
I think we're both in two minds.
We can both argue four and again.
I think we need a night's sleep, and then decide to see how we feel in the morning.
Yeah, but we are going to try and hit a couple of bits,
and try and get at least a little, not just go straight up the M1.
Yeah.
A sensible person would go here, M20, M2, M25, M11, M1,
and that would be it, and you'd end up near 1M at the top,
and you'd be there in five hours.
Not sure we're sensible.
I just feel that that's cheating a little bit,
and so I do feel we should maybe try and stick a little bit closer to the coast,
because we have to come back in again.
I think we're going to find some hybrid of that,
but that decision comes after dinner, a beer,
and probably a coffee at breakfast tomorrow morning when we get in the car.
I think that's all the new news we have, isn't it?
Yeah.
As far as new news, just before we sign off,
thanks very much to our charging sponsor, GridServe.
They have an EV charging network that spans almost the whole of the UK,
and while you can just turn up and pay with a debit card or their app,
you can also get 25% off charging rates at all 200 of their locations with GridServe Plus.
GridServe Plus costs just £7.99 a month and can be cancelled at any time,
much like many gym memberships, and as well as the discounted charging,
there are many other seasonal membership benefits,
such as EV health checks whilst you charge, pet portraits, and similar.
Many people take out GridServe Plus for a month at a time
to cover a holiday or to cover seasonal travel.
There's much more information at gridserve.com slash membership.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I feel we should have music behind that as a word from our sponsor,
but you're now going to pledge me to death free from suggesting it.
No, I don't think we need that.
No parish notes.
We bank tomorrow.
Keep an eye on the socials I'm trying to share bits and pieces and pictures and whatever,
but it depends who's driving and who's taking the photos and all that kind of stuff.
And connectivity a few sides to take.
It has actually.
Yeah, connectivity has been a bit fun a couple of times,
but anyway, don't forget that between now and tomorrow,
you can give us any feedback and share your thoughts with the show
at motoringpodcast.com on Blue Sky, at Motoring Podcast on Instagram and Facebook,
and on the contact page of www.motoringpodcast.com, the hub of all our activities.
Remember, you can support us financially via Patreon and please leave a review and rating
on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or however your podcast app lets you do such a thing.
Andrew, what's the best way to get in touch with you?
The best way this week to get in touch with me is via Blue Sky,
if you search for correct windscreen on there.
And Alan, if people want to get in touch with you personally,
what's the best way for them to do that?
A Blue Sky again, probably where I'm at AJP Bradley, that's b-a-d-l-e-y dot b-sky dot social.
We'll be back tomorrow.
But until then, I've been Alan Bradley.
I've been Andrew Clews.
At Safe Motoring.
About this episode
Day 2 of the Recharging Round Britain EV trip kicks off from Bodmin Moor, with the hosts aiming to see whether it’s harder or easier than 10 years ago—especially around charger availability. They route via southwest England, stop at Folkestone Services to charge overnight, and then tackle major roads toward tomorrow. Along the way they compare charging speeds, verify the car’s WLTP range, and use drive modes to manage efficiency. GridServe sponsor details wrap the segment, including GridServe Plus discounts.
Today, Tuesday July 2026, we continued with Day 2 of Recharging Round Britain, where we try as closely as we can to recreate the route we undertook nearly a decade ago. Hear how we got on today as we travelled from Bodmin, via Falmouth, Exeter, Southampton, Cobham Services eventually to our hotel in Folkestone.
CHARGING SPONSOR
Thanks to our charging sponsor, GRIDSERVE, They have an EV charging network that spans almost the whole of the UK.
While you can just turn up and pay with a debit card or their app, you can also get 25% off charging rates at all 200 of their locations with GRIDSERVE Plus.
GRIDSERVE Plus costs just £7.99/month and can be cancelled at any time, much like many gym memberships, and as well as the discounted charging, there are many other seasonal membership benefits such as EV heathchecks while you charge, pet portraits, and similar.
Many people take out Gridserve Plus for a month at a time to cover a holiday or seasonal travel.
Thank you to Hyundai, who once again have loaned us an electric vehicle enabling us to travel around as much of Britain as we can in six days. This time, we are using an Inster 02. To find out more on the Inster, you can listen to Alan’s time with one during the UK launch of the car, by clicking this link here.
If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST
