Recharging Round Britain Day 3 - 15 July 2026
About this episode
Day 3 of the “recharging around Britain” EV trip runs from Folkestone to Washington, with the hosts leaning on sat nav through rush-hour motorways (M20, M25, M1). They share how motorway driving hits efficiency and how real-world consumption matches the car’s stated range. Charging coverage centers on Gridserv’s new Mark and Vale hub—30-something ~400 kW chargers, including options for larger vehicles—plus a practical lesson when a charger fails and how deposits/holds behave. GridSurf Plus sponsor details close out the segment.
Today, Wednesday 15 July 2026, we continued with Day 3 of Recharging Round Britain, and this is where we do not 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 Folkestone, via Toddington, Tibshelf services, Markham Vale, Wetherby to our hotel in Washington.
CHARGING SPONSORThanks 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.
There's more information at gridserve.com/membership/
VEHICLE SPONSORThank 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.
To see more about the car, from Hyundai themselves, click 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
Ford Anglia
"...we had plans to go around and cut up through East Anglia and try to stick to the East Coast as much as we ..."
The Ford Anglia is an older Ford car that was made for everyday driving. It’s a smaller family car that people could use for trips and exploring different areas. The podcast mentions it in connection with traveling around East Anglia and along the east coast.
The Ford Anglia is a compact, older-generation family car made by Ford, best known for being a practical, affordable way to travel in its era. It’s the kind of car that often comes up in stories about road trips and touring because it was designed for everyday driving rather than high performance. In this podcast context, it’s mentioned as part of a plan to travel around East Anglia and follow the east coast.
400 kilowatt chargers
"But an impressive place really. It's got 30-something, 400 kilowatt chargers."
That means the charging station can deliver a lot of electricity very quickly. If your car is able to take that kind of fast charging, you can usually add range in less time than with slower chargers.
“400 kilowatt chargers” refers to very high-power DC fast charging stations. Higher charger power can reduce charging time, especially when the vehicle’s battery and charging system can accept that power level.
massive battery packs
"Especially not the German models. With the massive battery packs that we're starting to see from Mercedes and BMW and stuff."
An EV battery pack is the big battery inside the car that stores the electricity. Bigger battery packs can change how charging works and how long you might need to charge.
A battery pack is the large set of lithium cells that stores electricity in an EV. The host contrasts newer EVs with larger battery packs (from Mercedes and BMW) against the idea of quickly charging and moving on, implying that charging needs can differ by vehicle.
Gridserv
"First, one of those Gridserv charging hubs that I've been to. I know I've been around for a while."
Gridserv is a company that runs EV charging stations. In this segment, they’re talking about one of Gridserv’s bigger charging locations with extra facilities.
Gridserv is an EV charging network brand known for building large, amenity-rich charging sites. Here, the host references a specific Gridserv charging hub layout, including indoor charging areas and on-site facilities.
charging hubs
"First, one of those Gridserv charging hubs that I've been to. I know I've been around for a while."
A charging hub is a place where lots of EV chargers are grouped together. It’s usually set up so you can charge your car and also have somewhere to wait or grab food.
A charging hub is a dedicated EV charging site that typically bundles multiple chargers in one place, often with amenities nearby. In this episode, the hosts describe it as more than just chargers—there’s a shop, meeting space, and places to wait while charging.
charging points
"But also on the outside, there was a couple of charging points for larger EV vehicles, such as coaches, lorries, someone towing a caravan, big vans, that sort of thing."
Charging points are the actual plugs/outlets where you connect your EV to charge. Some sites include larger charging points for bigger vehicles.
Charging points are individual charging outlets/ports at a site, each capable of charging a vehicle. The host notes that some charging points are intended for larger EVs like coaches, lorries, and vans, not just passenger cars.
charging bits
"because all those machines worked perfectly, [484.2s] something we didn't say when you went through the charging bits, [487.3s] is what I said in the introduction."
They mean the process and equipment involved in getting an EV charger to actually start charging. Even if everything looks fine, the session can fail at the start.
“Charging bits” is the hosts’ casual way of referring to the steps and hardware involved in starting an EV charging session—like selecting a charger, authenticating, and initiating power delivery. The point they make is that the chargers can behave differently in practice than expected.
move on to another machine
"If the machine doesn't work once, [518.6s] just move on to another machine as quickly as possible. [521.6s] And this is the sort of little messages that need to be passed on to new EV owners,"
This is a practical troubleshooting concept for public EV charging: if a charger fails to start once, the best move is to switch to a different unit rather than repeatedly trying the same one. It reduces wasted time and frustration, especially for new EV owners.
30 pound deposit
"But what it had done is it had taken this of 30 pound deposit, [545.8s] which is more than we need to charge. [548.2s] It had taken that."
Some EV chargers take a temporary payment (a deposit) when you start. In this case, the charger took a £30 deposit even though the charging didn’t really go as planned.
A “deposit” in EV charging is a temporary charge (often taken via your payment method) to help cover the cost of the session and reduce fraud or failed starts. The hosts say the charger took a £30 deposit even though they didn’t get the amount of charging they expected.
regen
"Well, there's more chance of regen as well. Yeah. Well, that's the big thing, by the way, of what we found with the motorways and the dual carriageways."
“Regen” means the car slows down using the electric motor and turns some of that slowing energy back into battery power. It helps you get more range out of the same charge.
“Regen” is short for regenerative braking, where an electric motor slows the car and turns some of that motion back into electricity. That recovered energy can extend range and reduce how often you rely on the friction brakes.
average kilowatts per mile
"Because there isn't the regen, that obviously means you don't get back the mileage, it doesn't then boost up the average kilowatts per mile."
This is an EV efficiency number that tells you how much electricity the car uses to drive a mile. If it’s lower, the car is using less energy and should go farther on a charge.
“Kilowatts per mile” is an energy-consumption metric for EVs: it describes how much electrical power the car uses to travel one mile. Lower numbers generally mean better efficiency and more range from the same battery capacity.
live consumption efficiency
"But equally, we are also not staring at what's the live consumption efficiency, because we don't want to know, because we don't want it to affect the way we drive."
That’s the real-time display of how efficiently the car is using electricity right now. Some people avoid staring at it because it can make you drive differently than you normally would.
“Live consumption efficiency” refers to the real-time efficiency readout an EV shows while you drive. Drivers often watch it to adjust throttle and driving style, which can change how efficiently the car uses energy.
gamification
"we try not to show the life school in front of ourselves on the dashboard, because otherwise we are both guilty of gamification and just driving to fit that, rather than just driving like we drive to get to places."
In this context, “gamification” means treating the EV’s efficiency/range displays like a game with a score. That can lead drivers to alter their behavior to hit targets rather than just driving normally to reach destinations.
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