Yes to paraphrase the Proclaimers hit single, 2026and next year see the arrival of a new generation of EV’s with an official range of 500 miles and there’s “gonna be” absolutely no walking required. Yes those official WLTP numbers need to be treated with a barrel of salt but as a general rule most EV’s should be able to achieve 80% of official range on a mix or roads except in winter or on pure high speed motorway runs.

Some of these new electric models should be able to manage 375-400 miles on a 100% charge and then add 200 more in around 15 minutes or less. I will be testing this in the real world in summer 2026. Tests of the BMW iX3 Neue Classe will validate whether London to Inverness (around 570 miles) is feasible at normal UK driving speeds up the national speed limit using UK public chargers to top up in as little as 15 minutes.

15 minute 1 stop range
400 miles+200 miles

15 minute “one-stop range” – A simple metric to compare long range road trip electric cars

How many miles can an Electric Vehicle (EV) travel in 2 legs starting with a

1 – 100% battery till it gets down to 10%

then

2 – a 15 minute charge then and continuing again till the battery is back down to 10%

If you want a single metric to tell you how good an EV will be at long distance travel this seems the logical answer and it’s been adopted by the Electric Vehicle database or EVDB.
EVDB is effectively the reference online source for comparable stats on electric vehicles including realistic range estimates. You can sort models by 1 stop range on the website and find detailed info in the Long Distance Suitability tab. We will use the average conditions tab.

Our take – Longer one stop range estimates

EVDB “One stop range” factors in battery size, efficiency and charge speed in a standard way. Now while this should work well to compare EV’s, in the real world we estimate you might well go a fair bit further especially in temperatures over about 12C,

• EVDB assumes continuous 70 mph motorway speed limits. This assumes a trip without roadworks or slower speed A & B roads or traffic congestion.
• stopping to charge at below 10% could add more range on both legs

It’s worth noting the stopping to charge at 10% of battery is 10 miles remaining on a car with 100 miles range. By contrast on an EV’ that will manage a real world 400 miles stopping at 10% is 40 miles range remaining. Stopping with 10 miles remaining would just be 2.5% battery on the car with 400 miles range..

In shorter range cars it’s worth stopping for longer or a full 10-80% charge

Shorter range cars including smaller cars with well under 55 kWh batteries will often get barely more than their 100% range after 15 minute stop.

• eg 100% real world range is 100 miles (125 miles WLTP)
• If one stop charging starts at 10% and finishes at 80% then you’re actually adding 70 miles often in around 30 mins.
• 15 minutes will add just over half that 35 and 50 miles (from 10%) and frankly on smaller cars you probably want to stay plugged in for a longer to make plugging in worthwhile.
• a few slow charging electric cars still take much more than 30 mins and some even take more than 40 mins for a 10-80% charge. These will probably not add more than 15-25 miles in 15 mins

How to avoid slow charging EV’s

All new EV’s worth considering should be able to charge 10-80% in under 35 mins

• 12 to 22 mins is state of the art
• 23 to 30 mins is brisk
• 30-35 mins is acceptable
• 35-45 mins is slow and annoying for road trips
• 45 mins do not have the ability to do longer trips in any convenient fashion

Check a car on EVDB under “charging/ rapid charging/ charge time” as they always show a comparable 10-80% time. This avoids relying on deceptive marketing by some carmakers quoting charge times for 20% or 30% to 80% times to mislead consumers.

Tesla is getting left behind?

The Tesla Model 3 saloon and Model Y SUV have been the linchpin of Tesla’s success and have long provided a benchmark for long distance EV travel. Until recently if you wanted to do easy long distance trips across the UK and Europe. these Tesla’s were the natural electric choice. They’ve also been my primary choice since 2019 but these days Tesla’s actually charge 10-80% quite slowly in around 32-35mins. Tesla partially make up for this…They add kWh more slowly than some but travel further on each kWh than the competition (which helps on road trips and cuts bills)
2026 though will see SUV competitors to the Model Y arrive with much faster charging than any Tesla and longer range. These will soon after be joined by saloons and estates wanting to out do the Model 3 well.

56%-76% – The maths behind real range compared to official WLTP range

This is most easily explained in an example based on a BMW iX3 or the new Volvo EX60 P12

• WLTP official range is 500 miles for a 100% charge
• Take 20% off and that’s a likely real world 400 miles on a 100% charge
• If you charge at 10% and stop at 80% that’s 30% of the battery not used and you’re only using 70% of the battery to travel which is a range of just…280 miles. That’s just 56% of the official WLTP range.
• If you start a long trip with a 100% charge you can add back 80 miles range and if you have the experience and confidence to keep going down to 5% before you charge you gain another 20 miles giving you a range of 380 miles before your first stop
• 56% of WLTP is a rough average for any EV from 80% down to 10%
• 76% of WLTP is a rough average for any EV starting trips at 100% and charging 5%
• You can then add 50% or around 200 miles with a short charge giving you 580 miles (16% above 100% WLTP range) with a single 15 minute stop
• In a long range fast charging EV like an iX3 Neue Classe could give you a 52% range boost but add only 2.5% to your 10 hour journey time to somewhere like Inverness (plus time to reach the charger)
• In reality most human drivers and their passengers will need many more “biological stops” than the EV

So when someone with less experience of EV’s says they are only getting about half the claimed range.. they might well be right, even though someone with more EV experience, driving in the same way in the same conditions could get about 50% further in the same car. In fact if an EV driver is nervous and always charges from 20% battery back up to 80% they will only travel about 48% of official range between stops. It’s not a judgement.. just maths.

Of course in real world use you can’t use a battery from 100% to zero % and on a regular basis it wouldn’t help your battery longevity either. A long range EV however you can use more of the battery because even 2.5% battery leaves you 10 miles spare on a 400 mile car. In addition in an emergency many EV’s have a power buffer of up to 10 miles after your battery indicator reaches zero. Never use this buffer on purpose but if you’re nearly at a charger then it might save the day. Watching the Carwow range videos on youtube where they drive till a an EV physically stops gives you an idea.

In depth – What really makes an EV go the extra mile on a trip?

The Car

In there are 3 primary factors that decide what cars will be best for road trips.

1. Battery capacity – how many kWh the battery can deliver for your drive between charges
   Adding more battery capacity can be good but too much can make the car too heavy which will reduce..efficiency
2. Efficiency – how many miles can you drive with each kWh in the battery.
   This directly affects how far you can travel. and how easy your trips are. It also decides the overall cost of powering your car.
3. Average charging speed – how many kW you can charge per hour
   The average kW charging speed you can charge at along with the efficiency of the car directly decide how many miles of range can you add in a set charging time.

Remember all electric cars charge fastest on a DC charger if you plug in at a low state of charge (eg 10% battery) and charge slower as the battery level increases. Some have a small difference in speed (known as a flat charge curve) while some others including Tesla’s run like a hare (250kW) then slow to a trickle, often even below 100kW once 50% charged.

The Driver

The other main factor is driving style and the settings you use on the car when drive

• If you have strong regenerative braking use it!
  Some argue than setting regen to a weak setting on the motorway is more efficient but in my experience if you’re on cruise control it makes little difference. On any other road with bends and hills and traffic lights and jams regen will give you a lot more range than wasting all that energy with friction braking. It also means your brake pads last many times longer. Try and avoid cars where regen is weak and hardly slows the car.
• Don’t turn off heating or cooling
  Yes you can save energy donning a coat and scarf but even on a short trip to the station on a freezing morning you’ll want to get the ice off the windscreen and be comfortable. What does help without being a bother is heating or cooling a little less – set the temp to 19c in winter and 22c on a hot summer day and your car will use less energy
• Do use your speed to adjust your range
  If you think you might not reach your next charge point you can often add several % to your battery on arrival by adjusting your speed. Driving in Europe at 130km/81mph? Just slow down to 120 or 115kmh (73mph) and you’ll gain extra miles. If you’re already at 70 mph slowing to 60mph will give your range a further big boost in most EV’s.
  Worth noting at a continuous 70mph it would take you
  1 hr 26 mins to travel 100 miles
  Slowing to 60mph will cost you can extra 14 mins per 100 miles so 1hr 40
  while speeding to 80mph would save you about 11 mins to 1hr 15 mins.
  Travelling at 90 mph would take just an hour and 6 mins so a 23% time saving where legal.. but might increase your power consumption and journey cost by over 80% and force you to take extra time charging more often. Efficiency is a good friend to your wallet.
• Drive smoothly
  Braking early enough for your regen restore that energy into the battery gets you way more range. This applies when approaching bends or traffic light or anything that will slow you or bring you to a halt
• Motorway acceleration
  EV’s have plenty of torque for safer overtaking but if you are sticking to 70mph but then accelerate to high speeds like 80- 90mph even for a short time your efficiency will suffer.. and maybe your licence too. You’re more likely achieve this efficiently when no one is close behind you in the overtaking lane.

EV’s you’d need for these journeys from London

Warning – The electric cars below could achieve the suggested trip levels when driving efficiently in good conditions and using the fastest chargers available. Some cars may achieve less than we hope and may need more charging. Only on the road tests can I 100% validate the distances these cars are capable of. That is why I do road tests.

Level 6 – 600 miles

Inverness 575 miles
Aberdeen 545 miles
Isle of Skye 609 miles
Basel 569 miles

Best value – 2026 BMW iX3 from £58,755 (see Car deals A-Z)

• BMW iX3 Neue Classe 50 x drive
  The BMW also uses 800v tech but unlike the Mercedes CLA it below it can use any chargers as standard, including all the less expensive 400v Tesla Superchargers. With an EVDB 1 stop range of 464 miles it is only just behind the longest range CLA. It does this despite being less efficient by using a mammoth 108.7kWh battery compared to the Merc’s 85kWh and dispatching a 10-80% charge in just 21 minutes.
  MyUrbanCar target – If you can manage a 100% range of 400 miles and stop at 380-390 miles to charge then I think the 580 miles from London to Inverness could be in reach. I will be testing this in early summer 2026
• Mercedes CLA 250+
  The new Mercedes is so promising in charge speed and promised efficiency that it gets an EVDB 1 stop figure of 474 miles in average weather. That’s equivalent to London to Aviemore. While list prices start at around £45k and discounts are available the CLA is limited in space especially for rear passengers. The estate option helps a little
  MyUrbanCar target – With warmer weather and disciplined sticking to speed limits I think London to Inverness or around 570 miles could be possible. But the Merc has a problem. While any other 800v EV can use any charger , the Mercedes as standard can’t use 400v chargers that are half the DC chargers in the UK at the time of writing. Mercedes eventually offered an expensive optional adapter to allow use of 400v chargers but even this is limited to a very slow 100kW charging speed. In fact apart from slow AC chargers it seems there isn’t a single 800v charging option for the Merc on the 112 miles from Perth to Inverness including Aviemore. So you really would need an extra charge in Perth in this car. Could a 2 stop totalling 15 minutes reach Inverness? Maybe
• Volvo EX60 P12 (due 2027)
  Anyone would think Volvo had been copying BMW’s homework. EVDB 1 stop estimate 461 miles on the range topping P12 AWD. Worth noting though that the P12 achieves this with a much bigger battery and much higher price tag than the BMW and this P12 version won’t be available till 2027. The mid spec P10 available this summer has a much smaller battery, also costs a little more than the iX3 50 (which will also be mid spec ) and has an EVDB range estimate of just 385 miles.
  MyUrbanCar target – Even the P10 Volvo should be a decent road tripper thanks to 10-80% charging even faster than the BMW in just 19 minutes.
• Porsche Taycan plus
  yes if you get the rear wheel drive Taycan and drive like an angel 459 miles is what EVDB say could be achieved with a single 15 minute stop on a fast enough charger.
  MyUrbanCar target – yes you might just manage a 15 minute charge to Inverness but you might have to resort to some serious eco driving to make it!

Level 5 – 500 miles

Dundee 484 miles
Fort William 515 miles
Frankfurt 498 miles

Best value – Audi A6 e-tron Sportback – discounted to £45-55k (see Car deals A-Z)

• Mercedes EQS 450 4 Matic
  454 mile EVDB one stop range. The EQS is getting older now but good aero and a big battery place is near the top at level 5. The 29 minute 10-80% charge time will be the limiting factor
• Audi A6 Sportback e-tron
  446 mile EVDB one stop range. The Audi is still pretty fresh but the 23 minute charge time is no longer class leading.
• Polestar 5 Dual Motor
  434 mile EVDB one stop range. Decent 22 minute charge time means owners are achieving good real world road trips.
  
  

Level 4 – 400 miles

Edinburgh 400 miles
Glasgow 400 miles

Best value – VW ID.7 Fastback 86kWh from £39k (see Car deals A-Z)

• Tesla Model 3 premium RWD and Dual motor
  428 mile EVDB one stop range or 406 miles for the dual motor. Officially Tesla and it’s dual motor sibling further down the list are just in the running for level 5. In the real world at normal speeds I don’t think so. Despite class leading efficiency, the relatively small battery and poor charge curve means it’s very unlikely. In my own experience the 10-80% charge times are nearer 34 mins than the 29 minutes claimed
• VW ID.7 Pro S
  373 mile EVDB one stop but the VW 26 minute 10-80% charge time should be decently quicker than the Tesla’s and efficiency is not bad.
• BMW i4 eDrive 40
  370 mile EVDB but in warm weather this old tech BMW could just reach the 400 mile mark with a 15 minute stop. 28 minute 10-80% times are nothing special.
• Mercedes GLC 400 4 matic
  377 mile EVDB one stop range but in the warmer months the Merc should be in with a chance of Edinburgh with a 15 minute. stop. Mercedes choice a smaller battery than the iX3 but charging is still quick 22 mins. Like the CLA though, Mercedes chose to limit the number of chargers the GLC can use and even the costly workaround 400v adapter is slow compared to competitors.
• Kia EV6
  It’s a little tight because the Kia is not the most efficient of EV’s but with a claimed 10-80% charge in as little as 18% it’s on the cusp of being a level 3 or 4.

Level 3 – 300 miles

Newcastle 280 miles
St Ives 285 miles
Carlisle 300 miles
Holyhead (Dublin) 289 miles
Paris 290 miles

Level 3 Best value – Skoda Elroq and Kia EV3 with bigger battery from £30-33k (see Car deals A-Z)

• Skoda Elroq 85 kWh 306 miles
  Good range and decent charge speeds make this a confident if not outstanding road trip car with lots of space for its size.
• Kia EV3 84 kWh 293 miles
  Good range and decent charge speeds make this a confident if not outstanding road trip car with lots of space for its size.
• BMW iX x drive 45 304 miles
  Base model iX gets decent range now
• Polestar 2 (327 mile) and Polestar 4 (305 mile) Long range RWD
• Xpeng G6 2026
  The updated G6 with RWD gets a rather pessimistic 347 mile 1 stop number from EVDB or roughly Berwick on Tweed. It is the fastest charging car on sale in the UK.
  MyUrbanCar target – I reckon 270 miles outside of winter is possible (especially if you’re happy going below 10% SOC before your first stop). That’s when you get to new G6’s party trick. It can charge from 10-80% in around 14 mins (or 12 mins if you can find a 451kW charger). That would equate to 270 miles + an extra 210 miles for a possible one stop of 480 miles. 2 x 15 minute stops from London might get you to Wick well beyond Inverness and only about 40 miles short of John O’Groats

Level 2 – 200 miles

Leeds 195 miles
Manchester 200 miles
Liverpool 210 Miles

Best value – Peugeot e208 £18k or as little as £14k for 2024 stock with under 10 miles on the clock or Ford Puma Gen-e or Renault 5 with comfort battery from £23k (see Car deals A-Z) and

• Ford Puma Gen-e – Efficiency allows 194 miles despite only a 44kWh battery and the big boot is great for trips
• Hyundai Inster long range – small but practical 193 miles
• Peugeot e208 – 199 miles and Vauxhall Corsa 198 miles both thanks to an efficient shape and decent charge speed

Level 1 – 100 miles

Best Value – BYD Dolphin Surf – We would swerve the 30kWh model with tiny range but the boost 43kWh from under £16k after discounts or Vauxhall Corsa at just over £16k are worth looking at because they are really level 2 options at a knock down price (see Car deals A-Z)

Level 1 cities are a doddle for almost all EV’s without a charge stop. The cars that can’t quite make level 2 are mainly cheaper cars or small battery versions of larger cars available with longer range. versions These include

• BYD Dolphin Surf 43 kWh
• Smart #1 47 kWh
• Suzuki Vitara 61kWh
• Hyundai Kona 48kWh
• GM Ora 03 45 kWh
• Fiat 500 42 kWh

It’s quite hard to produce an EV with such a small 1 stop range. Here is how

• A miniscule battery like the Dacia Spring (93 miles) and Fiat 500 24kWh (95 miles) BYD Dolphin Surf 30 kWh and Leapmotor T03 (132 miles). Perhaps surprisingly these models also take a long time to charge
• Use a battery that would be enough on a smaller car in something much bigger and less efficient like the 60kWh Ford Tourneo Custom (145 miles), Peugeot e-Rifter (149 miles) and BYD Atto 2 45kWh (146 miles)

Discontinued road trip fails from Japan UK France and Germany

Japanese carmakers helped kick off the EV market with the original Nissan Leaf but they have produced some absolute stinkers of EV’s to prove to themselves that electric won’t catch on.

• The Mazda MX 30 (104 miles) combined a tiny 105 mile range with glacially slow charging which for 10-80% took 41 minutes! The cute Honda-e (105 miles) was just as hopeless with 105 miles and a 39 minute 10-80% charge time
• The 1st generation Mini electric (114 miles) was pretty hopeless too but at least charged back up in 29 mins
• Nissan Leaf’s and Renault Zoe’s were hamstrung very slow charging. Some Zoe’s took an incredible 56 mins to DC charge while others came with no DC charging at all and would take 3 hours on the fastest AC chargers and 16 hours on slower ones (0-100%). The Gen 2 Leaf had a separate problem.
• VW e-Golf had it’s fans but also had a tiny range

Best charging metrics to compare road trip EV’s

In the past few years we’ve gone through a few metrics to compare EV’s. Here are some of their pros and cons.

• Peak charge speed in kW –
  This old measure is no longer useful at all as many cars that have a low peak manage a good average while some brands with a good peak like Tesla drop almost immediately to a slow speed.. For example a 135kW Skoda Enyaq manages a 10-80% charge nearly as quickly as 250kW Tesla Model 3 or Y
• Average 10-80% charge speed in kW
  A much more useful measure – it shows that the Skoda above averages 120kW during a 10-80% charge only just behind that Tesla with 124kW
• WLTP range in miles
  While this metric shows how far you could travel without charging on a road trip you need to factor in charge times too the maths detailed below.. Also you need to take 20% off most WLTP range figures to get anything realistic
• Charge time in minutes
  Very useful but always remembering a 10%-80% charge time for one car could be to travel 150 miles and another 400 miles.. Also some brands try to fool consumers by quoting a 20-80% or even 30-80% charge times instead of 10-80% to make very slow charging EV’s sound less bad.

Conclusion

In almost all of the UK and its motorway network it is now easy to find reliable charging hubs with between 5 and 40 chargers to plug into and charge quickly. Using your car or an app like Watt’s up makes this super easy to plan but high cost remains an issue. I am hopeful costs will come down at least to parity with petrol..around 60p/kWh.

A level 6 car is a technology triumph especially if you were heading from Calais to Geneva at the French motorway speed limit but level 2 and especially level 3 cars are capable of handling long road trips even if the stops need to be nearer 30 mins than 15. Level 1 cars best avoided for regular long distance point to point journeys.

I will draw the line at range testing level 6. Level 7.. which would involve driving the 686 miles from London to John O’Groats with only a 15 minute charge stop is pointless. It’s a journey only a tiny number of people make (I have but over several days while on a holiday) and all of them needed toilet stops. a stretch, a coffee and a meal at several points on the journey anyway.

On the charging front, some commercial fleet operators might appreciate a 10-80% charge in 5 mins that is now technically possible, but for most a stop for 15-25 mins.. is just enough time to plugin, use the facilities at a Motorway service area, grab a coffee and return to the car and unplug. On the cars now on sale we are now less than 5 mins away from that optimum. If we go further for the sake of it we won’t save time because there won’t be time to do anything else before the car needs to be unplugged.