Going extra miles

10 January 2024

With a new year well and truly under way, it’s a good time to catch up with Peter Beach, MD of welfare unit manufacturer Genquip Groundhog for an update on his experiences of driving an electric vehicle (EV) for business. 

Since March 2021, the blog has been following Peter’s electric journey in an unscientific but real-life progress report on his experiences. 

Last November he swapped his Jaguar iPace for a BMW i5 and he has been impressed by the approximate 300 mile range it offers on a full charge in typical driving conditions, compared against the Jaguar’s 200 miles or so. 

“I can generally charge it up with the 7kW charger at home. Away from base, the charging infrastructure is improving but it’s still nowhere near the scale it needs to be, particularly at motorway services.” he told me. 

Last month the UK government claimed it is on track to install 300,000 public electrical charge points by 2030, with 52,602 now available. Technology and Decarbonisation Minister Anthony Browne also said that EVs now make up 16% of the car market. 

The RAC, however, said recently that the government has missed its target for the proportion of ‘rapid’ and ‘ultra-rapid’ chargers available at service stations. The former can add 100 miles of range or so to an EV in around 35 minutes – still nowhere near the speed at which you can refuel a traditional vehicle, it must be said. 

The cost of charging away from home can also be eye-watering. 

And Peter admits he was quite envious recently when he was a passenger in his brother's diesel BMW: it has a cleaner diesel Euro 6 engine and in favourable conditions can travel nearly 900 miles between fill-ups.