FREDA LEWIS-STEMPEL: I did a 1,000 mile journey within the new Tesla Model 3

Is it really such a massive tribulation and nerve-racking experience taking an electric car on a long trip?

What about if you promise to only use chargers powered by 100 per cent renewable energy and stay at sustainable accommodation?

Our motoring reporter Freda Lewis-Stempel decided to find out by embarking on a carbon neutral road trip from London to Scotland to see if sustainable EV driving really holds up in 2024.

Leg one: Tesla Tottenham to Tebay Services, Cumbria

Setting off from Tesla Centre Tottenham with around 340 miles of charge, there was no need to plug in before Tebay as I was predicted to arrive with just over 50 miles of battery range remaining.

But there’s only so much of the M1 you can take before needing a break, so after around two hours on the road I stopped at Rugby Services –  the largest rapid-charging site for EVs on Britain’s motorway network.

Confronted with a bank of 28 Tesla Superchargers and 23 rapid Gridserve charging points, there was ample opportunity to replenish the Tesla’s battery, had I wanted to.

Instead, I stretched my legs and grabbed some refreshments before driving on. I was there for around 15 minutes, so if I’d hooked the Model 3 up to a Supercharger it would have added up to 175 miles of range.

The Supercharger network is the largest fast-charging network in the world, and in 2023 became 100 per cent renewable – using onsite renewable resources and annual renewable matching.

The Gridserve ultra-rapid chargers also use 100 per cent renewable energy, so on this occasion either provider would fulfil the sustainable green energy aim easily.

It’s also worth noting that Tesla recently opened up its Supercharger membership to all EV owners (including non-Tesla drivers). The newly discounted monthly membership costs just £8.99 now (previously £10.99).

Motoring on, I stopped again at Sandbach for a quick 10-minute relief from Britain’s motorway network. 

Again there was no need to charge – and admittedly the infrastructure available at this location is no way on-par with Rugby, or what Tebay would soon be offering.

Onto the day’s final stretch, when the M6 opens up, the traffic dies out and the landscape changes to open moorland was the moment the Model 3 came into its own.

With the car’s range prediction proving accurate, I felt entirely safe in pushing down on the accelerator with a little more gusto, extracting more of Tesla’s 491hp (366kW), and arrived with 52 miles of range to spare.

Checking into Tebay’s Westmorland Hotel, I plugged the Tesla into one of the six overnight slow AC chargers at the hotel.

These are operated by Swarco, which exclusively uses renewable energy.

The chargers work by scanning the barcode to start the session but getting it to recognise my chargepoint ID was a bit of a faff for a few minutes. The first real inconvenience I’ve faced on my 1,000 trek up the country.

Once solved, the session started, telling me it would earmark the maximum £35 charge from my card.

As well as the hotel charging, Tebay – a farm to fork enterprise that uses local produce from within 30 miles and traditional biodiversity and animal husbandry farming methods – has eight Telsa Superchargers and four Westmorland ultra-rapid chargers at the Southbound services, and Westmorland 12 ultra-rapid chargers at the Northbound services, all of which are contactless.

Leg two: Tebay to Perthshire via Dundee

I unlocked the Model 3 to find the charging session using the 7kW device overnight had been capped at £34.42 and upped the range to 268 miles (69 per cent of the Tesla’s total quoted 390-mile maximum range). 

As such, I decided to detether from the Swarco and plug into a Supercharger while I went out on a quick morning walk, maximising the charging capacity before driving around rural Scotland.

This isn’t exactly what I’d call range anxiety – think of it more as range preparation.

To some people this might seem a pain, but my daily routine usually involves a stroll to stretch my legs. And as far as I’m concerned, walking around Cumbria on a gorgeous –2 degree blue morning when the landscape is frosted over is to me a joy of driving electric.

There are chargers in some of the most scenic places in the UK, and eating breakfast while stopping to take in the view is something you wouldn’t do while filling up on fuel.

I left on 342 miles (87 per cent of the maximum range), with around three and a half hours and 200 miles ahead of me to cover.

A quick stop in Dundee

Dundee might be Scotland’s leading EV city now – thanks to over 12 years of hard work by Fraser Crichton, corporate fleet manager at Dundee City Council and the Drive Dundee Electric team – but it’s naturally on the air-pollution backfoot because of its geographical setup.

Dundee sits on the north coast of the mouth of the Tay Estuary. 

There’s a ridge formed by The Law – the famous lookout point over the city – and Balgay Hill.

One side of the city slopes down to the estuary meaning much of Dundee centre – with the highest buildings – sits in a bowl trapping pollutants in.

‘If you could dye the car’s fumes and see all the pollution sitting in the bowl, people would switch to EVs in a second’, Fraser told me.

Dundee’s switch to EVs is modelled on leading Scandinavian countries, with a ‘holistic’ approach to improving air quality and reducing emissions. Each type of charging solution has been designed for residents, by locals, with Dundee drivers’ input.

From the multi-model charging hub on Queen Street, Broughty Ferry – which has six contactless payment 50kW chargers and five 22kW chargers powered by a solar canopy – you can cycle into the centre of the city on a dedicated cycle lane.

At the Clepington Road charging hub, the eco reach goes far beyond the car – it’s part of Fraser’s aim to ‘deliver residents and visitors clean water every 0.5km’. 

The canopy roof is fitted with a Bluewater state-of-the-art water filtrations system, turning rainwater into purified water for the public to top up their refillable bottles, reducing single-use plastic waste.

And it’s been designed to BSI PAS 1899:2022 disability guidelines, with input from disabled drivers and disability charities. 

Fraser proudly pointed out that the partnership with Swarco E.Connect Smart Charging has meant they could design the hub to have longer cables, larger spaces and level access with no raised plinths or bollards, making it accessible for all disabled users.

Elsewhere in Britain just 2 per cent of on-street chargers meet accessibility guidelines. 

Down by the V&A on the waterfront, because on-street charging can be an eyesore, the team have chosen to install pop-up chargers ‘in free beds to minimise street clutter’.

As well as integrated design, Fraser says the ‘key to the EV transition is renewable energy’. Solar canopies and second-life EV battery storage solutions are used throughout Dundee’s charging infrastructure.

The Greenmarket multi-storey car park’s 20 charging bays are powered by solar canopies which output 41kW. One central unit controls the chargers, releasing energy when needed under ‘dynamic load management’, making energy output cheaper.

Second life EV batteries – which can no longer power an EV – store solar energy to use when energy demand is higher. This innovative battery storage system is also in play at the Clepington Road charging hub.

Each of Clepington’s two second-life battery storage units can store energy – either from the sun or cheap off-peak energy – to power 5,000 charging sessions (if each driver uses an average 20kW), making charging more eco and cheaper.

Speaking to Fraser I couldn’t help feeling Dundonians have lucked out rather. If councils were sent to Dundee to learn how it’s done, a lot more people would get onboard with electric.

Checking into self-accommodation with hydro-energy home charging in Perthshire

My final overnight stay was at the breathtaking Monzie Estate in Perthshire – a family-owned collection of self-catering houses and cottages centred around the estate’s 17th century castle.

For people with range anxiety, staying in the secluded hill of the Monzie (pronounced ‘Monie’) valley might seem a mad idea, but it makes an EV and sustainable road trip so easy because you can charge at ‘home’.

Burnside Cottage – my home for the night – had its own 7kW Easee wallbox charger. 

I plugged the car in with its AC cable, scanned the QR code and charged the car overnight. You wouldn’t get your own fuel pump at your isolated holiday cottage…

I could track the session on the Easee app – exactly how much I’d spent, status and stop the session whenever I wanted.

And, like the estate itself, all the home chargers are powered by hydro-electricity. 

And it’s not some untraceable ‘renewable energy’ that’s bought in: I toured the estate’s 1950s private hydro-electric generation plant – which looks like it should be out of a WWII film – and can still hear the thundering in my ears of the 200kW energy produced by the nearby river.

This is as clean EV charging as you’re ever going to get.

The return leg: Perthshire to London – over 450 miles without an overnight stop

It’s well known that drivers tend to overestimate how many miles they drive. 

Last year MOT test data by Field Dynamics found UK drivers travel on average fewer than 15,000 miles per year by car, and cover less than 41 miles per day.

The majority of motorists are unlikely to do this eight-hour, 450-mile stint in one go. 

Even if you do the Highway Code recommends taking a 15-minute break every two hours, which during my roughly eight hour journey gave me four opportunities to add charge.

I was on a tight schedule, so chose Tebay again for a Supercharger stop at lunch time. 

There was a lot of school holiday traffic, so the Superchargers were the busiest I’d ever seen them, but the wait was 10 minutes max (I didn’t have a wait but two cars after me did).

I took a 45-minute walk and lunch break, the car charged back up to 370 miles (95 per cent of the maximum range) and I pressed on.

But I wasn’t anywhere near running out of charge and on motorways you just aren’t going to: I stopped in for a break at multiple other services including Welcome Break Southbound in Warwickshire which has eight AppleGreen ultra-rapid chargers (can power 16 EVs), two 50kW CCS Gridserve chargers and eight Superchargers.

All three options are powered by renewable energy.

I arrived back in London with 14 per cent left, and no range anxiety at all.

Tesla Model 3 Facelift – good or bad updates? Is a long journey more relaxing with an EV?

The 2024 changes introduced for the latest Tesla Model 3 aren’t hugely extreme, but here’s a look at some of the most relevant updates – and what they’re like for a driver in Britain.

1. The stalkless steering wheel

Every driving control is now either on the steering wheel or part of the infotainment screen.

I got used to it by the end but it’s not an improvement. The turn signals are left-hand side buttons, a thumb press to indicate – the indicators are where you’d naturally expect sound system controls.

The drive selector is now on the right-hand side of the screen – slide forwards to go, and backwards to reverse.

While I didn’t mind the indicators, I didn’t like the new drive selector – for a quick U-turn it required too much thought. And it ‘predictive shifts’ which direction you’re going to go in, so always double check before hitting the accelerator!

It’s a case of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it really.

One safety feature which is absolutely brilliant on the 3 is the inclusion of blind spot cameras – indicate and you get a crystal-clear view of the road and any traffic or obstacles. Really excellent safety assist.

2. Noise and vibration reduction

The Model 3 excels itself on long journeys – all the relaxing benefits of smooth EV driving, one-pedal life and the quietness come to fruition.

You feel like you’ve driven 4 hours when you’ve driven 10. And it was even better on this trip thanks to the 30 per cent reduction in noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

And the cabin has new seats, and new premium materials (it used to be a bit cheap in the 3). With ventilated and heated seats all-round it was a very luxurious and comfortable home on wheels.

3. Charging time improvements

The Model 3 can now charge up to 175 miles in 15 minutes on a Supercharger – this really should knock range anxiety on the head as there are 12,000 Supercharger locations across Europe.