Electric Vehicle road trip in England?

Personally, I would not be interested in driving an EV in the UK, particularly in some remote areas.

We have rented cars in the UK twice driving a week the first time and four weeks the second time. We visited some remote areas, particularly in Wales, The Lake District and Yorkshire. Wouldn't want to run out of juice in those areas without recharging.

We have never driven in Scotland, but places like the Western Highlands could be a challenge.

I have a neighbor that drives an EV and he says it works well for his 20 mile daily commute, but that recharging can be a problem when driving in less populated areas of Georgia and South Carolina.

A self driving tour of the UK is a great way to see the fantastic countryside. There is much to see.

There is a shortage of charging points which is why people will be reluctant to rent EV vehicles. At busy times there are long queues for chargers. I wouldn’t do it. I think electric cars are still really only for city/local driving until the infrastructure improves.

What does the itinerary look like and are you staying at places that offer charging? If you're not driving that far every day and can charge overnight it sounds like a good idea.

@Badger Unfortunately I don’t know anything about charging capabilities at our lodgings as we weren’t considering an EV when we booked them months ago. I’ll see if I can do some research.

We have been driving an electric car for almost 6 years now. Given the cars you are being offered it is definitely doable, with some careful planning. If you can find accommodation either with its own charging or somewhere nearby it will be fine. You should avoid long driving days if you can, but I would be advising that anyway.

There is an out of date list for the Lake District at Sally's Cottages website- out of date as I can think of some places not on the list. It lists Killington Lake services, but not Tebay services for instance. I know that at Tebay Tesla is at the southbound services, everyone else on the northbound- you cross sides using the service road/fire brigade access road.

On our trip around Scotland and northern England last September, I recall only one lodging in Nairn that had charging points. At this point in time, especially in more rural areas, I don’t think the infrastructure to support EVs is in place. Your lodging choices should show on their website, booking.com, TripAdvisor, etc., whether it has a charging point as an amenity.

This is probably the most comprehensive resource on U.K. charging stations - zap-map.com. I would have a look at this to see what’s available in the places you want to stay.
You should also be able to charge on fairly or very fast chargers at any motorway service stations, which will be handy in England but less useful north of Glasgow/Edinburgh.

Regarding electric cars, I think you should find out about airport rentals, there are many rental options and companies that provide such services. Here you can go to the website and find out more Rental24.co.uk
I only had the experience of renting a 7-seater car while traveling to the Liverpool

As a US EV owner, I would not want to learn about EV usage and "range anxiety" while on my vacation. I would also point out that a Tesla is a relatively large vehicle. While it might help me to imagine that I am driving from the Mall of America to Disneyland, it's a real problem for rural U.K. roads. We rent the smallest car we can use, across the pond.

Have you ever driven in the Lake District or similar places? You have 1.25- or 1.5-lane roads between two stiles or hedges, where you will meet oncoming traffic. What do you do in a Tesla! Hold up your US passport and forge on?

Actually I don't see the Tesla 3 as a particularly large vehicle, Clearly there are smaller EVs like our current Renault Zoe, but we're about to swap for an MG5 which is pretty much the same size as the Tesla 3, as is the Polestar 2. There are plenty of bigger TVs, notable the Jaguar and BMW SUVs for example.
I guess it might be an issue for someone from North America not used to either driving ion the "wrong" side or our smaller lanes but I would not see it as a particular problem.

I don't yet have an EV but I do read what Which? (like the Consumers Reports but not related) has noted that with the current high prices at public charging stations it is now more expensive than petrol in parts of the country.

If it is way cheaper for the deal maybe that would partly make up for the charging cost (but not the extra time)

The vast majority of EV owners charge their cars up at home for much less than some of the pricey charging stations. Obviously that's an issue if you have no way of connecting at home.
For visitors the key to organising a tour by EV is to plan to have accommodation either with its own charging facilities or have one nearby. Then you will be doing most of your charging overnight so no time wasted. And many hotels etc don't charge at all for charging.

I've also seen people I know complaining that the current level at public charging points is often lower than advertised, especially when multiple ones at the same location are in use.

Hi all! Thanks for the helpful replies. It sounded like overall the sentiment was to avoid EVs for a UK road trip, so we went with a gas-powered Ford Fiesta. We'll be picking it up to start our road trip this Sunday. Wish us luck!