One of the country’s busiest travel weekends is upon us, as the UK braces for the big Easter getaway.
According to the RAC, an estimated 14 million car journeys will be made over the Easter weekend this year.
And with Easter falling at the start of the school holidays, Thursday and Good Friday are expected to be busier than ever, with people heading to holiday hotspots and visiting family and friends.
The RAC, along with traffic experts INRIX, predicts the western part of the M25, between the M23 at Gatwick and the M1 at Hertfordshire will be busiest, while popular holiday routes on the M5 between Bristol and Taunton and the M3 towards the south coast will also be heavily congested, with journey times doubling.
With a million EVs now on the road and the average journey length during the Easter getaway calculated at around 100 miles, we’ve estimated that electric cars will travel around 35 million planet-friendly miles during the long weekend.
That’s equivalent to an egg-cellent saving of around 9,000 tonnes of CO2 compared to if those miles were driven in a petrol or diesel car. To put that in real terms, that’s the same as growing over 350,000 trees for a year or powering almost 2,000 homes (a small village) for a year.
Plus, electric cars will massively help general air quality during any lengthy tailbacks with no idling fumes polluting the Easter sky.
How to charge considerately this Easter
As a result of the hectic travel weekend, motorway services will be up to 20% busier – meaning you’ll have to wait a little longer for your vanilla latte or vegan burger.
Naturally, that means our chargers will also be busier and therefore vital that all electric car drivers (and motorists in general) do their bit for charging etiquette. At some of our busiest sites we’ll even have charging attendants in place to help things run smoothly.
We ask that you don’t block bays if you’re not charging and don’t overstay longer than you need. And please avoid jumping the queue – that should be left to the Easter bunny.
Remember that charging power will slow after 80% thanks to your car’s charging curve, which means by trying to add those few extra miles you could be stopping someone else from connecting. It’s quicker for you in the long run to head off and recharge again later when you can top up faster again.
We’d also recommend choosing your charger wisely – you might not necessarily need a High Power Charger if you’ve got a little longer to stop, while those with CCS connectors are asked to use CCS-only chargers first so CHAdeMO customers can still gain access.
