Our cars Charging woes (again!)


This month our tester takes a three-day round trip in our Genesis GV70 electrified and comes away more frustrated than ever by the charging network’s inadequacies. It’s time to name and shame.


Genesis Electrified GV70 Sport


P11D £64,300 Price as tested £77,825 Official range 341 miles Engine size/power twin electric motors, 490hp WLTP Combined Range 276 miles per kWhr/ 221 miles 80% charge Mileage 7,049 miles


Pete Tullin


Even though it’s super-comfortable, super-quiet and has some of the best massaging seats I’ve encountered, I still struggle to think of our electrified GV70 as a top long- distance cruiser. Although


the


official range potential is 276 miles, if I stick to the most efficient charging strategy, preventing the battery’s reserves from sinking below 20% and never charging above 80%, the effective range is actually closer to 180 miles. Of course, this mileage limitation isn’t helped by a woefully inadequate charging infrastructure. In a recent survey, Eurocar discovered the number of UK fleets being held back from electrifying by EV charging concerns increased significantly during 2024. The rental company’s EV barometer surveys conducted throughout the year confirmed that the percentage of people naming charging infrastructure as a concern rose from 33.8% in Q1 to 37.4% in Q4. Not that I need a survey to know this, because almost everyone I encounter when I’m compelled to stop at a charging station usually has their own personal horror story.


Why we’re running it


To see how our former winner works in everyday use.


Although we are constantly being told things are steadily improving, this has not been my experience. Even Gridserve, who I’ve found to be by far the most reliable supplier, managed to make a recent trip up the M4 more arduous than usual. Stopping at Leigh Delamere services on the eastbound side I was greeted by a pathetic muster of one 50 kw item and a pair of 22kW chargers, which were fully occupied. Not having enough charge to make it to the next services at Membury, I consulted ZapMaps and concluded that if I drove a couple of miles further, I could take the slip road and then head back West to access a host of 100-plus kW chargers. Trouble is, by the time I’d completed this


roundabout route I’d added 15 miles to my journey. My next source of frustration involved a detour to a shiny new BP Pulse charging station at Brooklands in Surrey, where the promise of ‘up to’ 150kW and lots of available chargers seemed almost too good to be true. Indeed it was. Having plugged in and swiped my tortured debit card, – many chargers will not accept credit cards – I toddled off to a nice warm café nearby, returning an hour later to discover the GV70 had increased its range by a grand total of 30 miles. Yep, the charger had crashed at around the same time I was blowing the froth off my first cappuccino. Having repeated the rigmarole and spent the next hour crossing my


fingers and freezing my tootsies off; while telepathically daring the charger to throw another paddy, I finally achieved the heady heights of an 80% charge. As for the tantalising promise of a rapid 150kW delivery rate, at no point, did I see the meter exceed 65kW. As frustrating as these experiences may have been they were mere bagatelle compared to what awaited me at Cambridge services on the A14 and the fun and games Ionity had in store for me. Two bank card interactions and three different charge point attempts later, with not so much as a glimmer forthcoming, I rang the hotline, more in hope than expectation. Speaking to a nice lady who asked me to remain calm while she led me a merry dance around the Genesis, involving locking and unlocking, plugging in and plugging out while patting my head and simultaneously stroking my belly in a circular fashion – I may have made that last bit up – she too tried in vain to persuade the tight- fisted charger to put out.


Finally, the lady on the phone surrendered and offered to supply me with a small emergency boost, free of charge to get me to the next available charging station. Although she could not explain how she was able to do this and yet she wasn’t able to let me pay for a full charge. Finally, we ended our chit-chat with her sighing profusely and me giggling manically like a condemned man tucking into his pre-neck-tie breakfast. I suppose if there is one saving grace in all this, it is the fact that the price being charged by these companies for electricity is so reasonable. Of course, I’m joking. With the price of juice now commonly, ranging between 79p and 85p per kilowatt for anything approaching a reasonable rapid rate, asking an EV to take on long journeys is still a frustratingly inconvenient and prohibitively expensive undertaking. That said, I suppose the fact that I am currently writing this report plugged into a 22kw charger on a charming little industrial estate just outside of Doncaster proves enforced downtime doesn’t need to have a downside. Tell it to the birds.


www.businesscar.co.uk | March/April 2025 | 43


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