How to plan the ultimate EV summer road trip

Load up your luggage, pack your snacks, and crank up the tunes. Summer’s here and it’s road trip time.

Whether you’re setting out on an epic self-drive holiday, taking your mates to a festival, or enjoying a good, old-fashioned trip to the seaside with your kids, your EV is the perfect companion.

Here are our ultimate tips for a fuss-free, eco-friendly, and super fun EV road trip.

If you’ve got a long day of driving ahead, it’s good to schedule stops every couple of hours.

Use Octopus’ Electroverse app to plan these stops around compatible chargers, so you can stretch your legs and power up at the same time.

The latest EVs and public chargers are getting faster and faster to top-up. Usually, it’s the perfect amount of time to grab a coffee or stretch your legs – so both you and your EV can start the next leg of the journey recharged.

Electroverse gives you access to more than 1 million public chargers across Europe. And if you’re an Octopus Energy customer, you could get a discount of up to 8% when you charge with the Electroverse app. More holiday money for you!

Driving in warm weather? Avoid the first part of your journey feeling like a sauna by preconditioning your EV before you set off.

Just set your ideal cabin temperature from your smartphone, and it’ll be all ready for you when you step in Better still to precondition your EV whilst it’s still plugged into a charging point to extend your battery life (you’ll lose less power running the aircon whilst driving).

Altogether a much more convenient (and efficient) way to stay cool than desperately cranking the aircon for the first few minutes of your journey.

Read more: How the weather affects your EV

Planning a holiday in Europe? No need to hire a car – your EV is the perfect choice. Many European countries boast extensive, well-developed charging infrastructure, and you can use the Electroverse app to find charging points across Europe, just like you would in the UK.

It’s worth looking at what you need to drive abroad before you set off. Remember:

• You’ll be driving on the right, so adjust your mirrors and install headlight reflectors.
• Look up any driving requirements that might differ from the UK – for example, French driving laws require you to carry a warning triangle in case of breakdown, and one reflective jacket for each passenger.
• Familiarise yourself with driving customs and speed limits, like keeping your indicators on whilst overtaking on Germany’s Autobahns.
• Check your breakdown cover – your policy may not cover driving in Europe. Extending your cover, or taking out separate breakdown cover for driving in Europe means you aren’t out of pocket if something does go wrong – and could save you a lot of stress.

Read more: Top tips for driving your EV abroad

Snacks - check.
Electroverse app - check.
Sunshine - we can hope...

You're all ready to head off for your summer road trip. But how about a new EV too? That’s where Octopus EV comes in. We offer:

• An expert-picked range of the latest, smartest EVs
• Home and public charging discounts, via Intelligent Octopus Go and Electroverse
• A host of other goodies – including £500 off green home tech via Octopus Energy