An electric car journey from Glasgow to Oxfordshire in October 2024
Glasgow to Oxfordshire by the M74, M6, A66, A1, A46, M1, A43, M40 and A34
What a change from 2022! Many more electric cars on the road (now over a million in Britain), and in 2 years a complete transformation in the number and availability of charging points. The following comments refer only to rapid charging using CSS which has become the standard for charging. There is now very little charging problem on main routes from Glasgow to England, and less need to plan your charging stops. My comments refer mostly to charging hubs with 4 or more chargers, including a number of Tesla Public Superchargers which are available to non-Teslas. there are too many individual chargers to mention, so these can be found on Zap-Map.
The main changes on the route outlined above are:
With only a few exceptions, almost every service area now has multiple chargers, many of these now being ultra-rapid, e.g. at Bothwell southbound, (or just off the motorway - 8 Fastned chargers in Hamilton for northbound as Hamilton services still has only one rapid charger). Cairn Lodge, Abington and Annandale Water all have multiple chargers.
No problem charging at Gretna - not only are there 12 Applegreen chargers in addition to the 3 Gridserve and 4 Ionity chargers at Gretna Services, there is also a BP Pulse charger at Smith's Hotel and another at the Old Blacksmith's Shop. There are 16 Tesla public chargers at Gretna Gateway Outlet Village (a site with multiple facilities only a short distance off the M74 motorway going north, and if going south, 12 Tesla public chargers and 6 Gridserve at Todhills on the M6 south of Gretna. Carlisle has 12 Ionity chargers at Starbucks, less than a mile from the M6. Southwaite has a bank of 9 chargers in both directions.
The A66 has 3 Gridserve chargers at the Rheged Centre near the M6 / A66 junction at Penrith and Instavolt has 4 at Booths in Penrith itself. The A66 is still a bit of a charging desert, but if you're stuck, just off the A66 a BP Pulse charger at the Appleby Manor Hotel and 6 Fastned chargers at Lidl, Barnard Castle are there if needbe.
The A1 service areas are now excellent for charging. Going south, Scotch Corner has 15 Gridserve, Leeming has 6, Wetherby has 29, Ferrybridge 16, Blyth has 10, with more under construction, Newark 12 and Grantham 15 (and the pattern is similar on the A1 both north of Scotch Corner and south of Grantham.)
On the A46 there are 4 at Bingham and 2 hubs of 8 chargers and one hub of 10 north of Leicester.
On the M1 from Leicester southwards, there are no chargers at Leicester Forest East yet, but there are hubs at Watford Gap (15 southbound and 7 northbound), 7 at the Oval (M1 junction 18 - A45), 7 at Northampton southbound (although only one northbound)
On the A43 there are 16 at the north end of Brackley, 6 at Baynards Green, and 9 at Cherwell Valley as you join the M40.
On the A34 southwards from the M40, there are 4 at the Shell layby, and 10 Fastned at Redbridge Park and Ride.
I hope that summary helps anyone travelling this route or a similar one.