Tesla as only car on West Coast Scotland?

[Avendit]

Abetterrouteplanner.com is working again now and it agrees with my estimation from last night for Oban -> Glasgow. About 45% battery usage in my long range DM, current weather conditions and my (cough) 120% reference speed. Its recommending a 5 min topup in any of the many chargers in glasgow city centre if you are turning around and coming straight home:
A Better Routeplanner

40% battery needed for Ft William and back.
Inverness and back is similar to Glasgow - a 10 minute topup in Inverness is preffered, but you might get away with it (those roads are pretty slow) and again you are driving past many a charge point if needed.

Daily driving charging is done at home - I charge about once a week for my usage patterns., otherwise use it like i used to use the ICE.
Longer drives going north charge place scotland will sort you out for free (currently, more are starting to charge small amounts)
Longer drives going south you latch into the supercharger network and just need to stop every 1:30 for a top up. For my family this is a 15 min topup at the first stop, and 30 mins for food at the next. That matches in with our kid's bladders so it works fine for us, and we can continue this all the way to southern Italy. (Edinburgh to Rome looks like a total of about £100 of electricity btw. My ICE would have been £500)

 

[Avendit]

My vote is all in, I'm aware of the highlands council, and in particular Oban, making switches to electric fleets. I'm in Edinburgh but travel extensively through the highlands and have never had a problem, and only have a SR+ There are plenty of chargers both throughout the Highlands and on many of the main islands (check ZapMap). Having driven the NC500 in Oct I got to experience this firsthand. I'm also working with a few communities up north (B&B enclaves) to introduce additional charging and know its growing. and remember, you can drive from Oban to Glasgow on roughly half a charge. . About once a month I drive up to the HIE office in Inverses from Edinburgh and can drive all the way up and use their (free) charger while I'm in a meeting and have enough charge to get home to Edinburgh.

My vote is for the Model 3 over the Kia simply because of the depreciation maths in Scotland. If she uses the Government's interest free loan and free charging network the main cost is only depreciation and I would go for the 3 as it should depreciate less and you can actually get one (Kia had 18 month waiting list last time I asked).

Make sure she doesn't forget she can get a nearly free home charger with the Scottish Government top up of the OLEV scheme (Domestic charge point funding)

PS, the joy of navigating up some routes like this one which are under heavy development on autopilot should not be underestimated. Has totally changed my approach to the A9

 

[freekie]

thanks for the input. It sounds like range anxiety is not really a huge deal. freekie you mentioned the eNiro, this was going to be my other suggestion for her due to lower cost (but probably not much lower). Apart from things like speed, autopilot and general toys (which my sister really doesn't care about at all), what else might the TEsla advantage be?
Also how about servicing? I see that the nearest SC is in Edinburgh, have any of you had to use it? Do they do loaner cars of free car rental like they do in the US? I am trying to get up to speed on the Tesla ownership experience in UK/Scotland compared to my experience here in California.

I really didn’t like the eNiro. Test drive was around July and they told me waiting list was around 12 months and they couldn’t give me a price because it was 12 months. Really put me off. I had been thinking get an eNiro to last 2-3 years while waiting for a model Y. Servicing requirements for M3 are minimal as I understand it.

 

[Adopado]

Make sure she doesn't forget she can get a nearly free home charger with the Scottish Government top up of the OLEV scheme (Domestic charge point funding)

I love your positivity but I think you need to reign it in a bit on the "nearly free home charger". The grants require that the charger is "smart" (so costs more), is installed by pre-authorised companies etc so can still work out quite expensive ... despite Scotland having the extra £300 on top of the £500 OLEV grant in the rest of the UK. My own "nearly free" charge point cost me £519 even after those grants!

 

[Roy W.]

I’d certainly have no concerns about charging. Get a 7kW home charger installed. I’ve had an EV for four years and I’d say 95%+ of my charging is done at home.

Earlier this year we had two holidays in Scotland; a week on the Isle of Skye in the Kona electric and a week at Jedburgh in the Model 3. Charging was no problem at all. We also recently drove down through England, under the Channel and to Paris in the Model 3. Again, charging was a breeze. The only thing you need to do is plan ahead a little, using abetterrouteplanner.

Having had a Kona electric for a year, and having nothing but trouble with it, means I wouldn’t suggest either the Kona or the Kia. They’re both from the same stable.

One other thing I don’t believe has been mentioned - people in Scotland can apply for an interest free loan to buy an EV through the Energy Saving Trust. I’m sure my Scottish colleagues will fill in the details, but I think it’s something like £30,000 over 5 years.

 

[Adopado]

One other thing I don’t believe has been mentioned - people in Scotland can apply for an interest free loan to buy an EV through the Energy Saving Trust. I’m sure my Scottish colleagues will fill in the details, but I think it’s something like £30,000 over 5 years

It's 35000 ... here's the link:
Electric Vehicle Loan

 

[Torokruger]

Also very important... seeing she lives in Scotland she should be eligible for an EST interest free loan up to 35K over 6 years to purchase her electric full BEV car. I did and am really happy.

Electric Vehicle Loan

 

[Alan J]

Also very important... seeing she lives in Scotland she should be eligible for an EST interest free loan up to 35K over 6 years to purchase her electric full BEV car. I did and am really happy.

Electric Vehicle Loan

I'm a M3 Owner of 4 Months and took the EST Loan (which couldn't have been easier) and the UK Gov Grant of £3,500 and have been using the free Chargeplace Scotland Network and have coped fine and haven't even installed a Home Charger but may as Car Numbers rise. We did a Glasgow to Skye and back Roadtrip charging at Fort William while we had Lunch. You do have to be mindful of Range but it doesn't worry me you just need to be a little organised. I've driven 4,000 Miles for virtually nothing in Fuel Costs !

 

[Clunk]

Model 3 owner, North East Scotland. About 100 miles to nearest supercharger (Dundee).
Haven't got my home charger installed yet (had house fuse upgraded, had home visit, now just waiting for quote).
£35,000 Energy Saving Trust/ScotGov loan is an obvious benefit.
£500 OLEV grant and £300 EST/ScotGov top up for a home charger also make it easier to justify the expense in Scotland.
Being able to see multiple wind turbines from my home gives me nice green energy justification too.
Chargeplace Scotland is a no-brainer. £20 a year for mainly free charging up to 50kW.
Only issues I've had have been poor CCS charging reliability.
Too many public chargers in my part of Scotland either not working at all on CCS, or stopping working just after starting to charge (apparently there is a trick involving supporting the cable, suggesting a loose connection in the plug or poor mating for at least some of the chargers) - AC is usually available and working if stuck, just slower.
Plugshare highly recommended to see if any charger you plan to use actually works.
Chargeplace Scotland map not brilliant, will give an indication of last time used, but isn't very good at identifying that a charger isn't working, even if it's not given a successful charge in over a week. It does at least tell you where the chargers are (although they did have the charger in Letham showing the postcode of a non working - not commissioned - charger in Friockheim which threw me some)
I may just have been unlucky during the holiday season (here's hoping).

 

[Dickybeau]

I love your positivity but I think you need to reign it in a bit on the "nearly free home charger". The grants require that the charger is "smart" (so costs more), is installed by pre-authorised companies etc so can still work out quite expensive ... despite Scotland having the extra £300 on top of the £500 OLEV grant in the rest of the UK. My own "nearly free" charge point cost me £519 even after those grants!

I had the EO fitted. Smart charger and total cost to me of £200 after OLEV and Scotgov grants.

 

[Rob R]

My sister lives in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. They have some kind of electric car chargers at her work as they are moving to an all electric fleet which is great (Kia Niro I think). Sustainability and environmentalism are very important to her. She wants to go all electric but has range anxiety (understandable on the west coast where things can get a little isolated).
I suggested a model3 might not now be as expensive as she might think and with it's long range be ideal.
Questions: CAn you just charge the car by plugging it into any 240V socket at home? (I am living in California and we need to install a special 240V socket due to America's "weak" electricity at . I told her she didn't really need to worry about lack of charging infrastructure as she could always just plug in the car at night wherever she happens to be (in the US you can charge on a domestic socket but at 110V it takes several days to charge!).
By my calculation she is maybe 120 miles from nearest superchargers, and it looks like Tesla has installed superchargers all the way down to London to allow for a North South cross country trip. Does this all work as intended? Obviously for myself being in California I am pretty spoiled for charging choices.
What other electric cars did you consider other than the Tesla
Is having a Tesla as the only family car (for 2 kids) really practical? They often do trips to the highlands and islands.

GRateful for any thoughts and experiences

In Scotland you can get two grants to install a home charger, which must be a smart charger. These are £500 from OLEV (UK Govt) and £300 from EST (Scottish Government). Probably worth getting a quote from a qualified electrician as these may cover the total cost, or very nearly. Tesla chargers do not qualify for grants, as they are considered "dumb".
The Supercharger network is more reliable than the (improving) CCS charging environment, and covers all of Europe, and the costs are reasonable, so Model 3 is the best bet in my opinion. But Chargeplace Scotland's network is often free to charge, so worth getting their RFID for a tenner too.

 

[JosiahLockhart]

It has also been pointed out elsewhere that as of the new year there are a number of new "superchargers coming in 2020" across the UK.

In Scotland this now includes; A new one larger in Edinburgh, Fort William, Aberdeen, Inverness, Stirling, and Berwick upon Tweed (Not technically Scotland). It also shows a new service centre coming in Glasgow.

 

[Adopado]

It has also been pointed out elsewhere that as of the new year there are a number of new "superchargers coming in 2020" across the UK.

In Scotland this now includes; A new one larger in Edinburgh, Fort William, Aberdeen, Inverness, Stirling, and Berwick upon Tweed (Not technically Scotland). It also shows a new service centre coming in Glasgow.

Fort William area will be very helpful for west highlands traffic ... it's a bit sparse at present.

 

[MacPaul]

It has also been pointed out elsewhere that as of the new year there are a number of new "superchargers coming in 2020" across the UK.

Some of those were also “coming in 2019”.

#teslatime

 

[gangzoom]

Is having a Tesla as the only family car (for 2 kids) really practical? They often do trips to the highlands and islands.

Forget range that will be fine, what car does she current have? And how often do they load up for long holidays?

We are going on a 2 week trip to see family in the US soon. Initially I thought about taking my wifes Lexus IS300H and using an air port meet and greet.

The IS300H according to Google has a bigger boot than the Model 3, but guess what there is no way the IS can take our luggage for just 3 people even with putting a suite case in the front passenger seat!! So instead we are taking the X and leaving it in a normal car park - I don't trust any met and greet drivers to touch our X .

The saloon shape of the Model 3 really does limit its cargo volume, if she has another car it'll be fine, but otherwise a Kia eNiro is much more family friendly.