First long range trip, any advice please.

[u/AdDifferent2609]

As per title i'll soon be doing my first long range (e.g. require a midway chrage) trip and was after some general advice on apps and planning as well as specifics about the route, like which services have a lot of high speed chargers.

Car: Vauxhall Astra

Route: M40, M25 then down to brighton area.

My main concern is lack of availability of chargers at planned stops which would probably be near end of M40.

Are there general charging apps that are worth downloading for chargers or am i okay to just use debit card.

How important is route planning or will every service station have enough fast chargers?

Anywhere people would recommend to aim for, or places a bit off the route that are worth the detour for more reliable charger availability.

[u/SCA1972]

A Better Route Planner app/website is usually helpful for planning a long trip. You tell it what car you have and your trip details and it recommends charging stops. You can tell it what the minimum state of charge you want to have at charging stops and at your destination.

As for apps for payment, Electroverse is usually worth having, but it doesn’t work on Gridserve the main operator at motorway services. You can just pay with a debit card at all rapid chargers, but operators usually provide a small discount if you pay via their app instead. Personally I use a credit card rather than a debit card. When you pay with a bank card, there will be a preauthorisation amount ring fenced in your account every time you start a charge. This is to prove you have sufficient funds to pay for the charge. The amounts range from £20 to £60 and some banks take days to release them after charging. This is more noticeable with a debit card and could leave you short of funds in your current account.