Electric cars versus the great outdoors

Electric cars are in their element in city driving, and with motorway public charging infrastructure improving by the day long journeys no longer need bring out the range anxiety either. But with the weather improving and the school holidays upon us what about day trips into the countryside to enjoy the great outdoors, where charging opportunities might be fewer and – literally – further between?
We decided to test the theory with a trip to a bike park in deepest Wales in a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo. In theory the perfect car for the job, given it’s fast, practical, comfortable and not shy of getting a bit of mud on its tyres if your destination is a little off the beaten track. The perfect lifestyle wheels, seemingly. But only if it can get you home as well…

Where the standard Porsche Taycan blurs boundaries between coupe, saloon and sports car the estate-like Taycan Sport Turismo and more rugged looking Cross Turismo add a degree of practicality. Each to theirs but to our eyes it makes for an even cooler Taycan, the Cross Turismo the equivalent of shouting your outdoorsy cred by wearing your Patagonia jacket down the shops.
But the Cross Turismo isn’t just about the pose. Via the accessories catalogue you can equip it to live your best outdoors life, our pick being the purpose-built bike rack bolting directly into discreet sockets in the bumper. Other options include a windtunnel-honed roofbox with an extra 480 litres of payload to more than double your luggage space, a boot liner to protect your lovely interior from muddy boots or a rooftop ski/snowboard rack. There’s even a dedicated dog carrier to keep your four-legged friend safe and your upholstery safe from dirty paws. While it’s an expensive extra that bike rack is a real godsend if you’re going to be using your Cross Turismo for weekends away cycling. The roof carrier is fine – and more affordable – but eats into your range even if you’re not carrying a bike, where the bumper mounted one can be quickly removed when not needed and folds away for storage. It also keeps the bikes out of the slipstream to reduce the impact on range and makes loading and unloading of chunky e-bikes easier and safer, these likely too heavy for the roof rack even if you could heave them up there. With its twin fixings it’s also more secure than a regular tow-bar rack, which is good to know when one of the already very expensive Atherton mountain bikes you’re carrying is actually the personal ride of six-time downhill mountain bike World Champion Rachel Atherton…

The journey

To test the Cross Turismo’s credentials as the ultimate lifestyle support vehicle we took it to Dyfi Bike Park, located in the heart of Wales and known for having some of the most hardcore riding in the UK. Built and run by the Atherton family, Dyfi and others like it operate much like ski resorts for bikes with riders driven to the top before racing back down on a selection of carefully manicured trails packed with rocks, roots and death-defying jumps. Nearby trail centres like Coed-y-Brenin have everything from green-graded family tracks for a broader range of cyclists but even the easiest trails at Dyfi are reds, this reputation making it a favourite of hardcore riders from all over the country.
The 140 miles to Dyfi from home felt well within the 205 miles of range showing on the fully charged Cross Turismo when we set off. Newer versions have a bigger battery and more range still, but a real-world 200 miles is pretty typical for most electric cars and we felt confident we could make it without stopping for a charge. True, the steady motorways and fast, rural A-roads aren’t usually the best for scoring maximum efficiency from an EV, ditto the extra load of the bikes on the back. But even enjoying the Taycan’s formidable cross-country pace we made it there with miles to spare, the ‘charge now’ light only coming on as we reached our overnight destination.

Getting out there is one thing, though. Knowing there will be somewhere to charge so you can get home again something else. Just a couple of years back we’d attempted a similar trip to the Scottish borders and were nearly stranded in a Skoda Enyaq when none of the chargers in the small town we stopped at were working, and the distance to the next one was more than we had left in the battery. But even in that short space of time things have come on, and on a recent visit to the same town there’s now a selection of charging options, as well as ranks of gleaming new chargers at the motorway services on the way.
Even the old-school holiday village we stayed at near Dyfi had a rank of 22kW chargers to plug into overnight, meaning by the time we’d had breakfast both car and riders were fully charged for the day ahead! Going by charger location apps and the ‘charge planning’ function in the Porsche navigation (most EVs have something similar) we weren’t spoiled for choice in the area, either, spots like the popular Rhug Estate on the main road into North Wales now equipped with rapid chargers while many of the bigger filling stations now have chargers alongside pumps for petrol and diesel.

Like most bike parks, riders at Dyfi are shuttled to the top of the hill, in this case by a selection of characterfully battered and rattly old Land Rovers with the bikes on a trailer behind. We got special dispensation to use the Taycan to run our own uplift for some photos and, suffice to say, wherever an old Defender can go an electric Porsche can as well, or so it seems! That opportunity won’t be available to most people turning up at Dyfi but we were glad of the extra suspension for the gravel track into the venue, and whether it be in a sandy coastal car park for a surfing trip or rocky lay-by at the base of your mountain hike the Cross Turismo is just as rugged as your ambitions. Ditto any equivalent electric SUV or crossover.
And once it was clear we had plenty of options for charging any lingering anxiety about getting home disappeared, leaving us undecided whether to stop at the aforementioned Rhug Estate or press on to the Porsche dealership in Chester (a five-minute diversion) to plug into the 350kW ultra fast chargers on site, these available free to any Taycan owner. We went with the latter and in the time it took our complimentary cup of tea to reach drinking temperature and for us to kick the tyres of a couple of 911s the Cross Turismo had raced from 35 per cent charge to 90 per cent, which was more than enough for the remaining 70 miles to home.

Not every countryside user is an extreme sports fanatic, so what about something more sedate for a rural ramble with your dogs? The same applies with regard to charging availability but in terms of suitable vehicles owners voted the electric only MG5 as Best Car for Dog Owners in the 2022 Autotrader New Car Awards . A trad estate car like the MG5 is perfect in this role, given the lower boot sill makes it easier for dogs to jump in and out with plenty of spare space for the rest of your clobber. Good news? While SUVs and crossovers remain dominant there are more and more electric estate cars joining the market, be that at the affordable end like the MG5, sensibly priced all-rounders like the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer and Peugeot e-308 SW or top-end luxury models like the new BMW i5 Touring.

Camping in an EV

Roof-mounted tents are an increasingly popular option for transforming even regular cars into passable campers, as demonstrated by the converted Skoda Enyaq we drove up to Scotland a little while back. If you prefer to camp at an official site many pitches will have some manner of power supply as well, and even if you have to ‘granny charge’ from a conventional three-pin socket you’ll be able to top your car up while pitched. Some EVs, notably Kias and Hyundais, meanwhile have what’s known as ‘vehicle to load’ where you can go the other way, convert the charging port to a domestic output and plug in any home appliance. You might not win any friends if that’s a banging hi-fi or widescreen TV but you could run a fridge or even air fryer off it and live the life of luxury.

Electric vans

While a Taycan Cross Turismo will look cool at the trailhead most true outdoor enthusiasts favour vans for the ability to load them up with bikes, surfboards, tents and whatever ever else they need. While the choice for electric vans is growing it’s fair to say many are designed more for short range, urban delivery work rather than long-distances. They’re also somewhat expensive for private users but if you can make it work it’s a great option, as well as greener. Vehicles like the VW ID.Buzz are attractive alternatives, even if they’re really closer to cars than true commercial vehicles and not the kind of thing you’d throw muddy kit in the back of. The new long-wheelbase version offers a bigger battery and even more stash space for your kit, and will likely be a hit with lifestyle and commercial users alike.

Towing with an EV

Electric vehicles have plenty of grunt, and many have impressive towing capacities. The Tesla Model Y even made it onto the shortlist for Best Vehicle for Towing in the 2024 Autotrader New Car Awards, demonstrating owners are happy using them as such. It won’t do your range any favours and blocking public charging bays with a caravan is unlikely to win you any friends (unless you invite them in for a brew while you wait) so this is probably still one application where a combustion or hybrid car is more flexible. But, again, if you’re able to charge at your campsite it could yet work.