Dream parking whilst theme parking

An electric adventure to Alton Towers featuring Tess and her inner child

Okay, I confess… I have a car. Not just any car—a Volvo XC90: a thirsty tank of a vehicle that feels safe and comfortable to drive, yet outside an agricultural context it seems absurd to be chugging around in it. I live in Cwm Llinau, a village of about 500 people, a 15-minute drive from Machynlleth in rural Mid-Wales. I do have an electric bike and ride it as much as possible, but if I need to carry anything larger than a backpack I tend to default to the car and offer lifts. The carbon impact of my vehicle weighs on my mind, and I’ve heard that electric cars are really easy to drive and so great for longer journeys..

My friend Bruce’s 40th birthday was coming up, and we were taking a trip to Alton Towers so it felt like the perfect chance to explore other vehicle options and compare costs before deciding how to travel:

Option 1: “TesSuV” (my Volvo XC90)

True to my Canadian branding! The big car is safe, but once I added diesel, insurance, road tax and wear-and-tear, the journey would cost £66.

Option 2: Zoe EV (club car)

Because we’d need the car for 28 hours, hire (£2/hr capped at £30 for 24hrs) plus mileage fees (.16p/mile capped at 100miles) came to £54. Split four ways that’s not bad at all—and no extra miles on my own car. (Check out TrydaNi's journey calculator to estimate your trip!)

Everyone else had kept the trip a surprise for Bruce; unfortunately, I hadn’t got the memo and a few weeks earlier I’d told him how excited I was — I tried to back-pedal but it was too late. I begged him to pretend he didn’t know, and in the end he played along so convincingly that people wondered whether a surprise was a bad idea after all! (I swore Bruce to ongoing secrecy so the only way my friends will ever find out is if this humble blog post goes unexpectedly viral).

Aaanyway, I grabbed the Renault Zoe from Mach without a hitch. The app showed my reservation clearly; one tap Unlock car opened the door. I unplugged the charge cable, stowed it in its bag and went to pick up my three friends for our inaugural ride on the electric chariot. When I swung by to pick up my friends I was reassured to see Amy appear with a pineapple upside-down cake plus snacks. Everything went into the cool-box in the boot with the luggage (if we’d been away longer than a night I’d have booked the roomier Berlingo). We set off silently and with no gear changes for Alton Towers.

The journey was smooth, quiet and relaxing. I kept glancing at the battery meter, worried we’d be stranded, but soon realised that with the Zoe’s 245 mile range we’d get there without issue and could just enjoy the drive. I’d looked on Zap-Map for chargers along the route in case I wanted a top-up to soothe my conscience, but in the end it wasn’t necessary.

We stopped for a curry just outside Birmingham. I made sure to pocket the key—never rely solely on your phone to unlock the car (no signal, a flat battery or a dropped handset is too risky). I loved how Zoe locked and unlocked herself as I walked away and returned; it felt like we were in sync; human and machine, united at last.

I kept my phone charging while driving and used the car’s built-in navigation, but it plotted a different route from Google Maps and missed some road closures. I’d recommend using Google Maps on the dash screen instead which was easy to set up with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

We reached the hostel in Ashbourne with 50 miles to spare. Night-time temperatures can sap batteries, so I was slightly nervous about the remaining 10 miles to the park next morning, but that worry (spot a theme?) was unfounded: we arrived at Alton Towers with about 35 miles left. (It’s actually only when it gets below 5 degrees that temperatures can start decreasing battery ranges, and only then it’s usually only around 10%). 

The park has ten 22 kW chargers in the express car park right by the entrance. Parking costs the same £12 as the standard car park, whereas a fossil-fuel vehicle would pay £20 to be that close. I plugged Zoe in, tapped my contactless debit card and left her on charge all day—no need to move the car after it filled up. The full charge cost £22.50 which will have to be added to the EV tally making it more expensive to drive then my car but in my opinion worth the extra cost (especially split between friends).

The day was fantastic and full of adrenaline. Zoe is so easy to drive that on the way home I had to crank up the music to stay awake whilst my passengers and their inner children slept off all the excitement.

Back at the Dulas home charger in Machynlleth, I returned the car with plenty of miles to spare—no stress. I was ten minutes late for my booking, but as no one was waiting after me it only incurred a nominal fee for not adjusting the return time. Next time I will just book it for a bit longer than I need as I’ve now realised that there is no penalty for returning the car early.

In short, I would recommend a high octane (Alton Towers), high voltage (the car) adventure to anyone. Electric-themed parking has never felt so good.

Photo credit: @bugnathaniel