Range anxiety? Forget it! What a thousand-mile EV Rally taught me about the future of fleet driving

Five days, twelve-hour stints, and more than a thousand miles on the road. The EV Rally—launched in 2021 during COP26—is designed to showcase the potential of electric vehicles. And it isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s long days, bad coffee, and a lot of time behind the wheel. But it’s also where you really find out what electric vehicles are made of.

At Speedy Hire, we already operate a fleet of more than 250 electric vehicles—one of the largest in our sector—so we know a fair bit about what works and what doesn’t. But there’s always more to learn. This year we entered two Ford E-Custom vans—both kitted out with Samsara telematics gear and AI-powered dash cams—so we could track safety, efficiency, and performance across every mile. Both vans were half-loaded to simulate real-world working conditions, which is enough weight to make it a proper test without slowing us down.

And I’m chuffed to say that not only did we win the Safe and Sustainable Award, our other van took second place for efficiency, beating the vehicle’s official WLTP range figures in the process.

Real-world driving conditions

While it’s great to “win”, that’s not why we entered. The EV Rally is the closest thing you’ll get to a stress test for electric fleets and that’s exactly why we entered. It was also our third year taking part, so it’s given us a real sense of how the technology is advancing. 

This year’s route took us from our head office in Merseyside down to Newquay in Cornwall, across to Southampton, up through Essex and over to Milton Keynes. Every stop was a chance to see how far the UK’s EV infrastructure has come and included new charging stations, including ones linked to solar farms.  

What really struck me this year was how easy it all felt. Three years ago, doing a thousand miles in an electric van was a proper challenge. Back then, vehicle range was limited, chargers were few and far between, and you spent half your time planning where to plug in next. This time, our vans were solid, the charging network was everywhere, and we never once worried about making it to the next stop.

We used to talk about “range anxiety”. That’s gone. History. The modern charging stations are built with vans and trucks in mind. You pull into a service station, and there’s a row of green bays big enough for commercial vehicles, not just cars. It’s night and day compared to when we first started doing this. And the Ford E-Customs we drove hit 80% charge in about half an hour, which is faster than most of our coffee stops. 

Data and drivers make the difference

But it’s not all plain sailing. Driving an EV is not the same as driving a petrol or diesel vehicle. You have to plan ahead and drive smart. Not only does that apply to the EV Rally, but it’s something we coach with our own drivers. 

What the rally really reinforced for me is that data and drivers make the difference. The vans performed brilliantly, but it was the information we got back from Samsara’s telematics—and from our own testing—that showed where efficiency really comes from. Smooth driving, fewer harsh brakes, and better anticipation all help to improve on-road performance. In other words, the same things that make you a safer driver also make you a more efficient one.

EVs aren’t the answer to everything, and I’ll never pretend they are. There are still parts of the country—the Highlands, for example—where the distances are long and the chargers are few and far between. But for most of what we do, they’re spot on. The tech’s there, the range is there, and the infrastructure’s finally catching up. It’s not about whether EVs can do the job anymore—it’s about how smartly you use them.

The road ahead for fleet electrification

I said earlier that we already operate a fleet of around 250 electric vehicles. But we're not stopping there. We’ve got more than 300 electric vans and some 26 electric trucks to buy over the next few years, so testing them properly now makes sense. Every mile, every charge, every bit of data helps us make better decisions about what to invest in. If something performs well on the rally, we know it’ll handle itself just fine in day-to-day use.

If you’re thinking about going electric, then I’d definitely recommend taking part. Yes, it’s five long days and a few too many service-station coffees, but it’s cheaper than buying a hundred vans that don’t fit the job. So while on paper, it’s a rally. In reality, it’s one of the toughest, most revealing EV road tests you can do. 

But honestly? It’s a laugh a minute. The camaraderie between drivers, the shared challenge of keeping these vehicles running smoothly, and the chance to test them in real-world conditions – that’s what keeps us coming back. And I’m already looking forward to next year.