We’re now back to Edinburgh after having driven the entirety of the NC500 (plus the miles from Edinburgh to Inverness) in our Model 3 SR+ and, as promised, here is my write up of the journey… (long read)
Our plan was to do the trip over 5 days, stopping for the night once on the east coast, once on the north coast, and twice on the west coast. Having read other people’s posts (and zap map comments) about parts of this route, there we’re a few areas were worried about, and I started with an ambition of checking on some of the chargers Zap Map said weren’t working (this lasted 2 days). We only saw 1 other Tesla (another black M3 near Ullapool)
Day 1 – Edinburgh to Brora
The first half of this day was un-eventful. We left Edinburgh with a 91% charge and made it to the Aviemore for elevenzies with 28% remaining. Then drove up to explore the black isle for the afternoon, grabbing a quick 15min top up in Dornoch to 80% before stopping at our shepherd’s hut for the evening just outside Brora. Top tip… get a hot chocolate at Cocoa Mountain in Dornoch if you stop here! This section is a very easy drive, mostly dual carriage ways and motorway. In the afternoon we started to have the “blind spot detection unavailable” warning on the car presumably from the low sun shining into the cameras. This became a theme for every morning and afternoon.
Day 2 – Up and to John O Groats and around to Melvich
With only 2.5hrs of driving, this was a day with lots of little stops. We made a brief stop at Helmsdale, initially because the blind spot detection warning was back on, plugged into the charger for a min or so until we decided not to worry about the warning and headed up to the Whaligoe Steps. Without the car navigation, we would have never found this as its not sign posted at all. We then proceeded to get a quick 15 min top up in Wick where we realised nothing in the Highlands is open in a Sunday and proceeded to headed up a single track road to Castle Sinclair Girnigo. Again, not sign posted and down a long well paved single track road. Car navigation was great. John O Groats is a tourist trap really with much of the same tat we have in Edinburgh. Duncasby Head is great, but we decided just to head towards Melvich for an early stop to driving. Checked into our b&b and went and toped the car up in the village (20min to get to 80%).
Day 3 – Around the corner to Drumbeg
Headed to Tounge for breakfast, and this was our first (and only) issue with a charger. CCS wouldn’t initiate, but as it was more of a charge of convenience , the type 2 worked first time and we got a few miles. Up to Durness and the Smoo Cave and our second Cocoa Mountain stop of the journey. After Durness, the road becomes “for experienced drivers” being mostly single track for the next 2 days. Very well paved with lots of climbing and lots of descending. Watch out for big vehicles on this part of the trip. We toped up to 80% once again at Scourie and spent some time on the beach before heading to Kylesku for dinner. The drive from Kylesku to Drumbeg is sign post not for big vehicles and not for learner drivers. It is probably one of the most difficult parts of the route, and we did it in the dark. DO NOT recommend this if you aren’t a confident driver. Arrived at accommodation with 71% charge and tucked in for the night.
Day 4 – Drumbeg to Torrindon
The rest of this peninsula is breath-taking. Our first stop was Achmelvich beach with its white sands and then for breakfast at foodie Lochinver. Easy driving from this point to Ullapool where we got one more top up over lunch. The rest of the day was a mix of 2 land roads and well paved single track, and we arrived at Torrindon with 40%. By my calculations this is the only charge you HAVE to hit. We toped up to 95% overnight on the destination charger. Zap Map says the CPS one is broken, the Inn says it works sometimes. I forgot to try it. This was by far the best place we stayed on the trip.
Day 5 – Up over the Bealach Na Ba
Started the day with rain (our only rain the whole trip) as we headed up over the bealach na ba. This is very difficult driving, and I had to turn on Joe Mode. Eventually drove into the cloud (thankful I have one of the SR+’s with fog lights) and took some photos at the top. On the decent, we added 3% of charge through regen and grabbed a coffee at the bottom. From here the journey gets less interesting as its just a drive back to Inverness (and Edinburgh) on mostly wide singe track an eventually dual carriageway. We made it all the way from Torrindon to Aviemore Supercharge with 23% battery and no stops.
My reflections;
You don’t need to stop as often a we did.
Put car in sport steering and max regen. Combination makes a very fun drive.
The car has more range than you think, even with climbing big long hills
The road quality is much better than you expect. Found myself going 60 on some of the single track roads
Planning the trip around charge points did change our experience of the journey, but its mainly because we we’re more cautious than we needed to be.
I’ll pop up some photos later today
Our plan was to do the trip over 5 days, stopping for the night once on the east coast, once on the north coast, and twice on the west coast. Having read other people’s posts (and zap map comments) about parts of this route, there we’re a few areas were worried about, and I started with an ambition of checking on some of the chargers Zap Map said weren’t working (this lasted 2 days). We only saw 1 other Tesla (another black M3 near Ullapool)
Day 1 – Edinburgh to Brora
The first half of this day was un-eventful. We left Edinburgh with a 91% charge and made it to the Aviemore for elevenzies with 28% remaining. Then drove up to explore the black isle for the afternoon, grabbing a quick 15min top up in Dornoch to 80% before stopping at our shepherd’s hut for the evening just outside Brora. Top tip… get a hot chocolate at Cocoa Mountain in Dornoch if you stop here! This section is a very easy drive, mostly dual carriage ways and motorway. In the afternoon we started to have the “blind spot detection unavailable” warning on the car presumably from the low sun shining into the cameras. This became a theme for every morning and afternoon.
Day 2 – Up and to John O Groats and around to Melvich
With only 2.5hrs of driving, this was a day with lots of little stops. We made a brief stop at Helmsdale, initially because the blind spot detection warning was back on, plugged into the charger for a min or so until we decided not to worry about the warning and headed up to the Whaligoe Steps. Without the car navigation, we would have never found this as its not sign posted at all. We then proceeded to get a quick 15 min top up in Wick where we realised nothing in the Highlands is open in a Sunday and proceeded to headed up a single track road to Castle Sinclair Girnigo. Again, not sign posted and down a long well paved single track road. Car navigation was great. John O Groats is a tourist trap really with much of the same tat we have in Edinburgh. Duncasby Head is great, but we decided just to head towards Melvich for an early stop to driving. Checked into our b&b and went and toped the car up in the village (20min to get to 80%).
Day 3 – Around the corner to Drumbeg
Headed to Tounge for breakfast, and this was our first (and only) issue with a charger. CCS wouldn’t initiate, but as it was more of a charge of convenience , the type 2 worked first time and we got a few miles. Up to Durness and the Smoo Cave and our second Cocoa Mountain stop of the journey. After Durness, the road becomes “for experienced drivers” being mostly single track for the next 2 days. Very well paved with lots of climbing and lots of descending. Watch out for big vehicles on this part of the trip. We toped up to 80% once again at Scourie and spent some time on the beach before heading to Kylesku for dinner. The drive from Kylesku to Drumbeg is sign post not for big vehicles and not for learner drivers. It is probably one of the most difficult parts of the route, and we did it in the dark. DO NOT recommend this if you aren’t a confident driver. Arrived at accommodation with 71% charge and tucked in for the night.
Day 4 – Drumbeg to Torrindon
The rest of this peninsula is breath-taking. Our first stop was Achmelvich beach with its white sands and then for breakfast at foodie Lochinver. Easy driving from this point to Ullapool where we got one more top up over lunch. The rest of the day was a mix of 2 land roads and well paved single track, and we arrived at Torrindon with 40%. By my calculations this is the only charge you HAVE to hit. We toped up to 95% overnight on the destination charger. Zap Map says the CPS one is broken, the Inn says it works sometimes. I forgot to try it. This was by far the best place we stayed on the trip.
Day 5 – Up over the Bealach Na Ba
Started the day with rain (our only rain the whole trip) as we headed up over the bealach na ba. This is very difficult driving, and I had to turn on Joe Mode. Eventually drove into the cloud (thankful I have one of the SR+’s with fog lights) and took some photos at the top. On the decent, we added 3% of charge through regen and grabbed a coffee at the bottom. From here the journey gets less interesting as its just a drive back to Inverness (and Edinburgh) on mostly wide singe track an eventually dual carriageway. We made it all the way from Torrindon to Aviemore Supercharge with 23% battery and no stops.
My reflections;
You don’t need to stop as often a we did.
Put car in sport steering and max regen. Combination makes a very fun drive.
The car has more range than you think, even with climbing big long hills
The road quality is much better than you expect. Found myself going 60 on some of the single track roads
Planning the trip around charge points did change our experience of the journey, but its mainly because we we’re more cautious than we needed to be.
I’ll pop up some photos later today
