Driving a Renault 4 the length of the UK – on solar power alone

The Easee Sun Run is proving anything but easy. A Cornish sea fog – the kind smugglers would have relished - has rolled in, blanketing the sun. We can't even see the array of solar panels 100 metres away in the field next to Roskilly's organic ice cream dairy. On Toby Roskilly's computer, it shows that the amount of solar energy he was planning to pass from his panels into our Renault 4 Plein Sud is minuscule. The start time of the first attempt to drive the length of the UK in an EV powered solely by solar energy looks to be in jeopardy. Thankfully, our mobile power guru, lan Peniston of Power Logistics, has a solution: a 300kWh OnBio lithium ion battery trailer that he's had charging outside for several days to cover off this very eventuality. "By charging from the trailer, at least you can then get to Land's End to start the record attempt," explains the man who ensured that there were no mid-performance power cuts on Taylor Swift's concert tour. Still, we're now on the back foot before we've even begun our 1000-mile, five-day road trip... It's critical for our success to know that only pure solar energy was charging the Renault's battery, but Peniston assures us that "every drop of power from the farms and the OnBio battery is 100% solar-no mix of grid or even wind". A few weeks earlier, I'd been in the Canadian Arctic working on a test to charge an EV from the sun at-40deg C and the limits of solar energy. We had half-joked that our success in the Arctic would make doing this in the UK easy - and so the idea for this run was born. Easee, a Norwegian maker of hardcore EV chargers, came on board, as did Renault, which thought the full-length soft-top Plein Sud would be perfect for a summery collaboration. Just not in Cornwall today... Land's End is busy with tourists as we're ushered to the signpost that points 874 miles to John O'Groats at the other far reach of Great Britain. "Where are the solar panels?" asks one couple as we're clapped away from our start. That's a good question... Luckily the sun has by now burned through the fog, so we divert back to Roskilly's farm for our first direct injection of natural energy. It's invigorating-or maybe that was the double shot of espresso I had on the road. As we charge man and machine, Toby gives us a few tubs of the farm's bespoke ice cream to take in a portable freezer to Scotland. "Easee Peasee Lemon Squeasee – what else?" he titters jollily. We had pessimistically planned on 160 miles per full charge. With only me and our cameraman Tom Ross, plus basic kit (the rest went in a support car pulling the battery trailer in case of emergency), we soon find that at least 200 miles is doable. That allows a straight shot to our second charging point: the UK's oldest commercial solar farm, at JB Wheaton's trucking HQ in Somerset. We don't stop at Chard just to power up: on this drive, the plan is to visit a variety of people making the most of British solar energy. Mark Wheaton says his solar array saves hundreds of thousands of pounds in fuel by covering their huge warehouse and adjoining field in panels. We top up in only two hours. Gareth Simkins, from trade body Solar Energy UK, also comes to meet us. Solar Energy UK has been instrumental in helping us find suitable stopping points, and it has grown fast this year. "On one day in April, nearly half of the UK's power was from solar - and not just from commercial arrays," he says. "Last year there were about 260,000 small-scale installations, most of which were on home rooftops; this year we will almost certainly see more, because there has been a big spike in public demand caused by the increase in energy prices." Our first overnight is near the Power Logistics base in Chippenham, where we top up the car for day two's solar slingshot to Derbyshire. It's the summer solstice, so part of our crew heads to Stonehenge for a stunning dawn on the longest day of the year. The sun powering our drive rose at its earliest with gusto and magnificence; the timing of the Easee Sun Run was no coincidence. "We have this big ball of energy in the sky, so why aren't we using it to do more?" one visitor says, looking back across the valley to see the prehistoric monument bathed in rays. In almost 30 years of leading automotive expeditions, from driving a Formula E race car on the Greenland ice cap to putting the most remote public EV charger in the world on the island of St Helena, never before have I felt so energised behind the wheel: it feels like the accelerator is connected to the sun. Everything in the Renault, from its motor to the sat-nav, is powered by the ball of energy tracking us from on high – and it isn't costing us a penny. We pass petrol and EV charging stations smugly. Day two is a sublime and gentle course through the Derbyshire Peak District to our overnight stop at the solar-powered Whaley Bridge Cricket Club. After a few hours spent driving on the M5 and M6, we conclude that our spiritual home is on B-roads. The rural route throws us a challenge, though: close to a rendezvous with the BBC, a road closure forces us into a 25-mile detour. With every mile carefully controlled, it means a call to the support crew and adds an hour to the day. The third day is a big one: bisecting the Yorkshire Dales en route to Durham and then Edinburgh. We had chosen Durham for two reasons. First, it's home to a student solar race team that finished 11th in the 2023 World Solar Challenge across Australia. Their bug-shaped solar car is so efficient that it could almost lap the planet using the energy from our trailer. "For my generation, there's a real opportunity there to lean on solar," student Nathan Lansing says. "There's a real shot here that we can go and make something really, really cool and something really interesting that can help power the future." Just down the road from the university is a facility for printing flexible solar panels. The concept has come from Swansea University and is being produced by Power Roll in Durham. "Essentially it's a low-cost printing process similar to printing in newspapers or packaging," says the university's David Beynon. "We can take the materials used to make a solar panel, make them into an ink, feed them into a printing press and have a solar panel come out at the other end." Many buildings' roofs can't carry traditional solar panels, and the majority of the UK's solar panels are imported. The printable solar panel isn't yet suitable to self-propel an EV, but the elements needed to power your EV from the sun are. "If you've got solar panels installed, a smart charger and storage, you can connect these assets together to charge your vehicle," says Easee boss Anthony Fernandez. Scotland is cool: having endured 38deg C temperatures in the south, we're grateful for the 22deg C Highland weather. Solar needs light, not heat, to work best. Like humans, I guess. With all our stops so far having been at commercial solar operators and users, it's nice for our final one before John O'Groats to be at someone's home. Boban Costin and his family live off-grid. He and his wife Lizzie – daughter of the Earl of Sutherland-run Dunrobin Highland Distillery. They put us up in one of their solar-powered cabins on the edge of Loch Fleet, just two hours from journey's end. "We have enough power here in the summer to light Times Square," claims Boban. Hosting the Easee Sun Run is a thrill for him: "We want to spread the word that a project like this is viable, that it is actually not a dream." Viable, yes, absolutely – but for now, at least, it's only with special permissions and planning that we've finally reached the northernmost tip of the British mainland using the British summer sun. LAND'S END TO JOHN O'GROATS Distance driven 1023 miles Charges made 9 (7 planned, 2 extras) Exterior daytime temp 16-26deg C Highest point 528m (Tan Hill Inn, North Yorkshire) Solar power generated 555kWh Energy put into the car 276kWh Average range per full load 205/195 miles (two people and luggage/ four people and luggage) By Jeremy Hart

main menu

Driving a Renault 4 the length of the UK – on solar power alone

Can an everyday EV drive the full 1000-mile length of the UK powered purely by British solar energy?

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

Legal bits

About Autocar

main menu

Driving a Renault 4 the length of the UK – on solar power alone

Can an everyday EV drive the full 1000-mile length of the UK powered purely by British solar energy?

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar