Five days in Dorset – Camping has always been a love-hate experience for me

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Thinking hard at a recent Kia launch, I arranged with the Kia team to borrow the excellent EV9. The supersize seven-seat electric family SUV. I knew it had a plug socket, not just one, but two – one inside, one outside. To use this, the rather snappily named adapter, called V2L, was available in the cable case in the frunk.

Five to six days, we were going away; I don’t enjoy charging electric cars on the go, so we only headed from our home in Bournemouth deeper into Dorset, just 28 miles from home. Still, it was like another world, and we plonked ourselves at a lovely campsite called Brewery Farm in Ansty.

The Kia EV9 has over 320 miles range, so I knew this short trip wouldn’t even dent the useable range. What I didn’t yet know about making this trip easier was precisely how much power my intentions would drain from the car; it did add some stress to my plans.

To make life easier, I got in touch with the kind people at Weber BBQ, who liked the idea. We would have the opportunity to cook all meals using the car’s electricity on a Weber Lumin Compact electric BBQ. We also took our full-size Smeg kettle, a king-size blow-up mattress, (that inflated in less than three minutes) using the V2L, a giant cool box that I plugged in continuously for nearly six days, and a few other necessary items, including a GoPro, iPhones, and iPad chargers. It’s also helpful in charging electric bikes or vacuuming the car, I have heard.

After extensive research, I couldn’t find much information online about how much electricity these devices would use. I also brought along the CTEK CS Free portable charger and solar charging panel to keep smartphones and other devices charged. We were well set up. By the way, the CTEK could also be used if I were to flatten the smaller 12V battery that the Kia EV9 uses for starting the car. Ultimately, it was something I didn’t worry about in the end.

Let the test begin. We left Bournemouth with the seats folded, the vehicle loaded to the gunnels, and the coolbox full, powered by the 12V socket in the rear of the seven-seater. I was concerned about how much power would be used, but when driving the 12v, the supply is replenished by the EV9’s main battery.

We arrived on the hottest week of the year. Was this all going to be a good idea? I still admit it was more stressful than I thought. In the front frunk is a case with an attractive Kia bag which holds the charging cable; slightly hidden in the bottom of the bag is the V2L adapter, a large plastic item with a plug as one end to go into the car and a 13a plug at the other end, with a foldable cover. The design of the adapter is slightly annoying in a few ways, but we will get onto that later,

I opened the rear charging flap and plugged it in. The V2L adapter sticks out the car’s rear side from the main charging port. On the adapter is a plug socket. There is a simple press button to start the output. Pressing the button, the light went green to confirm power was on. I plugged the cool box inside the car into the in-car socket; success! We were off to the races.

The coolbox whirred away and sweating away got started, trying to recall how to put the tent up. We haven’t used it for a few years because of such poor weather : ), but not this time, the weather was perfect.

Fortunately, day one was my birthday, so dinner was at the local pub, the Fox, and the V2L would be used for the cool box until tomorrow’s breakfast. We headed off to the pub to meet friends for dinner, leaving the EV9 locked with the V2L locked into the socket and the coolbox in the car.

One helpful feature when using the V2L adapter is the ability to display information inside the car on the dashboard instruments. It indicates how long the main battery will last with whatever you have plugged in. Using the cool box on the available charge, it could be at least eight days. Later on, having spent around 7 hours at the pub in the sunshine, we toddled back just to check that the coolbox had hardly used any of the power. Impressed, I looked forward to what the next day would bring.

Bedtime at last, sleep went well until our small dog, a cockapoo, decided to wake up around 5:30, later followed by the impolite cacophony of cattle, pigs, sheep, and birdsong. I had to have a coffee, so I got up and plugged the kettle into the car. It was significantly easier than using a camping gas stove. Quick and easy, a gloriously sunny morning. For breakfast the next day, we headed back to the pub to meet our friends who had stayed there due to the fact they were immune to camping.

Saying our goodbye, we headed back to the campsite. My wife’s brother, wife and two teenage daughters were coming along in their retro campervan to join us for one day, and the BBQ would finally get a test.

Wheeling out the compact Weber Lumin from the tent, I found it had been the easiest thing to assemble at home, where I had briefly tested it. With an electric BBQ, allow about 30 minutes to reach a reasonable temperature.

Burgers were a simple first EV BBQ meal and just a practice for the Korean chicken wings I would try another day as a nod to Kia, being a South Korean brand. Meals followed: salmon, steaks, breakfast, sausages, bacon and eggs. The versatility of cooking on the Weber Lumin electric BBQ was immense, and I didn’t have to worry about gas running out.

Tummys full, first BBQ over, I was gaining confidence in this EV way of life. Only 2% of the battery is gone, WOW. The week continued, and the V2L really added to the experience; yes, it made things easier. Now, with the knowledge I have, the reality is that having an electric socket on board an electric car equipped with V2L is a real benefit.

Confidence grew; we cooked, boiled the kettle, recharged our Bluetooth speaker, topped up the air in the camp bed, and charged our cameras. I wish I had taken a hair dryer. It was impressive to finally know that the impact on the car’s battery was negligible.

Popping into Dorchester after five days, I decided a quick charge would be sensible, as we were making quite a few trips. The EV9 features superfast 800-volt ultra-high-speed charging, with an 80% top-up taking under 25 minutes using a 150kW charger. It did, it worked and life is good.

V2L is available on several cars these days and may not have the exact specifications as the Kia EV9, so check the possible power output.

Many thanks to Kia UK and Weber UK for their help with this project