Thought I'd update this thread with our recent experience of holiday travel from Durham to Plymouth and back again. It's the third year we've done it in an EV. Last year we took both Leafs actually, but this year we only needed the one. We traveled down on a recent Saturday and came back on the Friday of the bank holiday weekend and if there's a headline, then it's that general motorway traffic congestion was worse than the EV charging.
We didn't choose motorway service stations, instead places a couple of miles off each time. On the way down, choice1 (Podpoint) at Burton on Trent was in use, but choice2 (Osprey) was fine. Stop number 2 was in Bristol and choice1 (Podpoint) was vacant but charging slow, we then discovered. Weirdly, several other users were happy to queue there after us including a British Gas van; hardly a good use of company time. In hindsight we detoured a bit too far for that charge. On the way home the traffic was chocker all the way past Bristol but it did mean we used less juice at least. Choice1 (Shell) near Cheltenham was vacant and a great spot. Stop 2 was meant to be North Derbyshire, but more traffic congestion meant the bladders needed a sooner stop. Amazingly the chademo at Trowell Services Nottingham was vacant during Friday evening rush hour, so we happily filled up there.
Three summers of doing this and it didn't feel much different this time around. Maybe if I didn't carry so many apps and cards, stopped only at motorway services or other headline hubs, didn't enjoy the anorak planning that goes into having options A to Z etc then it would have been a more disheartening experience. But it was okay. We did notice there seemed to be very few other EVs on the motorways though, certainly fewer than we see in general. Maybe more holiday makers were keeping them at home in favour of the big ICE for long distance, family convenience.