Last week, 12 pioneering teams successfully completed The Big Lemon London to Land's End Electric Vehicle Rally 2026. Marking the sixth event in a series that began with the inaugural London to Brighton run in 2021, this year’s three-day rally put UK charging infrastructure and EV capabilities to the ultimate test during a simulated summer holiday route to Cornwall.
Organised by the EV Rally Club—a dedicated community of enthusiasts, professionals, and renewable energy advocates—the event was supported by The Big Lemon bus company and Zapmap, the official Public Charging Payment Partner. Both supporting organisations entered their own teams and sponsored stage challenges along the 400-mile route.
While previous rallies explored international routes to Paris, Geneva, and Amsterdam, the 2026 edition focused entirely on domestic travel. Teams faced a series of rigorous real-world challenges designed to test vehicle efficiency across central London traffic, motorways, and country lanes, alongside specialised performance tests:
- Off-Road Performance: Teams navigated Salisbury Plain with the goal of driving the shortest possible distance between two designated points.
- Regenerative Braking Capability: Driving down a 200m altitude drop through a four-mile stretch of Cheddar Gorge, teams competed to harvest the most potential energy back into their batteries, aiming to finish with more range than they started with.
- The Zapmap Charging Challenge: Teams identified, tested, and logged live feedback and photos of charging infrastructure directly into the Zapmap app to support the wider EV community.
The journey highlighted sustainable innovation across the South West, featuring overnight stops and visits to Wall Eden Farm holiday park (utilising solar-powered EV charging and hot water), Strawberry Fields farm shop (powered by rooftop solar), and the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, the UK’s first working geothermal power station.
Official 2026 Rally Winners
- Most Efficient Vehicle: Mac's Zero S motorbike (achieving an incredible 14.29 miles/kWh)
- Most Efficient Car: Mark and Lynne's Hyundai Ioniq (7.35 miles/kWh)
- Best Off-Road Navigation: Team Zapmap in the Cupra Born (successfully crossing Salisbury Plain in just 12 miles)
- Best Regenerative Braking Performance: Joanne and Roger in their Hyundai Ioniq (adding 2 miles of range to their dashboard 'Guess-o-meter' down Cheddar Gorge)
- The Zapmap Infrastructure Testing Award: Gary and Rob in the Kia EV4 Fastback (tested and verified 10 different charging sites in a single day)
- The Big Lemon Photography Award: Tim and Anne in the Tesla Model S (successfully capturing 13 out of 15 famous landmarks, including Brighton’s Palace Pier, Stonehenge, the Wellington Monument, and St Michael’s Mount)
Tom Druitt, Rally co-founder and CEO of The Big Lemon, commented:
"Once again the EV Rally has demonstrated what's possible in the fast-moving world of electric vehicles and renewable energy technology. This year the focus was on domestic tourism, showing what is possible on a family holiday to Cornwall. We often hear people say things like 'You can't go on holiday in an EV' and 'EVs are no good for pulling caravans'.
"Well, this year we proved all that is nonsense. All the vehicles that took part had no trouble doing the 400 miles from London to Brighton to Land's End, and if a bus can do it, almost anything can do it. This year, we even saw a vehicle with a caravan charging up at the new Gridserve facility for long vehicles at Exeter Services.
"I'd like to say a big thank you to Zapmap, our Public Charging Payment Partner, for all their support; and to Wall Eden Farm, Strawberry Fields Farm Shop and the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project for hosting us. The involvement of all these organisations helped make this year's event the best one yet, and it was wonderful to see all the work going on to accelerate the transition to more sustainable ways of doing things."
Joseph Osborne, Head of Data at Zapmap, said:
"Completing the London to Land’s End EV Rally 2026 was a great experience for everyone involved, and it proved just how far the UK's charging network has come.
"As the official Public Charging Payment Partner for the event, the Zapmap team's goal was simple: to remove friction from the journey.
"Watching drivers effortlessly use the Zapmap app and charging card to find, filter, and pay for charging across multiple networks with a single tap was the most rewarding part of the whole experience. It brought the community together and proved that switching to electric doesn't mean compromising on convenience.
"It was a privilege to support the team at The Big Lemon and all the participants, directly showcasing that long-distance, zero-emission travel isn't just a future goal - it's completely practical today."
