Whats it like to drive an eDub?

What's it like to drive an eDub for the first time?

We speak to electric camper van newbie: Hannah, who hired Maggie for a long weekend in the Lake District

We were joined by Hannah who was a bit of an extra special guest for us. Hannah was the first person to hire our latest eDub Maggie, and we thought it would be really fun to bring Hannah in to tell us a little bit more about her story, about her trip, about her experience.

So I want to jump right in, everybody seems to have their own story about camper vans and about love of Campers or history of campers, so I want to start there. Where did the passion for classic campers start with you?

When I was at high school, so from like the age of 11 to 16, a big group of us used to walk to and from school together and on that route there was a really old 70s orange camper. Me and my friend, Amy, used to walk past it every day and be like “oh one day”. They're just so cool looking, you can't deny when you look at them. I can't exaggerate what a genuine dream it was to actually experience going in Maggie because for so long I'd looked at photos of it and imagined what it could be like, what it would feel like and I suppose sort of thought that it might never happen. So to discover you guys, and then get the chance to do it was a genuine dream come true, still buzzing about it.

That kind of leads me to the next question of how did you first come across eDub? Why don't you tell us a bit more about that story.

I live in Sheffield, so every year we have a Festival here called The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival and that happens at the showroom here in Sheffield. I was flicking through the program and I noticed that there's going to be an actual camper van coming to the festival. It was just really nice to be able to have that really intimate, one-on-one chance to chat about all the different questions I had. I also hadn't ever anticipated that I would if I ever did have a camper experience that it would be an electric camper experience. That was like a whole other element that was really exciting, I didn't even know it existed or was possible.

I was really excited when I was like ‘oh my God it's a camper and it's electric’

So tell me more about your trip, where where did you go?

So I love the Lake District and really really wanted to go there for the trip. And I didn't quite realise that you could just charge up keep going. I went on Pitch up and booked the very last option available in the Lake District at the time I'd booked the van. We ended up staying near Fillmore Reservoir which is kind of north of Helvellyn and about a 50 minute drive from Keswick. We stayed there for three nights, oh it was amazing.

I'm curious about the journey because you didn't just take a Motorway to get there. We say to people ‘don't do that's boring, try the different routes” so tell me a bit more about that.

I was talking to my boyfriend about what the highlights had been, and we both said that our number one highlights was the journey there in the journey back. We went from eDub HQ and we drove to a lovely little village, and then we charged up for a bit and explored around. Then we made the journey from there to the Lake District, and if you’d have not suggested that we would have gone on a Motorway. It was it sunset, so we set off and we were driving with nobody else around through hills and mountains. The sun was setting, and then all of a sudden, these wild ponies just came out of nowhere. We pulled into a little lay-by and got out and just stood and watched the van in the foreground of the sun setting with these wild ponies. It was like something out of a film, it was unbelievable. I was like “I can't believe that this is our reality right now it was amazing”.

I think that's something that's so nice about the camper is that as soon as you're in it; it's like “The Adventure Starts”. It’s this other kind of peace, because this is just where you are in this moment so you can see this amazing nature and it felt like the way we're supposed to live as human beings it was amazing.

On the way back there were little bunnies in the road, and the sun was rising. We got out and were wrapped in little blankets watching the sunrise on the way back. It was just amazing, totally amazing. I text my friend when we got to the campsite saying “if that was all that we got to experience, just driving here, I'm happy”. Then we still got to have like an amazing three days as well so it was yeah it was amazing.

I couldn't believe that I've never driven an electric anything before and just what the smoothness and the ease of it was like. I got into it so quickly and then I got back into my car afterwards and I was like oh my God, how do I drive!?

“If that was all that we got to experience, just driving here, I'm happy”

You mentioned to me about getting used to the Left-hand drive tell me a bit about that.

I've never driven an electric vehicle I've never driven an automatic vehicle and I've never driven a left-hand drive so I was a little bit like “oh how is this going to go?”. I remember you saying “after the first mile or so you'll be absolutely fine”, and it was so true like I felt so comfortable. It was really nice to be in a different space in the road and not have to worry about using the gear stick or anything like that. You literally just turn it on, press it down, and off you go. I really liked the regenerative breaking, because obviously the brakes are a little bit harder than in a normal car, so I've got quite good at doing the regenerative breaking and being able to see it on their dashboard; “oh, now it's not using the charge because we've like come off it, and now it's saving the charge”, it’s amazing. I've never driven anything that's bigger than a car either, I've never driven a van or anything like that, so I was surprised at how quickly it felt really comfortable. Because the wheel is quite a lot bigger, I felt powerful! I loved it and it was so cute, there's obviously quite a few people in Vans and campers in the Lake District but not as beautiful as Maggie I would have to say. But it's like you become part of this little family,

Everyone's waving at you from their VWs, it's really fun.

If somebody's thinking about either hiring an eDub, or maybe talking to us about conversions, what would you say to those people?

I'd say; give yourself the treat of the experience. It's so special and the care that you get from you guys from the experience point of view, just gives you everything that you could need to have an amazing time. When we got there, and you gave us a test drive, it's such a lovely experience to have with you. I think something really unique about it being with you guys is the experience that you get, and also what's so nice is that you can just give it a go for even one night or two nights and see how you feel. I can't imagine anyone not having an amazing time. The whole thing is just built for you to be comfortable and to enjoy yourselves. Even like the little features like having spoons available, and like the USB plugs all that kind of stuff in there in the van it's just built for you to have a special time. I think I know adventuring is a privilege and we're in tough times at the moment, but if it's something that you can afford to do then

you won't regret it; it's absolute magic, we had the best time.

To Hire an eDub; heat to edubtrips.co.uk. If you want more information about conversions; get in touch with us via edubconversions.co.uk. You can call us as well at the workshop, there's always someone on the end of the phone to have a chat with you about the options available. 01423 421 950.