Is Todhills or Gretna the best place to stop for charging on M6 Southbound?

[HazardLights]

Hi,

Is Todhills or Gretna the best place to stop for charging?

I expect to stop for lunch there although I may throw in another stop if timing proves to be difficult. The background is that I am planning a trip to Manchester in April and working on my Southbound journey. It will be my first time going to England in an EV and I cannot remember the service stations. I intend to take out a months Tesla Membership which works wonders for charging costs (especially in Scotland). I will be in my MG4 Trophy LR. I have looked at the excellent commentary here Charging on the M6 Southbound

Other things I am wondering, has anyone popped off the charge at Preston before and is it a trouble free option?

Are there any particularly nice places to stop regardless of charge if I fancy a coffee, cake and stretch of legs?

Any tips/advice on Northbound journey? I am avoding EV OTM (on the move) chargers as these don't seem to offer any cost benefit although as I like the Tesla charging experience I will use them as necessary.

Thanks,
HazardLights

 

[siteguru]

Todhills southbound ... you can use the Open-to-all Tesla superchargers there, and there's a Costa outlet. It's also just off the motorway. There's also a number of high power GridServe chargers there, but obviously more expensive than Tesla.

The Tesla superchargers at Gretna Outlet Village are also Open-to-all but I tend to use them when I'm heading northbound ... however there are more options there for eating and shopping.

Gretna services is handy but you're restricted to expensive chargers there - Ionity (though you can get a small discount using an Electroverse card) and AppleGreen. There's also a couple of 50kW GridServe chargers there.

 

[OzricEV]

Personally like Tebay at 69p/kWh and a decent coffee, but it doesn't look like it will line up well with your route.
It's my aim point as it's near enough bang on half way between Edinburgh and Llandudno.

 

[DixieTGS]

Other things I am wondering, has anyone popped off the charge at Preston before and is it a trouble free option?

I haven't used it, but as it's attached to a hotel you have to register at the front desk to avoid parking fines, and the Tesla app suggests there's an entry code too.

 

[Gomev]

I haven't used it, but as it's attached to a hotel you have to register at the front desk to avoid parking fines, and the Tesla app suggests there's an entry code too.

When the app says code FRONTDESK it means as you have said you need to register at the front desk in the hotel to avoid parking fines.
The codes generally apply to if there is a barrier, e.g. a car park, you need to pass to enter.

 

[Rolfe]

I'd probably go to Caledonian Park if I didn't have enough to get to Tebay, but that's probably because I've been there, and I've never been to Todhills. There's also the Ionity site beside the Carlisle Truckstop (Starbucks). Gretna services itself is a bit of a scrum.

 

[siteguru]

Todhills is very easy as it's literally a service area a few miles south of Gretna services, so a simple off the motorway, charge, then rejoin.