EV owners: question about EV charging

Grumpy_chap

boxosox said:

I did a drive from Guildford to Glasgow yesterday, so was aware that I would probably have had to stop two or three times adding around 1.5hrs to my journey time of 7hrs which would have been tedious.

Why would the stops add 1.5 hours to the 7 hour journey?
On a 7 hour journey, I would be stopping regardless for comfort and refreshment breaks.
Charge at the same time and there is no increase in the overall journey time.

Petriix

Obviously Guildford to Glasgow is very far from a typical journey for most people. If this is a once per year trip the advice would be quite different to if you're doing it monthly or more often. If it was me, I'd be planning an overnight stop with charging halfway, then each day's drive would potentially not require a charging stop at all. If you're doing it all the time then a longer range EV would be ideal. 

Our recent trip from Norwich to the west coast of Ireland was punctuated with longer, more pleasant stops along the way. We had a lovely roast dinner in Nantwich while the car charged, then stayed overnight at a campsite with alpacas (and EV charging) in Snowdonia. A top-up on the ferry meant we could make it to Galway before charging again, taking the opportunity to explore the harbour area before heading on to the coast. 

On our way home we went more direct, stopping for a coffee and a 25 minute charge in Derby. I avoided motorways and kept to 65 on the dual carriageways. This was all in a 50kWh MG5 (standard range) which is most definitely a 'medium range EV'. WLTP range is 219 miles but I average around 200 miles per 100% battery charge.

The point is that I only charge away from home if I'm on a trip of over 200 miles (or if there is convenient free/cheap charging). I only drive more than 100 miles from home a handful of times per year so I really don't mind the odd bit of compromise. For the most part plugging in at home takes around 15 seconds and I never have the inconvenience of having to go to a petrol station and queue up before standing there squeezing a nozzle for 5 minutes. 

tripled

EVs work well when most of the journeys you do will be within round trip range of your home charger, for example, commuting, shopping, seeing friends/relatives, etc. On my EV this gives me a mileage cost of around 2.5p/mile, compared to 13p per mile for my diesel, and it has a range of around 200 miles, perhaps a bit less in winter on motorways, or a bit more in summer on slower roads.

I've learnt through experience that when you do longer journeys, use a rapid charging hub and take the hit on the expense. It's not worth trying to find cheaper chargers, they are often flaky and unreliable, need some random app, or are popular and have a queue, and take longer to top up. If I leave home at 100% and do one top up on a rapid (between 20% and 80%, which is when cars charge fastest, so max 60%), then it still averages out cheaper than a petrol or diesel car overall, and doesn't take very long. By the time you've had a coffee and a sandwich, the car is probably good to go.

If a journey would need more than one top-up, I take the diesel.

Jenni_D

LightFlare said:

Is there a channel where someone in an EV has done the same trip and NOT had any issues with range/working chargers/cost/frustration/additional time ??

Maybe just to prove that its possible someone would be willing -- perhaps even a vehicle manufacturer who currently cant even sell the damn things. 

Search for RSEV on YouTube ... he did LE to JOG in a Tesla (I think) in 18.5 hours, and did it easily.

force_ten1

Grumpy_chap said:

boxosox said:

I did a drive from Guildford to Glasgow yesterday, so was aware that I would probably have had to stop two or three times adding around 1.5hrs to my journey time of 7hrs which would have been tedious.

Why would the stops add 1.5 hours to the 7 hour journey?
On a 7 hour journey, I would be stopping regardless for comfort and refreshment breaks.
Charge at the same time and there is no increase in the overall journey time.

because if you believe the BS posted in the linked videos you have to wait 1.5 hours just to get on a vacant charger then you can only charge for 30 minutes because you get a fine if you stay on the services for more than two hours and the chargers are so slow that you only get a handful of miles in 30 minutes . so if you believe some of the far fetched nonsense in those videos your 7 hour journey would take you about 14 hours   

oldernonethewiser

Grumpy_chap said:

boxosox said:

I did a drive from Guildford to Glasgow yesterday, so was aware that I would probably have had to stop two or three times adding around 1.5hrs to my journey time of 7hrs which would have been tedious.

Why would the stops add 1.5 hours to the 7 hour journey?
On a 7 hour journey, I would be stopping regardless for comfort and refreshment breaks.
Charge at the same time and there is no increase in the overall journey time.

On long journeys I only stop for a comfort break or two so maybe 15 minutes max at a time.  If I had to wait longer for the car to charge then that would change my driving times considerably I would imagine.

I am very tempted by an EV but have no option for home charging currently so not going to happen - yet.

oldernonethewiser

force_ten1 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

boxosox said:

I did a drive from Guildford to Glasgow yesterday, so was aware that I would probably have had to stop two or three times adding around 1.5hrs to my journey time of 7hrs which would have been tedious.

Why would the stops add 1.5 hours to the 7 hour journey?
On a 7 hour journey, I would be stopping regardless for comfort and refreshment breaks.
Charge at the same time and there is no increase in the overall journey time.

because if you believe the BS posted in the linked videos you have to wait 1.5 hours just to get on a vacant charger then you can only charge for 30 minutes because you get a fine if you stay on the services for more than two hours and the chargers are so slow that you only get a handful of miles in 30 minutes . so if you believe some of the far fetched nonsense in those videos your 7 hour journey would take you about 14 hours   

As all good MSE'ers know, you can't get a fine

force_ten1

oldernonethewiser said:

force_ten1 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

boxosox said:

I did a drive from Guildford to Glasgow yesterday, so was aware that I would probably have had to stop two or three times adding around 1.5hrs to my journey time of 7hrs which would have been tedious.

Why would the stops add 1.5 hours to the 7 hour journey?
On a 7 hour journey, I would be stopping regardless for comfort and refreshment breaks.
Charge at the same time and there is no increase in the overall journey time.

because if you believe the BS posted in the linked videos you have to wait 1.5 hours just to get on a vacant charger then you can only charge for 30 minutes because you get a fine if you stay on the services for more than two hours and the chargers are so slow that you only get a handful of miles in 30 minutes . so if you believe some of the far fetched nonsense in those videos your 7 hour journey would take you about 14 hours   

As all good MSE'ers know, you can't get a fine

you better go tell lee davey then  

oldernonethewiser

force_ten1 said:

oldernonethewiser said:

force_ten1 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

boxosox said:

I did a drive from Guildford to Glasgow yesterday, so was aware that I would probably have had to stop two or three times adding around 1.5hrs to my journey time of 7hrs which would have been tedious.

Why would the stops add 1.5 hours to the 7 hour journey?
On a 7 hour journey, I would be stopping regardless for comfort and refreshment breaks.
Charge at the same time and there is no increase in the overall journey time.

because if you believe the BS posted in the linked videos you have to wait 1.5 hours just to get on a vacant charger then you can only charge for 30 minutes because you get a fine if you stay on the services for more than two hours and the chargers are so slow that you only get a handful of miles in 30 minutes . so if you believe some of the far fetched nonsense in those videos your 7 hour journey would take you about 14 hours   

As all good MSE'ers know, you can't get a fine

you better go tell lee davey then  

No idea who that is but as informed people know a private company can't fine you.

Grumpy_chap

oldernonethewiser said:

On long journeys I only stop for a comfort break or two so maybe 15 minutes max at a time.  If I had to wait longer for the car to charge then that would change my driving times considerably I would imagine.

I am very tempted by an EV but have no option for home charging currently so not going to happen - yet.

On a recent charge stop, we pulled up, plugged in and then went for a coffee.  
There was no queue but we had not even completed paying for our coffee when the car texted to say we had enough charge to complete our journey without stopping again.
We had not finished our coffee when the text came through to say the car was fully charged.
I moved the car from the charger station, then went back in for the toilet break before setting off again.
Certainly were not delayed in the slightest by the charging time.

By way of comparison, the journey was longer than we can do without fuel in the Fiesta so that would have been the same break time (coffee, toilet) plus extra time at the pump.