I've gone and done it now (road trip)

[Rolfe]

Type 2, though? I'm going to need rapids - unless I'm about to run out of course!

 

[EVsince2016]

I've just driven to the south



Of Spain, come on! Gibraltar in 2 days

 

[Rolfe]

We're going to need more detail than that, come on! How far, how many hours, what was your charging strategy. Go on, we want to hear all about it!

 

[EVsince2016]

We're going to need more detail than that, come on! How far, how many hours, what was your charging strategy. Go on, we want to hear all about it!

When I get home and on the other thread. Charging is a lot better now. Super easy this time even with a 118 mile charger gap above Seville.

The fans roar charging in 43C

 

[Rolfe]

Great, looking forward to it.

What is the official range of your car?

 

[EVsince2016]

Great, looking forward to it.

What is the official range of your car?

I'm getting 220 miles real range on motorway driving, averaging 4.0 miles per kw. The bigger issue are the mountains as 1000m climbs are common in Spain. On the climb out of Santander I was at just over 1 mile per kw for a while until the summit and 100 miles to a rapid. It all averages out but it can be a little scary. I use the cycling directions on adjacent roads to help me work the numbers out and for extra charges or longer gaps.

You do need to plan and do the maths. More chargers do make it easier.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks, really interesting. I suppose I should wait till you tell the story on the other thread before asking more questions!

 

[Rolfe]

It all went pretty well.

I got to my first stop, Greenlands Farm Shop, without any trouble and on about 17% charge as predicted. Looking for the chargers the first thing I saw was a row of chargers covered by tarpaulins bearing the words "coming soon", but then I saw there was one operational charger, an Instavolt. I was supposed to charge up to 78%, but the service at the restaurant was really slow, and anyway I could (as usual) barely see the phone screen for the sun, and by the time I'd got some food and eaten it I'd been there an hour and a quarter and the car was on 99%.

Ionity at Stafford was trouble. I got into a loop where if I tapped on "start charge" on my phone I was thrown back to "select payment method" and had to enter all my card details again. Repeatedly. A woman on the next charger was having similar trouble, and phoned the helpline. Suddenly both our cars started charging. I thought I'd accidentally done something right, but possibly not... Again I went on past the charge % ABRP recommended, because I was queueing for the loo at Starbucks.

Cherwell Valley had two older Gridserves, dual connector, labelled "medium power" and about six newer ones labelled "high power". No actual numbers quoted. I ended up on a medium power one but I think I saw 60 Kw and the car charged reasonably quickly. Again I went beyond the % recommended by ABRP, thinking to arrive in Portslade with enough to get to Glyndebourne if necessary. Which I did.

I had about 19% on arrival which would have been plenty to get to Glyndebourne, but since I wanted to go to 100% and balance on the destination chargers there and I didn't think I'd be there long enough to do that from an empty battery, I set out the following morning to get some more charge. A single 150 Kw BP Pulse charger at an M&S petrol station was broken, so I had to go for the 50 Kw Blink charger I'd been avoiding as I'd been having a row with Blink about their app and wasn't sure it would work. But in fact that charger took my debit card no problem and I set off for Glyndebourne with about 55%, getting there on about 48%.

The PodPoints there worked fine and my car started charging at just over 5 Kw, finish time given as 7 pm, which would mean balanced by 7.30, which was fine as the performance finished at eight. Then I saw a Leaf had appeared and plugged into the other connector on my charger, even though there were still chargers with nobody plugged in. Damn, I thought, that will slow down my charge and I may not get the balance charge. But when I checked my phone the car was still charging at over 5 Kw, the Leaf had made no difference. By the time I left it was 100% and had finished balancing.

I was still on 93% when I got back to my friend's house, and that did me all the way back to Cherwell Valley even though I detoured through the village where I used to live to check out the place and go for a walk in the country park. I got a high power Gridserve and saw the car charging at 85 Kw.

That took me back to the Ionitys at Stafford and that's when I had my only real trouble. The same thing happened again, and I couldn't get the car to start charging. I phoned the helpline, and things just got worse. Delete the app and re-install it. But it wouldn't reinstall. Try the QR code. But the web page wouldn't open. Try your Shell Recharge RFID card. Nope. "Oh, it looks as if that isn't activated." (Dunno what to do about that.) Try the Shell Recharge app. Nope again. (I think at this point my mobile internet connection was poor, which was really, really bad timing.) I was trying not to get mad at the helpline girl as it wasn't her fault, but honestly all the other chargers I used just worked, no issues (apart from the one that was actually broken). In the end she took my name and email address and said she'd start the charge and they'd bill me by email. (I have had an automated email saying they are "on it" as regards not being able to start the charge, but no bill so far.) This was frankly ridiculous. I had multiple ways to pay and none of them would work. It was a bright, warm afternoon - if a bit blowy - but if it had been torrential rain it would not have been a lot of fun. The girl said they'd been having some complaints about these chargers. I for one will be avoiding Ionity after this.

I didn't get to Burton-in-Kendal till about 7.30 but again I got a high power Gridserve and headed for the Burger King. By this time my phone was dying - its screen had given up by the following morning. No idea what charging power I got, but I had to stay an hour to get the 94% I needed to get home.

Dark. Empty motorway. Wanted home. Set ACC to 80 and went for it, although I had to slow down a couple of times for roadworks sections. Supposedly 132 miles home according to ABRP. Most of the way the GOM was a bit ambivalent about all this, predicting around 128-132 miles in total. Decisions. Carry on up the A701 through Moffat, the shorter road but where there are no chargers, or take the longer way round via Abington services? Common sense said that I'd be getting double the mileage once I left the motorway so I should be fine.

The car was still on about 2.5 miles/KWh through Moffat and up to the Wells of Tweed, which is quite a climb, but after that the expected happened. The GOM read 29/30 miles without dropping all the way to Broughton, as I was only doing 40-50 mph and regenerating down the hill. Got home just before eleven, on 9% charge with a remaining range of 18 miles, and according to the MG4 it was only 129 miles from Burton-in-Kendal.

I love Gridserve. And Instavolt. I'm beginning to forgive Blink. And I hate Ionity with a fiery passion.

Met a lady after church yesterday who was saying that her daughter lives in Cambridge. She's only had an EV for about eight months and she was so nervous about a long journey she took the train last time she went there. I started encouraging her to go for it. What have I done?

 

[Tight Git]

Just wait till you try any BP chargers - then you will really find aggro...

Never had any issues using Ionity apart from them being very busy, which is just as well as I get them for 28p/kWh on my Elli subscription .

Glad it went well.

 

[ukslim]

We evangelise about EVs, don't we - and I will continue to.

But as long as we find these charging stories worth telling, things aren't quite there, are they?

How long until there won't be a story to tell? "I drove to Orkney, there were chargers at all the places I stopped for a break"? Less than two years, if they get their act together -- but we'll see.

 

[tsedge]

We evangelise about EVs, don't we - and I will continue to.

But as long as we find these charging stories worth telling, things aren't quite there, are they?

How long until there won't be a story to tell? "I drove to Orkney, there were chargers at all the places I stopped for a break"? Less than two years, if they get their act together -- but we'll see.

Well I do know a bloke who still tells the stories of where he fills up with diesel and exactly what he paid, so maybe never!

 

[Rolfe]

To be fair, Ionity was the only problem part. Sure, the BP Pulse charger was broken, but I knew about the Blink one only a few streets away and that worked. Apart from Ionity, it really was a catalogue of "rock up, get charged" - much of it thanks to Gridserve.

One problem is that not all motorway service stations are equipped to the level that Cherwell Valley and Burton-in-Kendal are. My first preferred stop was Killington Lake, but that's a no-no if you're going any distance and can't afford hours on a pretty slow "rapid" charger. Forton would have been nice, but again, only 50 Kw chargers there. (It's also just past a junction, and if there's a problem getting charged there it might be difficult to get on to somewhere else. So if they upgrade that, it really needs to be to a high standard.) If we could rely on all the service stations to have decent ultra-rapids, we could more or less do what ICE drivers do and pull in when we feel like it. But we're not there yet.

I had a moan at Gridserve on Twitter yesterday, because they were boasting about all their lovely new chargers. I remarked that charging there would be no fun in torrential rain, especially if one was on the way to an appointment where one had to be looking smart. What about shelter and light, like ICE filling stations get? The answer was that they were focussed entirely on getting more chargers out because the number of EVs is increasing so rapidly, which is good news, but maybe invest in shares in rain ponchos too?

A real plus was the destination chargers in the theatre car park. Bookable, working, and actually pretty close to the theatre, not tucked away in a corner. More places need to do this. I think the people responsible for that are indeed eco-nuts. When I was having dinner, the bit on the menu where you can often find the calorie content of the dishes had instead - the amount of CO2 released in preparing the food!

 

[GaryMG4]

The answer was that they were focussed entirely on getting more chargers out because the number of EVs is increasing so rapidly, which is good news, but maybe invest in shares in rain ponchos too?

A real plus was the destination chargers in the theatre car park. Bookable, working, and actually pretty close to the theatre, not tucked away in a corner. More places need to do this.

I've added a large golfing umbrella to my boot in anticipation shelterless charging stations. I totally agree about destination charging, a local nature reserve has a couple of 7kw pod point chargers, perfect for a good top up in the 2-3 hours spent there, and 25p kWh.

 

[Rolfe]

I'm carrying an umbrella, certainly, but I only have two hands. It often takes both hands to get the CCS connector plugged into the car!

I was particularly pleased about the destination chargers at the theatre, because I wanted to get the car to 100% and balance charge, not just to go on running up and down on rapid chargers. I don't know how long it takes the LFP battery's algorithms to start going doolally about projected range if it isn't balanced, but it had already had four rapid charges in quick succession, and getting in a balance charge before setting off on the return journey and a bunch more consecutive rapid charges definitely seemed like a good idea. These PodPoints saved me from having to ask my host if I could plug in the granny charger.

 

[Rolfe]

I did actually have a fantastic time. The opera production was magical, with absolutely superb singing. Indeed, I had to recalibrate my ears because I now realise I've been listening to subtly amplified sound at Scottish Opera, and this was definitely natural voices. Wonderful. And it was lovely to see my friends and take them out to dinner the evening after the opera (after they had persuaded me to stay an extra day and I'd phoned a neighbour to go feed the cat!)

I'm just discombobulated right now because my phone gave up the ghost on the way home, first playing up when I was trying to get on the Ionity charger, then the screen failed completely. I have a new phone but because complicated reasons it's not yet on my own number, and until I can get my calls and texts coming in on the new handset I feel all unsettled. Whether the new handset will be bound to the car and if not what I'll have to do is anyone's guess. I suppose the good news is that the app downloaded OK and is scanning the car.

 

[siteguru]

You won't (shouldn't) need to bind - simply install the app on the new phone and login.

 

[Rolfe]

I installed the app and it found the car and scanned it. This is approximately the only thing that has gone right so far.

 

[tsedge]

Solution for @Rolfe

 

[Rolfe]

Talking of two hands to get the CCS connector in, I wonder what's cooking at Greenlands Farm. (Unfortunately the photo I took of the problem is lost with the bust phone.) Single Instavolt, with CCS and CHAdeMO connectors, and a type 2 socket. The CCS connector had a very short lead which was as thick as my arm. It was also on the left as you face the charger. Backed up to the charger, square on, I couldn't reach Caliban's charge port. There was marked space either side of the charger though, so I moved sideways so that I was parked right over to the side of the charger, and the connector would then reach.

The thing is, the four new chargers alongside it that are still shrouded in "coming soon" covers look to be the same, but they're sited cheek by jowl with no space between, and the four marked bays are just like a row of ordinary parking spaces. There's no manoeuvering space if the cable won't reach. Which it won't.

Given that MG4s have their charging port in the same place as Teslas, that's a big customer base who are going to find this distinctly awkward.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, I appear to have been and went and gone and done it again. Of course, after last year's fun, I was well and truly on the Glyndebourne mailing list and well-versed in the procedure for getting tickets. That involved being camped on their web site at six o'clock this evening, and I managed to get tickets for two operas this time. Since the two I wanted to see didn't have any dates close to each other I'm planning two trips, one in late May and one in late August. I'm really looking forward to it.

I see that Forton services has now been upgraded and it's probably worth taking the risk of heading there for my first charge. It's just under 150 miles, and I remember last year thinking I could have made it, but didn't want to risk the couple of old Gridserves (which was all they had then) not being functional, and then not being able to make it to the next exit.

Forton is a dump but it's convenient, and it now has another six new 350 kw Gridserves. If I go up to 85% there I should be able to make it to the NEC charging hub at Birmingham. From there I should be able to make the Cobham Ionitys, which would allow me to arrive in Portslade with enough to get me to Glyndebourne the next day, at a high enough level of charge to get to 100% and balance on the destination chargers there. On the other hand if I was running late for whatever reason I could just grab whatever I needed to get to Portslade, then go out in the morning and get something from that Blink charger at Victoria park.

Who says you can't road trip an SR. I might even detour to Northampton and/or West Yorkshire to visit other friends on the way home.