JonnyG
Prominent Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
- Messages
- 915
- Reaction score
- 1,438
- Points
- 402
- Location
- Leeds, UK
- Driving
- MG4 XPOWER
We went to visit my daughter and son-in-law over the weekend who live in Maidenbower near Crawley which is around 244 miles away. The don't have an EV or home charger so pubic charging was the order of the day !
Knowing such a trip would be happening around twice a year I had researched the likely best fast charging places to charge through many website / apps etc. and compiled a Favourites List on Google Maps with ultra fast chargers.
Although with the M25 you never now if the SatNav will take you down the M1, so some are on the A1 and some on M40 route
Starting with 100% charge from home our first stop on the way down was planned to be the Tesla V4 station near Luton Airport parkway which was about 170 miles distance but after a few delays and short diversion near Leicester we eventually ended up at Watford Gap for a Comfort Break
. Mrs G spotted lots of Gridserve chargers, so even though I still had around 44% charge left we decided to top up here. Connection was a breeze - plugged in the CCS, Swiped Credit Card on the contactless sensor and off it went in about 40 seconds. The car only pulled around 67kW but we soon seemed to get to 95% charge.
A Black MG Trophy (early 2023 model) pulled up next to us and a nice couple got out to start their charge. They were down to 27% SoC and pulled around 127kW from the charger
compared to my 67kW 
. Must have been the lower state of charge of their car or maybe the charger itself which was the end one. We had a long chat and they told me they did 170 miles a day !! (home-work-home) with cheap home charging overnight. They reckoned the saving they made on petrol almost paid the monthly payments for the MG4. They also put all other household appliances on timers to run overnight during the cheap tariff. As they both worked away from home during the day it made a lot of sense 
. They had the MG service scheme and had already had two services, updates etc. and said they really liked the car.
We arrived at Maidenbower around 2130pm with about 35% battery left and had averaged about 3.3 mi/kWh according the the screen (using Eco Mode and Energy Saving Mode).
Next morning I popped round to the Frogshole Farm Pub which is a 2 minute walk from my daughters house and has a single old BP Pulse 50kW charger. I was a bit doubtful of a successful charge here but had downloaded the BP Pulse App and added my Credit Card etc. There was no one there so popped back for my car and parked up for a charge. The first connection attempt failed but then trying a different method it seemed to connect (after about 6 steps) and started charging much to my surprise and relief !!
After about half and hour a newish Holborn Blue MG4 Trophy pulled up and the chap got out to ask me how much longer I would be. We had a good chat again and he said he bought his through the the Motability scheme as his wife was wheelchair bound. I showed him this forum and he seemed quite interested so may be a new member here soon ! They lived in a flat and relied totally on public charging so had joined up with BP on a subscription which gave him a good discount on the price per kWh. I topped my car up to 95% and it took 41.8kw at £0.77 per kWh = £32
On the way back home all went to plan and we charged at Donnington Services (Gridserve again and put just enough electrons in to get us home with about 20 miles to spare. This time I got a much better 122kW speed, probably because I was at a lower SOC - 24% and parked at the far end of the bays on my own !! Again three simple steps and all was working in 40 seconds. My Credit Card isn't yet showing any amount for either of the Gridserve charges but I notice the available balance is down around £48 which is strange as it usually shows all "pending transactions"
Having topped up with some miles to spare I could switch off Energy Saving Mode and Eco mode and the car was a lot nippier and responsive to the throttle for that last leg
Got home with around 20 miles left and it was showing 3.2mls/kWh overall. I then charged up to 80% last night again on my 7kW home charger.
So for me it was a good experience with no failures and met a a few other MG4 owners who both liked their cars and maybe joining the forum soon !!
Knowing such a trip would be happening around twice a year I had researched the likely best fast charging places to charge through many website / apps etc. and compiled a Favourites List on Google Maps with ultra fast chargers.
Although with the M25 you never now if the SatNav will take you down the M1, so some are on the A1 and some on M40 route
Starting with 100% charge from home our first stop on the way down was planned to be the Tesla V4 station near Luton Airport parkway which was about 170 miles distance but after a few delays and short diversion near Leicester we eventually ended up at Watford Gap for a Comfort Break
. Mrs G spotted lots of Gridserve chargers, so even though I still had around 44% charge left we decided to top up here. Connection was a breeze - plugged in the CCS, Swiped Credit Card on the contactless sensor and off it went in about 40 seconds. The car only pulled around 67kW but we soon seemed to get to 95% charge.A Black MG Trophy (early 2023 model) pulled up next to us and a nice couple got out to start their charge. They were down to 27% SoC and pulled around 127kW from the charger
compared to my 67kW . Must have been the lower state of charge of their car or maybe the charger itself which was the end one. We had a long chat and they told me they did 170 miles a day !! (home-work-home) with cheap home charging overnight. They reckoned the saving they made on petrol almost paid the monthly payments for the MG4. They also put all other household appliances on timers to run overnight during the cheap tariff. As they both worked away from home during the day it made a lot of sense . They had the MG service scheme and had already had two services, updates etc. and said they really liked the car.We arrived at Maidenbower around 2130pm with about 35% battery left and had averaged about 3.3 mi/kWh according the the screen (using Eco Mode and Energy Saving Mode).
Next morning I popped round to the Frogshole Farm Pub which is a 2 minute walk from my daughters house and has a single old BP Pulse 50kW charger. I was a bit doubtful of a successful charge here but had downloaded the BP Pulse App and added my Credit Card etc. There was no one there so popped back for my car and parked up for a charge. The first connection attempt failed but then trying a different method it seemed to connect (after about 6 steps) and started charging much to my surprise and relief !!
After about half and hour a newish Holborn Blue MG4 Trophy pulled up and the chap got out to ask me how much longer I would be. We had a good chat again and he said he bought his through the the Motability scheme as his wife was wheelchair bound. I showed him this forum and he seemed quite interested so may be a new member here soon ! They lived in a flat and relied totally on public charging so had joined up with BP on a subscription which gave him a good discount on the price per kWh. I topped my car up to 95% and it took 41.8kw at £0.77 per kWh = £32
On the way back home all went to plan and we charged at Donnington Services (Gridserve again and put just enough electrons in to get us home with about 20 miles to spare. This time I got a much better 122kW speed, probably because I was at a lower SOC - 24% and parked at the far end of the bays on my own !! Again three simple steps and all was working in 40 seconds. My Credit Card isn't yet showing any amount for either of the Gridserve charges but I notice the available balance is down around £48 which is strange as it usually shows all "pending transactions"
Having topped up with some miles to spare I could switch off Energy Saving Mode and Eco mode and the car was a lot nippier and responsive to the throttle for that last leg
Got home with around 20 miles left and it was showing 3.2mls/kWh overall. I then charged up to 80% last night again on my 7kW home charger.
So for me it was a good experience with no failures and met a a few other MG4 owners who both liked their cars and maybe joining the forum soon !!
Last edited by a moderator:
)
Is the moral of the story, do not use public chargers as it’ll cost more than petrol or diesel? I think the only way you save money against the combustion engine is by home charging overnight 
