Question for those that regularly make longer journeys

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Striker

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MG ZS EV
I’ve had my ZS LR for a month, I’m loving it, particularly as I get free charging at work, typically I do 125 miles in the week and 100 at the weekend, so everything is easy

My question is about longer journeys, I’m fine with Zap-Map etc. What “rules of thumb” do you typically use?

I’m assuming for the LR, that 220 motorway miles is a good average. When would you be aiming to charge? 50 miles remaining? 30?
 
Have you tried ABRP as it sets out your stops based on you requirements.
I would go down to 20-30% for plan A so it leaves you wiggle room for plan B.
Charge it up to 80-90% or when the charge rate drops off then head off to your next stop or destination. You will end up with a few apps but you may only use a few favourites.
 
I have done few longer trips but nothing to crazy in my Standard range my rule of thumb is to stop every 2 hours or so. I have 2 young kids so this is pretty much what I have to do anyway. To be honest I don't mind I am not a young spring chicken that I one was so being able to stretch and move every 2 hours doesn't sound bad to be honest.

If I was you my rule would be stop every 3 to 3.5 hours for a short break and charge you will rarely drive more than 8 hours anyway so you end up with 2 charges on such a long drive which is plenty reasonable.
 
I set the "contactless payment" filter in Zap-Map to use my debit card. I can't be doing with all these apps, RFID's and subscriptions as I do so few long trips. I usually drive down to 15%-20% and make sure there are a few chargers within range of each other just in case. I've had a few occasions where I've had to phone the support number to reset the charger, but I've always been able to get a charge somewhere. :)
 
Kithmo said:
"Free" trumps "I refuse" :LOL:
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It certainly does. I am joining a gym this month and number 1 reason why I picked this gym over any other is that it is next to tesco car park so I can charge for free before I travel to work after gym making my membership pretty much free at this point.
 
Maciej said:
It certainly does. I am joining a gym this month and number 1 reason why I picked this gym over any other is that it is next to tesco car park so I can charge for free before I travel to work after gym making my membership pretty much free at this point.
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We go "border-shopping" in Germany sometimes, because our government, are asenine with taxes on sugar, alcohol and so on. We have recently started shopping at a different place based solely on the fact that they have a supercharger, where the other place "only" have 11kW destination chargers.

I don't think it will take many years before these border-shops will catch up, and understand that if they want the EV crowd to come to their store, they need superchargers.

Destination chargers are just way to slow for us people that order in advance and only need an hour for pickup of the ordered goods and then a trip inside for the odd bit or bob, that we forgot to order, or just found out later that we were missing.
 
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Maciej said:
It certainly does. I am joining a gym this month and number 1 reason why I picked this gym over any other is that it is next to tesco car park so I can charge for free before I travel to work after gym making my membership pretty much free at this point.
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Keep your eye on the time. I nearly overstayed the 2 and a half hours at our tesco lol.
 
Maciej said:
Trust me I am VERY far away from being able to work out at they gym for 2 and half hours :)
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Ah, but it's a 15 minute work out and then an hour and three quarters while the paramedics check you over, give you oxygen, and the gym staff give you a sugary cup of tea with digestive biscuits. ;)
 
We start planning a charge at 40% in our 5Lr with a similar range to your zs lr as that gives us a decent contingency. Charge to 80-90% then do the same. We have a 3 and 6 yo so chances are we will need to stop every 2 hours anyway.
 
Striker said:
I’ve had my ZS LR for a month, I’m loving it, particularly as I get free charging at work, typically I do 125 miles in the week and 100 at the weekend, so everything is easy

My question is about longer journeys, I’m fine with Zap-Map etc. What “rules of thumb” do you typically use?

I’m assuming for the LR, that 220 motorway miles is a good average. When would you be aiming to charge? 50 miles remaining? 30?
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50miles I think is safer.
 
Gadget Geek said:
I set the "contactless payment" filter in Zap-Map to use my debit card. I can't be doing with all these apps, RFID's and subscriptions as I do so few long trips. I usually drive down to 15%-20% and make sure there are a few chargers within range of each other just in case. I've had a few occasions where I've had to phone the support number to reset the charger, but I've always been able to get a charge somewhere. :)
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Re having Apps for charging.... I too use app for free charge at TESCO...but wrote to Dept of Transport about the many apps one has to use. They agreed !! and are trying to ensure that payment via Debit/Credit card should exist.
 
I plan my long trips around stopping at Tesco’s .
free charging and if you are pushed for time pay for the fast charge.
I have never had a problem using this plan.
 
Striker said:
I’ve had my ZS LR for a month, I’m loving it, particularly as I get free charging at work, typically I do 125 miles in the week and 100 at the weekend, so everything is easy

My question is about longer journeys, I’m fine with Zap-Map etc. What “rules of thumb” do you typically use?

I’m assuming for the LR, that 220 motorway miles is a good average. When would you be aiming to charge? 50 miles remaining? 30?
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I think you’d be lucky to get anywhere near 220 miles at motorway speeds. Each school day morning I do 88 miles, mostly on motorways and dual carriageways, and that get s me down to between 55 and 60% of battery left, depending upon the weather. I then charge the car (hopefully using the power of the sun) before doing the same trip in reverse in the afternoon.

However, you really should be stopping for a break after two hours driving (unless driving is your profession) and you can fast charge your car as you have a bit of a rest yourself. By the time you’ve grabbed a coffee, used the loo and stretched your legs, the car should have picked up enough charge for another couple of hours driving.
 
Regarding "motorway speeds"

I found that with an EV, the benefits of doing 80, vs doing 70 makes it not worth it to do 80

What i mean, is that the extra power "burned" by doing 80 takes about as long to put in, as the time you saved, doing 80 instead of 70
 
ger said:
I plan my long trips around stopping at Tesco’s .
free charging and if you are pushed for time pay for the fast charge.
I have never had a problem using this plan.
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Tesco free charging is usually 3.5 to 7kW. You will be extending your journey time if you wait to recharge at one of them on long trips :)
 
Striker said:
I’ve had my ZS LR for a month, I’m loving it, particularly as I get free charging at work, typically I do 125 miles in the week and 100 at the weekend, so everything is easy

My question is about longer journeys, I’m fine with Zap-Map etc. What “rules of thumb” do you typically use?

I’m assuming for the LR, that 220 motorway miles is a good average. When would you be aiming to charge? 50 miles remaining? 30?
Click to expand...
I also use an app called PLUGSHARE, which I find there is a little for info on the charging stations.
 
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