540 Mile Round Trip - Zero Issues

[DarrenG]

Popped home to North Wales over the weekend to visit my mum. 270 miles each way. On the outbound leg we charged at the Stafford Ionity chargers, 6 units at that location, three free but one was off-line. Arrived with 18% charge (I'd forgotten to set charge to long trip mode the night before so had set off with 80%)140kW charge rate until 50% then dropped to around 70kW. 35 mins and back to 80%,

Fully charged at my sisters (EV6 owner, lots and lots of toys but way to big a car for me even if Icould afford one!). Return leg we stopped at the superb InstaVolt hub in Banbury. 32 chargers means it's very unlikely you won't be able to charge. Again 140kW speed for the first half of the charge, just enough time for a coffee and toilet break before we were at 80% and back on the road.

Averaged 3.5 miles per kW which isn't too bad for a mostly M-way journey and 70mph.

I have done this journey in a Leaf 40kW which entailed two 45min long stops for top ups and very careful driving. This is much less painful!

 

[Rolfe]

Great stuff.

I'm currently having a twitter spat with a friend who thinks you need to stay the night in a hotel if you need to charge away from home. I don't know where these people get their information.

 

[DarrenG]

Daily Mail readers!

 

[Rolfe]

He isn't, though. He's generally pretty clued-up and runs a Scottish political web site. I was gobsmacked when he came out with that one.

 

[siteguru]

When he wrote that your reply should simply have been:

U

 

[Rolfe]

I've just sent him an image of my ABRP plan for my journey to Brighton. Approximately seven hours driving and two hours charging, split into three stops. In an SR. And pointed out that anyone in a bigger hurry should buy the ER which wouldn't leave them enough time to go to the loo and order a coffee.

 

[lsb777]

I've just sent him an image of my ABRP plan for my journey to Brighton. Approximately seven hours driving and two hours charging, split into three stops. In an SR. And pointed out that anyone in a bigger hurry should buy the ER which wouldn't leave them enough time to go to the loo and order a coffee.

Sounds like a big trip. We don't have a very good rapid set-up down here in the Brighton area. Plenty of lamp-post overnight chargers but the couple of small hubs of rapids have strict e-taxi only spaces and I've previously been warned by a traffic warden not to use even if desperate. Thing is you hardly see any 100% BEV taxis in Brighton so it would make sense to let anyone use them until the taxis start to ramp up.

Popped home to North Wales over the weekend to visit my mum. 270 miles each way. On the outbound leg we charged at the Stafford Ionity chargers, 6 units at that location, three free but one was off-line. Arrived with 18% charge (I'd forgotten to set charge to long trip mode the night before so had set off with 80%)140kW charge rate until 50% then dropped to around 70kW. 35 mins and back to 80%,

Fully charged at my sisters (EV6 owner, lots and lots of toys but way to big a car for me even if Icould afford one!). Return leg we stopped at the superb InstaVolt hub in Banbury. 32 chargers means it's very unlikely you won't be able to charge. Again 140kW speed for the first half of the charge, just enough time for a coffee and toilet break before we were at 80% and back on the road.

Averaged 3.5 miles per kW which isn't too bad for a mostly M-way journey and 70mph.

I have done this journey in a Leaf 40kW which entailed two 45min long stops for top ups and very careful driving. This is much less painful!

We do need more of these positive messages otherwise people have a tendency to just put the bad stuff. I'm still waiting for a build slot for an Xpower and overall I'm positive about the teething problems, but even I changed my lease to include a relief car as I didn't want to risk being off the road if the car needed any dealership time in the future.

 

[Rolfe]

Sounds like a big trip. We don't have a very good rapid set-up down here in the Brighton area. Plenty of lamp-post overnight chargers but the couple of small hubs of rapids have strict e-taxi only spaces and I've previously been warned by a traffic warden not to use even if desperate. Thing is you hardly see any 100% BEV taxis in Brighton so it would make sense to let anyone use them until the taxis start to ramp up.

It was great, I really enjoyed it. My friends live in Portslade and I first tried a BP Pulse at the M&S petrol station but that was out of order. I got on the single rapid that wasn't e-taxis only and charged to 50% - only a short walk from my friends' house.

I was going to Glyndebourne opera house and they have a lot of destination chargers so I only needed to arrive at 50% to be sure the car would get to 100% and balance while I was in the opera. That did me back to Portslade and all the way to Cherwell Valley on the return trip.

I agree with you about the taxi thing. Three taxi only chargers (I think) and I didn't see a single e-taxi anywhere - never mind actually charging. They could open one of these to the public in the mean time.

 

[lsb777]

It was great, I really enjoyed it. My friends live in Portslade and I first tried a BP Pulse at the M&S petrol station but that was out of order. I got on the single rapid that wasn't e-taxis only and charged to 50% - only a short walk from my friends' house.

I was going to Glyndebourne opera house and they have a lot of destination chargers so I only needed to arrive at 50% to be sure the car would get to 100% and balance while I was in the opera. That did me back to Portslade and all the way to Cherwell Valley on the return trip.

I agree with you about the taxi thing. Three taxi only chargers (I think) and I didn't see a single e-taxi anywhere - never mind actually charging. They could open one of these to the public in the mean time.

Haha I work in Portslade. I'm guessing you used the rapids next to the park on Victoria Road. I used to use those when they were on free vend after initial install. I'd get there and get 30 mins then round the corner to work. Ker-ching! Free fuel. Was good while it lasted.

 

[Rolfe]

Yes. My friends live in Benfield Road, on the corner. (Praying for everybody to get EVs like now so they can sit out in their garden.) I was avoiding the Victoria Road chargers to start with because I was having trouble with my Blink account, not realising the charger takes plastic. I went down to the M&S garage where they had a 150 Kw BP pulse, thinking just to sit in the car for 10 or 15 mins to get to 50%. But it was out of order so I went back to the park and got on the one 50 Kw public charger with a few minutes wait, and the guy who was just finishing showed me how to use it. I walked back to Benfield Road, checked the MG app, and realised I might as well walk straight back!

Thanks to getting a full desination charge at Glyndebourne in the evening I didn't need to take on any more charge when I started off home. Glyndebourne are great - 32 destination chargers, and you can reserve a space in advance (although when I was there they weren't full). (They also put on the menu how much CO2 is released in producing each dish! Don't have the roast beef!)

Apart from the damned expensive opera ticket it was a cheap trip - electric car all the way, and staying with friends. I did buy them dinner though!