First long journey for us

[zaynethepain]

Hi looking for options and recommendations we will be travelling form Northampton Northampton to Eastbourne at the end of October my questions are
1) would you do this without a stop over
2) if you are stopping for a quick charge what are the recommendations for the best places for this and the best in distance for battery %
3) what navigation do you all use built in nav or others
I look forward to all you opinions

 

[slmorgan42]

Hey

ABRP is great for planning your route and will suggest where to stop.

I prefer Apple Maps to navigate.

I normally need a loo break after 1.5 to 2 hours so normally plan a charge when I stop. On the rapid chargers 10 mins gives you a good charge.

Also make you have enough charge when you at arrive at your destination depending on your charging options there.

If you have not used public chargers much before I would suggest doing a couple of practise chargers local to get confident. It’s not difficult but worth having a go.

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi looking for options and recommendations we will be travelling form Northampton Northampton to Eastbourne at the end of October my questions are
1) would you do this without a stop over
2) if you are stopping for a quick charge what are the recommendations for the best places for this and the best in distance for battery %
3) what navigation do you all use built in nav or others
I look forward to all you opinions

Hi, Have you done any rapid charges before and do you have any payment apps for any networks?
Worth checking out any Tesla superchargers on your route as they are a bit cheaper than most but you will need to set up the app first.
Rapid chargers slow up once you get to 80-85%SOC. Charge when your are between 20-30% SOC.

 

[siteguru]

Charge when it is convenient (e.g. you need a comfort break anyway), not when it is necessary. Plan your stops on that expectation. (Like above, I'll need a comfort break after about 100 miles, which is typically 1.5 to 2 hours).

Which model of MG4 do you have? Your distance between charges options vary accordingly.

 

[zaynethepain]

Hi we have 2025 MG4 Trophy LR

 

[MG Clive]

It probably depends how you feel about driving non-stop. Looking at a map, it appears to be about 150 miles, and 3 hours, so the car should do it without stopping if you can. So as long as you set off fully charged, and you know you can charge at the other end, you can do it in one go, personally I'd prefer to stop for a break half way through my journey.

 

[NickHeynes]

The Tesla chargers at lakeside shopping centre would probably be a good choice and cheap. They're just before the Dartford bridge on the M25 and open to all . You can take the opp to pop in to lakeside for a comfort break.

 

[Martinonline]

If you have the electroverse app and card you can use it to suggest a stop based on your starting charge and required ending charge. It says my 2023 LR Trophy can do it with 28% left after a 100% start. But I do not know how the app calculates that but I suspect if you drive more slowly you can get more miles out of the car.

I also use WattsUp as that gives me a list of chargers en-route so that I can know about alternative chargers if the one I'm planning to use is full up.

I'm sure I read that the later Trophies have a SatNav upgrade that gives the same function of route-planning with planned battery levels.

 

[PeteC]

I fairly regularly travel up and down to Scotland from south of Cambridge. My first stop is after 155 miles, around 135 of which are on dual carriageway or motorway with ACC set at 70mph. Starting with 100% I've never arrived at the stop with less than 25% charge even in winter. It's sometimes still in the 30's in warmer weather. That's in a Trophy.

 

[Bam Bam]

Hi looking for options and recommendations we will be travelling form Northampton Northampton to Eastbourne at the end of October my questions are
1) would you do this without a stop over
2) if you are stopping for a quick charge what are the recommendations for the best places for this and the best in distance for battery %
3) what navigation do you all use built in nav or others
I look forward to all you opinions

1) I'd probably look for somewhere to charge at the destination if the car can make it in one go.

2) If you were going down the M23 and wanted an easy option you could top up at the Gridserve at Gatwick or Pease Pottage services. Not the cheapest, though.

3) Look it up on ABRB, see what the options are. Then use google maps to find the first choice charger, with a backup in mind in case there is a problem with it.

 

[nogbad]

Hi looking for options and recommendations we will be travelling form Northampton Northampton to Eastbourne at the end of October my questions are
1) would you do this without a stop over
2) if you are stopping for a quick charge what are the recommendations for the best places for this and the best in distance for battery %
3) what navigation do you all use built in nav or others
I look forward to all you opinions

How long are you away for? It might be worth taking out a subscription with a charging network as that can reduce the cost/kW. You'll need to consider how you might be using the car whilst in Eastbourne, if you are driving around the area and away from home charging, factor that in. I'd agree with the recommendation about ABRP.

Eastbourne is a lovely spot, have a great time

 

[zaynethepain]

Thanks guys you have been really helpful it has been nice getting everyone different opinions

 

[2Sheds]

Having done a few similar trips (Northampton to South Coast) here's my advice FWIW:

I can highly recommend signing up with Electroverse, and getting their app and RFID card. It has made our public charging experience much simpler and more reliable. They seem to be partnered with most networks and they sometimes have cheap rates on offer. Electroverse are associated with Octopus, but you don't have to be an Octopus customer. There are good video tutorials online.

I am going to make some assumptions about your trip, in that it's a holiday and you will be doing a bit of running around while you're there for a few days. This is how we have handled similar trips:

Charge the car to 100% the night before your trip. This maximises your cheap rate home charging, and removes any possible range anxieties (diversions, use of A/C etc.).

The Trophy will make that distance easily in one go, you will probably have about 40-45% left. If you have a destination charger available, use that to replenish. If not, I would aim for a stop around 15-30 miles before your destination, and then top the car up to a level which will leave you with near to 80% when you arrive. This leaves the battery at its max "health" level and gives you plenty to run around with for the duration of your stay. We like to time the stop with a meal, or at least a coffee. We have found it best to use places with multiple rapid chargers to minimise the chances of having to queue.

For the return journey, it has usually turned out that using the same/similar charging location seems to work. Aim to get home with >20%. This will depend on the amount of charge you used while away, etc.

I tend to use the Electroverse app or ZapMap to located rapid chargers in the desired location, but then personally I just locate the charger on the car's built in Satnav and use that.

For long trips I use ECO mode and Regen A on the motorways (and use ACC), default Normal/3 the rest. Seem to get good figures this way.

 

[GaryMG4]

Assuming you have cheap home charging, for the return journey try to arrive home with as little range left as you are comfortable with, better to fill up at home @7p rather than 70p kWh. It's worth having a splash and dash option close to home in mind just in case.

 

[zaynethepain]

Hi I think using all the advise we are going to stop at cobham services for a quick charge and let the dog and misses stretch their legs and do the same on the way back

 

[MG Clive]

Hi I think using all the advise we are going to stop at cobham services for a quick charge and let the dog and misses stretch their legs and do the same on the way back

Ahhh, we didn't know about the dog, in that case it definitely has to be a mid-journey stop.