First long journey

[nickb93]

Having only owned my LR Trophy for a week, I am facing my first long journey down south to London (280 miles round trip) I am hoping to get your advice on how to maximise my battery range.

Pretty much all the journey will be on the motorway which I know isn't great. I plan on charging to 100% - would you advise leaving the last 10% to charge to line up with when I leave so the battery warms up?

All tips welcome! Hoping that those who have had theirs a long time have some tricks they can share!

 

[Bam Bam]

Having only owned my LR Trophy for a week, I am facing my first long journey down south to London (280 miles round trip) I am hoping to get your advice on how to maximum my battery range.

Do you mean hypermiling?

I think you would put it on low regen on the motorway and then try to keep the throttle as light as possible. Speed up when going down hill rather than regen and don't push it going up hills.

Probably stick to the low 60s unless you are in a hurry.

 

[Everest]

You're not going to do 280 miles on one charge, so drive it how you like and rapid DC charge around London (i.e. half way-ish).

 

[slmorgan42]

Having only owned my LR Trophy for a week, I am facing my first long journey down south to London (280 miles round trip) I am hoping to get your advice on how to maximum my battery range.

Pretty much all the journey will be on the motorway which I know isn't great. I plan on charging to 100% - would you advise leaving the last 10% to charge to line up with when I leave so the battery warms up?

All tips welcome! Hoping that those who have had theirs a long time have some tricks they can share!

I would personally just charge to 100% over night or the day before depending on your rates.

Where abouts are you going to in London? I live in N16 for example and rely 100% on public charging. Most London council have installed many chargers so much easier to find one.

How long will you be in London? Longer the stay the lower speed charger needed and the cheaper the cost.

 

[nickb93]

I would personally just charge to 100% over night or the day before depending on your rates.

Where abouts are you going to in London? I live in N16 for example and rely 100% on public charging. Most London council have installed many charges so much easier to find one.

How long will you be in London? Longer the stay the lower speed charger needed and the cheaper the cost.

It's a day trip (league cup final) in Wembley, so will hopefully be arriving around 12pm and heading back home around 8ish. I've spotted a space on someone's driveway on JustPark that has a 7kW charger so that should give me hopefully a full charge in time for the journey back.

I'm planning on testing out a public charger for the first time before then too so I'm comfortable if the need arises.

 

[JohnV6]

I would drive it at normal speeds.
Get the electroverse app or similar.
They will plan you a route via a charger station with a splash and dash approach to add the minimum. Even if you rapid charge 40 kWh it will cost you what £32.

 

[slmorgan42]

It's a day trip (league cup final) in Wembley, so will hopefully be arriving around 12pm and heading back home around 8ish. I've spotted a space on someone's driveway on JustPark that has a 7kw charger so that should give me hopefully a full charge in time for the journey back.

I'm planning on testing out a public charger for the first time before then too so I'm comfortable if the need arises.

Sounds like a good plan take advantage of the parked time to charge. How much are they charging per KWh? Downside with a match on you may find people taking advantage of the chargers so probably worth having a back up plan to use a DC rapid chargers as well.

Got to say Wembley is some of the highest rates I have seen on AC charger. Maybe because of Wembley being there. There are a couple of Zest charges for 56p/kWh. Download the zest app.

Very smart to do a few practise charges specially on a few DC rapid chargers brands. As you will know from this forum most EV owners will give you hand if you get stuck.

 

[Tig170]

Keep it very simple, especially if its a time critical event / 1st time. Just top upto 100% before you setoff, and then aim for a charging station (with plenty of chargers) - MFG is usually an excellent one for reliability off the motorway network, and gridserve has got better for on motorway reliability (but its not 100% perfect), at the end of the day you dont want to miss your cup final / so aim for the worst case, and have a backup plan (i.e. dont get down to 10% on the way back home, unless you know that local area very well). We've found the justpark app very useful (i.e. worked every time), for parking in unknown areas.

 

[Daedalusminos]

I would fast charge to top up before you get to the M25. That way you know you're sorted for most of the journey home with another top-up on the way home.

If you get notification that your driveway charging has stopped prematurely it could ruin your match.

 

[pjmmk]

I'm not a fan of 'destination charging.' If you're down to almost nothing and something goes wrong with the chargers you were aiming for...
I'd aim for a quick(ish) charge before you reach London then you can just jump in your car and go after the match and charge again on the way back. If you're coming 'down south' that implies M1 or M40, there are lots of options for charging on a journey like that. In addition to all the above suggestions, check out Tesla's supercharger network for chargers that are open to non Tesla owners - there are a lot of them nowadays and they're easy to use.

 

[GJMG4 North]

It's only 280 miles, charge up beforehand and stop for a drink, etc. on the way and re-charge at the same time, you'll only need 1 stop for that distance. Drive however you usually drive, it won't make any difference once you get anywhere near London as the motorway traffic will dictate your speed. If you want to get the best price for your electrons then use a Tesla (open to all) site for your stop, there are bound to be several options along your route.

 

[Bam Bam]

Destination charger here sounds like someone's driveway, and seems like a great option. Charge while you do something else and the car is doing nothing.

We use these EVSEs at our homes all the time and trust them.

 

[Funks]

All the above is good info.
My 2 pennyworth is have the Zapmap and ABRP (A Better Route Planner) apps on you phone for charging locations and route planning.
Pay via Zapmap app or Electroverse if you can, this minimises the number of apps you need, and of course a lot of places let you pay by card anyway.

I know how you feel for your first long trip . I did a 610 mile round trip as my first long journey, and was full of apprehension and "range anxiety"; now its no bother to do long distances and I love driving my EV.

 

[Tonych]

You're not going to do 280 miles on one charge, so drive it how you like and rapid DC charge around London (i.e. half way-ish).

I regularly do 300 to 400 miles in my standard MG4 Trophy and have long ago stopped worrying about range. There are so many good charging options on the motorway network now that I just top up as I go. The one thing I notice is the impact of rapid acceleration (and of course use of A/C) on the range

 

[siteguru]

Above all - enjoy the match ... and I hope the right team wins. (Toon! Toon! Black and White Army!)