London to Wales on M4?

[tsedge]

Ah... a Scottish problem! No midges here... mind you there is a high risk of being carpet bombed by Seagulls and having your mid-journey snack snatched out your hands by the darn things!

 

[Archev]

You're right, it could happen to anyone. But we all know that predatory men study to find situations where they're likely to find lone females in a vulnerable position, and charging an EV in the dark at some of these motorway service stations is a situation waiting to be discovered. If it hasn't been already.



Thanks, I'll take a look at that.



Midgie net. Carry one at all times.

Ahh yes but you’ve got to open the door to charge and when you get back in they’re thick on every surface and any passenger with you becomes dessert for the wee devils - och, the very thought of them traumatises me. Life as their ultimate delicacy can be so misunderstood

 

[Rolfe]

They're a vital part of the ecosystem, I'll have you know. (And yes I would fire every last one of them into the sun in a heartbeat.)

 

[Ian Key]

Midgie net. Carry one at all times.

I'd take my ex brother-in-law with me. Last time I went to Scotland he kindly donated his body so the rest of us could be more or less bite free.

 

[Archev]

I'd take my ex brother-in-law with me. Last time I went to Scotland he kindly donated his body so the rest of us could be more or less bite free.

I’ve designed the ultimate bespoke garment for the wild country EV driver - the anti-midge onesie.
I was going to call it Midge Garment 4 but I was worried the breather might leak and the undercarriage bulged a bit.

 

[WigglePig]

Planning our first long motorway trip in our SR SE

If we leave London on a full charge hope we will get to Bristol or even over the bridge maybe Newport or Cardiff before needing stop.

Is it foolish to let the batteries go under 5% if you know there is a services coming up before you get to zero?

What happens when you get to very low battery level?

Even if you run out completely if you are going slow on the inside lane would you just coast a while on the hard shoulder and then call AA?

I’m not planning that just wondering

Also any advice on which services on the M4 motorway are tree for charging? Any little tips appreciated

I make the trip from London to Aberystwyth semi-regularly and it's fine. I leave with approaching 100% charge and charge again at Severn View before heading over the bridge. After that I don't need to charge again until I get to Aberystwyth where there are a few chargers (Morrisons has a high power Pod Point and there's a BP Pulse in the university.

I tend to look for charge by the time I'm getting to around 20-30%, just for safety.

One thing I have found on lengthy trips is that whilst the charging facilities on motorways aren't too bad in general, they tend to be busy. Have a look on the plannign app of your choice and see what's a couple of miles off the motorway...I have a favourite one at a posh hotel that is almost never in use, plus their coffee is outstanding!

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I make the trip from London to Aberystwyth semi-regularly and it's fine. I leave with approaching 100% charge and charge again at Severn View before heading over the bridge. After that I don't need to charge again until I get to Aberystwyth where there are a few chargers (Morrisons has a high power Pod Point and there's a BP Pulse in the university.

The 8 Tesla units in Aberystwyth are also "public" ones - any EV can use them.

If you fancy a change from Severn View, I can recommend the menu at the Two Rivers pub/hotel in Chepstow, they've just had a second Osprey rapid installed.

 

[fshuk1]

There is so much discussion here on none M4 chargers. I asked for suggestion and hwen my post was moved to GENERAL discussion it died. Can we fill this site

Charging Site Review

Dear All, We can use maps and charging apps etc etc but nothing takes place of experience/local-knowledge. As our numbers grow and as we are using the same manufacturer charging system, if it works for you it will work for me. I searched the site and I don't think we have such a thread. I am...

www.mgevs.com

It would be great if we didn't have to hunt all discussions to find peoples views on charging sites

 

[Richard P]

Planning our first long motorway trip in our SR SE

If we leave London on a full charge hope we will get to Bristol or even over the bridge maybe Newport or Cardiff before needing stop.

Is it foolish to let the batteries go under 5% if you know there is a services coming up before you get to zero?

What happens when you get to very low battery level?

Even if you run out completely if you are going slow on the inside lane would you just coast a while on the hard shoulder and then call AA?

I’m not planning that just wondering

Also any advice on which services on the M4 motorway are tree for charging? Any little tips appreciated

We've twice got to the 0% and zero range in our MG5. First time after being unable to charge on M74 N of Beatock and just managed to make Hamilton McDonald's. Second time in the dark and snow coming over a Pennine pass with 12 miles to go and the display indicating 28 miles range. This time it went into a limp mode showing 0% and we just managed to crest the hill and regenerate down the 5 mile hill to our home charger.

Lessons learnt:
1 Don't rely on public chargers to be free or working
2 Be VERY skeptical of the range left!

 

[racheK]

Planning our first long motorway trip in our SR SE

If we leave London on a full charge hope we will get to Bristol or even over the bridge maybe Newport or Cardiff before needing stop.

Is it foolish to let the batteries go under 5% if you know there is a services coming up before you get to zero?

What happens when you get to very low battery level?

Even if you run out completely if you are going slow on the inside lane would you just coast a while on the hard shoulder and then call AA?

I’m not planning that just wondering

Also any advice on which services on the M4 motorway are tree for charging? Any little tips appreciated

Not sure when your trip is, if you’ve not yet done it, you might want to consider coming off the M4 at Chippenham. It’s a short trip down the dual carriageway and ring road to several charge points that are potentially cheaper than the motorway plus you can grab a coffee/snack for less!

 

[KevW]

Motorway service chargers tend to be oversubscribed so expect to have to wait, I usually look for chargers just off the motorway, retail parks are normally a pretty good call but always check in advance that they are functioning (most suppliers have a status on their apps).

 

[Rolfe]

This week I checked out five motorway service stations and charged at two of them. All had free connectors, you could drive right in and charge. I was the only EV charging at Southwaite when I was there.

So it probably depends on where you are, and how busy it is. I waited till after the bank holiday for that reason.

 

[Ian Key]

So it probably depends on where you are, and how busy it is. I waited till after the bank holiday for that reason.

Some of us have the luxury of picking when we travel. Having spent nearly my whole working life driving and the last 22 years driving a bus, so I couldn't even change my route to avoid hold-ups, I now avoid driving over bank holidays, Friday afternoons and rush hours. It's these little things that make retirement worth it

 

[Rolfe]

Absolutely. Being retired and so not often being in a hurry, plus often being in a position to choose when I travel made the decision to go electric much easier. I could have done it when I was working, my daily travel to work was less than 24 miles round trip, but now it's a no-brainer.

 

[SueH]

I didn't manage to catch up with my friend in the Yorkshire Dales last year but in reviewing the route again this year from near Portsmouth it's good to see new hubs have opened up and the options increasing, often just off the motorway.

So those coming South can give Scotch Corner a miss and use Leeming Bar which may take some pressure off of Wetherby and so forth. Going north it looks like I have more options now, which makes it easier to charge both when really needed or when convenient (hunger/bladder pangs!).

But as the last couple of posters have pointed out, one of the the biggest steps you can take to help yourself is being slightly selective as to when you go. Living on the south coast I've always avoided going too far on sunny Bank Holiday weekends, regardless of the type of car!

My standard range showed 230 miles on 99% charge the other day, so not much motorway mileage for that calculation, but the variability the GOM shows does lead to a bit of sensible caution.

 

[NeFo]

Planning our first long motorway trip in our SR SE

If we leave London on a full charge hope we will get to Bristol or even over the bridge maybe Newport or Cardiff before needing stop.

Is it foolish to let the batteries go under 5% if you know there is a services coming up before you get to zero?

What happens when you get to very low battery level?

Even if you run out completely if you are going slow on the inside lane would you just coast a while on the hard shoulder and then call AA?

I’m not planning that just wondering

Also any advice on which services on the M4 motorway are tree for charging? Any little tips appreciated

New Highway Code reminder that you can be prosecuted if you run out of fuel & cause an obstruction where you "break down".

 

[Archev]

New Highway Code reminder that you can be prosecuted if you run out of fuel & cause an obstruction where you "break down".

We’ll that appears to settle the argument for topping up we’ll before you reach the bottom of the tank or battery then

 

[Tig170]

... tesla are opening up more and more to Non-Tesla vehicles (upto 22 now), well worth using them if you can given the vastly superior number of chargers per site compared to others. Our other go-to is MFG via the bonnet app – again never had the queue with them also, as the usually have 8 stations per site

 

[Rolfe]

You might be interested in the thread I started in General Chat about Applegreen Electric.

When I arrived at Gretna services, as well as the expected two or so Gridserve chargers next to a rather longer row of Tesla chargers, there were SIX big new-looking chargers, twelve connectors, with the name Applegreen on them.

When I checked out Abington services, the same thing - in front of the row of Gridserve chargers there were EIGHT new Applegreen ones - sixteen connectors. At Annandale Water the part of the car park next to the Gridserve chargers was a building site, and I think I can guess what's coming there too.

The reason I was surprised is that ZapMaps doesn't mention these things at all. However they represent a huge expansion in charging capacity at these service stations. I also wonder, now that we have a choice of two different companies' chargers in one location, might we see a bit of price competition?

 

[siteguru]

Last time I was through GG services (early Feb '23) I charged at the GridServe points (79p per kWh), but noticed the new ones under construction. (I didn't look to see who they were though. Are these contactless like the GridServe?)

As for them not showing on Zap Map ... I don't know how frequently their database is updated. Do they incorporate user feedback to add such points?