Grriff
Established Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2023
- Messages
- 613
- Reaction score
- 634
- Points
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- Location
- Nottingham
- Driving
- MG4 Trophy LR
We took our ‘long’ first journey a few days ago in our MG4 Trophy and other newbies may be interested in our experience.
Nottingham to Ealing (London). Stopped at Leicester Forest East for a coffee. There are two Grideserve chargers, both with their covers still on. We stopped at Cherwell Valley for lunch. The chargers were fully occupied for some of our stay but we didn’t need them. With most of the journey on motorways or fast roads, the car achieved around 3 miles/kWh with air conditioning on. In Ealing we used a street, untethered Believ AC charger. Payment is by their app or their card. Cost 56p per kWh. These chargers don’t seem to be on many EV charging maps.
Ealing to Havant (near Portsmouth). Achieved around 3 miles per kWh. The only chargers near the hotel were under Tesco Extra. Since these were slow, it was a Sunday night and the store was closed and it was pouring with rain, we decided to give them a miss.
Havant to Nottingham. We stopped at Sutton Scotney Services, just north of Winchester. The Electroverse map showed the only rapid Gridserve charger wasn’t working and this was correct. We phoned up Gridserve in the hope that they could correct remotely but they couldn’t. The phone was answered promptly by a friendly, concerned, operator. We then stopped at Newbury (Tot Hill) services on the A34. There are 9 rapid new chargers at the Shell station with an awning (@Rolfe)! There are two picnic benches and a vending machine by the chargers. The Shell station has a shop, toilets, Costa coffee dispenser and a pocket Waitrose but no seats. There is a Starbucks at the same services, although there are no footpaths to it. A notice on the chargers stated that because of communication problems, charging was limited to 20 minutes but that was free. We were able to charge for two back to back sessions with rates up to 130 kW, slowing down in the second session when SoC was above 80%. We used our Electroverse card but were charged for both sessions. I e-mailed Electroverse with a copy of the notice, and asked for a refund on the first charge. They replied with 24 hours, apologised, gave me a credit and advised me to charge directly with Shell on these occasions. Excellent service from Electroverse/Octopus. On this leg of the trip we achieved around 3.3 miles per kWh, probably because we were driving more slowly due to the rain.
Nottingham to Ealing (London). Stopped at Leicester Forest East for a coffee. There are two Grideserve chargers, both with their covers still on. We stopped at Cherwell Valley for lunch. The chargers were fully occupied for some of our stay but we didn’t need them. With most of the journey on motorways or fast roads, the car achieved around 3 miles/kWh with air conditioning on. In Ealing we used a street, untethered Believ AC charger. Payment is by their app or their card. Cost 56p per kWh. These chargers don’t seem to be on many EV charging maps.
Ealing to Havant (near Portsmouth). Achieved around 3 miles per kWh. The only chargers near the hotel were under Tesco Extra. Since these were slow, it was a Sunday night and the store was closed and it was pouring with rain, we decided to give them a miss.
Havant to Nottingham. We stopped at Sutton Scotney Services, just north of Winchester. The Electroverse map showed the only rapid Gridserve charger wasn’t working and this was correct. We phoned up Gridserve in the hope that they could correct remotely but they couldn’t. The phone was answered promptly by a friendly, concerned, operator. We then stopped at Newbury (Tot Hill) services on the A34. There are 9 rapid new chargers at the Shell station with an awning (@Rolfe)! There are two picnic benches and a vending machine by the chargers. The Shell station has a shop, toilets, Costa coffee dispenser and a pocket Waitrose but no seats. There is a Starbucks at the same services, although there are no footpaths to it. A notice on the chargers stated that because of communication problems, charging was limited to 20 minutes but that was free. We were able to charge for two back to back sessions with rates up to 130 kW, slowing down in the second session when SoC was above 80%. We used our Electroverse card but were charged for both sessions. I e-mailed Electroverse with a copy of the notice, and asked for a refund on the first charge. They replied with 24 hours, apologised, gave me a credit and advised me to charge directly with Shell on these occasions. Excellent service from Electroverse/Octopus. On this leg of the trip we achieved around 3.3 miles per kWh, probably because we were driving more slowly due to the rain.
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