Route planning ?

[boomish]

I apologise if this is obvious but wondered how others plan long journeys, we’re off to do our first ultra long journey , London to Penzance, stoping to see friends & family on the way. We did Nottingham but it got there without stopping . To get to our first stop in Holsworthy (North Devon) we have to stop, using Zapmap it shows a stop off the M5 on a farm, surley we can find a closer one I was thinking, after a bit of editing on Zap map to show all chargers I see loads but which is best? Do you pick one and hope its free when you get there? Or do you drive & stop when you feel like it & look for the nearest available? Or what about cheaper chargers , I presume all rapids are the same cost roughly?

 

[Tommy]

Always have a back-up charger ... or enough battery left to get to one.

 

[Robf]

Hi, you can use the search function at top right. There is loads of info on the best route planners.

 

[boomish]

Hi, you can use the search function at top right. There is loads of info on the best route planners.

Thanks Rob, I have searched loads , I’ve now got a folder full of EV apps I just wondered if people have a workflow that works best, I presume most people know their routes & chargers on the way but if it’s a new route do you pick somewhere & hope for the best or say always stick to Gridserve points, or Tesco super stores etc, lots of info but no definitive on what people find works best. I suppose it‘s all a bit hit & miss depending on the route. For this journey so far I’ve picked two charging points instead of one & will see when we get there.

 

[Deep purple]

There are 2 stations just off M4 at JCT17, the MFG one on the A429 about 1/2 mile north of M4 is very new has 6 x 150KW points and always seems to have space.

 

[Ping]

I always pick 3 chargers on the route at a point where I am at about 25% battery, and then if the first one is busy or broken then I move to the second and so on. I try to pick sites with multiple chargers and take contact less cards.

 

[boomish]

There are 2 stations just off M4 at JCT17, the MFG one on the A429 about 1/2 mile north of M4 is very new has 6 x 150KW points and always seems to have space.

Thanks DP that‘s a great tip! I now get what people mean by MFG

I always pick 3 chargers on the route at a point where I am at about 25% battery, and then if the first one is busy or broken then I move to the second and so on. I try to pick sites with multiple chargers and take contact less cards.

That’s exactly our plan, a few stops extra, looking forward to it.. Penzance & back by Friday with a lot of driving about in between. Should be a good test for the MG5 ! I’m picking the chargers & putting them into Apple & Google Maps for the route.

 

[Jomarkh]

When we travelled from Southampton to Scotland I planned charge points just off the motorway that had 2 or 3 networks that were either on Electroverse or Bonnet plus an Instavolt nearby. Twice we used plan B but never had to use plan C.

 

[Gomev]

I apologise if this is obvious but wondered how others plan long journeys, we’re off to do our first ultra long journey , London to Penzance, stoping to see friends & family on the way. We did Nottingham but it got there without stopping . To get to our first stop in Holsworthy (North Devon) we have to stop, using Zapmap it shows a stop off the M5 on a farm, surley we can find a closer one I was thinking, after a bit of editing on Zap map to show all chargers I see loads but which is best? Do you pick one and hope its free when you get there? Or do you drive & stop when you feel like it & look for the nearest available? Or what about cheaper chargers , I presume all rapids are the same cost roughly?

Take a look at this post, it will link you to 3 threads with useful information.

Route planning and live navigation....

We are looking forward (me perhaps more than my wife!) to our first long-distance trip in our Facelift MG5 in a couple of weeks (Leeds to Brittany, overnight in Folkestone). I'm happy enough with my route planning options (ABRP, ZapMap, Electroverse, WattsUp etc) but my question is what's the...

www.mgevs.com

 

[NeFo]

Check the charger speeds at your route stop options - do you want a half-hour or multi-hour stop while you charge?

 

[Martin]

Firstly, I would use plugshare, much better than zap map. Secondly, if I were going from London to Penzance in my ZS, I would go via the A303. The chargers are easier to access. The Jamaica Inn on the A30 in Cornwall is a good stop and reliable charger and whilst there are plenty of chargers on the A30 past Exeter, there is only one in Penzance and it is usually being used!

 

[johnd973]

I tend to use Plug Share and try to avoid the electric highway chargers on the M5 from Gloucester onwards as they tend to be unreliable and have queues, although there are new chargers in Exeter which are much better.

I find Cornwall to be the worst place for chargers.

Overall I have found it's quicker and less stressful to slow down than it is to stop and charge. I can do the 220 mile journey from my home in Devon to my daughter in the Midlands without stopping if I do 60 on the motorway. Up that to 70 and I'm going to have to stop for at least 25 minutes, longer if there is a queue for the charger, pay a premium for the electric that goes in the car and almost certainly arrive later than I would of I had gone slower.

 

[boomish]

Check the charger speeds at your route stop options - do you want a half-hour or multi-hour stop while you charge?

So true but have to admit I didn’t know what our max charge speed was, our MG5 seems to max out at 50kw? some chargers said they do 50+ but some charging was a bit slower than this. I never charged over 80%. We allowed plenty of time, I think the trick for us was not to rush any charging & sometimes stopping more frequent .

Firstly, I would use plugshare, much better than zap map. Secondly, if I were going from London to Penzance in my ZS, I would go via the A303. The chargers are easier to access. The Jamaica Inn on the A30 in Cornwall is a good stop and reliable charger and whilst there are plenty of chargers on the A30 past Exeter, there is only one in Penzance and it is usually being used!

I didn’t see this till we arrived back, ended up driving all over seeing friends & family, great tips for looking for the chargers away from the main roads, in all our travels we only had to wait once & that was at Exceter where are loads of chargers lol Thanks for the tip on Jamaica Inn have pinned that for next time.

I tend to use Plug Share and try to avoid the electric highway chargers on the M5 from Gloucester onwards as they tend to be unreliable and have queues, although there are new chargers in Exeter which are much better.

I find Cornwall to be the worst place for chargers.

Overall I have found it's quicker and less stressful to slow down than it is to stop and charge. I can do the 220 mile journey from my home in Devon to my daughter in the Midlands without stopping if I do 60 on the motorway. Up that to 70 and I'm going to have to stop for at least 25 minutes, longer if there is a queue for the charger, pay a premium for the electric that goes in the car and almost certainly arrive later than I would of I had gone slower.

Ahh wish I had known about plugshare, before we left, that looks great, we did hundreds of miles & agree not many chargers but we did ok, covered about 700 miles and the MG5 was supreme to drive, just beautiful!! It made getting stuck in traffic for several hours much more enjoyable. Totally agree on the speed saving battery, we did 60 everywhere, that really helped & to be honest made it really stress free.
thanks everyone for the tips & feedback about route planning, a week‘s road trip all around the south west was amazing, we love our MG5.