Arrived, I'll do some proper messages later, next to hot shower, brew and bed.
Firstly the car and the charging all performed faultlessly. I fully expected a broken charger, or long queues somewhere. All 12 charges worked faultlessly (Note I had 2 No 10s when I look back) Some where faster than others, most we saw was about 80kw charging speed, lowest was 43kw peak.
Now I say that the car and chargers were faultless, but those that have followed the thread, know that I had a failed charge, late on yesterday. Well, so that we didn't arrive in Bulgaria, with 20% battery we decided to break up the last leg, and stop for a charge. 2 Options, shopping centre with 6 chargers just before the border, or single charge just after the border in Bulgaria. Chose to go to shopping centre, 6 charges, so better odds, and something to do. Wrong Choice - This week, there is a circus/fair in the car park, with the chargers in the middle of it. Like I said some clown messed that up for us. Minor detour, and we charge at the single charge just after the border. All good.
I will also say, that of the 12, 2 were testers, that made no difference, other than making sure we could use foreign networks before we had to rely on them, and one was purely for our convenience. I'm fairly certain that if I did it again next week, we could probably do it in 9 stops, give or take a bladder stop.
The missus found it a long drag, however I found it a longer easier drive. When I brought the discovery, I did it by myself, I have the bladder of a camel, and I stopped for fuel twice. To be fair, I was lucky, I didn't have to wait more than a couple of cars, at either of the 2 borders, and I didn't get any serious traffic, 21.5 hours it probably one of our better times, more realistically it is usually 24hrs shared between 2 drivers. In the ZS I am forced to stop and take a break every 150 miles, and would often grab 30mins kip while the missus emptied her bladder then refilled it with coffee. It was also easier to swap drivers for an hour or 2, and you don't feel the need to push yourself to the next fuel stop 500 miles away. For me it was easier.
You will also notice that I got 3.3miles per kwh average, in the UK in similar weather I would get 3.6 to 4+ depending on journey length/type. Firstly the car was loaded, we are spoilt and the discovery has a cavernous boot by comparison, and just handles it. In the ZS the boot was rammed, I knew we had some weight, but we weren't dragging the rear end or anything. Still it was heavy. Secondly we were often driving well above the UK national limit, which the ZS did well I never felt at any point that we were under powered even with the weight.
Finally for this message, 2 observations.
First I haven't had the update done for R22, so I get told to service the car every 700 miles or so. Apparently it won't let you reset it twice in 12 hours. Probably the only person that has found that, but we'll see if it lets me in the next day or so.
Second, if you are knocking on abit, and put your boot down after a second or two, the motor speed on the dash goes red. The speed it does it at seems to vary so I guess it is related to motor temperature. Only ever noticed it for a few seconds at a time.
keep us informed on progress.
