This should get interesting fast

On last year's summer family holiday I left the Ioniq at home at hired a car in Calais to drive to Garda in Italy.

This year we are off to the Dordogne region in France, and we are taking the plunge of using the MG ZS (SR!)

This thread has given me some hope, but I've warned everyone that it might be 'interesting'.

I am really hoping Ionity and Tesla superchargers save the day.
 
Didn't try the Tesla Superchargers, seems to much of a complication for me, which are open, which are tesla only etc. however Ionity were brilliant where we had them, I know how if they were faulty before I got there, and how full they were (although I'm guessing that isn't very upto date) Max charge speed I saw was probably about 80kw. Only issue I found is that the app either fails to stop the charge, or it's so slow that I got fed up of waiting, haven't decided which it is. However pressing stop charge in the car is quick and effective, I'm guessing using MG app would work just as well.

Somone asked about charging patterns, my general rule was run as low as you dare, then charge until it gets slow. We found it charged at 50kw+ upto around 80-84% then dropped straight down to 25kw. At this point we unplugged and left. Apart from one occasion where I'd gone over the road to McDonalds for a coffee and a crap, and I hadn't finished when the power dropped, so on that occasion we charged to nearly 90% :LOL:
What does change is how low you dare to run the charge, Germany Austria, chargers are fairly frequent, in an emergency I could probably find something in 20-30miles, so 20% was my target, but due to spacing it was often 25 to 30%. However in Hungary and Romania, things start to spread out, so the dare level is nearer 40 to 50%, incase something doesn't work, However it all did work.
 
On last year's summer family holiday I left the Ioniq at home at hired a car in Calais to drive to Garda in Italy.

This year we are off to the Dordogne region in France, and we are taking the plunge of using the MG ZS (SR!)

This thread has given me some hope, but I've warned everyone that it might be 'interesting'.

I am really hoping Ionity and Tesla superchargers save the day.
I’m currently planning a trip to Pau in the south In my TCLR - 740 miles from Calais. Ionity is my priority with Totalenergies as second choice. Between ABRP and Chargemap it has been straightforward to sort out a route
Starting from UK tunnel is a good start with the Folkstone Premier Inn having Instavolt chargers very close.
 
Folkstone might have Premier In, Hull has an Instavolt at McDonalds.

Done the maths, and it saves money taking the EV on long runs despite what people say about Rapid Charger pricing.

Power​
Cost​
Euro​
UKP​
At Home​
68​
14.00​
Shell​
46.67​
25.05​
25.05​
22.04​
Ionity​
37.46​
29.59​
29.59​
26.04​
47.16​
37.26​
37.26​
32.79​
33.44​
26.42​
26.42​
23.25​
48.36​
38.2​
38.2​
33.62​
45.2​
12656.8Huf​
33.56​
29.53​
Mol​
15.2​
4392.80Ft​
11.65​
10.25​
30.513​
8819.26Ft​
23.39​
20.58​
Echarge​
31.4​
78.18Ron​
15.85​
13.95​
12.4​
30.87Ron​
6.26​
5.51​
Fines​
31.21​
24.66Bgn​
12.6​
11.09​
Total​
447.013​
259.83​
242.65​
Average Cost (UKP)​
0.54​

We also arrived with 68% charge so to get a better picture of cost similar to what I did with the Discovery
 
That's a really good demonstration of what is possible. What were the fines for?
Have a great holiday.
 
That's a really good demonstration of what is possible. What were the fines for?
Have a great holiday.
Never thought how that looked, Fines is a Bulgarian charging network.

Incidentally both Echarge (Romanian) and Fines (Bulgarian) require pre-payment into their account, which I find a little old school, and a little unpractical, you always end up with money left, or not enough money in the account.
 
Should make my short trip to southern Belgium later this year in my LRZS a breeze!
I am hoping to use the free charger at the Eurotunnel terminal to start the trip as fully charged as possible. Am pleased to hear that you had few issues with IONITY, looking to use one en route 😊
 
Should make my short trip to southern Belgium later this year in my LRZS a breeze!
I am hoping to use the free charger at the Eurotunnel terminal to start the trip as fully charged as possible. Am pleased to hear that you had few issues with IONITY, looking to use one en route 😊
Yeah if you get fed up of waiting for the Ionity to disconnect, just do it from the car, it's pretty near instant.
 
Well I got my charger installed today, so charged to 100% to get an idea how the long trip effected the estimated range. I was quite surprised to see 323miles in iSmart app, I thought fully loaded 70+ might have killed the range estimate or at least knocked it back abit. I normally see about 295miles in similar weather in UK. I know it's a meaningless number but I find it an interesting guide to the economy we got.

Only issue is that when charging, I dropped the house voltage from 230v to 190v, Then someone put the breakmaker on and complained it didn't rise like it should, dropping the voltage down to 180v. Which I'm guessing effected the heating element. What I haven't figured out yet, is wether the voltage drop is just in our property, or everyone on the same phase in the village. 😲

I also managed to reset the "Maintain Vehicle Warning", so as I'd guessed it doesn't let you reset that twice in a short time.
 
Well I got my charger installed today, so charged to 100% to get an idea how the long trip effected the estimated range. I was quite surprised to see 323miles in iSmart app, I thought fully loaded 70+ might have killed the range estimate or at least knocked it back abit. I normally see about 295miles in similar weather in UK. I know it's a meaningless number but I find it an interesting guide to the economy we got.

Only issue is that when charging, I dropped the house voltage from 230v to 190v, Then someone put the breakmaker on and complained it didn't rise like it should, dropping the voltage down to 180v. Which I'm guessing effected the heating element. What I haven't figured out yet, is wether the voltage drop is just in our property, or everyone on the same phase in the village. 😲

I also managed to reset the "Maintain Vehicle Warning", so as I'd guessed it doesn't let you reset that twice in a short time.
Sounds like a bit of investigation is required by your DNO regarding the incoming voltage at your property, the voltage appears a bit low ???.
 
Well I got my charger installed today, so charged to 100% to get an idea how the long trip effected the estimated range. I was quite surprised to see 323miles in iSmart app, I thought fully loaded 70+ might have killed the range estimate or at least knocked it back abit. I normally see about 295miles in similar weather in UK. I know it's a meaningless number but I find it an interesting guide to the economy we got.

Only issue is that when charging, I dropped the house voltage from 230v to 190v, Then someone put the breakmaker on and complained it didn't rise like it should, dropping the voltage down to 180v. Which I'm guessing effected the heating element. What I haven't figured out yet, is wether the voltage drop is just in our property, or everyone on the same phase in the village. 😲

I also managed to reset the "Maintain Vehicle Warning", so as I'd guessed it doesn't let you reset that twice in a short time.
I assume that was a granny charger? I had a DNO issue recently and my podpoint refused to charge the car as it was seeing voltages under 205 V but I could use the granny charger, fortunately I could charge at work and when shopping, so could do without for the time it took to get fixed. I'd guess it wouldn't be isolated to your house either!
 
I assume that was a granny charger? I had a DNO issue recently and my podpoint refused to charge the car as it was seeing voltages under 205 V but I could use the granny charger, fortunately I could charge at work and when shopping, so could do without for the time it took to get fixed. I'd guess it wouldn't be isolated to your house either!
I am going to assume that @Dragonfly was referring to the recent install of a wall box unit here and not the supplied three pin plug top Granny supplied unit here ?.
Given the reduction of incoming power witnessed in the post.
Can you please clarify.
 
If it's the UK then the legal minimum voltage is 216.2 V, and if the DNO come out and measure lower than that then will cut the supply to your house until fixed!
 
To clarify, this is a 32a, wallbox, I deliberately picked up, an older dumb charger, because I know the Bulgarian power supply can be "interesting" at time, especially in some of the villages, of which we are in one at the moment.

I have enough "toys" in the house that tell me the voltage etc. I learnt a while back to monitor the power supply, so I do. Our meter box and main breaker are on the pole outside, when I get the time, and the car is charging I'll go an measure the voltage out their with my clamp meter. If nothing else it'll be the only voltage that the suppliers are interested in, if they are interested at all.

Knowing the cable specifications, and approx cable lengths, I worked out that the voltage drop from our pole to the charger, should be a maximum of 10v, not the 40v-50v we saw.
 
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For those interested in my voltage drop.

Power Usage.png


I have a 40a contacter now setup to power up the charger on our cheap electric, I also rigged logging at the Pole, however I'll move that inside the property in due course. The property logger is a PZEM-004T and temporary lashed into our meter box on the pole, I'll move that before the meter reader comes round in a few weeks. The House one is a Shelly EM with a 120a clamp on the feed to the house. So using different systems, there likely to be some small discrepancies, like at the start of the graph where the house is higher voltage.
The voltage drop between the pole and the house, is approx 8v, which is well within my 10v estimate. And the main voltage drop is seen at the pole as well, so I'm probably dropping the voltage for any of the village on the same phase as well :oops:
Our Electric, comes from an overhead cable, down the pole to our meter box, then back up the pole, overhead into one of our out building, then underground, to the house, This is estimated at a total of 40m, the charger is another 15m from this, so my 10v drop estimate is probably about right for the charger. All this cable from the main overhead cable to the house has be renewed by us/local electrician (He had to do main overhead cable-meter box-outbuilding), so is known to be decent standard. Unlike some of the outbuilding, that would probably spontanously combust if I put 32a through them.
Other points of interest, the Spike just before 14:00 is the car been plugged in before I setup the timing on the contacter, and the solid block between 2am and 4am is our water heater that comes on, gets water up to temperature, then flicks on and off, until it's timer finishes.
Be aware all this is in Bulgaria, so don't expect the same system as you would see in the UK.
 
Just done the drive home, and used an Ionity Passport, for the month, at a cost of 10.99 for the month, which isn't included in the figures below.

We used slightly less electric, at 436kwh, but cost was considerable lower at £185.88 and the average cost per kwh £0.42 (which for rapid charging everywhere apart from home, isn't bad)

ABRP has improved greatly in the 6months since driving, over, however we did manage to crash it once on Android Auto. However it's timing was the worst possible. It didn't so much crash as start lagging unoticbly, unitl the voice and car screen were 5mins behind, which we noticed as we missed the turning on the Autobahn, for a charger, with 8% left. Resulting in the missus going into panic mode, while I dived into DusselDorf, and paid over the odds at a Shell Recharge 20min out of our way.

Otherwise fairly uneventful.
 
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