Trophy ER - Holborn Blue

[Griffian]

Our Trophy ER is being delivered Monday, 26th. We're really looking forward to it and are a little nervous about suddenly finding ourselves DeLorean-like in the 21st century.

It's an Knowles Fleet NHS lease car for my wife, whose 2000 Mercedes A160 is falling apart. It was ordered mid-September and our Ohme HomePro was installed in December ready for the first projected delivery date.

I'll be trying to keep my 25 year old Saab 9-5 Griffin going for the time being.

 

[Rolfe]

Welcome to #teamblue!!

Smurfs rule.

We don't seem to have many members who have chosen the ER, but I think it's a great choice if you want to do road trips.

 

[Griffian]

Cheers. Rolfe.

Yeah. My wife's mother lives 80 miles away (mostly motorway) in a sheltered flat and we wanted to make sure there would be enough juice to get her there and back with a bit of poodling around inbetween without having to worry about a public charging stop. I've plotted stops, just in case though.

 

[Grriff]

Welcome. we are also new to EVs. My guide MG4 Trophy - a Guide may be helpful. Enjoy the car, we are.
160 miles round trip plus poodling around will probably use around 60 kWh in the winter. Since the ER has 77 kWh, if you start with 100% you shouldn't need to charge.

 

[Griffian]

Cheers, Grriff. Hopefully. Bear in mind, she is a woman and with no heat pump we're going to be draining that battery with a cabin temperature of about 25c.

 

[Rolfe]

Don't worry about it. Seriously, don't.

I've got the SR. My stipulation when I was buying it was that I wanted the car to be able to do a 100-mile round trip at night, in the depths of winter, in freezing temperatures, at motorway speeds, with the heater on full blast. The dealer conceded the car woud do that (although he really wanted to sell me the LR).

I've never got back from that trip with less than 30%. To be fair, it hasn't been super-cold this winter and the lowest temperature I've done it in has been about 2ºC to 5ºC. I'm due to do it again tomorrow (it's a regular evening out to the theatre) and I see I'm looking at 8ºC to 9ºC so I'm laughing. But getting back on 30% suggests I've still got a lot of leeway for it to get really perishing. And I assure you, I always have the cabin absolutely toasty.

I too have contingency plans. The car park by the theatre has destination chargers, so leaving the car on one of these would allow me to start my journey home back at 100%. I've also got my eye on a couple of ultra-rapid sites on the way home where I could stop for five or ten minutes if I was getting worried. But on performance to date I don't see me needing this.

If the SR will do that, then the ER is going to manage 160 miles without even breaking sweat. The more so in that its NMC battery doesn't take quite the hit in the cold that the SR's LFP does.

 

[Rolfe]

Talking of heater temperature, be aware that the temperature you set the heater to will get you an actual temperature about 5ºC less. It's a foible. Just ignore the numbers and set the temperature as high as you need to be comfortable. You've got plenty of juice to play with and there's no sense at all in being uncomfortable.

 

[Griffian]

Talking of heater temperature, be aware that the temperature you set the heater to will get you an actual temperature about 5ºC less. It's a foible. Just ignore the numbers and set the temperature as high as you need to be comfortable. You've got plenty of juice to play with and there's no sense at all in being uncomfortable.

Thanks, Rolfe. TBH I'm quite relaxed about it. I'd just deal with whatever comes my way but my wife is a little more nervous so I'm going to do a bit of hand-holding in the early days...

 

[Grriff]

If your wife is nervous, understandably, then I would do a few test charges at ultra rapid chargers. Avoid Genie Point and possibly BP. Gridserve are good.
You wife may also benefit from an Electroverse card and practice using apps to check the state of chargers en-route.

 

[Griffian]

If your wife is nervous, understandably, then I would do a few test charges at ultra rapid chargers. Avoid Genie Point and possibly BP. Gridserve are good.
You wife may also benefit from an Electroverse card and practice using apps to check the state of chargers en-route.

Good idea. Gridserve has a station at Chester services on the M56 which is perfect for an emergency top-up on the way home. We will change to Octopus Intelligent Go as soon as the EV is delivered hence the Ohme Home Pro. Will apply for the Electroverse card too.

 

[siteguru]

Make sure you're happy also to time shift your other usage (dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer) otherwise using those devices will and up costing you more.

In other words - do the maths first before switching; time of day tariffs are not for everyone.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks, Rolfe. TBH I'm quite relaxed about it. I'd just deal with whatever comes my way but my wife is a little more nervous so I'm going to do a bit of hand-holding in the early days...

Your wife will soon be just as relaxed. She only needs a bit of experience to realise what the car can do. "Range anxiety" is replaced by range awareness, and as you've got plenty to play with there will be nothing for her to worry about.

In my SR, winter temperatures. Took a friend to a hospital appointment 32 miles away. On the way back we stopped for a coffee and I realised I'd left something in the hospital cafeteria. There followed an unscheduled trip of 14 miles back to the hospital, adding 28 miles to the day's trip. A nice round 100 miles, bang on the nail. Still on 30% when I got home.

I don't do longer trips than that very often. I haven't needed a public charger since Christmas, when I drove to stay with a friend 185 miles away. (The ER could have done that without charging, and there are destination chargers right beside her house.) I don't anticipate ever needing a public charger except when I go to stay away with friends or on holiday. I do, however, have an awareness of where the rapid chargers are in the area where I drive, so that I can detour to one for a bit of extra range if something unexpected happens. (Never happened yet.)

That's how it should be, and with your requirement to do 160-mile round trips regularly you've done the right thing to make sure that's how you operate. Happy motoring.

 

[Griffian]

The smurf has landed. 17 miles on the clock and fully charged.

 

[Adam C]

The smurf has landed. 17 miles on the clock and fully charged.

Enjoy it buddy

& I do love this colour

 

[emmadragon]

Come over to Leicester, you'll be camouflaged by the buses! (They're the same colour...)

 

[salty]

The smurf has landed. 17 miles on the clock and fully charged.

Enjoy your new motor.

 

[Rolfe]

Happy travelling!

 

[Sprox]

Must admit I wasn't sure about the Holborn Blue at first, preferring the Volcano Orange. But the blue was the one that was available, we went for it and now I love it!

 

[Rolfe]

I have had countless people tell me spontaneously how much they like the colour.

 

[Griffian]

Wow! Just come back from first drive. That slowing effect when you as much as raise your foot on the accelerator by a few mm is so odd. I drive an automatic normally, so no issues having no clutch but I may need to check the brake regen setting. It was exciting though and I'm looking forward to a longer trip. Particularly liked the windscreen demist as three of us fogged the glass pretty quickly.