[Brickstrident]

Evening everyone

I’m a pretty impulsive guy, I have an MG retailer down the road and popped in today and test drove the MG SV EV and I loved it. Traded in my my Mercedes A180 and take collection of my new car in 7 days.

The trouble with being impulsive is that you act first and think second, which is what my wife said when I returned home, fair do’s.

can I ask what are the most important things I need to prepare for and need to know about owning an electric vehicle?

I know I should have thought about these things before buying, but I’m 52 and if I haven’t found any sensibility so far it’s unlikely I’m going to.

thanks in advance.

Brian

 

[andrew*debbie]

Do you have off road parking where you can charge the car overnight?

Running an EV without home charging is not easy.

 

[dk6780]

Also, what is your usage profile in terms of how many miles do you do in a typical day, and how often do you do more than say 120 miles in a day per year?

 

[Brickstrident]

Do you have off road parking where you can charge the car overnight?

Running an EV without home charging is not easy.

Thanks for responding, I have a drive and a garage, my neighbour has a charge point right next to my garage so I can use that until I get my own.
The first thing I will be doing when I get to work on Monday is to instruct the facilities team to install a charging pod.

 

[Brickstrident]

Also, what is your usage profile in terms of how many miles do you do in a typical day, and how often do you do more than say 120 miles in a day per year?

Hey Dk, I do around 60 to 70 miles a day round trip. Which I am hoping is a good distance for an EV.

 

[80698]

Your big worries right now are planning for home charging, and being prepared for public chargers should you need to use them.

As mentioned in the post above mine, do you have somewhere you can easily plug in at home? If so you need to start looking into home charger suppliers and get one installed. Until then you need to decide if you can work with a 3-Pin cable or are going to be using the public charging stations.

For public charging, your best friend will be the Zap Map app on your phone. Take a look in your area, and the places you may travel to further afield. See what networks operate the chargers around the area, and sign up for memberships to the ones you are likely to find useful. Unfortunately not all chargers will just work with your credit card and require you to have a membership card, app or some other access method so it is best to be prepared.

(EDIT - I see more information and posts came in as I was typing this. Some of this post is now obsolete, but the public charging advice may still be of help)

 

[Brickstrident]

Your big worries right now are planning for home charging, and being prepared for public chargers should you need to use them.

As mentioned in the post above mine, do you have somewhere you can easily plug in at home? If so you need to start looking into home charger suppliers and get one installed. Until then you need to decide if you can work with a 3-Pin cable or are going to be using the public charging stations.

For public charging, your best friend will be the Zap Map app on your phone. Take a look in your area, and the places you may travel to further afield. See what networks operate the chargers around the area, and sign up for memberships to the ones you are likely to find useful. Unfortunately not all chargers will just work with your credit card and require you to have a membership card, app or some other access method so it is best to be prepared.

(EDIT - I see more information and posts came in as I was typing this. Some of this post is now obsolete, but the public charging advice may still be of help)

‘thanks, i just downloaded the Zap Map you mentioned which definitely offers some reassurances, need to work out the payment side but I’m sure I will navigate this.

I have a 3 pin near my garage door which should help in the short term.

It’s the first time I have driven an EV, WOW! what a great drive much cleaner than my diesel, that goes without saying really.

 

[dk6780]

Hey Dk, I do around 60 to 70 miles a day round trip. Which I am hoping is a good distance for an EV.

Just trolling my own points, 60 - 70 miles per day is really easy for the MG ZS EV even in the worst (for an EV) conditions of cold, wet and windy with you keeping at the legal limits (where appropriate, Officer ). More than say 120 and you'd need to worry in the worst cases, hence my question of how often do you exceed that figure per year?
You can get 150+ miles out of the car on a warm, dry, still day driving slightly slower, but if like me you have family over 200 miles away that you visit regularly you'll have to contend with the world of Rapid charging where a charge from 20 - 80% (hence only 60%, meaning another 70 - 90 miles range) will take at least 40 minutes and often closer to an hour. Years ago I'd quiet happily do 400+ miles in a single shift, now my bladder doesn't like the idea so the stops to recharge the car are a good excuse for me. Then I drink lots of coffee whilst waiting for the charge to finish and prepare my need for another stop.

 

[Brickstrident]

Just trolling my own points, 60 - 70 miles per day is really easy for the MG ZS EV even in the worst (for an EV) conditions of cold, wet and windy with you keeping at the legal limits (where appropriate, Officer ). More than say 120 and you'd need to worry in the worst cases, hence my question of how often do you exceed that figure per year?
You can get 150+ miles out of the car on a warm, dry, still day driving slightly slower, but if like me you have family over 200 miles away that you visit regularly you'll have to contend with the world of Rapid charging where a charge from 20 - 80% (hence only 60%, meaning another 70 - 90 miles range) will take at least 40 minutes and often closer to an hour. Years ago I'd quiet happily do 400+ miles in a single shift, now my bladder doesn't like the idea so the stops to recharge the car are a good excuse for me. Then I drink lots of coffee whilst waiting for the charge to finish and prepare my need for another stop.

As I’ve got older I do seem to cruise at the 65 mph and just enjoy the drive to the annoyance of my wife who has a very very heavy right foot ???‍♀. My wife has a petrol car so if we do have a long journey we will probably take that.

I used to be a courier when I was younger and would do some long journeys, often on a full tank so the psychology of less available distance was the biggest obstacle but it’s not as scary as I read and hear more. And the bladder is most definitely a serious factor to consider. ?

I definitely need to understand the math and external factors that can affect mileage.

 

[SheFellOver]

Check out your electricity deal. We switched to Octopus Go - 4 hours overnight at 5p/ kW. That can cut your electricity bill by 2/3. Maybe save you £1500 over a year. Though it sounds like you might be getting it free at work!

Octopus needs a certain type of Smart meter, so best to get on that soon.

Can offer you my discount code for £50 credit to us both if you decide to switch.

 

[Brickstrident]

Incredibly enough this link just came up on my google home page regarding a dedicated charging station 5 minutes from my home Gridserve starts building first EV charging forecourt in Braintree

 

[Brickstrident]

Check out your electricity deal. We switched to Octopus Go - 4 hours overnight at 5p/ kW. That can cut your electricity bill by 2/3. Maybe save you £1500 over a year. Though it sounds like you might be getting it free at work!

Octopus needs a certain type of Smart meter, so best to get on that soon.

Can offer you my discount code for £50 credit to us both if you decide to switch.

Thank SFO, i was just looking at that as I saw a link on DK post, I clearly has so much to learn here.

 

[dk6780]

I definitely need to understand the math and external factors that can affect mileage.

I don't think that anyone has published the full Maths on the different factors.

Speed is the main one, but temperature is also considerable but depends on the battery conditioning strategy adopted by the car. Below are some for Tesla Model S which is somewhat different to the MG but it will give you an idea.

I have never seen anything published about rain, but empirically I can say you lose at least 10% of range in the recent monsoons and an appreciable amount in "normal" rain.

 

[Brickstrident]

I don't think that anyone has published the full Maths on the different factors.

Speed is the main one, but temperature is also considerable but depends on the battery conditioning strategy adopted by the car. Below are some for Tesla Model S which is somewhat different to the MG but it will give you an idea.

I have never seen anything published about rain, but empirically I can say you lose at least 10% of range in the recent monsoons and an appreciable amount in "normal" rain.

Thanks man, that’s pretty significant differences, is it a bit geeky that I am beginning to find this all very interesting?

 

[andyswarbs]

Evening everyone

I’m a pretty impulsive guy, I have an MG retailer down the road and popped in today and test drove the MG SV EV and I loved it. Traded in my my Mercedes A180 and take collection of my new car in 7 days.

The trouble with being impulsive is that you act first and think second, which is what my wife said when I returned home, fair do’s.

can I ask what are the most important things I need to prepare for and need to know about owning an electric vehicle?

I know I should have thought about these things before buying, but I’m 52 and if I haven’t found any sensibility so far it’s unlikely I’m going to.

thanks in advance.

Brian

Our starting point was our mileage pattern. We have weekly trips of 100 miles each way, and didn't want to charge en route due to time pressure. So a car comfortably over 200 miles range was a prerequisite for us. We have an off road parking space, so fitting a charging point was sensible. Next we decided how long before delivery. We couldn't wait a year, but 4 months was ok. One reason we chose kona over eniro because better colour choices.

This was our most expensive car purchase by a mile, but decided to go for it because this was possible and a way out of the fossil fuel quagmire.

 

[mikegs]

Incredibly enough this link just came up on my google home page regarding a dedicated charging station 5 minutes from my home Gridserve starts building first EV charging forecourt in Braintree

With that level of luck I think any advice given here is redundant. You'll be fine whatever you do (or don't)

 

[dk6780]

Thanks man, that’s pretty significant differences, is it a bit geeky that I am beginning to find this all very interesting?

Yes!

Obviously it is perfectly reasonable interest in my case.

Back to the subject, the difference in range of 1/3 from 20 C to 0 C is major, as is 1/3 from 35 MPH to 80 MPH. I'm not criticising the MG (which is outstanding value for money), but even the more expensive EVs (that Tesla is close to 4x the price) suffer significant changes in range depending on how they are driven. Whatever you do, do not get the MG and expect to drive at 80 MPH on a freezing night in the rain and expect to get anywhere close (think 60% at best) of the published range. Hence my question being about 120 mile journeys and not longer as the salesman might have quoted.

@MikeProcter is an experienced EV owner on this forum and others who has published YouTube videos of his experience of his MG ZS EV which are well worth watching.

 

[EV Adopter]

You might find "abetterrouteplanner" a useful app. here:- A Better Routeplanner It allows you to enter weather conditions and many customisations
when planning a route and minimises journey time by optimum charge management.

Also I can recommend the Octopus Go tarriff. Feel free to use my sign up link if you decide it's for you.

 

[donald]

Evening everyone

I’m a pretty impulsive guy, I have an MG retailer down the road and popped in today and test drove the MG SV EV and I loved it. Traded in my my Mercedes A180 and take collection of my new car in 7 days.

The trouble with being impulsive is that you act first and think second, which is what my wife said when I returned home, fair do’s.

can I ask what are the most important things I need to prepare for and need to know about owning an electric vehicle?

I know I should have thought about these things before buying, but I’m 52 and if I haven’t found any sensibility so far it’s unlikely I’m going to.

thanks in advance.

Brian

Most important thing:-
Keep calm and carry on.

What you will need to learn to do:-
a) provide all the facts in your first posts, because we're going to ask for those anyway, and
b) make sure you are good at planning if you go beyond-range, charge as early as possible if that means you can get home on 'that' much charge, and if not and it'll be more than one charge then whichever charger you are heading towards then make sure you can get to the next charger too, and preferably a third, if there are outages or blockages, if not and it's "this charger or nothing" then you are chancing your arm.

In answer to your question what affects mileage, in pareto order:-
1) Your driving style; knock 20% off WLTP if you drive hard, but it can be mitigated to 0% or -ve% if you are really smooth and slow.
2) Speed; knock off 1%/mph off WLTP over 50mph
3) The Cold; knock off 1%/deg C below 10C (or 1% for each C below 15C if you like the heater warmish... and just don't even bother cranking it up high if range is a concern ...)
4) The wet; even if the roads are merely covered with condensate, knock of 10%

... and if you are now thinking that at 'fast' motorway speeds, in winter, on a wet road, this all adds up to your range being less than half WLTP then ... yep ... it probably will be.

(The above subject to the usual hand-waviness of pub-talk generalisations.)

HTH

 

[ASM]

Hi @Brickstrident

if you currently have a dumb electricity meter, get your current electricity provider to upgrade it to a SMETS2 smart meter now.

All the cheap EV tariffs which give cheaper rates off peak require you to have a smart meter.

Get one now so you are in a position to get on an EV tariff when you get the car.