[noworriesuk]

I am looking at getting an MG ZS EV and i have always wondered how it would work with basically living at the top of a no through road where after about a mile of maybe 40 meters of elevation from my house i have a 5 mile decent from 270 meters to sea level with a few flatter bits and some very steep bits. If i start my journey with 100% charge, will a still benefit from all that regen once i start the decent?? Would i be better of only charging to say 90%?

 

[BabyEVDriver]

I am looking at getting an MG ZS EV and i have always wondered how it would work with basically living at the top of a no through road where after about a mile of maybe 40 meters of elevation from my house i have a 5 mile decent from 270 meters to sea level with a few flatter bits and some very steep bits. If i start my journey with 100% charge, will a still benefit from all that regen once i start the decent?? Would i be better of only charging to say 90%?

Regen gives you no where near as much back as most people think. I would try from 95% 1st and see what you arrive at the bottom of the hill with. I would guess 5 miles downhill may give you 2% back if you are lucky.

 

[EricM]

Regen gives you nowhere near as much back as most people think. I would try from 95% 1st and see what you arrive at the bottom of the hill with. I would guess 5 miles downhill may give you 2% back if you are lucky.

Broadly agree - but suggest it would be VERY lucky to get even as much as 2% with the drop described. No doubt going home of an evening, SOC would drop a lot more than 2% (perhaps 10% ?)

 

[mikegs]

I generally only charge to 90% unless I really need the range for a trip. It's generally considered better for the battery, though you'll hear some dissent on that.

 

[dk6780]

As @mikegs says, try to avoid charging to 100% anyway. You may find that the ZS doesn't give much regen above 90% charge as it has nowhere to put it - as an example you get very little above 87% in a LEAF.

 

[MPx]

We are in much the same type of location. Right or left out of our house and its about 4 miles mostly downhill to the nearest town(s). I do charge the i3 to 100%, and starting like that its not hard to drive to town and still have 100% when you get there. Beware about going too low when you're out though. It uses about 7% to get home from either side even driven carefully and can be a lot worse if done quickly. I managed 10% coming back quickly from the fish and chip shop run last Friday.

 

[DBMandrake]

I generally only charge to 90% unless I really need the range for a trip. It's generally considered better for the battery, though you'll hear some dissent on that.

Only from those who don't understand batteries...

 

[electricdriver]

Start a quarry in your garden and transport the rocks down to town...you may never need to charge your car ?

 

[noworriesuk]

Thanks for the responses, I guess I will just have to try it and see how I get on.

Going to test drive on Sunday...

 

[PapaKilo]

If you have any watercourses near your house up the hill, then you could fill up some tanks inside the car, or attach a filled water bowser trailer before your descent each day.

Less hard work than the quarry idea.

(I'm sure I remember reading something about a quarry actually doing this years ago)

 

[EricM]

If you have any watercourses near your house up the hill, then you could fill up some tanks inside the car, or attach a filled water bowser trailer before your descent each day.

Less hard work than the quarry idea.

(I'm sure I remember reading something about a quarry actually doing this years ago)

You may be thinking of the ' Centre for Alternative Technology ' at Machynlleth where they use a linked pair of carriages with water tanks that are filled at top of slope and emptied at bottom.

 

[ElectricBeagle]

With a 90% full battery you could travel very slowly to get the limited regen for longer.

 

[PapaKilo]

Here is one of the articles that I read about a quarry with true self charging EVs due to potential energy /regenerative braking

Giant electric dumper truck is energy positive - Volvo CCC

A quarry in Biel, Switzerland, is operating the world’s largest electric vehicle: a 110-ton dump truck, to haul lime and marl off the side of a mountain to a cement factory. And in a round trip up and down the mountain it generates more electricity than it consumes. The dump truck, at 45 tons, is …

constructionclimatechallenge.com

I wonder at what level it would be scalable for domestic users?

 

[EricM]

Here is one of the articles that I read about a quarry with true self charging EVs due to potential energy /regenerative braking

Giant electric dumper truck is energy positive - Volvo CCC

A quarry in Biel, Switzerland, is operating the world’s largest electric vehicle: a 110-ton dump truck, to haul lime and marl off the side of a mountain to a cement factory. And in a round trip up and down the mountain it generates more electricity than it consumes. The dump truck, at 45 tons, is …

constructionclimatechallenge.com

I wonder at what level it would be scalable for domestic users?

Probably when the weight added at top of hill and removed at bottom was 3 times the unladen weight. At least that seems to be what happens at that Swedish quarry.

I think that would equate to me adding a 5 tonne load to my Leaf !

 

[Hilltop Dave]

On a trip over the Snake Pass (A57) between Sheffield and Manchester I noted that for the descent from the top of the Snake Pass into Glossop, a descent from 512m asl to 150m asl in 4.3 miles, I put 4% SOC back into the battery of my 24 kWh Leaf. One thing to note is that at higher %SOC levels, (for my Leaf) the regen rate is restricted.

One advantage of living at the top of a hill is that (leaving home with 100% SOC) the friction brakes get used which avoids the build-up of rust on the discs.

 

[EricM]

On a trip over the Snake Pass (A57) between Sheffield and Manchester I noted that for the descent from the top of the Snake Pass into Glossop, a descent from 512m asl to 150m asl in 4.3 miles, I put 4% SOC back into the battery of my 24 kWh Leaf. One thing to note is that at higher %SOC levels, (for my Leaf) the regen rate is restricted.

One advantage of living at the top of a hill is that (leaving home with 100% SOC) the friction brakes get used which avoids the build-up of rust on the discs.

My last ever trip in the 40kWh Leaf also involved driving from Bamford to Glossop via the Snake Pass. Afraid I wasn't checking the %SOC but did look at GOM which did indeed increase between top of hill & outskirts of Glossop - but only by 1 mile.