[Problemchild]

Ah but what we are used to as the right tool for the job and what we actually need are 2 different things

I have a dewalt rechargeable £150 drill - for 90% of the time I just need a £2 screwdriver.

The other times I only need a £15 Lidl mains drill.

(Both of these are in my garage too)

Same with cars or houses or bikes or TVs or anything - we pick what we want to own not what we actually need.

Do we need a 500mile range car?
Do we need to charge that 500miles in 5mins?

We like life to be easy these days

JJ

 

[paulBzoe]

I've made a couple of very long multi-day Leaf journeys this year, one of which was 1600 miles right around the UK in 12 days. I've had a few days of some 350 miles in under 12 hours, and never run out of power: so here are some thoughts on keeping it easy and getting from A>B quickly. Some of these are probably old hat to experienced EV drivers, but we do get lots of newbies, so this is for them.

1) never rapid charge above 80% - 90% when on the move unless you really need to or simply have loads of time. The last 20% takes ages.
2) phone ahead (on a weekday, working hours) to get the latest info on the electric highway, don't rely on zapmap service status - or any other online information - as it is often out of date
3) When using single or unknown rapids - try to charge every 40-50 miles on average - always keep a decent reserve for Plan B (which is either the next rapid or a Type 2)
4) Figure out a speed that gives you a 20% remaining margin of error for your car - conditions can change. On motorways 55 mph seems about optimum cruising speed, but when you have a reliable charger ahead then 65 mph is fine.
5) In rural and remote areas, aim to stop overnight at friends houses, youth hostels or B&Bs - they are much more laid back than hotels about charging your car. Use the brick overnight, and carry a ten metre extension lead to drape through windows or whatever.
6) If you don't get a charge from any charger, be persistent and methodical, it can often take a few tries. One common and puzzling error is to leave the charging timer on: always switch it off on any long trip.
Carry three main cards: CYC, Ecotricity electric highway, and Polar - plus any regional network cards required - such as the SSE card in Hampshire.
7) Don't panic when going up long hills like Beattock summit or Shap fell - you will lose a lot of power but gain much of it back downhill.

i sat at 90% for ages before, when i first got zoe...will not be doing that again.

 

[lne]

How’s your advice changed since 2015? We’ve got bigger batteries, better cars, and more chargers now. Are you less paranoid about running out?

 

[Sussex Trug]

Things have changed since the early days of EVs. Whilst there are cars with bigger batteries out there many of the earlier cars are now struggling with batteries losing capacity. In 2015 I drove a 24Kwh from Brighton to Edinburgh. It was a challenge but I planned for it. Last year I drove the same Leaf from Brighton to York. The route stops I had used three and a half years earlier did not work as the battery had lost some capacity.

The big problem was getting around the M25. Although there are chargers at Cobham the increased demand from more cars on the road and broken chargers meant that delays were likely.

It's true we have so many more chargers but there are still gaps and we have to rely on some old hardware in the motorway services.

I am shortly going to retrace my route back to York with a new car and will report back how it went. I have never been paranoid about long runs. Just cautious. Hopefully my report back will not be sent from the passenger seat of a flatbed.

 

[Soupdragon]

I am shortly going to retrace my route back to York with a new car and will report back how it went. I have never been paranoid about long runs. Just cautious. Hopefully my report back will not be sent from the passenger seat of a flatbed.

There's a load of new chargers these days handy for the M1. I travel between York and Birmingham regularly and, once on the M1, seldom need to use EH chargers.

 

[Wowbagger]

Crikey! I remember this thread when it first started.

I've done quite a few >200 mile trips in my Nissan Leafs (24kWh to Sept 2016, 30kWh since). Tomorrow I'm changing to an e-Golf. First long drive ill be Southend to Burnley on Friday. Really looking forward to it! I reckon I will need to charge 3 times.

 

[KenB]

I assume you are talking about the latest E-Golf. Southend to Burnley 270mls -why would you need to charge 3 x Assume 100% charge to start and available destination charging then i would only need to charge once, so i think 2 max.

 

[Sussex Trug]

Just returned from 550 mile round trip to York (with a few days relaxation in the middle. The Kona 64 has made the journey much less stressful and easily capable of working around issues like occupied or broken chargers.

In the years driving a leaf I appreciated the fact that Chademo on Electric Highway usually worked and many locations had multiple chargers with Chademo but usually only one AC or CCS. Now I am finding the limitations that CCS users complained of on Electric Highway. As @Soupdragon mentioned, there are now plenty of options near the main routes. Often these provide a respite from the chaos and cost of the Motorway Service Areas.

You also appreciate the difference when ending your charges at 80% to keep the charging time down and battery temperature happy. 80% of 64KWh is a much better that 80% of 24Kwh. Having said that, I would still have done the trip even if I still had the old 2014 Leaf but would have allowed for a longer time for the trip.

The newer cars cannot insulate you from the combination of heavier traffic and more frequent queues on the motorways On my trip around the M1 and M25 on Tuesday much of the time was spent stationary or crawling. A glance around at alternative routes on the sat-nav rendered diverting futile as they were all snarled up.This extended the predicted range from 280 miles to 354.

 

[Scally]

hang on...

 

[Scally]

How’s your advice changed since 2015? We’ve got bigger batteries, better cars, and more chargers now. Are you less paranoid about running out?

My apologies for my late reply.
I now have a 30 kWh Leaf and a 64 kWh Kona, and I really miss the old pioneer days. Driving an EV around the UK is now getting too everyday.
I'm thinking of driving the Kona from Scotland to Athens, to try to rediscover that feeling of adventure.
Apparently there are only four rapid chargers in Greece: one is broken, one is permanently ICED by a large broken down truck with Mesopotamian number plates, one is pure Greek/ EU Myth, (stolen by metal thieves) and nobody has ever found the other one because it is hidden in an olive grove on a small island with a seasonal passenger ferry service, put in by a Greek shipping Billionaire for his personal Tesla five years ago and never switched on.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm glad some of this advice isn't quite needed anymore. If I had to tell my non EV driving friends to manage a long journey in an EV by driving at sub 65mph, they would tell me exactly where to shove my charging cable!

Very glad we had pioneers such as you guys on this forum to help pave the way.

 

[Arlington]

We want to visit Iceland next year. There are lots of chargers along its "ring-road" and a car ferry will take us there from Denmark. I have been looking at routes to the north end of Denmark and chargers thereon, using various zapmap-type websites. In particular the Ionity one [curiously grey mapping], Electromaps and Plugshare.
Would I be right in thinking that I should load more than one of these apps to have sufficiently comprehensive and reliable coverage, and does anyone have any recommendations for ones that they have found to work well in northern Europe?

 

[Electra Glide in Blue]

An 8th tip.
If you fail and need a flat bed rescue, it's no worse than picking up a puncture and being towed to a tyre shop.
Pride is hurt and an hour or so is lost. Just make sure that you give up and make the call whilst you can still move to a safe position.

The AA are starting to fit charger packs in the van to give you enough extra charge in the battery to get you to the next charger, assuming the next charger is close enough. Presumably they will follow you. Has to be better than a flatbed recovery. I was told this when I had a flat (as in duff) 12v battery.

 

[Mrklaw]

Hi - new here and don’t have an EV yet but my next car will be. Regarding efficiency and driving speed, are people factoring in charging time?

eg if you drive at 55 you get more range but travel slower. At 70 you get less range but travel faster. Can the increased need for charging be offset somewhat?

eg you drive 110 miles. At 55 that takes you 2 hours. At 70 that takes you about 90 minutes. You will run the battery down more but you have gained 30 minutes time so as long as you don’t increase your charge time by more than 30 minutes, the overall journey would still be quicker at the ‘less efficient’ faster speed?

 

[Neilew]

Hi - new here and don’t have an EV yet but my next car will be. Regarding efficiency and driving speed, are people factoring in charging time?

eg if you drive at 55 you get more range but travel slower. At 70 you get less range but travel faster. Can the increased need for charging be offset somewhat?

eg you drive 110 miles. At 55 that takes you 2 hours. At 70 that takes you about 90 minutes. You will run the battery down more but you have gained 30 minutes time so as long as you don’t increase your charge time by more than 30 minutes, the overall journey would still be quicker at the ‘less efficient’ faster speed?

It depends on which EV you have. Most won't do 110 miles at 70 mph or if they can it will be serious squeeky bum time as you near the charger (I know some have very long range). TBH with most post 2019 EV if you stick around 65 mph you'll get your best return against speed/charging.

What you'll get at 55 mph will be close to the advertised mileage, so your 2 hours will be about right. At 70 mph you'll be looking at 98 to 100 miles. So you'll be looking to charge somewhere around 90 miles, but only charging for around 10 - 15 minutes to get enough to finish the journey. So (if I've worked it out correctly) 110 miles at 70 mph about 1 hr 35 min plus 15 mins to charge would be 2 hours. Whereas (again if I've worked it out correctly) 110 miles at 65 mph about 1 hr 45 mins.

 

[Neilew]

110 miles at 70 mph about 1 hr 35 min plus 15 mins to charge would be 2 hours.

Oops man maths at work.

110 miles at 70 mph about 1 hr 35 mins plus 15 mins charge would be 1 hr 50 mins.

Even so if you could do 65 mph for 110 miles you wouldn't be waiting for the charge.

 

[Graham toyn]

Personally I'd recommend "lorry" speed as minimum in good conditions. That will be in the 55-60 region depending on the vehicle. the leaf speedo underreads by 10%. 60 otherwise. less than this and it can feel dangerous IMO. Adapt accordingly. If destination not achievable consider dropping off to a slower road, though bear in mind the gain from slower speed may be balanced by more braking.

I can't emphasize #3 above. always have a backup. If you have phev/rex, that's it. If pure EV you NEED a plan... Double failures that you don't know about before setting out can occur but are much less likely.

Re the above its not just the leafs speedo that reads 10% less,all motorised vehicles have to by law,as they have done for years.

 

[EricM]

Re the above its not just the leafs speedo that reads 10% less,all motorised vehicles have to by law,as they have done for years.

Not altogether true.

Regs oblige vehicles to be accurate or read slightly fast. Nissan seem to be applying the max permissible exaggeration.

 

[Graham toyn]

....I've done a few longer distance trips now in the Renault.... For motorway driving, I engage the cruise control at 65-67mph, which gives a reasonable pace without chewing the battery.... If the road speed drops below 60 or I am on 'A-roads', I immediately engage the ECO mode. I've been paying more attention of late to the amount of KwH I consume on typical trips.... so for example, I know to get to work I need around 10-11Kwh. Rather than sit on the charger trying to work out if I've got enough, I look at the Kwh uploaded to the vehicle, add a couple of spare for margin and then stop the charge.... You can use the same technique to estimate how much power to upload for a given distance... I consistently drive around 4.5miles per Kwh. So it is relatively easy to work out how much juice is going to be required to get to a particular destination and therefore to optimise the charging time.

What is wrong with you people if you are that worried about range anxiety go back to a fossil fueld car or plan your journey properly instead of driving dangerously close to large lorries .Have you thought of driving a little slower in the left hand lane of the Motorway or dual carriageway to eek out your milage.

 

[Graham toyn]

Not altogether true.

Regs oblige vehicles to be accurate or read slightly fast. Nissan seem to be applying the max permissible exaggeration.

Sorry you are right I miss read the post I thought he meant it was reading fast.