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What did you do this week in your EV?

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22K views 377 replies 68 participants last post by  NFalcon  
#1 ·
Thought it might be interesting to do a a weekly post about what everyone's been up to in their EVs.

Some will no doubt be adventurous and exciting, unlike this one.

I probably could have picked a more exciting week to start this, anyway....

This week has been the standard, daily school runs, lunch time Greggs food runs and daily horse maintenance runs. A few CBA cooking so nipping out to pick up takeaways.

A few trips to the recycling centre and DIY stores at the weekend.

The highlight was my son giving the car a good clean. It was really an excuse for him to use the snow foam lance but I wasn't complaining. After washing the car he used Autoglym Polar Seal. Wow to be fair the stuff is amazing, it creates a Hydrophobic layer. The car looks epically shiny. Looking forward to seeing how long it stays clean for or at least some rain sheet off it.

Each night top back up to 80%, think I will change to 70% each week night for extended battery longevity love.

So all in all a normal type of week.
 
#2 · (Edited)
What have I been doing to the Leaf the last week...

Trying to get it through the MOT with my Uncle's help 😭

Today was droplinks, angle grinder required as the nuts just spun with the impact driver! Jeez compressed air driven tools have mental power!

Also had to replace the rear pads, simple but... with six months of rain one of the slider pins snapped as stuck fast so had to order a second hand complete caliper assembly to replace said pins and carrier bracket.

A few days ago... the bldy hand[foot]brake again. Fortunately with a combination of the drum adjusters and taking up the slack from the [non]locking locknut all is good again.

Advisory for corroded rear disks which are only a couple of years old!

Booked in tomorrow for retest.

Edin: Yay it passed the MOT, finally! As it's worth next to nothing I'll keep it going...
 
#5 ·
What have I been doing to the Leaf the last week...

Trying to get it through the MOT with my Uncle's help 😭

Today was droplinks, angle grinder required as the nuts just spun with the impact driver! Jeez compressed air driven tools have mental power!

Also had to replace the rear pads, simple but... with six months of rain the one of the slider pins snapped as stuck fast so had to order a second hand complete caliper assembly ro replace said pins and carrier bracket.

A few days ago... the bldy hand[foot]brake again. Fortunately with a combination of the drum adjusters and taking up the slack from the [non]locking locknut all is good again.

Advisory for corroded rear disks which are only a couple of years old!

Booked in tomorrow for retest.
Some top skills there.
 
#7 ·
Zoe's been exceptionally busy in the last few days. After a 250 mile overnight trip to Scotland and back last week, this week she's driven nearly 600 miles including a trip to Buttermere (impressive 6.7 miles/kw along narrow country lanes), 2 x 200 mile slogs up and down the M6 to collect and return grandson, plus the usual local errands. All fuelled by home charging at less than 2p/mile, apart from a quick splash and dash on the new chargers at Tebay to get me home.
Lots of driving for me, but very enjoyable. Looking forward to many more road trips.
 
#8 ·
That's seriously amazing bang for buck. This whole EV thing has really opened my eyes.

We popped over to see some friends tonight. My friend was like wow that's a big motor.

When I told him how much April's electricity bill was for 1000 miles and it weighs 2.5 tonnes, he couldn't believe it. It will be nowhere what you can get but it's still amazingly low Vs petrol or diesel equivalent.

If you've got access to the EV tariffs it's a no brainer.

I'm waiting for the catch, but so far doesn't seem to be one.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I'll be cheeky and have just over a week.
A week ago on Saturday I got the train down to Kent and picked up the ID4 from the dealer, then drove it home 300 miles. Very pleased with how it managed the journey (range, charging) and with the extra toys it has over our ID3. It doesn't drive like the ID3 does but these make it feel a bit more special in other ways, which is nice when you've spent a load of money! I've even started using the "easy open" boot kick sensor :LOL:
In the week, both cars were just used for local journeys, school runs, commuting etc - boring stuff. One evening I took the ID4 out for an hour to see what efficiency I got if I drove 65 rather than 70 on the motorway. Answer - about 3.5mi/kwh instead of 3.3mi/kwh in similar cool temperatures. It seems about 10% less efficient than the ID3, which is pretty good considering the extra mass and the shape.
This weekend I took the ID4 out bouldering for the first time on Sunday. It swallowed my bouldering pads nicely. In the warmer temperatures on Saturday and on a mixed journey, it averaged over 4mi/kwh there and back. On Monday we took it on a family day out to Chester, first time in the car for my wife and youngest son. They seemed to like it. It was nice to set off for that trip (about 50 minutes each way) on about 40% battery and not feel like we needed to charge it beforehand.
Thinking that I should switch my electricity from Tracker to Intelligent now that I have two EVs to charge.
(In the same week, the sale of my old ICE (Octavia) fell through as it has an oil or diesel leak under the bonnet. Off to the garage with that :mad: )
 
#16 · (Edited)
All sounds great. Some good trips and data there. Sounds like the car was a top buy.

Spotted an ID4 a few days go, turned my head and thought looks nice.

Since getting an EV my spider/electron senses seem to notice them a lot now. Defo seem to be quite a few around where I live.

Although I've walked the dog every night for 2.5 years right past it, only recently realised there's an Audi A3 e-tron 3 doors away.

What makes me chuckle are the two Professors/Doctors that own the 'Hall' 'next door' to me, always banging on about the Environment.
They weren't happy when I trimmed a tree banging on about nature etc. Probably weren't happy with my 4 ICE cars (only used to use 2 now 1) but to be fair have a combined rear exhaust count = 14.

They thought I was a Monster and related to Jeremy Clarkson. They don't have an EV, so I lord it up now with my green credentials as I drive past in my EV with classic FM on the radio whilst I tut at their car with an exhaust.
 
#12 ·
As NICE (no-ICE) family, you might as well just ask what did we do with our cars.

Leaf: it's the home battery. I took it to use up a free monthly auto car wash voucher on Monday morning....... in the rain.

Model Y: drove around with it. Visited Cybertruck at Park Royal on Sunday, visited my parents on Monday. Despite the heavy rain yesterday, averaged over 4 mi/kWh.


Got 1600 miles road trip coming up next bank holiday. Hopefully won't be sitting in traffic up in Scotland. Even worse, queuing at Fort Williams supercharger.
 
#20 ·
As NICE (no-ICE) family...
Oh very good, that may get reused. As a solar Nice family we are So-NICE.

Electric heating gets me to E-So-NICE... its got a bit Eeezer Goode now?

A gentleman of leisure, he's there for your pleasure
But go easy on old 'Eezer, he's a love you could lose
Extraordinary fella, like Mister Punchinella
He's the kind of geezer who must never be abused.
 
#13 ·
I'm feeling slightly guilty but buzzed: drove to Bournemouth on Friday after the morning rush and late Saturday morning drove home so avoiding any BH traffic and sympathising with those coming in the other direction. Topped up a few miles on solar via the granny as Agile was too expensive, had an allotment run and a supermarket run as too much to carry on my usual bike and that was about it.

The guilty bit was flying from Bournemouth to France along the south coast to a shorter crossing point near Lydd, a glorious fruits de mer and overnight hotel and back in the morning with a little cloud dodging involved. A couple of pilots under training paid the bulk of the cost and I just sat in the back enjoying the absolutely amazing views. Haven't been abroad since coming back from covid Italy in 2020 so this was really appreciated and a chance to use a bit of French. Bought back a very good calva too.

I'll use it today to get to football training: it's bikeable, but afterwards I'm done and just want to get home to my bath as quickly as possible. The fuel cost is negligible but if I costed the capital per mile I'd be horrified. So I don't. :)
 
#14 · (Edited)
Drove our new to us model 3 LR dual motor home from the garage on friday (only about 30 miles, but takes 50+ minutes over... beautiful twisty roads :) ). I've either had a car that loved twisty roads, or twisty roads nearby, but not both :).

Made a mini roadtrip to Pitstop in chippenham same day - not to charge, but kids wanted to go for a drive and we needed to eat somewhere. On saturday we drove to Caerphilly, Wales. There is never not a traffic jam near Newport it seems, but it was a good opportunity to try out the adaptive cruise control and the autopilot. Very relaxing.

Stayed in Caerphilly overnight, and went to Nash, uskmouth to the RSPB reserve there on Sunday. They had a pond fishing session which was brilliant.

On monday it stayed on the drive. I resurfaced the Disney+ app in the car, and watched a bit of Toy Story 2 with our 7yo on it. I wasn't impressed by the audio at first (after reading on here and in reviews how good it was), but then found that the equalizer had been set to 'boy racer' ;-) (Bass and Treble near max). Set everything back to neutral and it really comes in to its' own watching a movie. Surround sound in a car, who would have thought.

The Leaf got relegated from the drive to the street. It's finally come down in value. Very good at school runs, it just doesn't like going up hills or around corners much (of which there are plenty in every direction). My wife was already talking about becoming a two Tesla family in the future - I can also see an ID.4,5,7 or just one car.
 
#19 ·
Not this week but last. Drove my EV6 to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp that my grandfather help liberate in ww2 and then down to Frankfurt to visit friends.

The route was Scotland to North Shields, ferry to IJmuiden, Bergen- Belsen, Frankfurt, IJmuiden, ferry and home. 1100 miles with quite a bit trying to do 130kph in Germany and a few times at 170. Still managed to get 3.6 mkwh overall.

Charging on Ionity which was fast and no hassle. Plus a free charge at a hotel.
 
#26 ·
Did you cost in your trip to A&E and the soap to get the squishy bits from between your toes? I once lived in digs where a barefoot night trip to the loo risked treading on a resident slug... The same place where the landlord carried on using the toaster after an electrocuted mouse was found inside it.
 
#27 ·
I was in Nantes last week and for the first time had a slightly stressful journey. I decided to override the cars charging recommendations for the trip a not uncommon occurance I have to say……when I did arrive at my chosen charger the RFID Mercedes me card would not work or rather the message was charging was not authorised……….that meant downloading the app for Total energiestopay by contactless , however just as I was looking at instructions etc a Tesla drove up to connect to the other rapid which would not work for him……he connected to a 50kw and off the charge went, we moved to the other 50kw no go we put it down to problems at Totals end mutter mutter swear swear why did we not stop at the cars suggestion which happened to be an Ionity……but something made me check the Mercedes me charge account just to make sure all was showing activated as it has been ever since my EQC …….only to see that the account was blocked due to lack of payment details and the penny dropped we have just changed our credit cards and I had not updated the Mercedes me account🙄
Added the new payment details all said it was accepted but the account showed blocked still we telephone the help number spoke to a very helpful chap assured us the new credit card was all recorded but there was an authentication process needed between the Mercedes and my bank which usually took about an hour but it could be a couple but when that was done all would be ok.
The car had plenty to complete the journey but I had wanted enough to charge after an hour or so of leaving Nantes rather and the hotel had no on site charging. So we set off and allowed the car to route to a charger and on a Quick Look at the map thought she was taking us to one close to the motorway exit………no it was close to the centre of Nantes on the wrong side for our hotel and the entrance we had carefully mapped out to enter the pedestrian zone to reach it.
We arrived at the charge hub of 4 Totalenergis rapids and for the first time ever had to wait with 2 Tesla in front (more moaning if super chargers are so wonderful why clutter up other people’s chargers🤣) as always happens no one ever joined behind us! Anyway a space came free and we backed up plugged in and discovered why it was so busy in what was the lunch hour it was FREE! They had recently gone into service apparently and everyone was grabbing a free refuel also causing more of a queue as a couple of them at least were going to 100%.
To get to the hotel car took us down some tiny one way streets but got us to our desired entrance point but it was not a nice relaxed journey but we eventually arrived safely and thanks to it’s rear steering it was not too many shunts to park it in a just wide enough parking space between pillars in the hotel underground car park where it stayed the rest of the trip! We missed lunch though which was a bugger but enjoyed a nice glass of wine at the first bar we feel into
First time ever we have had stress over charging since having a BEV and all down to us not the car nor the charging network. I used to drive 25k pa some years more all over the south east of england normally on a timetable of meetings, the M25 was my normal stomping ground. I self navigated no sat nav’s initially but now I find because I drive in pretty perfect conditions with little traffic and decent roads cities are becoming for me more and more stressful a horrible reminder of time passing and that I am getting older☹
 
#29 ·
I suppose I don't really count as I have a PHEV, but on Thursday we went shopping, to the town and the local supermarkets = no petrol used. On Friday I went to London, left the car in a station car park five miles away - no petrol used getting there or back. Sunday, we went to Norwich, 40 miles each way. Three-quarters of the journey was on petrol. I had to fill the tank on my return - £50. I wish I had a BEV!
 
#37 ·
Gave my ID3 its annual wash and polish (neighbours commented) then driven from Derby to south of Nantes in France. Rapid charging still poor, as ever, not above 46kw, but at least special deal on network here at 25 centimes per Kw, so sure beats Elli and Shell etc. Have to sort out rapid charging via dealer as annoying to be so slow since last year’s software update. But sun shining!
 
#38 ·
Didn't drive anywhere at weekend, trained to a parkrun and long run on Sat (car would have been faff as I was finishing up 30km west of where I started) then cycled with one friend to another's house on Sun. Damp at times and slow puncture on way home but still enjoyed it on (mostly) nice quiet forest roads.
Charged Zoe on Monday and went for a run during charging. Significantly, also checked out and put deposit on replacement Citroen.
Tues usual e-cargo bike use during the day and then Chichester run evening. Still think the Zoe is perfectly adiquate motorway cruiser, got over 4mpkWh even doing 65 and not too noisy or unsettled.

It's interesting how you feel about your 'old' (only 3yo/20k) car when you have a new one in the pipeline. The ZE50 still makes my former ICE cars look like a hayrick but you start notice all the stuff missing that your forthcoming car will have (ahem AIRBAGS!), and the smaller size. I have enjoyed the Zoe and I think it still does some things better than the eC4 but feels like a good time to move on, not that I have any choice as it's a lease.
 
#41 ·
I drove 6 miles today - picked a friend up from work, then went to Costa on the way home. Tomorrow I’ll go to the dentist, then take my friend to a funeral. At some point I’ll drive my van about 25 metres from the visitors space to my own space so I can plug it in for work on Friday.
 
#42 ·
Drove from Oxford to Languedoc in the south of France, mostly on Tesla superchargers. Absolute breeze.
Looks like you too have an MG4. That's good to know and tomorrow I'm going to check my Tesla account works at the newly opened up Havant chargers. Off to Italy later this year and have earmarked a few Tesla locations.

Unfortunately I have a road trip next weekend and ABRP is saying 103% round trip, so going to be tricky to do that without a brief dip at a rapid somewhere.
ABRP is reputed to be a little pessimistic (or safer than sorry?) so you might even get away with a little dip at an AC charger if that is convenient? Let us know!
 
#73 · (Edited)
ABRP is reputed to be a little pessimistic (or safer than sorry?) so you might even get away with a little dip at an AC charger if that is convenient? Let us know!
In the end with a little driving around at the destination I did need a rapid, stopped at Tesla at Reading services and was the only one there when tons of people were using Gridserve. Both are open to all EVs, obviously Gridserve has Chademo so the odd Leaf/e-nv200 needed them but was surprised no one else was using Tesla given it's 30% cheaper.
 
#44 ·
Drove one EV off the drive so the other could charge.

Also installed a new wireless charger in the new to us tesla model 3, only to then find out the existing plate was... a wireless charger with the cables missing..

Kept the old charging plates, just in case. Bangernomics in spirit.

Drove our 7yo to a bitthday party in the model 3 instead of the leaf, because he asked (he mourning our 15yo honda jazz, it has served us well).

Apprehensive about the low ground clearance of model 3...