Tesla - And whats it really like owning an EV?

[bp1000]

Looking at the Telsa range at the moment, impressed, tech is incredible and the car is fantastic to drive, perhaps the nicest drive i've ever experienced. Distinct lack of noise and drama is one negative.

I wish to dispel more negatives

- Its american
- Its new so who knows about reliability
- What will it be worth in a few years
- Are EV vehicles the automative laser disc (will they fizzle out and be worthless within 5-10 years)
- Is charging ever a pain?

I genuinely think the car is incredible and i'm perhaps being overly critical with my points above but its a lot of money and its a new way of driving, trying to figure out what its like to live with.

In addition to the above points what is it really like driving and owning an EV car? I keep reading little details that take the shine off the experience, such as
- public charging stations have 2 bays but only support 1 charging vehicle at a time.
- Even the tesla superchargers half their charge speed if 2 cars are plugged in side by side.
- Sometimes public chargers are full or not working which means you could be stranded for ages (at a motorway services!)

Also trying to figure out a charge per fill. Assuming 250 miles range, to charge up i think the tesla will be about £12 on 12-13p kWh electricity rates. So 500 miles costs about £24. Something like a hybrid costs about £40 for 450-500 miles. Still incredible but somehow i thought it was going to be cheaper. I also don't grasp charge times. There is everything from 13amp plugs, dual chargers (don't understand phase 3), Nissan DC chargers and superchargers. Also home chargers of different amp's, higher is faster but i still don't know how to work out how long a charge will take and what miles it gives.

Would love to hear from EV owners, despite the incredible technology what is it really like owning one?

thanks

Edited by bp1000 on Sunday 15th February 12:40

[Rick101]

I don't own one but was quite surprised how much it would cost to charge. Yes I know there are 'free' places out there but in the long term I don't see that being viable and we're going to be paying much more for electric than we are now.

Lovely cars but the sales pitch of free motoring couldn't be more wrong.

[RochdalePioneers]

It is free! Once you pay for it when you purchase the car...

[vescaegg]

I was under the impression it was something like £4 to charge a model s from flat. So perhaps £8-10 for 500 miles?

[MarshPhantom]

I like the fact a lot of motorway services have chargers installed but you get fined a lot of money for staying more than 2hrs at most services these days. How's that going to work?

[bp1000]

vescaegg said:

I was under the impression it was something like £4 to charge a model s from flat. So perhaps £8-10 for 500 miles?

I think it is roughly 0.034p per mile on standard rates (around 13p kWh) - so full charge 300 miles = £11.34

And on economy 7 around 0.02p per mile. - full charge 300 mies = £6.10

Probably unlikely anyone can be bothered so charge for free at a motorway services or supercharger unless it is very close to your house.

[HTP99]

MarshPhantom said:

I like the fact a lot of motorway services have chargers installed but you get fined a lot of money for staying more than 2hrs at most services these days. How's that going to work?

I believe many of them are 43kw chargers, they will do an 80% charge on a ZOE in 30 minutes.

I don't own an EV however I have access to a ZOE; it is outside the house as I type, I am unable to charge it at home but it gets charged at work.

I love the car and it suits me 95% of the time

[Super Slo Mo]

MarshPhantom said:

I like the fact a lot of motorway services have chargers installed but you get fined a lot of money for staying more than 2hrs at most services these days. How's that going to work?

You just pay in the services for extra time. It's not that expensive but eats into your fuel saving.

[bp1000]

MarshPhantom said:

I like the fact a lot of motorway services have chargers installed but you get fined a lot of money for staying more than 2hrs at most services these days. How's that going to work?

It should be done much quicker than that. From what i can gather, if you stop and need to charge it is usually because you are on a long journey 200 miles +. These journeys are a bit rarer and more than likely you need a toilet and stretch legs break.

Tesla seem to have provided supercharger stations on most of the major (long journey) routes south of manchester. 20mins and you should get at least 100 miles range, potentially up to 170 miles in 30 mins.

The DC chargers you find up and down the motorways claim up to 85 miles in 30 mins. I think this would be plenty to get you where you need to go and logically fits in with the breaks you need on the longer journeys.

My issue is i've read stories of people turning up needing to charge their cars and they simply can't leave until they are charged which is a big problem if the chargers aren't working, they are occupied (for how long who knows?) or what i've recently learnt is if 1 car is drawing full power another cannot use the DC charging which means they need to use AC charging which is pants! 11 miles in 30mins.

I could be wrong, but that is what i've read and i'm not sure how widespread an issue those few things are. It would really suck not being near a supercharger and having to wait for a space in a charge bay, or worse still have to do the slow charge or worse if the chargers are broke, then 2 hours would be an issue and i would sell the car!

[Rick101]

Bear in mind the 300 miles on a full charge is more like 150 miles real driving.

[slippery]

I'm really looking forward to getting my P85D. I intend to just charge it from home while I sleep and on the very rare occasion that I'm going anywhere that gives me cause for concern regarding range, I'm lucky enough to be able to just take a different car. Although I ordered mine a few weeks ago, I only drove one for the first time today and as others have said, it was hugely impressive. It feels like you're piloting a life sized Scalextric car. Roll on June!

[Maff]

I run two Tesla's at the moment, both fantastic cars and had zero issues in 8 months of ownership.
The supercharger network is first class, 100% success rate when charging, and even when two bays are occupied I've not noticed any drop off in charging. Most superchargers are located off motorway near a cafe or shop which is great.

I also use the ecotricity chargers on the motorway services, not really because I have too, but might as well when I stop for a coffee as they are free. Success rate there is approx 75%, mainly because of a charger not working. But twice I have phoned ecotrinity and the start the charge remotely for me, which has been handy.

With a tesla with dual onboard AC chargers even it manages 60 miles of charge an hour. You can now get an adaptor to use the Nissan DC chargers which is nearer supercharger speeds. I've never had to wait for a car to move to get a charge.

I regularly drive from Reading to North Devon and can do it on one charge (205 miles non stop), or I stop at Bristol and supercharge and have a meal at John Lewis.

Home charging I have a 7kw unit which charges at 20 miles per hour, perfect for overnight use. It takes about 9 hours to charge from 9% to 90% (which is the recommended charge limit unless going on a long trip), total cost £7.50 and will get you 170 real world miles with a reasonably heavy right foot. About 30% of my driving is via free charging (superchargers) and they are free for the life of the car.

Hope this helps!

[slippery]

Thanks Maff, makes a change from some of the ill informed stuff that's getting posted by the armchair experts.

[bp1000]

Yes thanks maff that has been very informative and useful to me. I'm trying to get my head around charging and this has got me 1 step closer to understanding it.

The tesla guys said I would get 300 mile range when I said 250 so judging by these posts 220-250 is perhaps to be expected. But if you do 9-90% I suppose it's 170-200 by the sounds of it.

[Maff]

bp1000 said:

Yes thanks maff that has been very informative and useful to me. I'm trying to get my head around charging and this has got me 1 step closer to understanding it.

The tesla guys said I would get 300 mile range when I said 250 so judging by these posts 220-250 is perhaps to be expected. But if you do 9-90% I suppose it's 170-200 by the sounds of it.

Yes, charging can be a bit hard to understand at first. In tesla terms the car comes as standard with one onboard AC charger. This will mean:
- home 3.6kw / 16 amp unit will give 10 miles an hour charge
- home 7kw / 32 amp unit will give 20 miles an hour charge ( this is what most people have installed)
- work/public 11kw / 3x16amp three phase gives 31 miles of charge an hour.

With a tesla with dual AC chargers you can charge faster at work/public (at work if you have a three phase electrical supply)
- work/public 22kw /3x32amp three phase gives 61 miles of charge an hour.

Regardless of the number of onboard chargers you can charge at up to 350 miles an hour at any supercharger. Or you can now get the chedamo converter to charge very quickly (nearer supercharger speeds) at any of those public points.

That's it really for charging. Any other type or speed is irrelevant, just the above. However the 3.6kw is very slow to charge due to size of battery.

This winter longest run I did on one charge has been 220 miles. I could have probably gone 235 if I really pushed it to zero! And that's sitting at 70 or so on the motorway.
In the summer I could get 250 driving the same style, maybe a fraction more if I slowed to 60mph!

Hope this all helps! :-)

[Scuffers]

Maff said:

With a tesla with dual AC chargers you can charge faster at work/public (at work if you have a three phase electrical supply)
- work/public 22kw /3x32amp three phase gives 61 miles of charge an hour.

just to understand this bit...

are you saying the dual AC charger setup can run from 3 phase? or do you need something else?

(as in if you have 3 phase at home, can you just plug it in or do you need another charger?)

[Maff]

Scuffers said:

just to understand this bit...

are you saying the dual AC charger setup can run from 3 phase? or do you need something else?

(as in if you have 3 phase at home, can you just plug it in or do you need another charger?)

Yes, you just plug it in (via a suitable Three phase wall box).
You can also charge at three phase with a single charger too, using the same wall box, but it will only charge at 11kw (16 amps per phase). Dual charges allows up to 22kw.

[Scuffers]

Maff said:

Yes, you just plug it in (via a suitable Three phase wall box).
You can also charge at three phase with a single charger too, using the same wall box, but it will only charge at 11kw (16 amps per phase). Dual charges allows up to 22kw.

Wall box?

I was thinking more in terms of a red 3 phase 32a wall socket?

[Maff]

Scuffers said:

Wall box?

I was thinking more in terms of a red 3 phase 32a wall socket?

You need something to tell the car what the supply is capable of, and how many phases to draw from, hence a wall box. You can get a three phase wall box for under £500. It's only a signal and contactor in the box, you can make one yourself if you are competent.

Tesla do offer a converter that means you can plug into any red 32amp commando socket, think that's about the same price though.

[Scuffers]

Maff said:

You need something to tell the car what the supply is capable of, and how many phases to draw from, hence a wall box. You can get a three phase wall box for under £500. It's only a signal and contactor in the box, you can make one yourself if you are competent.

Tesla do offer a converter that means you can plug into any red 32amp commando socket, think that's about the same price though.

Ah, OK, thanks for that, makes more sense...

done a bit of digging, looks like it's actually only a 2 phase solution, ie, each onboard charger runs of (between phase) 415v (begs the question, can you have a 3rd charger onboard?)