EV and long distance trips
Discussion
How do EV owners tackle long distances?
Do you use the EV and plan your charging stops with for instance abetterrouteplanner.com (or the equivalent app)?
Do you use another car (either another household car or one you lend/rent...)?
Still very much in doubt about my next company car and the current favourite on a list that includes EVs and hybrids, is the BMW iX3.
Just a bit worried about the extra time it would take for a frequent long distance trip we tackle (1300km+ so around 850 miles which now takes around 11h - 12h, and would take around 14h40 assuming that the chargers are available).
Thanks in advance!
(I started an earlier thread about hybrid cars, but am still seriously considering EVs...)
Do you use the EV and plan your charging stops with for instance abetterrouteplanner.com (or the equivalent app)?
Do you use another car (either another household car or one you lend/rent...)?
Still very much in doubt about my next company car and the current favourite on a list that includes EVs and hybrids, is the BMW iX3.
Just a bit worried about the extra time it would take for a frequent long distance trip we tackle (1300km+ so around 850 miles which now takes around 11h - 12h, and would take around 14h40 assuming that the chargers are available).
Thanks in advance!
(I started an earlier thread about hybrid cars, but am still seriously considering EVs...)
Frequent means 4-5 times a year so 8-10 times the long distance drive.
As it's a company car, it'd only cost me the cost of recharging (charging is only covered within Belgium in the contract).
The trip is between Belgium and Czech Republic, so a large part of it is on German autobahn...
As it's a company car, it'd only cost me the cost of recharging (charging is only covered within Belgium in the contract).
The trip is between Belgium and Czech Republic, so a large part of it is on German autobahn...
Church of Noise said:
Frequent means 4-5 times a year so 8-10 times the long distance drive.
As it's a company car, it'd only cost me the cost of recharging (charging is only covered within Belgium in the contract).
The trip is between Belgium and Czech Republic, so a large part of it is on German autobahn...
You could do it but you'd want a long range Tesla I think - just to get the guarantee of high speed charging availability as and where you need it.As it's a company car, it'd only cost me the cost of recharging (charging is only covered within Belgium in the contract).
The trip is between Belgium and Czech Republic, so a large part of it is on German autobahn...
Next issue is 70mph+ speed will start to significantly reduce the range of any EV due to wind resistance, so in terms of speed and the need to charge fully at least once per trip, an EV is going to take longer than ICE unfortunately.
In everyday driving you'll love the EV I have no doubt, only you can decide if that's enough to make up for the extended journey 8 times a year!
Last July we drove 1500km from Geneva to Tuscany and back in a TM3LR. Couldn’t charge at any overnight destination, so basically drove 300km and then (super)charged for 20 minutes. 300km in Alpine/Italian road conditions is ~2.5hrs, so just the right timing for food/snack/loo stops.
Otherwise we charge at home here or at our weekend place in Burgundy 150km away. 33’000km driven in 15 months and couldn’t be happier.
Otherwise we charge at home here or at our weekend place in Burgundy 150km away. 33’000km driven in 15 months and couldn’t be happier.
Use my other car which is ICE....
And long distance isn't very long now with my 97K Leaf. Needed to take my brother to Bristol airport last week after work at Newport. But arriving home from there even though fully charged not enough for a round trip to BRS, so had to use the ICE.
So potentially short but concurrent journeys can be an issue to. EVs don't have that same 100% random access availability which an ICE has.
And long distance isn't very long now with my 97K Leaf. Needed to take my brother to Bristol airport last week after work at Newport. But arriving home from there even though fully charged not enough for a round trip to BRS, so had to use the ICE.
So potentially short but concurrent journeys can be an issue to. EVs don't have that same 100% random access availability which an ICE has.
Toaster Pilot said:
Not sure what the charging performance of the iX3 is like (not just the peak charging speed but how long it’ll sustain it for) but it makes a huge difference to long journeys (bigger difference than range itself does)
https://support.fastned.nl/hc/en-gb/articles/360018958457-Charging-with-a-BMW-iX3I take one of my petrol cars. I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the charging faff repeatedly on a trip and having to stick to the speed limit to eke out range. It’s doable obviously but your trip will be about charging and nothing else and spending hours in awful motorway service areas.
I think I would look at a diesel PHEV if possible. You get the benefit of electricity locally and diesel on the longer journeys and you can just push on. If done right you will typically only use the diesel engine at motorway speeds which is where diesel is unbeatable.
I think I would look at a diesel PHEV if possible. You get the benefit of electricity locally and diesel on the longer journeys and you can just push on. If done right you will typically only use the diesel engine at motorway speeds which is where diesel is unbeatable.
Evanivitch said:
Disappointingly slow then. What a shame. Church of Noise said:
Sincere question: are there already a lot of chargers that offer more than 150kW?
Not in the UK, but the problem isn’t the max charging speed, it’s the fact it’s well below 100kW from 50%. The Audi e-Tron 55 will charge at 150kW pretty much from 0%-80%. This is far more impressive than a car that does 200kW from 0%-10%.
T1berious said:
A recent long trip saw me charging at 80Kw so 30% to 86% was 28 minutes.
That was at the Moto Rugby services.
Looking at doing a European trip in summer. Ionity Chargers are pretty common in the France.
Planning UK > Lake Annecy > Gorges du Tarn > Chamonix > UK in April/May (lodgings all booked That was at the Moto Rugby services.
Looking at doing a European trip in summer. Ionity Chargers are pretty common in the France.
).Then hoping to do UK > France > Belgium > Germany > Denmark > Sweden > Norway.....and back... in November/December.
Checked out the routes and not worried in the slightest - going to be a blast.
Church of Noise said:
How do EV owners tackle long distances?
Do you use the EV and plan your charging stops with for instance abetterrouteplanner.com (or the equivalent app)?
Do you use another car (either another household car or one you lend/rent...)?
Still very much in doubt about my next company car and the current favourite on a list that includes EVs and hybrids, is the BMW iX3.
Just a bit worried about the extra time it would take for a frequent long distance trip we tackle (1300km+ so around 850 miles which now takes around 11h - 12h, and would take around 14h40 assuming that the chargers are available).
Thanks in advance!
(I started an earlier thread about hybrid cars, but am still seriously considering EVs...)
I have preplanned with ABRP first but I’m a smart arse Tesla driver so I just tell it where to go and it works it out.Do you use the EV and plan your charging stops with for instance abetterrouteplanner.com (or the equivalent app)?
Do you use another car (either another household car or one you lend/rent...)?
Still very much in doubt about my next company car and the current favourite on a list that includes EVs and hybrids, is the BMW iX3.
Just a bit worried about the extra time it would take for a frequent long distance trip we tackle (1300km+ so around 850 miles which now takes around 11h - 12h, and would take around 14h40 assuming that the chargers are available).
Thanks in advance!
(I started an earlier thread about hybrid cars, but am still seriously considering EVs...)
On a more serious note you need real time charger availability for a proper long distance trip - the chances of things going wrong are massively reduced if you know what’s working before you aim for it.
I’ve driven to the Algarve twice, once via the tunnel and I reckon on that longer route thru France charging added 7-8 hours - it’s a big chunk of time but with a dog and my bladder in tow there would have been frequent stops anyway. Self drive made it very easy, but range anxiety was off the scale at some points.
I haven’t used European non Tesla chargers but from what I’ve read they’re better than the UK.
It’s entirely doable but honestly, if you’ve no other need for regular stops and you do that trip regularly I’d be going with ICE and adaptive cruise, or hybrid as a halfway house.
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