What's it really like

[runboy]

What's it like using a BEV day to day? So bear with me here - how do you cope on days out to the seaside where you need to charge - you can't plug it in then wander off for 5 hours. Do you plug in then go back after an hour or so and move your car? All the car parking spaces might be gone by then.

Same with city centre shopping - do you plug in, go back after a while then move your car somewhere else?

I'm interested in the practical side of BEV ownership so would be good to hear how you cope with recharge on roadtrips.

[foggy]

Virtually all my charging is done at home or work and most journeys are well within range. Usually charge to 90% to look after the battery, but set to charge fully when going on a longer journey.

Rarely destination charge unless I happen across it, generally stop on route or detour for a fast charge, then do a few emails or surf for a bit, and keep a game of UNO in the car to keep the kids amused if we’re all together.

[aparna]

Similarly I also charge exclusively at home unless long distance then I use super chargers. I haven’t used a public charger in two years as simply can’t be dealing with the uncertainty.

[ZesPak]

runboy said:

What's it like using a BEV day to day? So bear with me here - how do you cope on days out to the seaside where you need to charge - you can't plug it in then wander off for 5 hours. Do you plug in then go back after an hour or so and move your car? All the car parking spaces might be gone by then.

Same with city centre shopping - do you plug in, go back after a while then move your car somewhere else?

I'm interested in the practical side of BEV ownership so would be good to hear how you cope with recharge on roadtrips.

For me there's two key factors to make BEV ownership a joy.

Firstly, you know your car is going to be parked more than 80% of the time. Can you plug it in where that's parked on a regular basis?
Then, you need to calculate your "normal" weekly mileage, and see if you can get it in that parking time.

Secondly, there's less regular trips. Further than what said BEV could do. Use something like https://abetterrouteplanner.com to see how much time is added to those trips and if you can live with that. That all depends on personal preference, how often are these trips and how you would take breaks if you do them in your current car.

Example:
My sister has no possibility of charging at home or at work. She does visit my parent's though at least once a week for dinner, in which time she can charge over 100km. This is less then her weekly mileage (yeah, she doesn't drive a lot...), so she can live with a BEV and it actually costs her less time than refueling once a month.

If you can charge at home, you'd have to have pretty specific needs for a BEV to actually add to your time though. In my case, at 40k km/year, it saved me a lot of time and money.

[mikeiow]

runboy said:

What's it like using a BEV day to day? So bear with me here - how do you cope on days out to the seaside where you need to charge - you can't plug it in then wander off for 5 hours. Do you plug in then go back after an hour or so and move your car? All the car parking spaces might be gone by then.

Same with city centre shopping - do you plug in, go back after a while then move your car somewhere else?

I'm interested in the practical side of BEV ownership so would be good to hear how you cope with recharge on roadtrips.

Days out to the seaside might depend how far you’re talking to get there!
For us, 26k mikes in, we have only charged at public charge point a handful of times: Kona range of 200-300miles helps!
One undersold point of EVs is that your home is ‘the petrol station’…..obviously provided you have the ability to park & charge there. The fact that we might need a 30-60 minute charge very occasionally (a handful of times!) is outweighed by the fact that most days, we wake up with a full charge having spent about 25 seconds plugging in!

[ReubenMcdonald]

So I am a couple of months into using a Skoda Enyaq as my only car with a ~250 mile range. (250 official, my experience is 220 in mixed driving with roof box, 280 in good conditions such as 60mph on the M25).

I don't have great charging at home (yet), so I use public charging (normally fast DC), and sometimes a 3 pin plug.

I have not found to many problems, we have driven from London to Somerset, off to beaches for a week and driven home. We have been to weddings that are 3 hours away.

In my case, before a long journey, I go to a fast charger at a local high Street /petrol station and charge to 90+% , then go on journey. On the way back, if the charge is not sufficient then I stop at motorway services or use the fast charger at the hotel and add 100 miles range in 15-30 minutes (depending on speed of charger).

In normal driving around town the car is very efficient, so going shopping, to sports centre, local trips with the kids etc. It still has 220-240 mile range which means charging dues not have to be very often.

I sometimes use public ac charging, but it is so slow then it is only useful if I can going to be in a car park for a few hours.

[Kimbie]

ZesPak said:

Secondly, there's less regular trips. Further than what said BEV could do. Use something like https://abetterrouteplanner.com to see how much time is added to those trips and if you can live with that.

Hi

Thanks for the link not seen that website before, really handy to visualise charging times and how it impacts the journey, much more detailed than the likes of Zap Map for telling me how long going to be charging for etc.

[ZesPak]

Kimbie said:

Hi

Thanks for the link not seen that website before, really handy to visualise charging times and how it impacts the journey, much more detailed than the likes of Zap Map for telling me how long going to be charging for etc.

ABRP is by no means perfect, but it works well enough. Quite convenient to see how feasible certain journeys are in specific EVs.

[NDA]

runboy said:

how do you cope on days out to the seaside where you need to charge - you can't plug it in then wander off for 5 hours. Do you plug in then go back after an hour or so and move your car? All the car parking spaces might be gone by then.

Same with city centre shopping - do you plug in, go back after a while then move your car somewhere else?

I'm interested in the practical side of BEV ownership so would be good to hear how you cope with recharge on roadtrips.

I have a roughly 250-300 mile range on mine.... A trip to the seaside is generally not going be a 300 mile round trip, but if it was, a 30 minute charge en route wouldn't be an issue. Shopping is not a problem unless the shop is 150 miles away.

The ability to charge at home, overnight, makes ownership pretty easy.

[SWoll]

Never needed to charge at a shopping centre etc. as don't shop anywhere not within a 200-250 mile round trip. For days out I also avoid destination charging as usually horribly slow and will rapid charge on route.

As an example, Lichfield to Charmouth/Lyme Regis for a long weekend s a 360 mile round trip that we do. We stop at Gordano services for 15-20 minutes each way for a comfort break and coffee whilst charging, then no need to find a specific space down at the beach or worry about charging.

Edited by SWoll on Sunday 29th August 08:32

[Electro1980]

Clearly most of the charging is done at home and there is very little need to ever go to a petrol station, so, how do you sneak a cheeky Ginsters pasty and can of red bull if you can’t hide it in the cost of a tank of petrol?

[mikeiow]

Electro1980 said:

Clearly most of the charging is done at home and there is very little need to ever go to a petrol station, so, how do you sneak a cheeky Ginsters pasty and can of red bull if you can’t hide it in the cost of a tank of petrol?

This is a real problem.
I am currently about 1½ stone lighter than I was pre-EV. Seriously

[annodomini2]

I can charge at home, but as I'm not doing significant miles atm I mainly charge at the local supermarket (free).

I'll be back in the office in 2 weeks, but I can charge at the office (also free).

Only really charge at home if going on a trip.

First trip I did an experiment and didn't destination charge and see if the nav will route me properly, ended up detouring to a charger and arrived with 9 miles left (nerve racking at the time), but for a longer trip (over range) you either need destination charging or plan in advance (at least for now).

This was mostly down to the route I was taking, need to check the nav settings to see if it will stop me earlier.

Other than that, it's a car, but generally more relaxing, range anxiety aside, which is easily mitigated.

[JonnyVTEC]

runboy said:

What's it like using a BEV day to day? So bear with me here - how do you cope on days out to the seaside where you need to charge - you can't plug it in then wander off for 5 hours. Do you plug in then go back after an hour or so and move your car? All the car parking spaces might be gone by then.

I'm interested in the practical side of BEV ownership so would be good to hear how you cope with recharge on roadtrips.

I literally did just that….I left mine for 4.5 hours in Porthleven. But then that was at 1 of 10 PodPoint 7kW destination chargers.

Only use rapids for max 45mins and then just keep going with the journeys. It’s all a bit of a rare events.

Stopping every single week during your commute to get fuel seems such a chore now looking back.

[The Road Crew]

I'm 10k miles in thus far. 50/50 mix of home and fast charging.

If you rarely cover more than 200 miles in a day then you'll be fine. Charger at home to 100% before departure and you're all good.

Longer journeys are very hit and miss. Some of mine have been seamless - roll up at a charger, chose from one of 5 empty plugs and away you go.

Some have been an absolute nightmare. Roll up at charger with 50 miles remaining... Not working. Next one 10 miles away... Not working....Next one 10 miles away.... One plug but its in use with another car waiting....Next one 5 miles away, 2 plugs both in use, have to wait 40 minutes now until they've charged as I darent risk driving further. 2+ hours wasted for what would be a 5 minute refuel in an Ice car.

Throw in needing a dozen different apps and rfid cards which can all play up at random times. Even ionity aren't perfect.

Is a BEV a workable prospect? Absolutely.

Is it a perfect seamless event? Absolutely not.

Just have you eyes open and be aware you need to do a little more homework with your journey planning.

[Sheepshanks]

runboy said:

Same with city centre shopping - do you plug in, go back after a while then move your car somewhere else?

I've mentioned to wife about her having a BEV - she now delights in coming home and telling me "all the chargers were taken up" at the shopping centre she frequents. It's 8 miles away. And that's the furthest she routinely goes.

I wonder if a lot of people think BEVs have to go on charge after every run?

[South tdf]

All our new company cars are EV only now so we have quite a selection. I dont really go very far anymore so charge at home, we can charge at work but only limited chargers and I know a couple of people can’t charge at home so leave the chargers for them.

In the past year I have only done a couple of longer journeys where I have needed public charging and both times were uneventful as the chargers were available and easy to use.

We plan to drive to Poland towards Christmas but we will be taking our ICE car as I don’t fancy trying it in the EV.

One guy in the office is doing 1500 miles a week in a Polestar so it seems they are suitable for higher mileage drivers.

[runboy]

Thanks all for the responses, makes interesting reading. I have a driveway so a home charger is possible, I guess the range anxiety was playing on my mind but so many of my trips are local it's not a problem providing I charge at home first.

[DMZ]

To answer the original poster, in situations where you are somewhere for 5h you try to find a destination charger with no time limit. The sort of thing you’ll find at hotels, shopping centres, parks and perhaps beaches.

[off_again]

Mostly been said already, but over a year with the i3 has been trouble free and utterly easy. Other than a little panic around making sure we got the right charging network while out and about, its been utterly easy!

We do 99.99% of charging at home and with the recent install of the L2 charger, its made things so much easier as a result. We dont rely on public charging at all, though will use it if its available. But dont expect it to be and plan accordingly. We do have the Rex version, so have a 50+ mile buffer if needed.

But, its the convenience and ease that I like. Charge at home, always filled when you need it. Being an EV, you can have the mobile app and pre cool / heat as needed (no engine to run, so you can have it do what you need) and since its always connected, we know where it is at all times.

The only issue I see is two fold - our 17 year old daughter is driving now and uses it to get around and stuff. Not a big problem but she has a nasty habit of just leaving it with 2 miles range and complaining about it! Yeah, like thats my problem that its got no charge and you need to leave now! Typical teenagers. And that goes into problem 2 - just realized, she has no idea who to fill up a car! Never had to do it! And when asked if she would like a car of her own, she said no, since the i3 is “free”…. The cheek of it! But thats the issue though - convenient use is great, but it then becomes an expectation.