My first ever trip in a EV!

[Quattr04.]

Tomorrow il be embarking on my first ever drive and trip in a EV, a 180 mile round trip from my house is south wales to the Birmingham office and back.

I am looking forward to it, VW ID3, showing 92% battery and 268 miles of range

I have no experience of EVs so I am going to drive it like I would a diesel, same route, same driving style etc

Really looking forward to it! I’m in the market for a new car and a EV is well up the list.

[VeeReihenmotor6]

Enjoy and just let the car tell you what it needs.

I drove my Model 3 Standard Range + (LFP pack) 600 miles in one day (funeral) last month and it was a piece of cake. I also drove my Model Y to the nothern edges of the Scottish Highlands from down south after a week of ownership and a week of having an EV and it was also a piece of cake.

[FourGears]

Good luck.

[stef1808]

Motorway speeds and cold weather expect the range to drop significantly

[essayer]

Strensham Services on the way home

[ashenfie]

I would guess with charging lossess etc , you will get around 3miles per kw on the motorway.

[Quattr04.]

essayer said:

Strensham Services on the way home

I’m hoping not to charge! I’m going via the a449 and then m50 and m5

[off_again]

My daughter and her boyfriend took my EV on a road trip to LA and back (800+ miles). Everything went smoothly except for one charger that malfunctioned so they switched to another.

They both came back saying that the car is great! Its OK, but not great. Its the EV benefits that shine - quiet, tend to have a smooth ride, extra interior space for all of your stuff etc. They are under 25, but I get it when people say that its the newer drivers that will bring more adoption for EV's - they are starting to grow up with them and realize they do have benefits.

But as mentioned - speed will kill range. You wont get close to the typical range if you are at or above 80. But thats OK, it effects all cars. Availability of chargers is still the big thing for many. But its often not as bad as it might seem.

[iangex]

Ooh I had a similar experience last week with my wife's id3 going from Gloucester to Banbury and back (about 130 miles). I was anticipating doing it on one charge (it's a 59kwh model and was about 90 percent charged) since the range was showing as about 210 in the cold weather. It seems true that the range suffers on faster, colder runs and it would only just have done 180 miles.

I gave it a little charge at work anyway (just to test it out, I didn't absolutely need to but it was also super cheap) and that was painless. I wouldn't hesitate to stop for a quick charge if it was looking close. Let us know how you get on.

[MOMACC]

Keen to hear feedback on the ID3, reviews aren't great I.e. the tech but what do you guys think?

[TheDeuce]

MOMACC said:

Keen to hear feedback on the ID3, reviews aren't great I.e. the tech but what do you guys think?

I'm not a fan of VW's EV efforts so far. I think the entire ID range is easily outclassed by other comparable EV's tbh. Having said that, they've often very good value on lease deals so I fully understand why people go for them.

Driven like the diesel it will probably do the trip with no need to charge en-route. There is always the possibility this thread is engineered to demonstrate it can of course... But I hope not and out my faith in the OP!

If it does need a charge we're talking 10 minutes max at any rapid charger along the route, there must be several such places all of which will accept tap to pay with any card these days.

[plfrench]

Not even worth a second thought. You’ll manage that easily without charging.

[off_again]

TheDeuce said:

MOMACC said:

Keen to hear feedback on the ID3, reviews aren't great I.e. the tech but what do you guys think?

I'm not a fan of VW's EV efforts so far. I think the entire ID range is easily outclassed by other comparable EV's tbh. Having said that, they've often very good value on lease deals so I fully understand why people go for them.

Driven like the diesel it will probably do the trip with no need to charge en-route. There is always the possibility this thread is engineered to demonstrate it can of course... But I hope not and out my faith in the OP!

If it does need a charge we're talking 10 minutes max at any rapid charger along the route, there must be several such places all of which will accept tap to pay with any card these days.

Yeah, they arent necessarily class leading, but here in the US there have been a bunch of fantastic lease deals! They are selling pretty well and the VW dealers will often have deals to throw around also. I dont think they are making much money per car, but thats their problem. Here we only get the ID.4 though.

The ID4 got a lot of criticism at launch and the infotainment was terrible. They have corrected this with many upgrades and its actually quite useful (though most people will just use CarPlay or Android Auto - both of which have the ability to support routing for EV's with charging stops built in. They still have haptic buttons which a lot of people hate, but overall its a pretty good car, at the right price though.

[TheDeuce]

off_again said:

TheDeuce said:

MOMACC said:

Keen to hear feedback on the ID3, reviews aren't great I.e. the tech but what do you guys think?

I'm not a fan of VW's EV efforts so far. I think the entire ID range is easily outclassed by other comparable EV's tbh. Having said that, they've often very good value on lease deals so I fully understand why people go for them.

Driven like the diesel it will probably do the trip with no need to charge en-route. There is always the possibility this thread is engineered to demonstrate it can of course... But I hope not and out my faith in the OP!

If it does need a charge we're talking 10 minutes max at any rapid charger along the route, there must be several such places all of which will accept tap to pay with any card these days.

Yeah, they arent necessarily class leading, but here in the US there have been a bunch of fantastic lease deals! They are selling pretty well and the VW dealers will often have deals to throw around also. I dont think they are making much money per car, but thats their problem. Here we only get the ID.4 though.

The ID4 got a lot of criticism at launch and the infotainment was terrible. They have corrected this with many upgrades and its actually quite useful (though most people will just use CarPlay or Android Auto - both of which have the ability to support routing for EV's with charging stops built in. They still have haptic buttons which a lot of people hate, but overall its a pretty good car, at the right price though.

Yea there's nothing 'wrong' with them as such (at the right price, as you say), it's just not anything much right with them. It's like they were designed with no joy. I was at the Frankfurt motor show in 2019 when they were heavily promoting the ID3 as 'the new Golf', but the Golf always had character, the ID3 was... dull. Then they did the GTX version which wasn't even fast, at least in terms of what is typically expected from the hot version of other EV's. There's no surprise tech or gadgets, lots of things are extra cost options too.

I think my biggest problem with the ID range is that for their first foray into EV, the VW designers failed to go a new direction and exploit the benefits of the electric powertrain, they just played incredibly straight laced and designed 'a lump of some car'.

Better luck next time VW, although I fear that the Chinese and Koreans have made some serious headway in the meantime

NB: As you're in the States, worth mentioning that I love some of the electric pickups, especially the quad motor Rivian which seems basically unstoppable and unsinkable (although you lose points for the cybertruck)

[ashenfie]

It seams amazing the VW went from the golf name to the very bland ID name. Their advertising is all about VW heritage and yet that’s what they have lost. Revamp the golf name and brighten up the IDs interiors and youre half way back on track. I have driven a few ID3s and they seam ok to me, then again there is tough competition.

[SWoll]

plfrench said:

Not even worth a second thought. You’ll manage that easily without charging.

Assuming he sticks to reasonable speeds I'm sure you are right. Bloody cold out there this morning though, which isn't going to help.

[JQ]

Not sure if the VW has full one pedal driving, but if it does, if you get stuck in traffic or driving in town make sure you use it. It was a game changer for me for my commute to work.

My wife’s e-Up doesn’t have it and and on max regen you still need to use the brake, but on my BMW I can drive hundreds of miles without ever using the brake.

[TheDeuce]

JQ said:

Not sure if the VW has full one pedal driving, but if it does, if you get stuck in traffic or driving in town make sure you use it. It was a game changer for me for my commute to work.

My wife’s e-Up doesn’t have it and and on max regen you still need to use the brake, but on my BMW I can drive hundreds of miles without ever using the brake.

Increasing the off pedal auto braking won't actually get the car to go anyfurther though, unless the driver brakes in a very inefficient way when braking manually.

For a first EV drive going straight to OPD mode might be a bit much!

[plfrench]

SWoll said:

plfrench said:

Not even worth a second thought. You’ll manage that easily without charging.

Assuming he sticks to reasonable speeds I'm sure you are right. Bloody cold out there this morning though, which isn't going to help.

Sure, if he tried to cruise the whole way at 90mph it wouldn’t make it, but 80mph should be fine. By my maths with a 92% charged 77kWh battery, then 180miles would need an average of just under 2.6 miles /kWh. You’d struggle to get and ID3 to average under 3m/kWh at these sorts of temps unless hammering the friction brakes or sitting at higher than 80mph cruise on the motorway.

If his route is cross country with fast flowing a-roads, then even easier.

[Byker28i]

plfrench said:

SWoll said:

plfrench said:

Not even worth a second thought. You’ll manage that easily without charging.

Assuming he sticks to reasonable speeds I'm sure you are right. Bloody cold out there this morning though, which isn't going to help.

Sure, if he tried to cruise the whole way at 90mph it wouldn’t make it, but 80mph should be fine. By my maths with a 92% charged 77kWh battery, then 180miles would need an average of just under 2.6 miles /kWh. You’d struggle to get and ID3 to average under 3m/kWh at these sorts of temps unless hammering the friction brakes or sitting at higher than 80mph cruise on the motorway.

If his route is cross country with fast flowing a-roads, then even easier.

OP said a449 and then m50 and m5, so from Newport, Monmouth, Ross on Wye, all decent roads