Charging in general
Discussion
It is fine to do a partial charge, the only issue is that a lot of the supermarket chargers at least around here are 13A sockets. These are a waste of time/probably done for PR (shame on you Sainsburys), as you would not get a very useful charge in the time it takes to shop.
Where these are instead Type 2 sockets (for which you need a certain cable) then if the on board charger on your car is up to it a much faster charging rate is achievable - our Leaf with 6KW charger can get about 30-35% charge per hour sat on one of these, and some other cars may do even better.
Where these are instead Type 2 sockets (for which you need a certain cable) then if the on board charger on your car is up to it a much faster charging rate is achievable - our Leaf with 6KW charger can get about 30-35% charge per hour sat on one of these, and some other cars may do even better.
A common set of figures is to not drop below 20% or go over 80% to keep a a set of batteries in tip-top condition. Also, slow charging rather than fast charging is recommended. However, it seems that it's high temperatures that are the main culprit in shortening battery life which is why problems seems to occur in places like California.
There's a taxi firm running a fleet of Leafs in Devon, many of which are past 70k miles and have been fast charged all of their lives. None have lost any significant amount of battery capacity.
I've got my Leaf for four years and I certainly won't be taking any special steps to look after the battery.
There's a taxi firm running a fleet of Leafs in Devon, many of which are past 70k miles and have been fast charged all of their lives. None have lost any significant amount of battery capacity.
I've got my Leaf for four years and I certainly won't be taking any special steps to look after the battery.
The Taxi Firm is C&C taxis - they are on twitter: https://twitter.com/candctaxis
So you could ask them directly :-)
So you could ask them directly :-)
Biggles111 said:
It is fine to do a partial charge, the only issue is that a lot of the supermarket chargers at least around here are 13A sockets. These are a waste of time/probably done for PR (shame on you Sainsburys), as you would not get a very useful charge in the time it takes to shop.
Where these are instead Type 2 sockets (for which you need a certain cable) then if the on board charger on your car is up to it a much faster charging rate is achievable - our Leaf with 6KW charger can get about 30-35% charge per hour sat on one of these, and some other cars may do even better.
Are you seriously complaining about electricity supplied for free?Where these are instead Type 2 sockets (for which you need a certain cable) then if the on board charger on your car is up to it a much faster charging rate is achievable - our Leaf with 6KW charger can get about 30-35% charge per hour sat on one of these, and some other cars may do even better.
herewego said:
Biggles111 said:
It is fine to do a partial charge, the only issue is that a lot of the supermarket chargers at least around here are 13A sockets. These are a waste of time/probably done for PR (shame on you Sainsburys), as you would not get a very useful charge in the time it takes to shop.
Where these are instead Type 2 sockets (for which you need a certain cable) then if the on board charger on your car is up to it a much faster charging rate is achievable - our Leaf with 6KW charger can get about 30-35% charge per hour sat on one of these, and some other cars may do even better.
Are you seriously complaining about electricity supplied for free?Where these are instead Type 2 sockets (for which you need a certain cable) then if the on board charger on your car is up to it a much faster charging rate is achievable - our Leaf with 6KW charger can get about 30-35% charge per hour sat on one of these, and some other cars may do even better.
herewego said:
Are you seriously complaining about electricity supplied for free?
My concern is that some sites may be putting in charging facilities for positive PR. These facilities are sometimes not widely used as they are not well equipped. This rightly then leads joe public to conclude that it is a waste of space putting in charging facilities for EVs.At the site I am thinking of I have never seen a car charging. In contrast some public car parks nearby, which are also pod point but are properly specced are widely used.
I would happily pay for the electricity, most charging networks have the ability to do this already set up. The cost to the site though is less than £2 for anything but the longest stay.
Edited by Biggles111 on Saturday 14th February 23:55
I keep thinking about getting a plug in hybrid, but in oder to make it work at the most cost efficient would need to charge it whilst at work.
I have noticed that over the road from my office there is a charging point - accoring to chargeyourcar.org it is a 13A outlet, which is currently out of service and the next nearest 2 points are status unknown.
Is there anyway that I can determine if the out of service one is going to be in service at some point and is there a way of determining what status unkown means?
I suppose that at least with a phev I can still get home if the charger is out os service.
Also assuming the car will take 5 hours to charge from a 13A outlet is it reasonable to leave the car on the charger all day or would I need to go and move it off the charger when it's fully charged - is there an etiquette about this?
I have noticed that over the road from my office there is a charging point - accoring to chargeyourcar.org it is a 13A outlet, which is currently out of service and the next nearest 2 points are status unknown.
Is there anyway that I can determine if the out of service one is going to be in service at some point and is there a way of determining what status unkown means?
I suppose that at least with a phev I can still get home if the charger is out os service.
Also assuming the car will take 5 hours to charge from a 13A outlet is it reasonable to leave the car on the charger all day or would I need to go and move it off the charger when it's fully charged - is there an etiquette about this?
sawman said:
Also assuming the car will take 5 hours to charge from a 13A outlet is it reasonable to leave the car on the charger all day or would I need to go and move it off the charger when it's fully charged - is there an etiquette about this?
If you want to 'learn' about charging etiquette the place to go is the SpeakEV forum where there are dozens and dozens of threads with EV owners p*ssing and moaning to the n'th degree about such things. I could only hack it for a few months before giving up which is a shame because there's some good technical info there in amongst the mass indignation about ICE'd spots and charging companies actually charging a few quid for electricity.sawman said:
Is there anyway that I can determine if the out of service one is going to be in service at some point and is there a way of determining what status unkown means?
Sometime between never and later than that. Unfortunately a lot of these points were put in on a government grant but the funding didn't extend to maintenance. Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff