My First EV experience.....
Discussion
Driving from Sussex to Lincolnshire in a brand new.......car! (It’s a nice one but I can’t divulge which...sorry) The route was 145 miles and after a full charge I had 165 miles on the cars range display. I had my EV station fill up planned at around 135 miles so thought that would be fine based on a 30 contingency.
Within 25 of Driving my contingency had disappeared!...so knot in my stomach appeared, range anxiety hit me and I had to start re-routing. This was a time sensitive work job.
I stopped at a large service station on the A1 about 125 miles from my start location only to find the electric station was not working. By now my anxiety was hitting MAX....another 5 miles down the road I found another large service station that had Ecotricity chargers...PHEW!
In the pissing rain and 4 degrees of temperature I had to input name, address and bank details into my phone and I started to charge....except it wasnt charging....it was ghost charging! I didn’t realised this so after 45 minutes I realised the car hadn’t charged so I call the operators who told me to try the other station next to the one I was using. Another 45 minutes later....same thing had happened. Bering in mind I was late for my delivery and I had 0 miles in the batteries I was a tad upset...I tried again but to no avail. After approximately 15 phone calls and more attempts to charge with both Type 2 ac(slow) and Chadeo(Fast)I was informed that neither charger or plug was compatible with my car due to the fact that the software had not been upgraded for this car!
I was stuck....for 5 hours! The AA flatbed came around 2pm and took me to my destination.
Suffice to say...I’m not impressed.You can keep your EV’s until the network has been sorted, cars have a range of more than 130 miles (this was a £50,000 car,) and charger plugs are universal.
If your reading this and considering an EV.....don’t bother, especially if it’s not going to be used as a pottering about town car. There’s a LONG way to go before I’d even consider one.
Within 25 of Driving my contingency had disappeared!...so knot in my stomach appeared, range anxiety hit me and I had to start re-routing. This was a time sensitive work job.
I stopped at a large service station on the A1 about 125 miles from my start location only to find the electric station was not working. By now my anxiety was hitting MAX....another 5 miles down the road I found another large service station that had Ecotricity chargers...PHEW!
In the pissing rain and 4 degrees of temperature I had to input name, address and bank details into my phone and I started to charge....except it wasnt charging....it was ghost charging! I didn’t realised this so after 45 minutes I realised the car hadn’t charged so I call the operators who told me to try the other station next to the one I was using. Another 45 minutes later....same thing had happened. Bering in mind I was late for my delivery and I had 0 miles in the batteries I was a tad upset...I tried again but to no avail. After approximately 15 phone calls and more attempts to charge with both Type 2 ac(slow) and Chadeo(Fast)I was informed that neither charger or plug was compatible with my car due to the fact that the software had not been upgraded for this car!
I was stuck....for 5 hours! The AA flatbed came around 2pm and took me to my destination.
Suffice to say...I’m not impressed.You can keep your EV’s until the network has been sorted, cars have a range of more than 130 miles (this was a £50,000 car,) and charger plugs are universal.
If your reading this and considering an EV.....don’t bother, especially if it’s not going to be used as a pottering about town car. There’s a LONG way to go before I’d even consider one.
Hmm I’m intrigued to know what brand new car has Chademo (apart from the Leaf - can’t see why you’d keep that a secret!)
My guess is that it was a Japanese spec, Chademo equipped 63kWh Nissan Ariya to be used by the road testers. (Euro/ US will be CCS). Go on, spill the beans!
I’m not defending Ecotricity but can see why it might not work, lots of cars have issues on their chargers even when they’re meant to be fine!
165 miles on the GOM does seem low, guess it’s fairly cold and they’re probably not very efficient.
Have a read of this, a few pointers for EV newbies, hopefully next time you’ll be fine.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
My guess is that it was a Japanese spec, Chademo equipped 63kWh Nissan Ariya to be used by the road testers. (Euro/ US will be CCS). Go on, spill the beans!
I’m not defending Ecotricity but can see why it might not work, lots of cars have issues on their chargers even when they’re meant to be fine!
165 miles on the GOM does seem low, guess it’s fairly cold and they’re probably not very efficient.
Have a read of this, a few pointers for EV newbies, hopefully next time you’ll be fine.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I can see exactly where you're coming from....
With an ICE car you don't really need to plan. Why should you with an EV? And that's a choice you make. EV's have plenty of benefits, both to you, financially and to others. At the moment they require some pre-planning.
If that isn't acceptable, then you're spot on an EV probably won't work. And you're right, in the future that should improve to the point where no more planning is required than an ICE.
So while I wouldn't say you are wrong, equally I wouldn't say EV's are wrong either... if you're prepared to do the planning, you can take advantage of the benefits.
The car works for those that want to, and won't for those that don't.
With an ICE car you don't really need to plan. Why should you with an EV? And that's a choice you make. EV's have plenty of benefits, both to you, financially and to others. At the moment they require some pre-planning.
If that isn't acceptable, then you're spot on an EV probably won't work. And you're right, in the future that should improve to the point where no more planning is required than an ICE.
So while I wouldn't say you are wrong, equally I wouldn't say EV's are wrong either... if you're prepared to do the planning, you can take advantage of the benefits.
The car works for those that want to, and won't for those that don't.
LordBenny said he planned.
What place to charge, how much charge he had, how far he was going, at what mileage to charge and how much contingency to allow for.
What more planning is needed? Crystal ball planning to know exactly which chargers would be working and which were going to screw about?
My feeling is that there is more uncertainty with respect to where you are going to, which route you are taking and what weather you are travelling in. This is because EV charging network coverage is not evenly spread and that EV car ranges are more sensitive to the weather. Still early days with the network and the technology.
In some journey cases the factors can stack up together against your favour where in other cases you have luck on your side.
What place to charge, how much charge he had, how far he was going, at what mileage to charge and how much contingency to allow for.
What more planning is needed? Crystal ball planning to know exactly which chargers would be working and which were going to screw about?
My feeling is that there is more uncertainty with respect to where you are going to, which route you are taking and what weather you are travelling in. This is because EV charging network coverage is not evenly spread and that EV car ranges are more sensitive to the weather. Still early days with the network and the technology.
In some journey cases the factors can stack up together against your favour where in other cases you have luck on your side.
Noah EV said:
LordBenny said he planned.
What place to charge, how much charge he had, how far he was going, at what mileage to charge and how much contingency to allow for.
What more planning is needed? Crystal ball planning to know exactly which chargers would be working and which were going to screw about?
Ecotricity is doomed to failure (as in the chargers fail so often it's very poor), so relying on them a bad idea. Having zapmap on your phone to find other nearby compatible chargers (and also read reviews of the one you're planning on using), a plan A, B and C in case it's not working. As I say, it's not like ICE planning, where you pick a petrol station thats enroute. Depending on charge network, there's a greater or less chance that the charger will be faulty... or blocked, or in use.What place to charge, how much charge he had, how far he was going, at what mileage to charge and how much contingency to allow for.
What more planning is needed? Crystal ball planning to know exactly which chargers would be working and which were going to screw about?
So I'd suggest the planning though done, wasn't deep enough (well, evidently). Is that acceptable for the benefits offered? That's yours to decide.
Noah EV said:
My feeling is that there is more uncertainty with respect to where you are going to, which route you are taking and what weather you are travelling in. This is because EV charging network coverage is not evenly spread and that EV car ranges are more sensitive to the weather. Still early days with the network and the technology.
In some journey cases the factors can stack up together against your favour where in other cases you have luck on your side.
Spot on, in winter you're likely to get much less range. Some networks are better than others, and if you're on a route you know well, you'll already have your preferred charger, know it's likely to work, and perhaps know of the plan B/C/D chargers you could use also. That's familiarity, but only comes with familiar routes.In some journey cases the factors can stack up together against your favour where in other cases you have luck on your side.
In 1998 i picke dup my new car, a Citroen ZX 16v, and it was great. But on a trip i stopped for fuel and about 5 minutes later the car started misfiring, worse and worse, and eventually ground to a halt on the M45. Turns out i had ended up with half a tank of water, not half a tank of petrol, as the petrol station i had just visited had been recently flooded by heavy rain, and unknown to them, about 5,000 gallons of water had flooded into the underground unlead storage tank! Car was recovered to main dealer, and required around £500 worth of attention including replacment of the fuel pump and the metal fuel lines that had rusted due to the water in them.
Due to this, it's quite clear that absolutely nobody should buy a Petrol powered car, as clearly the filling network is simply not up to the task..........
Due to this, it's quite clear that absolutely nobody should buy a Petrol powered car, as clearly the filling network is simply not up to the task..........
danp said:
Hmm I’m intrigued to know what brand new car has Chademo (apart from the Leaf - can’t see why you’d keep that a secret!)
My guess is that it was a Japanese spec, Chademo equipped 63kWh Nissan Ariya to be used by the road testers. (Euro/ US will be CCS). Go on, spill the beans!
I’m not defending Ecotricity but can see why it might not work, lots of cars have issues on their chargers even when they’re meant to be fine!
165 miles on the GOM does seem low, guess it’s fairly cold and they’re probably not very efficient.
Have a read of this, a few pointers for EV newbies, hopefully next time you’ll be fine.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Lexus U300e is both £50k and Chademo.My guess is that it was a Japanese spec, Chademo equipped 63kWh Nissan Ariya to be used by the road testers. (Euro/ US will be CCS). Go on, spill the beans!
I’m not defending Ecotricity but can see why it might not work, lots of cars have issues on their chargers even when they’re meant to be fine!
165 miles on the GOM does seem low, guess it’s fairly cold and they’re probably not very efficient.
Have a read of this, a few pointers for EV newbies, hopefully next time you’ll be fine.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
"ghost charging" is a new one on me. The rest is just typical failure to plan.
Did some posts get deleted here? First time I read this thread it seemed to be full of people criticising the OP.
It seems he did plan, and his reasonable expectation wasn't met.
I am not in the market for an EV at the moment, but I don't think they are 'there yet' for my usage case.
I would look at one, and in fact be quite keen on one, for a car used for local journeys.
When I last swapped cars, I did a mental dry run, to see if an EV would have worked for me. Most of the time yes, but some of the time no. That therefore meant that at present it wasn't a good choice for myself. I chose a petrol as it suits my usage at present.
I hope that next time around the EVs and charging network has got to a state where it works for me.
It seems he did plan, and his reasonable expectation wasn't met.
I am not in the market for an EV at the moment, but I don't think they are 'there yet' for my usage case.
I would look at one, and in fact be quite keen on one, for a car used for local journeys.
When I last swapped cars, I did a mental dry run, to see if an EV would have worked for me. Most of the time yes, but some of the time no. That therefore meant that at present it wasn't a good choice for myself. I chose a petrol as it suits my usage at present.
I hope that next time around the EVs and charging network has got to a state where it works for me.
For this reason, I went with a Tesla.
I'm not a fanbois, quite the opposite, but, the Supercharger network is the key.
I had looked at other EV's, Polestar up to Taycan, but the potential to encounter something similar to the OP was what swung it. A couple of mates, one with an iPace and the other an EQC have found several times that planned stops are thwarted by U/S charge points or down to one charge point and queue of EV's...
Lordbenny said:
Driving from Sussex to Lincolnshire in a brand new.......car! (It’s a nice one but I can’t divulge which...sorry) The route was 145 miles and after a full charge I had 165 miles on the cars range display. I had my EV station fill up planned at around 135 miles so thought that would be fine based on a 30 contingency.
In wind/rain/cold plan for worst case situation with a view that you might only get 50% of the max summer range. Also ensure you have a plan A/B/C/D incase chargers at A/B/C are all not working/blocked/inaccessible. Work your timings backwards, and that way if you arrive at the charging stop with range to spare and plan A charger is working you will be fine and relaxed. You will never look silly getting to a work meeting early, getting there late on the otherhand is not great, and clients really aren't going to care why, all they know is you are late. This is why I hardly ever use our EV for time sensitive work trips - its not worth the hassle, thank god for Zoom/Teams.
Chris32345 said:
This is why electric chargerse shoud be all using one standard on connector and charging software
But that won't happen as it's not in manufacturers interests
It's absolutely in an OEM's interests to standardise charging interfaces, which is why things are a lot better than they were 10 years ago.But that won't happen as it's not in manufacturers interests
The main challenge is that as first-mover in the "affordable" higher volume EV market, Nissan backed CHAdeMO as their standard - which became widespread in Japan (and around Sunderland in the UK!). As the other OEMs started to plan and bring their products to the market, the more open CCS standard was the one they all backed. Unfortunately that means outside of the Japanese OEMs (and Renault-Nissan Alliance), no-one really supported CHAdeMO - but equally there was reluctance to legislate it out of existence, as it'd be punitive to Nissan especially and early-adopter countries like Japan.
The simple solution is that the public charging infrastructure just supports both CHAdeMO and CCS interfaces, much like at fuel stations they manage with separate pumps for petrol and diesel...
danp said:
Well it's essentially CCS now, pretty much all new stuff in Europe is (apart from the Lexus!)
and octopus are developing a common tariff that includes all the different providers under one tap and go payment option.or buy a tesla like everyone else, lol.... (someone had to say it!)
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