Long trip advice for new EV driver

[FlyingPanda]

Nomme de Plum said:

FlyingPanda said:

It seems that many here don’t realise how (relatively) common this is. I often have to travel 250 - 300 miles each way for a client visit. Leave home at 5:30am, arrive at client’s for a 10am meeting. Meet for a couple of hours, take them to lunch, back in the car at (say) 2:30pm and back home by 7pm. It’s not a particularly unusual day (I will do this three or four times a month), and from the sound of it many here will do it more often.

It must be a complete pain. Does it really need to be face to face. Could you not do a video meeting.

Having to travel so much cannot do anything for UK productivity.

As I say, it’s only 3 or 4 times per month. I work from home for the other 20+ days and will usually do 7 or 8 Zoom meetings per week, so it’s it’s really not a big deal and actually makes a refreshing change!

[Alickadoo]

raspy said:

COST.

"Quick, easy and accessible, contactless payment suits many people.

The government has mandated that contactless payment be available on all new rapid chargers that are installed – but this is not yet the case.

It’s worth noting that contactless payment does tend to be the most expensive form of payment, partly due to cost of installation.

What’s more, while charge point operators are moving to make payment more accessible – with most new devices sporting contactless terminals – this form of payment is typically only available on rapid and ultra-rapid devices.

This is likely to remain the case given that the cost of installing the unit is high.

Moreover, many existing slow and fast chargers across the UK do not have contactless capability and are unlikely to receive an upgrade for some time."

Source: https://www.zap-map.com/how-to-pay-public-ev-charg...

If it is a question of COST, then how do Tesco, Sainsbury, Esso, Shell etc manage to keep the COST down so that, If I want I can buy a couple of ponds worth of fuel?

[vikingaero]

benny.c said:

Does anyone tow with an EV and if so how do you get on with public charging? Most public sites seem to be typical car parking spaces which is no good if you’ve got a trailer, boat etc. Worse case I guess you’d have to unhitch and leave it somewhere whist charging. We’ve got a relatively small camping trailer which is no problem in a petrol station but it’s a pain to park unless you’re in a dedicated long space or take up two.

If it's quiet park across a couple of chargers.

If it's busy, park in the caravan/trailer lanes and decouple. Then you need to be able to see the trailer because of theft risk.

It's it's really busy at peak times, it's going to be grim. You might be able to reverse the trailer into a standard parking space and decouple, but that means you might miss the free charging bay.

[Nomme de Plum]

vikingaero said:

If it's quiet park across a couple of chargers.

If it's busy, park in the caravan/trailer lanes and decouple. Then you need to be able to see the trailer because of theft risk.

It's it's really busy at peak times, it's going to be grim. You might be able to reverse the trailer into a standard parking space and decouple, but that means you might miss the free charging bay.

It doesn't take long to put on a wheel clamp and I believe many trailer hitches are lockable now. Alternatively there are locks for these as well. I suppose an air tag or similar would allow the trailer to be tracked.

[DonkeyApple]

Nomme de Plum said:

It must be a complete pain. Does it really need to be face to face. Could you not do a video meeting.

Having to travel so much cannot do anything for UK productivity.

It's the sort of activity that companies have been phasing out for the last 40 years. The video stuff really doesn't work for some business but where that is the case employers are shrinking the geographical areas of the employees something that has been boosted by WFH as there are now more viable workers dispersed around the country and willing to work for half as much.

In short, the number of roles that need one person to cover half the country is just going to keep reducing.

[JD]

SWoll said:

FlyingPanda said:

Nomme de Plum said:

Do you consider spending 6-8 hours driving a useful way to spend your time?

Can you actually function at 100% when you get to your destination?

It seems that many here don’t realise how (relatively) common this is. I often have to travel 250 - 300 miles each way for a client visit. Leave home at 5:30am, arrive at client’s for a 10am meeting. Meet for a couple of hours, take them to lunch, back in the car at (say) 2:30pm and back home by 7pm. It’s not a particularly unusual day (I will do this three or four times a month), and from the sound of it many here will do it more often.

It isn't in an way common. You only have to look at the mileages covered by 3-4 year old used cars to appreciate that 30k+ miles per year is incredibly rare.

The fact it is usual for you, people in your industry and a few interested posters on this thread doesn't change that fact. 5-600 miles in a day isn't something the vast majority will do once per year, let alone once per week.

It seems absurd to me!

My employment is literally as a travelling salesman, and I don't even cover 30k a year!

Also people are in fantasy land suggesting they can (regularly) do a 300 mile journey in 4 1/2 hours in the UK.

[FlyingPanda]

JD said:

It seems absurd to me!

My employment is literally as a travelling salesman, and I don't even cover 30k a year!

Also people are in fantasy land suggesting they can (regularly) do a 300 mile journey in 4 1/2 hours in the UK.

Well, speaking as someone who's done it 5 times out of the last 6 (the other one was when I was in a Tesla and had to stop for longer) I don't think that would count as fantasy land. Bear in mind also that I only do it 3 or 4 times a month and it's never a Monday or Friday, and I set off at 5:30am. I really don't think it's that big a deal, although a lot of people seem to think it's unheard of!

[benny.c]

vikingaero said:

If it's quiet park across a couple of chargers.

If it's busy, park in the caravan/trailer lanes and decouple. Then you need to be able to see the trailer because of theft risk.

It's it's really busy at peak times, it's going to be grim. You might be able to reverse the trailer into a standard parking space and decouple, but that means you might miss the free charging bay.

I don’t do reversing! Not with the camping trailer anyway - It’s pretty tricky with it being so short. Security definitely an issue if left alone, if not the whole trailer itself but the gear in it, bikes on the top etc.

[cptsideways]

JD said:

It seems absurd to me!

My employment is literally as a travelling salesman, and I don't even cover 30k a year!

Also people are in fantasy land suggesting they can (regularly) do a 300 mile journey in 4 1/2 hours in the UK.

You've obviously not been to Scotland! That's a fairly normal trip to Edinburgh airport as an example. It's 2 hours away with an early start, cruise on most of the way and almost all A roads and virtually no traffic.

[oop north]

cptsideways said:

You've obviously not been to Scotland! That's a fairly normal trip to Edinburgh airport as an example. It's 2 hours away with an early start, cruise on most of the way and almost all A roads and virtually no traffic.

We live in Preston and heading north the roads are massively quieter than if we head south or east - totally different kind of journey

[DonkeyApple]

oop north said:

cptsideways said:

You've obviously not been to Scotland! That's a fairly normal trip to Edinburgh airport as an example. It's 2 hours away with an early start, cruise on most of the way and almost all A roads and virtually no traffic.

We live in Preston and heading north the roads are massively quieter than if we head south or east - totally different kind of journey

We need to get you fine gents levelled down with some massive congestion, a spot of house price doubling and a few million middle aged blokes in light drag. That'll see you right.

[JD]

cptsideways said:

JD said:

It seems absurd to me!

My employment is literally as a travelling salesman, and I don't even cover 30k a year!

Also people are in fantasy land suggesting they can (regularly) do a 300 mile journey in 4 1/2 hours in the UK.

You've obviously not been to Scotland! That's a fairly normal trip to Edinburgh airport as an example. It's 2 hours away with an early start, cruise on most of the way and almost all A roads and virtually no traffic.

You are driving 300 miles to Edinburgh airpot in 2 hours?

[oop north]

Deleted phantom post!

Edited by oop north on Saturday 1st April 10:50

[MrB.]

As an EV journalist, I regularly drive EVs up to Scotland from where I live in Surrey to visit my mum. Have done it 3 times since December ‘22. I try to leave home with a full charge, but didn’t the most recent time, so half an hour at Beaconsfield’s Ionity chargers took the i7 I was in to nearly 90%. Next stop, 150kW BP Pulse at Stafford north. Up to 80% in less than 30 mins. Next stop was 25 minutes to get up to over 90% at Porsche Centre South Lakes (Shell Recharge RFID). Do it every time.

Did the same in an I-Pace and a BMW iX M60. The whole trip is around 350 miles from my house to my mums. Did it in 6hrs 20mins in the iX, only around 10 mins longer than it takes me in an ICE car. Once you get into it, and know your car, it’s not stressful.

Have also done it with just one stop in the older Kia eNiro, and two in a Mustang Mach E. But three is less stressful!

[ZiggyNiva]

Thought I would report back on my trip from Leeds to Bude via the Cotswolds. On the way down stopped at Leicester and charged without issue. Next stop was Exeter, where the first charger didn't work (I didn't realise immediately, so have learned to always check my app). The second charger only gave me 50 miles per hour charge, so moved to a 3rd charger to get a decent 400mph charge. Next stop was Lifton Charger which is near a nice Hotel / café where I had no issues. nipped here a second time to charge a few days later. The return journey stopped at a very busy Exeter. No issues with charging, but by the time i left there were a couple of cars waiting to charge. However there were significantly more non tesla's waiting to charge. Next stop was at Leigh Delamere. This was a pain as I hadn't realised it was on the westbound carriage way with about 8 miles to switch back on to the east bound.

Final stop was Bicester for a free charge before heading home.

I could have charged on non Tesla chargers at points, but I currently have free supercharger miles so refuse to pay to charge. Other then 1 trip to Lifton I never stayed anywhere longer then I would have anyway to take a pee or grab a coffee. Exeter on the way down was frustrating, but both chargers I had issues with and reported appeared to be fixed on my return journey 5 days later. No idea if they were fixed the next day as people appear to suggest they are. Again this is all a learning curve and something I know my parents / grandparents went through 40/50 years ago where you could only fill up with Fuel on certain sides of the motorway etc. Next big one will be Leeds to Italy. I'll report back.

[NS66]

MrB. said:

As an EV journalist, I regularly drive EVs up to Scotland from where I live in Surrey to visit my mum. Have done it 3 times since December ‘22. I try to leave home with a full charge, but didn’t the most recent time, so half an hour at Beaconsfield’s Ionity chargers took the i7 I was in to nearly 90%. Next stop, 150kW BP Pulse at Stafford north. Up to 80% in less than 30 mins. Next stop was 25 minutes to get up to over 90% at Porsche Centre South Lakes (Shell Recharge RFID). Do it every time.

Did the same in an I-Pace and a BMW iX M60. The whole trip is around 350 miles from my house to my mums. Did it in 6hrs 20mins in the iX, only around 10 mins longer than it takes me in an ICE car. Once you get into it, and know your car, it’s not stressful.

Have also done it with just one stop in the older Kia eNiro, and two in a Mustang Mach E. But three is less stressful!

Thats impressive 3 stops and only 10 mins more than in an ICE car - I guess thats stopping for a similar amount of time in the ICE - just a comfort break would make the ICE car quicker perhaps traffic conditions dependent?

[ashenfie]

NS66 said:

MrB. said:

As an EV journalist, I regularly drive EVs up to Scotland from where I live in Surrey to visit my mum. Have done it 3 times since December ‘22. I try to leave home with a full charge, but didn’t the most recent time, so half an hour at Beaconsfield’s Ionity chargers took the i7 I was in to nearly 90%. Next stop, 150kW BP Pulse at Stafford north. Up to 80% in less than 30 mins. Next stop was 25 minutes to get up to over 90% at Porsche Centre South Lakes (Shell Recharge RFID). Do it every time.

Did the same in an I-Pace and a BMW iX M60. The whole trip is around 350 miles from my house to my mums. Did it in 6hrs 20mins in the iX, only around 10 mins longer than it takes me in an ICE car. Once you get into it, and know your car, it’s not stressful.

Have also done it with just one stop in the older Kia eNiro, and two in a Mustang Mach E. But three is less stressful!

Thats impressive 3 stops and only 10 mins more than in an ICE car - I guess thats stopping for a similar amount of time in the ICE - just a comfort break would make the ICE car quicker perhaps traffic conditions dependent?

Driven up many times to Scotland often in a 320d. The only stop would be a 20min wee stop and if lucky swap drivers. So it's more like an 1hour slower than ice. So from what the OP is say that the average speed was around 70mph (6h20m-1h30 around 5 hours = 70mph). In an ice that would approx be 5h20mins, but typical you need to be very lucky and avoid all traffic to manage that.

[Alickadoo]

ashenfie said:

Driven up many times to Scotland often in a 320d. The only stop would be a 20min wee stop and if lucky swap drivers. So it's more like an 1hour slower than ice. So from what the OP is say that the average speed was around 70mph (6h20m-1h30 around 5 hours = 70mph). In an ice that would approx be 5h20mins, but typical you need to be very lucky and avoid all traffic to manage that.

I thought I was paying attention, but-

What is the point that you are making?

[Puzzles]

If it helps. I’ve driven from the south coast to Glasgow in my Tesla in the same time as an ICE car, it was well over 400 miles and took 7 hours which included around a 20min break.

Tbh I’d have preferred more frequent stops but we had to keep going.

[Maracus]

Puzzles said:

If it helps. I’ve driven from the south coast to Glasgow in my Tesla in the same time as an ICE car, it was well over 400 miles and took 7 hours which included around a 20min break.

Tbh I’d have preferred more frequent stops but we had to keep going.

We travel from the south to Northumberland numerous times a year.

Whether ICE or EV it takes the same time as we always stop for 15-20 minutes in either.