Skoda Superb PHEV, where can I charge?

[Jordie Barretts sock]

Quick question for a complete novice in these things. I have a Superb PHEV for a few weeks. It comes with a home plug - yep, understand that. But can I use charging stations?

Ionity seem to have a totally different plug. The Skoda has what looks a bit like a towing socket plug with a flat on one side. Ionity is totally different, so I guess I can't use those.

[raspy]

it can't use rapid charging places like Ionity. Stick with the regular slow chargers like Podpoint at Tesco etc if you want to charge away from home. You have a Type 2 socket, not a CCS.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

Mode 3 I think. Found a 'destruction' book in the boot.

[JD]

There is no point charging it out and about unless it is free, it would be cheaper just to use more petrol.

[raspy]

JD said:

There is no point charging it out and about unless it is free, it would be cheaper just to use more petrol.

What if charging gets you a parking space closer to the entrance so you save having to walk an extra 50m? Isn't that worth paying for?

[somouk]

It will use a type 2 plug designed for AC charging only on the car.

The larger more powerful charging stations will have DC connections which are bigger with extra sockets on.

You can in theory use a type 2 cable to charge on most 7Kw charge posts but it sounds like they've not provided that cable for you.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

JD said:

There is no point charging it out and about unless it is free, it would be cheaper just to use more petrol.

Yes. Agreed. I've got it plugged in at home now, say 5h35m to full charge. I'll see how it goes.

[blank]

The break even between using a public charger and using petrol was about 50p/kWh last time I checked, so lots of public chargers are not worth it purely on that basis.

You do sometimes get free or reduced parking while charging though which would offset the cost.

[JD]

raspy said:

What if charging gets you a parking space closer to the entrance so you save having to walk an extra 50m? Isn't that worth paying for?

Pay money to get fatter, great logic!

Jordie Barretts sock said:

Yes. Agreed. I've got it plugged in at home now, say 5h35m to full charge. I'll see how it goes.

Unless your electricity costs you very little (unlikely) it's probably not even worth plugging in at home.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

I have worked it out, because I had nothing else to do for a minute. Cost per mile on petrol is about 15p. Cost per mile on (home) electric is 10p. But it does only have a 35 mile range. And lugging a Superb up any sort of hill really hits the range!
So yeah, not overly excited as I was when I got it this morning. It's an OK car, but very boring.

[JD]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

I have worked it out, because I had nothing else to do for a minute. Cost per mile on petrol is about 15p. Cost per mile on (home) electric is 10p. But it does only have a 35 mile range. And lugging a Superb up any sort of hill really hits the range!
So yeah, not overly excited as I was when I got it this morning. It's an OK car, but very boring.

Sorry I’m not being rude, I have the same car with a different badge.

You will not get remotely close to 35 miles In this weather, you should manage 20-25, meaning it’s cheaper on petrol unless you can charge it on a cheap overnight tariff

[blank]

It depends on your journeys.

I have a Leon so same drivetrain.

I get worst case 2 miles per kWh, so 11p/mile on my (far from spectacular) 22p per unit night rate.

Break even MPG on that would be about 60mpg which is never going to happen on my 10 mile commute (30-35mpg probably more realistic) or my local weekend running around (20-25mpg more realistic). The car actually does 2-3 miles per kWh over these journeys depending on temperature and how heavy footed I am.


If you're jumping straight on the motorways and doing long journeys then a PHEV is probably the wrong choice (unless purely to save BiK tax) but you could at least get the first 20 miles or so on electric.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

I do agree. Although earlier I had an electric range on 21 miles and had to do a 16 mile round trip. After the first leg of 8 miles I still had 15 miles range. On the way back, the last bit is about three miles uphill, at the bottom the range was 8 miles. I did the last 100 metres on internal combustion engine.

So yeah, I'm glad I only have the car for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow I shall set off with a fully charged (35 miles!!) Battery but use it in hybrid mode and see what happens.

Also, quick question, does it default to B1-6 depending on how fast you go? I'm not keen on the braking effect when you lift off the throttle. Or am I inadvertently setting up the braking effect?

[Malcolm E Boo]

I have a Passat GTE so essentially the same and it defaults to D1-D6. If you pull the gear lever back again when in Drive it goes to B mode

[Jordie Barretts sock]

Ahh, thank you! I'll give that a go today.

[xx99xx]

I view a PHEV as petrol car with a battery to give it better mpg. I don't view it as a car with a tiny battery and a petrol engine as back up for when the battery is empty.

But back on topic, I agree with others that the pricing of public charging is not suitable for PHEVs. Neither is it that convenient as it can still take 3 hours to fully charge, which only gives you 25 miles of battery.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

I don't think anyone disputes that. I'm sure by this time next week I won't be charging it anywhere!

But as my first experience of a plug in car, its a bit of a novelty.

[Ardennes92]

I’ve found some Aldi are free and some 25p + 10% admin; Tesco are 15 min free and 28p for longer; Coop all free? All these are cheaper than a capped home tariff and I have seen I5 and TM3’s using them for whatever reason

[Jimbo.]

xx99xx said:

I view a PHEV as petrol car with a battery to give it better mpg. I don't view it as a car with a tiny battery and a petrol engine as back up for when the battery is empty.

But back on topic, I agree with others that the pricing of public charging is not suitable for PHEVs. Neither is it that convenient as it can still take 3 hours to fully charge, which only gives you 25 miles of battery.

I view PHEVs - indeed, my PHEV - in a similar light. I’ve no home charging, so any electrons will have to come from the office, Tescos, random on-street points etc. I run mine in HEV mode, which uses the battery for low speed stuff, town work, manoeuvring and any downhills/coasting: all the stuff where the ICE is woefully inefficient. Anything other than that (30-40mph+, hills, motorways etc) and it’s the ICE (which as you are probably already aware, also “tops up” the battery a couple of % here and there). Doing that, with just the odd charge from Tescos (just topping up, say 40 to 80%) whilst I do my shopping or on-street whilst at my girlfriends, and I’m averaging 58-65mpg. Even with the price of public chargers (I’ve not yet had a chance to use the office charger: I’ll let those with EVs have first dibs!), I think it’s working out cheaper than my previous 1.6 diesel when you look at the price of petrol (vs. diesel) and the efficiency benefits of the PHEV drivetrain. Not bad for a 2 tonne, 4WD SUV.

[JD]

Jimbo. said:

I view PHEVs - indeed, my PHEV - in a similar light. I’ve no home charging, so any electrons will have to come from the office, Tescos, random on-street points etc. I run mine in HEV mode, which uses the battery for low speed stuff, town work, manoeuvring and any downhills/coasting: all the stuff where the ICE is woefully inefficient. Anything other than that (30-40mph+, hills, motorways etc) and it’s the ICE (which as you are probably already aware, also “tops up” the battery a couple of % here and there). Doing that, with just the odd charge from Tescos (just topping up, say 40 to 80%) whilst I do my shopping or on-street whilst at my girlfriends, and I’m averaging 58-65mpg. Even with the price of public chargers (I’ve not yet had a chance to use the office charger: I’ll let those with EVs have first dibs!), I think it’s working out cheaper than my previous 1.6 diesel when you look at the price of petrol (vs. diesel) and the efficiency benefits of the PHEV drivetrain. Not bad for a 2 tonne, 4WD SUV.

Unless you are getting public charging for less than 40p/kWh, then it’s simply not worth plugging it in from a cost point of view.