EV 570 Mile Day-trip
Discussion
Yesterday I had to drive to Exeter and back to show my daughter the university (under new rules you are allowed to leave your local area but not stay overnight).
570 miles is a long way.
We have a Tesla Model S Performance and some other cars; I bought my Tesla at the end of 2019 with free electricity for life so obviously was keen on the cost saving over taking a V12 petrol car and given it is mainly a motorway/dual carriage way schlep it didn't matter.
My wife was dubious about extended charge waiting times so I foolishly promised that going EV would not have any impact on wait times....
What actually happened:
Highlights:
568.1 miles driven
340 Wh/Mile (This is 78.55% efficiency against Tesla's claimed consumption, it was an 18 deg C day and I had Aircon on)
Theoretical max range at this usage 294 miles
10 hours 14 minutes driving time. Left at 7am got back at 9pm, spent 2-3 hours looking round Exeter.
Details:
100% Battery
- Charged overnight, so car was full when we left at 7am
- Drove for 1h25m, 81 miles, consumed 31%, average speed 57mph
69% Battery
- Charged for 12 minutes, added 10%, went to the loo, bought coffee.
79% Battery
- Drove for 1h28m, 96 miles, consumed 36%, average speed 67 mph
43% Battery
- Charged for 6 minutes, added 11%, went to the loo.
54% Battery
- Drove for 1h57m, 96 miles, consumed 35%, average speed 49mph
19% Battery
- Drove around the Uni, 6 miles stop start parking a lot, consumed 4%, average speed 1mph
15% Battery
- Parked on a Pod Point 22kwh charger for 47 minutes, added only 8%.
- Got back to car, Pod Point charger wouldn't release my cable. Waited on phone for 15 minutes with them until it reset.
23% Battery
- Drove to Tesla Supercharger, 7 miles, consumed 1%, average speed 30 mph
22% Battery
- Charged for 26 minutes, added 48%, had coffee and used loo but effectively 11 minutes EV extra time
70% Battery: Now on homeward journey
- Drove to next supercharger, was going to stop at Fleet North but the map showed it only had 1 free supercharger so stopped at Norton Park which showed 2/2 free. 2h11m, 127 miles, consumed 43 %, average speed 59 mph
27% Battery
- Charged for 8 minutes, added 15%. All facilities closed. 8 minutes spent there solely for power
- Left when another car turned up and the charge rate dropped from 110 to 45 and because wife/daughter were bored and no loos open
41% Battery
- Drove to Fleet which now showed 6 empty chargers, 22min, 23 miles, consumed 8%, average speed 63mph
33% Battery
- Charged for 29 minutes, added 47%, had coffee etc, 14 minutes EV waiting time given 15 minutes was loo/coffee
80% Battery
- Drove for 2h5m, 132 miles, consumed 44%, average speed 63mph
36% Battery and back home.
So in all I reckon we had 48 minutes of time added due to using EV rather than petrol, of which 15 minutes was caused by a pod point technical issue and waiting on hold for it to get fixed.
But my total costs for that journey were £3.50 for parking in Exeter plus the original full charge at home (100 x 10p = £10).
I never had range anxiety, but was quite irritated by the Pod Point claimed 22kwh charge rate which was actually 6. If I had a Porsche Taycan and therefore that was my only source of juice then we would not have been able to do the trip in a day. But I would have been in a Porsche which would have been nicer.
Was this a normal journey day? No, not many people do 500 miles+ in a day.
Did I have to think a little more as I was driving an EV? Yes.
Was it too painful? No, it added less than an hour but aside from standing in a car park on hold with pod point, the other time spent charging we used to eat lunch, go to the loo or get coffee or just relax.
Other painful bits: If you want to charge fast on a Tesla Supercharger then you want to be on a V3 or on a pair alone. When alone on V2 I was getting 120+ charge rates, as soon as it was shared that was down to 60. If you want to stop for 20 minutes to top up then that makes quite a difference to the range you get.
If you were doing half that journey and parking overnight on a charger in between it would not even be a topic. It was doing the whole round trip in a day which made it more complicated.
But it did work and actually the seats in the Tesla aren't too bad as I was not too tired by the end.
Ignore the cost figure below Tesalfi calculates that somehow but it isn't real.
570 miles is a long way.
We have a Tesla Model S Performance and some other cars; I bought my Tesla at the end of 2019 with free electricity for life so obviously was keen on the cost saving over taking a V12 petrol car and given it is mainly a motorway/dual carriage way schlep it didn't matter.
My wife was dubious about extended charge waiting times so I foolishly promised that going EV would not have any impact on wait times....
What actually happened:
Highlights:
568.1 miles driven
340 Wh/Mile (This is 78.55% efficiency against Tesla's claimed consumption, it was an 18 deg C day and I had Aircon on)
Theoretical max range at this usage 294 miles
10 hours 14 minutes driving time. Left at 7am got back at 9pm, spent 2-3 hours looking round Exeter.
Details:
100% Battery
- Charged overnight, so car was full when we left at 7am
- Drove for 1h25m, 81 miles, consumed 31%, average speed 57mph
69% Battery
- Charged for 12 minutes, added 10%, went to the loo, bought coffee.
79% Battery
- Drove for 1h28m, 96 miles, consumed 36%, average speed 67 mph
43% Battery
- Charged for 6 minutes, added 11%, went to the loo.
54% Battery
- Drove for 1h57m, 96 miles, consumed 35%, average speed 49mph
19% Battery
- Drove around the Uni, 6 miles stop start parking a lot, consumed 4%, average speed 1mph
15% Battery
- Parked on a Pod Point 22kwh charger for 47 minutes, added only 8%.
- Got back to car, Pod Point charger wouldn't release my cable. Waited on phone for 15 minutes with them until it reset.
23% Battery
- Drove to Tesla Supercharger, 7 miles, consumed 1%, average speed 30 mph
22% Battery
- Charged for 26 minutes, added 48%, had coffee and used loo but effectively 11 minutes EV extra time
70% Battery: Now on homeward journey
- Drove to next supercharger, was going to stop at Fleet North but the map showed it only had 1 free supercharger so stopped at Norton Park which showed 2/2 free. 2h11m, 127 miles, consumed 43 %, average speed 59 mph
27% Battery
- Charged for 8 minutes, added 15%. All facilities closed. 8 minutes spent there solely for power
- Left when another car turned up and the charge rate dropped from 110 to 45 and because wife/daughter were bored and no loos open
41% Battery
- Drove to Fleet which now showed 6 empty chargers, 22min, 23 miles, consumed 8%, average speed 63mph
33% Battery
- Charged for 29 minutes, added 47%, had coffee etc, 14 minutes EV waiting time given 15 minutes was loo/coffee
80% Battery
- Drove for 2h5m, 132 miles, consumed 44%, average speed 63mph
36% Battery and back home.
So in all I reckon we had 48 minutes of time added due to using EV rather than petrol, of which 15 minutes was caused by a pod point technical issue and waiting on hold for it to get fixed.
But my total costs for that journey were £3.50 for parking in Exeter plus the original full charge at home (100 x 10p = £10).
I never had range anxiety, but was quite irritated by the Pod Point claimed 22kwh charge rate which was actually 6. If I had a Porsche Taycan and therefore that was my only source of juice then we would not have been able to do the trip in a day. But I would have been in a Porsche which would have been nicer.
Was this a normal journey day? No, not many people do 500 miles+ in a day.
Did I have to think a little more as I was driving an EV? Yes.
Was it too painful? No, it added less than an hour but aside from standing in a car park on hold with pod point, the other time spent charging we used to eat lunch, go to the loo or get coffee or just relax.
Other painful bits: If you want to charge fast on a Tesla Supercharger then you want to be on a V3 or on a pair alone. When alone on V2 I was getting 120+ charge rates, as soon as it was shared that was down to 60. If you want to stop for 20 minutes to top up then that makes quite a difference to the range you get.
If you were doing half that journey and parking overnight on a charger in between it would not even be a topic. It was doing the whole round trip in a day which made it more complicated.
But it did work and actually the seats in the Tesla aren't too bad as I was not too tired by the end.
Ignore the cost figure below Tesalfi calculates that somehow but it isn't real.
^
that is a long Journey to complete in a day - most i think i have ever done was smashing home through France in an Lexus IS300H in a day which would have been similar but I was totally knackered by the end. No way we would have stopped for less time for Fuel, lunch and loo stops in an ICE car.
Good to know that this is very doable in a Model 3 or similar
that is a long Journey to complete in a day - most i think i have ever done was smashing home through France in an Lexus IS300H in a day which would have been similar but I was totally knackered by the end. No way we would have stopped for less time for Fuel, lunch and loo stops in an ICE car.
Good to know that this is very doable in a Model 3 or similar
Edited by Itsallicanafford on Wednesday 31st March 12:56
Sounds like the Podpoint/destination was pretty much a waste of time versus just spending a few minutes longer at the Superchargers?
I am quite looking forwards to road trips this summer, the longest drive I've been on in the last 6 months was a trip to the Birmingham service centre to get stuff fixed.
I am quite looking forwards to road trips this summer, the longest drive I've been on in the last 6 months was a trip to the Birmingham service centre to get stuff fixed.
I used to do ~1000km one ways to the Alps more than once/year.
I haven't since I got the Model S but your experience seems similar to my estimates.
From everything I've heard, is to avoid the non-tesla chargers if you can.
But considering the journey you're taking, that extra bit of stopping wouldn't bother me. Especially if I had free supercharging
.
I haven't since I got the Model S but your experience seems similar to my estimates.
From everything I've heard, is to avoid the non-tesla chargers if you can.
But considering the journey you're taking, that extra bit of stopping wouldn't bother me. Especially if I had free supercharging
.gangzoom said:
Sounds like the Podpoint/destination was pretty much a waste of time versus just spending a few minutes longer at the Superchargers?
I am quite looking forwards to road trips this summer, the longest drive I've been on in the last 6 months was a trip to the Birmingham service centre to get stuff fixed.
Yes the pod point was a total waste, my original idea was to arrive in Exeter at 20%-ish and park for 3 hours at 22, giving me 66% extra juice which would be enough to get back to Fleet with 20% to spare. Then we could park once and wander around. In real life given the bad charger we ended up driving around and parking by the side of the road on the campus hoping for no ticket (thanks for being nice Exeter-uni security).I am quite looking forwards to road trips this summer, the longest drive I've been on in the last 6 months was a trip to the Birmingham service centre to get stuff fixed.
I am not that happy with the Tesla's build quality and was considering ordering a Taycan turbo. But I have to say for now the lack of availability of non-Tesla chargers is such that I will stick with it. The super-charger network is fantastic.
For example Fleet North Services. 8 Tesla chargers and 4 more coming so 12 total. There are 4 cables to cover every single other make of car.
In Exeter there are a bunch of pod-point chargers (I think around 8 spread around) all of which are rated 7 - 22kw but the 22kw one I was on was running at 6 kw. There is a Tesla Supercharger with I think 8 wires 4 miles outside the centre running at 150kw.
We really need to get on with building more chargers rapido.
ZesPak said:
I used to do ~1000km one ways to the Alps more than once/year.
I haven't since I got the Model S but your experience seems similar to my estimates.
From everything I've heard, is to avoid the non-tesla chargers if you can.
But considering the journey you're taking, that extra bit of stopping wouldn't bother me. Especially if I had free supercharging.
I went to Zurich and back last summer, was planning to take the Tesla since the supercharger network is great on that route down to Chalons-en-Champagne and then on to Zurich. But the rear-motor died the morning before we were leaving so I took the petrol car instead. I haven't since I got the Model S but your experience seems similar to my estimates.
From everything I've heard, is to avoid the non-tesla chargers if you can.
But considering the journey you're taking, that extra bit of stopping wouldn't bother me. Especially if I had free supercharging
.A more fun drive but turned FREE into £500 of petrol and a lot of pollution.
Does your Tesla actually charge at 22kW? I thought that was a pricey option in the early days and dropped later on.
Otherwise all seems pretty straightforward. I find travelling with family they want to stop more than the car does so often easier to keep topping up rather than aim for longer charges from low.
Otherwise all seems pretty straightforward. I find travelling with family they want to stop more than the car does so often easier to keep topping up rather than aim for longer charges from low.
Edited by sjg on Wednesday 31st March 14:56
sjg said:
Does your Tesla actually charge at 22kW? I thought that was a pricey option in the early days and dropped later on.
The Tesla's own convertor is only 11kW iirc. There was indeed an option to have 2 at one point.
So on AC, max charge will be 11kW. This is true for most EV's btw.
I would try to avoid AC chargers at all costs when on the way, waaay too slow.
Edited by ZesPak on Wednesday 31st March 15:21
ZesPak said:
sjg said:
Does your Tesla actually charge at 22kW? I thought that was a pricey option in the early days and dropped later on.
The Tesla's own convertor is only 11kW iirc. There was indeed an option to have 2 at one point.
So on AC, max charge will be 11kW. This is true for most EV's btw.
I would try to avoid AC chargers at all costs when on the way, waaay too slow.
Edited by ZesPak on Wednesday 31st March 15:21
Worth checking your charge cable too - the 6kw seen suggests it’s only doing single phase, which is possible if that’s what your cable supports. If you look at the connector with the flat side facing up, the bottom two pins should be populated.
If they’re empty like this then that’s all you’d get on a 22kw post.
If they’re empty like this then that’s all you’d get on a 22kw post.
ReformedPistonhead said:
Yesterday I had to drive to Exeter and back...
Whereabout do you live? I'd be interested to see which route/charging stops https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ would recommend.Like you, I would be very interested in the Taycan Turbo S if it wasn't for the horrendous non-Tesla charging network.
In a few weeks I'm going to be undertaking a journey up to The Highlands in Scotland of 456 miles (900+ mile round journey).
In the scenario of wanting to arrive with minimum 50% battery, the journey in my Tesla Model S Performance (Raven):
8h48m total, with 2 Supercharger stops, total charging time 57 minutes. Cost: £0
Journey in Porsche Taycan Turbo S:
9h34m total (if there are no queues/issues at the chargers), with 3 charging stops, total charging time 1h41m. Cost: approx £105
Andy M said:
ReformedPistonhead said:
Yesterday I had to drive to Exeter and back...
Whereabout do you live? I'd be interested to see which route/charging stops https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ would recommend.Like you, I would be very interested in the Taycan Turbo S if it wasn't for the horrendous non-Tesla charging network.
In a few weeks I'm going to be undertaking a journey up to The Highlands in Scotland of 456 miles (900+ mile round journey).
In the scenario of wanting to arrive with minimum 50% battery, the journey in my Tesla Model S Performance (Raven):
8h48m total, with 2 Supercharger stops, total charging time 57 minutes. Cost: £0
Journey in Porsche Taycan Turbo S:
9h34m total (if there are no queues/issues at the chargers), with 3 charging stops, total charging time 1h41m. Cost: approx £105
I was regularly driving to Edinburgh and back last year, 410 mile trip. I find that getting battery down to around 15% then charging to 75% gives you the best bang for your waiting time buck so to speak.
But hard to manage with bladder and coffee needs so I ended up doing Grantham and Washington super chargers. The raven is a big improvement on the older S but sadly in my case that hasn’t extended to reliability.
sjg said:
Worth checking your charge cable too - the 6kw seen suggests it’s only doing single phase, which is possible if that’s what your cable supports. If you look at the connector with the flat side facing up, the bottom two pins should be populated.
If they’re empty like this then that’s all you’d get on a 22kw post.
Thanks for that just checked it and all pins present. Thought I would have to apologise to pod point for a moment! I learned something else on this thread.If they’re empty like this then that’s all you’d get on a 22kw post.
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