Did my longest trip / first charge away from home

[DSLiverpool]

We had a leaf n Zoe in 2015 but never went further than the shops, we now have a ioniq electric and shortly my Ioniq5 but right now it’s normal ioniq.

It’s 1000 miles in and averaging 4.7 mpkwh which amazes me.

So - new client in Yorkshire about 80 miles away, they have destination charging but I thought I’d do the whole thing on one charge.

I have route options of round to the M6 then M62 or straight through liverpool - I chose the latter as better for battery conservation.

Started at 65 but old habits die hard and I was soon mixing it with the petrol on the outside lane, never did the little Hyundai feel underpowered.

Going uphill on the Pennines took a lot of battery but I was still on for my round trip on 1 charge. Then I got to Hartshead Moore early so I stopped and thought I’d pretend I needed a charge to see if I’m up to it.

I have a fear of not finding things and chargers are high on my list, I know Asda Birkenhead has 2 but I’ve never ever managed to find them!!

Anyhoo i gingerly enter the car park after dismissing it bring by the petrol bit. I drove around a bit then low and behold a mirage of ecotricity in a dessert of normality.

2 bays open, I backed in and was so excited I first tried to get out with my seatbelt on then forgot to turn the car off.

1 big plug with the DC bit on and broken but still working was a type 2, I plugged in the type 2. “Waiting for charging request from car” as it’s set for off peak, I did this on my phone then got my wallet out to pay contactless (I have no charge cards) but it had started charging !!!

I first thought it knew who I was then realised it’s free !!

So I locked the car and strutted into the loo like John T in Sat night fever ! I’m da man!

Came out to see 1 kw increase so I thought I’d wait a bit longer till 2 adding 10 miles, couldn’t pull the plug out, panicked but unlocked the already unlocked car and all good.

Coming back I did 75 miles in 90 minutes going through Manc it did 5 miles per kw I wasn’t hanging about.

Massively impressed with the £200 month ioniq - feel I’m a man now in EV terms.

Feel free to take the piss.

[sociopath]

Went through Liverpool instead of using motorway.

If that's what you have to do with an ev it won't help when you have to pay a congestion charge as well. Plus Liverpool to Yorkshire in an ice would be there and back on one tank easily.

3/10, must do better

[DSLiverpool]

Cost me about £2 in electric say £3 tops.
Very compelling.

[aestetix1]

Impressive for an original Ioniq.

Obviously sociopath is an idiot, newer cars already do better with much larger batteries, but it shows that even used ones are entirely practical. Since you had destination charging and working chargers along the way there was actually no need to do any energy saving at all.

[gangzoom]

DSLiverpool said:

feel I’m a man now in EV terms.

You never forget the first time .

Strange to think actually not many people (if any) will have the same pleasure again of pulling that lever on the gen 1 CHADdeMO plugs whilst getting no where and than trying to decided if you should push harder at the risk of breaking the plug or the connector in the car!! You than have the joy of waiting for the handshake confirmation or the dreaded 'Cannot establish communication' message, all the while listening out for the sound of the charger starting up or the 'lock' sound of the connector

Ecotricity and CHADdeMO you will not be missed by any one!!

Edited by gangzoom on Friday 20th August 10:13

[gaseous clay]

I have the 38kwh Ioniq and am amazed that it is averaging 5.1 miles per kW. It did 4.8 on a rapid 80 mile drive back from Oxfordshire last weekend. Luckily my local council are trying to be an environmental capital whatever that is so there's loads of free chargers with free parking in the city centre and a lot of the supermarkets. Keeps the miles off the fun car as well.

[anonymous-user]

gaseous clay said:

Luckily my local council are trying to be an environmental capital whatever that is so there's loads of free chargers with free parking in the city centre and a lot of the supermarkets.

It's a shame some EV drivers throw their car in an EV bay 'because it's free innit', then trundle into a shop without bothering to plug in.

I hope the 'selfish Karma' bites them back big time one day and they run out of charge.

[sociopath]

aestetix1 said:

Impressive for an original Ioniq.

Obviously sociopath is an idiot, newer cars already do better with much larger batteries, but it shows that even used ones are entirely practical. Since you had destination charging and working chargers along the way there was actually no need to do any energy saving at all.

Obviously I am.

Now tell me why. My ICE car can do that journey 4 times without a refill, and wouldn't have to travel through the centre of Liverpool to manage the journey.
I have nothing against EVs but don't pretend they are the ideal

[gaseous clay]

speedyguy said:

It's a shame some EV drivers throw their car in an EV bay 'because it's free innit', then trundle into a shop without bothering to plug in.

I hope the 'selfish Karma' bites them back big time one day and they run out of charge.

Yeah that is pretty annoying!

[N88]

sociopath said:

Obviously I am.

Now tell me why. My ICE car can do that journey 4 times without a refill, and wouldn't have to travel through the centre of Liverpool to manage the journey.
I have nothing against EVs but don't pretend they are the ideal

Do you really have nothing better to do?

[DSLiverpool]

sociopath said:

Obviously I am.

Now tell me why. My ICE car can do that journey 4 times without a refill, and wouldn't have to travel through the centre of Liverpool to manage the journey.
I have nothing against EVs but don't pretend they are the ideal

Your lack of awareness indicates a troll or just a knob - which ?

[PBCD]

sociopath said:

Obviously I am.

Now tell me why. My ICE car can do that journey 4 times without a refill, and wouldn't have to travel through the centre of Liverpool to manage the journey.
I have nothing against EVs but don't pretend they are the ideal

[annodomini2]

Good on you!

[Pica-Pica]

PBCD said:

sociopath said:

Obviously I am.

Now tell me why. My ICE car can do that journey 4 times without a refill, and wouldn't have to travel through the centre of Liverpool to manage the journey.
I have nothing against EVs but don't pretend they are the ideal

However, that raises the point that, out of town re-charging will be at attractive prices, until EVs become more popular. Then, like motorway fuel stations they will become ‘distress’ purchases with prices to match.

[leef44]

speedyguy said:

It's a shame some EV drivers throw their car in an EV bay 'because it's free innit', then trundle into a shop without bothering to plug in.

I hope the 'selfish Karma' bites them back big time one day and they run out of charge.

I'm not an EV User yet but is this a major issue? Does this happen often because this would be a serious pain if you have run out of charge, need to wait for someone to finish their shopping before you can use a charging point?

[DSLiverpool]

leef44 said:

I'm not an EV User yet but is this a major issue? Does this happen often because this would be a serious pain if you have run out of charge, need to wait for someone to finish their shopping before you can use a charging point?

You’ll need to think more but as input in the post I’m embracing it. We’re fully electric soon

[jonny996]

While not fully EV we have recently switched the family car over to a Lexus petrol hybrid & I immediately noticed a difference in my driving style. With the EV side of the car you get silence & complete comfort, so I drive in a far more relaxed style. This no doubt would extend the range of any fully EV charge but it’s hardly in the DNA of most “piston headers” to drive like they have Miss Daisy in the back.
IMHO, EV’s are fantastic at doing the white goods function of transportation but they have no soul, for the lucky few that can run a EV for the 95% of menial tasks & have secondary ICE car for the fun driving I see them as a great solution.

[gangzoom]

jonny996 said:

While not fully EV we have recently switched the family car over to a Lexus petrol hybrid & I immediately noticed a difference in my driving style.

There is a world of difference between the a Lexus hybrid drive train and any pure EV setup.

We have both, and as you have pointed our whilst the Lexus may be the most reliable car we have ever owned its also so dull, driving it is like stabbing your self in the eye.

Am quite lucky the Lexus is my wifes car, if it was my car it would have been sold a long long time ago.

Our EV is however a totally different experience, and I LOVE driving it. Our Lexus has done 31k miles in 6.5 years, our EV 43k miles in 4 years, that tells you all you need to know about which car we prefer to drive!!

[ZesPak]

gaseous clay said:

speedyguy said:

It's a shame some EV drivers throw their car in an EV bay 'because it's free innit', then trundle into a shop without bothering to plug in.

I hope the 'selfish Karma' bites them back big time one day and they run out of charge.

Yeah that is pretty annoying!

I've done it in the past if there's plenty of charge spots available.

I do have a little plastic thingy that has my mobile number on it in the glove box that I put on the dash in such occasions. Almost every time when public charging.
Then if I'm plugged in, or needed to put my car in an awkward position to plug in, people could call me to (for example) move my car or see if they can have an urgent fill up.