First 300 mile journey in an EV

[T1berious]

First long trip and I have to say it was completely painless. First leg was 210 miles, stopped at Gretna Ionity 350kw charger.

4 charge points, all in use 3 of us waiting. Got chatting to a guy about his Polestar 2. Long and short 20 minutes waiting and once I got charging got to 80% in 18 mins and saw a charge rate peak of 160kw.

Guy with the Polestar was seeing 87kw. EV6 truly is a charge king.

Arrived in Scotland with 110 miles left. So pretty pleased.

So with the wait for a charger it was an extra 40 minutes compared to when we did it with ICE.

[Pit Pony]

Well, that sounds stressful.

I filled up my Astra at *CostCo Birmingham Yesterday on the way into work, at a price of 1.807 per litre. After work I drove home to Merseyside, stopping in Staffordshire to pick up camping equipment.

The car is now parked on the drive some 130 miles later, and on Monday we will drive it 220 miles to Pembrokeshire to go camping. , wife is planning 2 stops. One for breakfast. And one for a picnic. Apparently the first is McDonald's and the second is a field in the Brecon Beacons.
I will pull in for fuel and pay through the nose, about Haverfordwest. I am not planning this to take more than 5 minutes.
The campsite, has charging points. For phones. No hookups on any pitch. It would seem they've missed a trick there.

One thing I've noticed about EV drivers. During the week, when they are using the car to commute, they drive using all the available power but on a Friday afternoon, or Monday morning, when I am on the M6, they are all doing 65 mph, desperately staring at the range left gauge. Presumably because they are travelling a distance that is close to the limit of thier range.

• Note Costco fuel. At 7 am they is a big queue, backing up the dual carriage way and it could take you 25 mins to get in. But is is because a firm of lorries fills up every lorry they have. But all the pumps for filling on the drivers side are not used.

There is another entrance that goes under the store, but only 20% of car drivers know this, and the others are queuing up behind the trucks.

[MrHappy]

T1berious said:

First long trip and I have to say it was completely painless. First leg was 210 miles, stopped at Gretna Ionity 350kw charger.

4 charge points, all in use 3 of us waiting. Got chatting to a guy about his Polestar 2. Long and short 20 minutes waiting and once I got charging got to 80% in 18 mins and saw a charge rate peak of 160kw.

Guy with the Polestar was seeing 87kw. EV6 truly is a charge king.

Arrived in Scotland with 110 miles left. So pretty pleased.

So with the wait for a charger it was an extra 40 minutes compared to when we did it with ICE.

Sounds like an easy trip and in line with what you most likely expected before you set off. Our EV6 arrives September (or so I’m told), really looking forward to it.

[page3]

Pit Pony said:

The car is now parked on the drive some 130 miles later, and on Monday we will drive it 220 miles to Pembrokeshire to go camping. , wife is planning 2 stops. One for breakfast. And one for a picnic. Apparently the first is McDonald's and the second is a field in the Brecon Beacons.

In an EV it would magically have topped up to full range ready for that Monday drive.

That first stop would be enough to top up if necessary.

It’s easy. You just need to get out of thinking like an ICE driver.

[anonymous-user]

Pit Pony said:

Well, that sounds stressful.

I filled up my Astra at *CostCo Birmingham Yesterday on the way into work, at a price of 1.807 per litre. After work I drove home to Merseyside, stopping in Staffordshire to pick up camping equipment.

The car is now parked on the drive some 130 miles later, and on Monday we will drive it 220 miles to Pembrokeshire to go camping. , wife is planning 2 stops. One for breakfast. And one for a picnic. Apparently the first is McDonald's and the second is a field in the Brecon Beacons.
I will pull in for fuel and pay through the nose, about Haverfordwest. I am not planning this to take more than 5 minutes.
The campsite, has charging points. For phones. No hookups on any pitch. It would seem they've missed a trick there.

One thing I've noticed about EV drivers. During the week, when they are using the car to commute, they drive using all the available power but on a Friday afternoon, or Monday morning, when I am on the M6, they are all doing 65 mph, desperately staring at the range left gauge. Presumably because they are travelling a distance that is close to the limit of thier range.

• Note Costco fuel. At 7 am they is a big queue, backing up the dual carriage way and it could take you 25 mins to get in. But is is because a firm of lorries fills up every lorry they have. But all the pumps for filling on the drivers side are not used.

There is another entrance that goes under the store, but only 20% of car drivers know this, and the others are queuing up behind the trucks.

Have to go to a petrol station sounds like a massive bore, and the fact they take about £100 off you sounds even worse. Then you have to sit and listen to some god awful diesel engine rattling and droning away whilst your car slowly and painfully hunts roughtly between it's gears, all the time throwing vast quanities of pollutants out the back and burning 4 times more energy.

Hmm, i'll give that a miss thanks...... ;-)

[TheDeuce]

Pit Pony said:

Well, that sounds stressful.

I filled up my Astra at *CostCo Birmingham Yesterday on the way into work, at a price of 1.807 per litre. After work I drove home to Merseyside, stopping in Staffordshire to pick up camping equipment.

The car is now parked on the drive some 130 miles later, and on Monday we will drive it 220 miles to Pembrokeshire to go camping. , wife is planning 2 stops. One for breakfast. And one for a picnic. Apparently the first is McDonald's and the second is a field in the Brecon Beacons.
I will pull in for fuel and pay through the nose, about Haverfordwest. I am not planning this to take more than 5 minutes.
The campsite, has charging points. For phones. No hookups on any pitch. It would seem they've missed a trick there.

One thing I've noticed about EV drivers. During the week, when they are using the car to commute, they drive using all the available power but on a Friday afternoon, or Monday morning, when I am on the M6, they are all doing 65 mph, desperately staring at the range left gauge. Presumably because they are travelling a distance that is close to the limit of thier range.

• Note Costco fuel. At 7 am they is a big queue, backing up the dual carriage way and it could take you 25 mins to get in. But is is because a firm of lorries fills up every lorry they have. But all the pumps for filling on the drivers side are not used.

There is another entrance that goes under the store, but only 20% of car drivers know this, and the others are queuing up behind the trucks.

Nice try... But I don't see many EV owners struggling or going back to ICE however you dress it up

A 30-60 minute stop once in a blue moon is a small price to pay for waking up with a full (cheap) tank every morning in between. I definitely used to spend more time overall at petrol stations than I do for the odd charge these days.

[T1berious]

Pit Pony said:

Nice try... But I don't see many EV owners struggling or going back to ICE however you dress it up

A 30-60 minute stop once in a blue moon is a small price to pay for waking up with a full (cheap) tank every morning in between. I definitely used to spend more time overall at petrol stations than I do for the odd charge these days.

^This^

The point I was trying to raise was that I wasn't stopped for 6 days waiting to carry on my journey.

(This is the thread about EV's right....?)

My Z4MR and my M2C couldn't do the journey on a single tank, just let that sink in.. So in stopping for power in my EV is no different to stopping for fuel.

I just topped up for £20.00 to get to 80%, agreed a 50kw charger but hey I went for a coffee. I'd like to see someone with current fuel prices pull that trick off.

The point I was trying to get across was it was a painless trip, it's one of those 1% journeys where its over the cars effective real world range.

I was very impressed by the ease of using the Ionity charger and the 20 mins it took to get me back on my way.

Yup, there was a queue, exactly like the times I've had to wait to get a petrol pump....

[JonChalk]

T1berious said:

Pit Pony said:

Nice try... But I don't see many EV owners struggling or going back to ICE however you dress it up

A 30-60 minute stop once in a blue moon is a small price to pay for waking up with a full (cheap) tank every morning in between. I definitely used to spend more time overall at petrol stations than I do for the odd charge these days.

^This^

The point I was trying to raise was that I wasn't stopped for 6 days waiting to carry on my journey.

(This is the thread about EV's right....?)

My Z4MR and my M2C couldn't do the journey on a single tank, just let that sink in.. So in stopping for power in my EV is no different to stopping for fuel.

I just topped up for £20.00 to get to 80%, agreed a 50kw charger but hey I went for a coffee. I'd like to see someone with current fuel prices pull that trick off.

The point I was trying to get across was it was a painless trip, it's one of those 1% journeys where its over the cars effective real world range.

I was very impressed by the ease of using the Ionity charger and the 20 mins it took to get me back on my way.

Yup, there was a queue, exactly like the times I've had to wait to get a petrol pump....

I have found that the EV6 charges quicker than I can empty, refill and have enough of a break that I can do another 2/2.5 hours of driving.

This has to be the measure of a successful mode of transport.

I couldn't have done my recent 2500 mile trip round France any quicker in my S5 than in my EV6 - I am the limiting factor not the car or charging.

[ashenfie]

T1berious said:

First long trip and I have to say it was completely painless. First leg was 210 miles, stopped at Gretna Ionity 350kw charger.

4 charge points, all in use 3 of us waiting. Got chatting to a guy about his Polestar 2. Long and short 20 minutes waiting and once I got charging got to 80% in 18 mins and saw a charge rate peak of 160kw.

Guy with the Polestar was seeing 87kw. EV6 truly is a charge king.

Arrived in Scotland with 110 miles left. So pretty pleased.

So with the wait for a charger it was an extra 40 minutes compared to when we did it with ICE.

How much did the charge cost?

[D4rez]

Max_Torque said:

Have to go to a petrol station sounds like a massive bore, and the fact they take about £100 off you sounds even worse. Then you have to sit and listen to some god awful diesel engine rattling and droning away whilst your car slowly and painfully hunts roughtly between it's gears, all the time throwing vast quanities of pollutants out the back and burning 4 times more energy.

Hmm, i'll give that a miss thanks...... ;-)

And miss out on the joys of an Astra

[T1berious]

ashenfie said:

How much did the charge cost?

I'm on a Kia Ionity charge card so I didn't get charged. Think it lasts 12 months then after that it's £7 pcm and 25p a Kw (I think).

I had a top up today and finishing off at the in-laws ready for an early start tomorrow to head back.

[Evanivitch]

Hearing good things about summer speeds on the Korean 800V cars. Slightly less good news in winter...

[jamei303]

Max_Torque said:

Have to go to a petrol station sounds like a massive bore, and the fact they take about £100 off you sounds even worse. Then you have to sit and listen to some god awful diesel engine rattling and droning away whilst your car slowly and painfully hunts roughtly between it's gears, all the time throwing vast quanities of pollutants out the back and burning 4 times more energy.

Hmm, i'll give that a miss thanks...... ;-)

You sound like vegans do when they talk about someone eating a steak as a "carnivore" consuming "rotten flesh".

I love paying for petrol because it means I can fill up in two minutes, didn't spend 10K extra on an electric equivalent of my car, didn't have to pay to have some plastic box and cables screwed to my house, and can pootle about the motorway network without worrying I'll have to spend half an hour queuing for a plug at Clacklet Lane while fending off small-talk from EV evangelists.

[DaveH23]

EV's are a point now where they have more range than most things remotely interesting.

I only get 260 - 280 miles per tank out of my car but that is anywhere from 1 -3 months useage for me, I once got 310 when I went down to Nottingham but a 20 minute stop to use the toilet, grab a drink etc is no hardship if you can fill a EV to 3/4ths in that time.

For me I just couldn't justify the outlay for an EV. They are astronomically expensive and would take years for me to see any benefit in switching.

[joshcowin]

I presume it all depends on you and your driving habits. I need to travel unexpectedly 100+ miles sometimes and cannot charge at home, so an ev would be difficult and require constant top ups and stopping, however for many they work really well! My wife's usage would really suit an ev, shame my budget is 6k

Genuine question, what happens to rang when stuck in 3 hours of crawling traffic, a normal car would use little fuel does an ev also use as little or as it is running and moving use a fair amount?

[anonymous-user]

joshcowin said:

I presume it all depends on you and your driving habits. I need to travel unexpectedly 100+ miles sometimes and cannot charge at home, so an ev would be difficult and require constant top ups and stopping, however for many they work really well! My wife's usage would really suit an ev, shame my budget is 6k

Genuine question, what happens to rang when stuck in 3 hours of crawling traffic, a normal car would use little fuel does an ev also use as little or as it is running and moving use a fair amount?

If an EV isn’t moving, it’s not using any electric. Simple. In crawling traffic they’re extremely economical.

[joshcowin]

ajap1979 said:

If an EV isn’t moving, it’s not using any electric. Simple. In crawling traffic they’re extremely economical.

So what powers radio, a/c etc

[Jimbo.]

joshcowin said:

I presume it all depends on you and your driving habits. I need to travel unexpectedly 100+ miles sometimes and cannot charge at home, so an ev would be difficult and require constant top ups and stopping, however for many they work really well! My wife's usage would really suit an ev, shame my budget is 6k

Genuine question, what happens to rang when stuck in 3 hours of crawling traffic, a normal car would use little fuel does an ev also use as little or as it is running and moving use a fair amount?

In comparison, the ICE car would use a LOT of fuel: keeping the engine running (or at least stop-starting), burning a lot of fuel in a hugely inefficient manner (turning some 99% of it into heat and throwing it overboard), all to keep the radio and air-con on. And stop the 12v battery going flat. An EV on the other hand will consume nothing other than what’s needed to meet the demand of the radio, air-con etc.

[joshcowin]

Jimbo. said:

In comparison, the ICE car would use a LOT of fuel: keeping the engine running (or at least stop-starting), burning a lot of fuel in a hugely inefficient manner (turning some 99% of it into heat and throwing it overboard), all to keep the radio and air-con on. And stop the 12v battery going flat. An EV on the other hand will consume nothing other than what’s needed to meet the demand of the radio, air-con etc.

The ice car would use a tiny amount of its range in reality as it seems the ev would great! Just wanted to know.

EV drivers are the new vegan it seems

[gangzoom]

joshcowin said:

So what powers radio, a/c etc

You will be amazed how little power those things use compared to the battery energy in any EV. Full our EV with its now relative small 70kWh usable battery will power our entire house for around 5 days.

A few years ago we spent 4hrs in 30degree hear going around a the west Midlands Safari park. Keeping the aircon running used about 1.5-2% addtional battery per hour when sat idel.