EV for long commutes- is the infrastructure good enough yet?
Discussion
I have an irregular commute. 360 miles 4x a month (NE Scotland to Manchester). Now that the earlier Model 3/S are coming down in price, I've started researching again. Is this trip feasible in an EV now? Are the charging costs now prohibitive? (compared to a diesel Merc).
To answer the inevitable comments, trains take an extra 2hrs and are £££. Planes take 1hr less overall, but there is the faff of changing in Amsterdam or Ireland.
To answer the inevitable comments, trains take an extra 2hrs and are £££. Planes take 1hr less overall, but there is the faff of changing in Amsterdam or Ireland.
Charging costs are entirely down to where you're charging and when. I think the "a better route planner app" can estimate charging costs based on your specific journeys. Do you have somewhere cheap to charge in Manchester? E.g. at your office? If you can brim the car before setting off in either direction, you're probably not going to need to charge much en route. If you're reliant on public fast charging for the final miles into Manchester and the entire return journey, the charging costs will be very different.
Can you get to and back from the destination to the last Tesla supercharger ok in NE Scotland? Assume that is your destination. If the other way around you'll have no troubles as Manchester will have lots of Tesla supercharger options.
Cost wise, as you'll know Tesla chargers are usually around half the price of the competition so it will be cheaper than running a diesel merc. Only consideration to factor in is that usually insurance is more expensive and perhaps tyres are too. My Teslas are double to insure vs the ICE cars they replaced and tyres I have been unlucky having had 5 punctures requiring tyre replacement this year - it is always a piece of bloomin flint. I haven't experienced that before.
Otherwise it is better in everyway as a commuter / daily car.
Cost wise, as you'll know Tesla chargers are usually around half the price of the competition so it will be cheaper than running a diesel merc. Only consideration to factor in is that usually insurance is more expensive and perhaps tyres are too. My Teslas are double to insure vs the ICE cars they replaced and tyres I have been unlucky having had 5 punctures requiring tyre replacement this year - it is always a piece of bloomin flint. I haven't experienced that before.
Otherwise it is better in everyway as a commuter / daily car.
Is that a 720 mile day?
360 miles in am EV is easily done with good rapid chargers. A Better Route Planner, ABRP, can help show you the time needed and where. You can set lots of parameters.
If you're doing 720 miles in a day (!?) then that would be a faff. Doing 360 miles would require a short rapid stop in a Tesla, then Ideal you'd have a 7kW charger you could use for a full charge for the return journey. You'd be doing about 250 miles on cheap electricity, and the rest on public chargers, so wouldn't be dirt cheap.
360 miles in am EV is easily done with good rapid chargers. A Better Route Planner, ABRP, can help show you the time needed and where. You can set lots of parameters.
If you're doing 720 miles in a day (!?) then that would be a faff. Doing 360 miles would require a short rapid stop in a Tesla, then Ideal you'd have a 7kW charger you could use for a full charge for the return journey. You'd be doing about 250 miles on cheap electricity, and the rest on public chargers, so wouldn't be dirt cheap.
I’ve driven from just south of John o’Groats Shropshire in a day in an EV with a smaller range than the one I’ve got now and it easy. 360 miles is either one big stop or more realistically (and better for your wellbeing) 2 shorter stops. I rarely think twice about any long distance trip now, I’ve even spent 3 days driving to Italy 8 years ago in an EV, and on regular routes you’ll end up picking your favourite stops and there are plenty of interesting options on your route.
If you can physically drive that distance in a day ok, driving an EV won’t make it harder. Just make sure it’s a comfortable one as some aren’t as comfortable as you’d think, or probably more accurately not all cars suit everyone’s seating expectations.
If you can physically drive that distance in a day ok, driving an EV won’t make it harder. Just make sure it’s a comfortable one as some aren’t as comfortable as you’d think, or probably more accurately not all cars suit everyone’s seating expectations.
Bit of a long reply but hopefully helpful.
We do a similar trip from central belt Scotland to Liverpool and back in 1 day in a Highland Model 3 Performance so not the most efficient EV.
250 miles each way so 500 mile roundtrip, started at 100% (which claims 300 mile range), 0-3 degrees C 80mph, heating on, real range all motorway 100-5% would have been 190 miles.
Stopped at Teabay southbound for 25 minutes, turned around at Liverpool, switch drivers and came back. Had to stop at Burtonwood and Gretna on the way back. Journey time was 3 1/2 hours each way driving with about an hour stopped to stretch legs, food, toilet.
8 hours total roundtrip which would have been 7 in our diesel X5 as we wouldn’t have stopped for fuel/food or toilet as we tend to just drive straight through.
Charging at Tesla superchargers totalled £50 ish when I checked vs £90 in diesel in the X5. Don’t quote me on exact numbers but they’re probably within £5 accurate.
I should add that I don’t drive for efficiency and there’s a 470 mile range Tesla Model 3 now that I’ve no doubt would require only 1 short charge stop.
Prefer the X5 for that trip tbh mainly as it’s more comfortable. Who would have thought a big wafty SUV is more comfortable than a performance EV right.
Thats a hell of a commute you have I couldn’t do that solo in one day and would struggle even with another driver. Not advocating trains just stating my preference I prefer to get an early train from Glasgow to Liverpool or Manchester up and down in one day £50-70 return depending on how far in advance tickets are booked but sounds like you’re further north than we are.
We do a similar trip from central belt Scotland to Liverpool and back in 1 day in a Highland Model 3 Performance so not the most efficient EV.
250 miles each way so 500 mile roundtrip, started at 100% (which claims 300 mile range), 0-3 degrees C 80mph, heating on, real range all motorway 100-5% would have been 190 miles.
Stopped at Teabay southbound for 25 minutes, turned around at Liverpool, switch drivers and came back. Had to stop at Burtonwood and Gretna on the way back. Journey time was 3 1/2 hours each way driving with about an hour stopped to stretch legs, food, toilet.
8 hours total roundtrip which would have been 7 in our diesel X5 as we wouldn’t have stopped for fuel/food or toilet as we tend to just drive straight through.
Charging at Tesla superchargers totalled £50 ish when I checked vs £90 in diesel in the X5. Don’t quote me on exact numbers but they’re probably within £5 accurate.
I should add that I don’t drive for efficiency and there’s a 470 mile range Tesla Model 3 now that I’ve no doubt would require only 1 short charge stop.
Prefer the X5 for that trip tbh mainly as it’s more comfortable. Who would have thought a big wafty SUV is more comfortable than a performance EV right.
Thats a hell of a commute you have I couldn’t do that solo in one day and would struggle even with another driver. Not advocating trains just stating my preference I prefer to get an early train from Glasgow to Liverpool or Manchester up and down in one day £50-70 return depending on how far in advance tickets are booked but sounds like you’re further north than we are.
tallpaullewis said:
Thanks for the app recommendation. That reckons one 15min stop and one 10min. That surprises me massively if I'm honest!
25 minutes at 200kW charging seems about right.The benefit of the Tesla ecosystem is the car knows exactly where the charger is and what you need, and will prep the battery for best performance. Other cars will do similar, not always as well.
Pretty easy
I do 20k a year in a Model Y and went to Venice over the summer in mine.
I've used the route planner and done Aberdeen to Manchester (near the train station) and it's a 28min stop to charge.
If it was me and doing that trip, I'd stop at least twice to break up the trip, so you could charge a couple of times instead. The cars do prefer a lower battery state when charging as it delivers the higher charge speeds (easily +200 when. <10% charge state)
Charging costs vary on the Tesla network from around 20p to 40p or so, depends on the time of day/night
Love my car
I do 20k a year in a Model Y and went to Venice over the summer in mine.
I've used the route planner and done Aberdeen to Manchester (near the train station) and it's a 28min stop to charge.
If it was me and doing that trip, I'd stop at least twice to break up the trip, so you could charge a couple of times instead. The cars do prefer a lower battery state when charging as it delivers the higher charge speeds (easily +200 when. <10% charge state)
Charging costs vary on the Tesla network from around 20p to 40p or so, depends on the time of day/night
Love my car
Not Scotland but north east England to Brighton (not a commute but regular) and it’s really cheap using Tesla superchargers. Home charge to 100%, sat nav tells me which supercharger to drive to and how long to charge for. Can even tell it what percentage you want remaining at your end destination too so you’re not going to be short when you get there.
I’ve never had a problem in the 4 and a half years I’ve owned the M3LR.
I’ve never had a problem in the 4 and a half years I’ve owned the M3LR.
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