Charging away from home?
Discussion
I've had my Kia EV3 for 15 months, and I've never had to charge away from home. 300 mile range is more than enough.
Other half has just bought a Hyundai Inster, range around 200 miles. Perfect for he daily commute, but w or 3 times a year she travels from West Cornwall up to Guildford/Woking to see her sons. Around 280 miles each way, so 3 charging stops.
She's on her way back home right now.
First charging stop on Friday at Illminster. Only one charger at the site, had to wait 30 minutes. Contactless, no app needed.
Second stop just after setting off to come home this morning. Open to all Tesla site in Guildford, spent 30 minutes sorting out the app.
Third stop, Exeter services. Tried the Tesla chargers, but they are apparently Tesla-only. Odd that the app let her initiate the charge, then it failed.
Over to the "normal" chargers, 89p, contactless.
She's using the car satnav, which finds the chargers but doesn't seem to know what's at the site, or if they are open to all users.
She's also got Waze on her iPhone, but doesn't like using it on longer journeys because it stops the phone working properly - Carplay seems to force phone calls through the phone antenna, rather than the car antenna, so reception is much worse.
What's the answer for a solo driver to find suitable chargers while on the road? Bear in mind she finds it very easy to get lost unless she's following satnav directions. She can't get her head around the fact that I can drive pretty much anywhere without using satnav except for the final mile. She just can't do it.
Other half has just bought a Hyundai Inster, range around 200 miles. Perfect for he daily commute, but w or 3 times a year she travels from West Cornwall up to Guildford/Woking to see her sons. Around 280 miles each way, so 3 charging stops.
She's on her way back home right now.
First charging stop on Friday at Illminster. Only one charger at the site, had to wait 30 minutes. Contactless, no app needed.
Second stop just after setting off to come home this morning. Open to all Tesla site in Guildford, spent 30 minutes sorting out the app.
Third stop, Exeter services. Tried the Tesla chargers, but they are apparently Tesla-only. Odd that the app let her initiate the charge, then it failed.
Over to the "normal" chargers, 89p, contactless.
She's using the car satnav, which finds the chargers but doesn't seem to know what's at the site, or if they are open to all users.
She's also got Waze on her iPhone, but doesn't like using it on longer journeys because it stops the phone working properly - Carplay seems to force phone calls through the phone antenna, rather than the car antenna, so reception is much worse.
What's the answer for a solo driver to find suitable chargers while on the road? Bear in mind she finds it very easy to get lost unless she's following satnav directions. She can't get her head around the fact that I can drive pretty much anywhere without using satnav except for the final mile. She just can't do it.
Use ABRP to plan the route.
Filter it to show only chargers which a minimum of 4 or 6 stalls where possible. That way you will avoid the situation where you turn up at a single charger and it s in use or broken.
Use the big name chargers like Ionity, Instavolt, Arnold Clark, Fastned, MFG, Osprey and Gridserve where possible as they are generally well maintained.
Get an Electroverse card to make paying for it easy, and also also the Electroverse app will help find compatible chargers.
There are plenty of Tesla chargers open to all but generally not the ones at motorway services. Use the Tesla app to find them.
There’s also Zap-Map if she prefers to just have a look at what’s nearby instead of planning.
Filter it to show only chargers which a minimum of 4 or 6 stalls where possible. That way you will avoid the situation where you turn up at a single charger and it s in use or broken.
Use the big name chargers like Ionity, Instavolt, Arnold Clark, Fastned, MFG, Osprey and Gridserve where possible as they are generally well maintained.
Get an Electroverse card to make paying for it easy, and also also the Electroverse app will help find compatible chargers.
There are plenty of Tesla chargers open to all but generally not the ones at motorway services. Use the Tesla app to find them.
There’s also Zap-Map if she prefers to just have a look at what’s nearby instead of planning.
Edited by Blockbuster on Sunday 5th April 15:45
clockworks said:
Second stop just after setting off to come home this morning. Open to all Tesla site in Guildford, spent 30 minutes sorting out the app.
Newer tesla chargers are also contactless so don't need the app. Unfortunately, you won't know which version they are until you reach them.Zap-map is probably the best app for finding chargers. Avoid BP & Shell, try to use Osprey, Be.EV, Instavolt, Gridserve
Pica-Pica said:
My son visited us in his ix3 it was a nightmare finding a charger of any speed. (We have wherewithal to charge). He got home via two slow or expensive charging locations. A nightmare.
I suggest he doesn't know how to use the car to find any or didn't bother doing any preparation before the journey. Another vote here for ABRP nav, it is on carplay though..
It knows my cars state of charge & the charger availability. Mine is set to only use Tesla chargers. It only shows open to all ones. Easy to use & pay via the Tesla app.
My car has a longer range.
But if I left Woking now to drive to Penzance:-
A couple near the M5 Exeter (cheaper than the rest)
It knows my cars state of charge & the charger availability. Mine is set to only use Tesla chargers. It only shows open to all ones. Easy to use & pay via the Tesla app.
My car has a longer range.
But if I left Woking now to drive to Penzance:-
A couple near the M5 Exeter (cheaper than the rest)
Edited by RotorRambler on Sunday 5th April 20:17
Haha yes that s the perfect answer. As a long term EV user my personal take on remote charging is to limit yourself to a couple of providers you are familiar with and have their apps pre-loaded with credit. Don’t rely on rolling up to a new one and using contactless.
I use Gridserve and Podpoint and find they cover my longer journeys perfectly. I used to use BP until they re-launched their app last year and it wouldn t load on my phones.
Always prepare your journey in advance and know exactly where you are heading for to charge - I would say don t just rely on the car finding a place for you.
If you drive a Tesla disregard all the above and just let the car guide you.
I use Gridserve and Podpoint and find they cover my longer journeys perfectly. I used to use BP until they re-launched their app last year and it wouldn t load on my phones.
Always prepare your journey in advance and know exactly where you are heading for to charge - I would say don t just rely on the car finding a place for you.
If you drive a Tesla disregard all the above and just let the car guide you.
The first time you do anything it can be challenging. Imagine turning up at a petrol station and being confronted with 4 different nozzles of various colours and not knowing how to pay, or how you know how it works, potentially covering yourself with fuel, worried about how to know if it s full not realising it will cut off automatically etc.
Mark V GTD said:
Always prepare your journey in advance and know exactly where you are heading for to charge - ....
Daughter was away for a few days last week and went in her EV - first time in 18mths of ownership that she charged away from home. I'm laughing at the thought of her doing any preparation - she's far too busy to bother herself with that, I doubt she even put the destination in her sat nav until she was on her way.Apparently she granny charged the car for 20hrs at her destination, used a Lidl fast charger, for which she had to download an app, but no problem, and used a charger somewhere else that used the car's cable. She seemed unfazed by the whole thing.
SE2 said:
It seems mad that a company the size of Hyundai-Kia hasn't thought to ease their customers into EV life by having their own charger network.
Probably because it's not necessary. The idea of brand-specific charging stations seems quite old fashioned now.FWIW, I've never had any issues like the ones mentioned in this thread, neither have my staff who use EVs to cross the country on a regular basis. Five minutes on Google maps helps, as does topping up before you hit rock bottom. If you plan to charge when you get down to 20%, you won't have issues if the charger is busy or broken, you can just drive to another.
Don’t rely on the car’s sat nav alone in something like the Hyundai Inster. It’ll find chargers, but not tell you how reliable they are or if they’re actually usable. Pair it with Zap-Map to quickly check stops before you set off or while parked.
Stick to a few of the trusted networks instead. In the UK that usually means Tesla (open sites only), InstaVolt, bp pulse, plus Evyve and Octopus Electroverse. They’re more predictable, which matters more than price on a solo run.
Stick to a few of the trusted networks instead. In the UK that usually means Tesla (open sites only), InstaVolt, bp pulse, plus Evyve and Octopus Electroverse. They’re more predictable, which matters more than price on a solo run.
SE2 said:
One of the many reasons I chose Tesla is because I had an anxiety about this. It seems mad that a company the size of Hyundai-Kia hasn't thought to ease their customers into EV life by having their own charger network.
ABRP guides you to the numerous Tesla sites which are open to all. Better prices than the rest. Paying is zero faff with the Tesla app (or contactless). I would have plugged in and paid in less time than typing this..
Thanks for all the replies.
She admits that she should have done more prep, and at least looked at the charger site to see how many bays there were.
Swapping cars for the weekend would be the sensible option, but she won't drive mine because "it's too big".
I've had a look at ABRP, seems to do the job, apart from the fact that it likes to run the battery down to 11% before stopping to charge. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 20 mile buffer. She'd be panicking at 20%. Can you change the minimum level setting?
She admits that she should have done more prep, and at least looked at the charger site to see how many bays there were.
Swapping cars for the weekend would be the sensible option, but she won't drive mine because "it's too big".
I've had a look at ABRP, seems to do the job, apart from the fact that it likes to run the battery down to 11% before stopping to charge. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a 20 mile buffer. She'd be panicking at 20%. Can you change the minimum level setting?
I’ve personally never really got on with ABRP, seems overly complicated for what you need. It had its day when resources were scarce and range was tight but that’s no longer the case. Google now does most of the hard work and is a more familiar interface to most.
The other problem is ABRP, Zapmap, PlugShare etc is that to the people on the edge of getting an EV, being told you need to use these specialist websites reinforces any concerns that charging is complex and requires masses of planning, providing details of your car and what sockets you have(even though 99.999% are Type2 and CCS. The sooner EV owners stop talking about coping mechanisms and just say “Google for thr nearest rapid like you might search for a petrol station” the better - and it’s not that different.
The other problem is ABRP, Zapmap, PlugShare etc is that to the people on the edge of getting an EV, being told you need to use these specialist websites reinforces any concerns that charging is complex and requires masses of planning, providing details of your car and what sockets you have(even though 99.999% are Type2 and CCS. The sooner EV owners stop talking about coping mechanisms and just say “Google for thr nearest rapid like you might search for a petrol station” the better - and it’s not that different.
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