 Poster: A snowHead
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@LaForet, I don't own an Ohme  With the IO app and my Tesla it starts to charge at the "Standard" rate until IO realises and either stops the charge and schedules or starts a slot straight away at the 7.5p rate. I assume the Ohme has to communicate with IO so you must get some time charging at "full rate"?
OctoAid app for iPhone is great to see what you actually are charged.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| MHskier wrote: |
| Quote: |
You can see how 20 chargers in places like that could easily fill up
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It'll be all the brits (snowheads) filling up the Autoroute ones  |
Yep. Certainly the ones that are 3 or 4 hours from the Tunnel were all Brits (the same Brits that had been passing us / been passed by us since leaving the train). I know when we went in January last year (they quietest week post-Christmas), the queue at the new SommeSous Aire for electric chargers was crackers.....(although they were still finishing the other side of the car park so it might be there's a load of new ones there by now).
I'd be less worried Northbound as the traffic flow is different but feels like there's a big group of people who are getting a v early train then doing the Alps in one hit for teatime.....getting the infrastructure handling that will always be a challenge.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| paulhinch wrote: |
| MHskier wrote: |
| Quote: |
You can see how 20 chargers in places like that could easily fill up
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It'll be all the brits (snowheads) filling up the Autoroute ones |
Yep. Certainly the ones that are 3 or 4 hours from the Tunnel were all Brits (the same Brits that had been passing us / been passed by us since leaving the train). I know when we went in January last year (they quietest week post-Christmas), the queue at the new SommeSous Aire for electric chargers was crackers.....(although they were still finishing the other side of the car park so it might be there's a load of new ones there by now).
I'd be less worried Northbound as the traffic flow is different but feels like there's a big group of people who are getting a v early train then doing the Alps in one hit for teatime.....getting the infrastructure handling that will always be a challenge. |
I did the analysis last year on a peak day (and posted it here) showing that at no point were any of the relevant tesla sites fully occupied.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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So a quick look at first French charging spot and going on from Ioinity on the autoroute to the next cluster of fast DC chargers via ChargeMap.com (I have rfid) gives a cluster of multiple close together options at Bethune / Bruay-la-Buissière. All within 15km of Ionity. Suspect this will be the case all the way down - so allow some buffer on arrival at ionity for that and have a list of alternate fast DC locations ready if needed is the strategy.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@MHskier, can you use Tesla chargers? I can't recall if they've owned France up or not! Their prices seem 50% lower than others last time I looked!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yes got the tesla app and there are a good number through france available for non tesla drivers, but I suspect they may be as busy as Ionity and my car doesn't charge v fast on their V3 chargers ~40kw ish
[url=https://www.autoblog.com/2023/03/27/charging-a-non-tesla-on-a-tesla-supercharger-long-term-kia-ev6/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW9uaXFmb3J1bS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKLujoj8MhaoQTbxeTBdsoMngbiJ5IF7JPhr4bRXjQLHlo0f7LAAQN18qv8XsksfZfCrHvuySl97xqjPKZgium7S6EbjixPgGqA9XBRSemPI_ZKLiYnwdLCLQCb7t4MJvawVIRGojrVDIvkkJYIpJnMVeFHWBYUnSA44qRlqxj9y][/url]
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Wed 22-11-23 16:08; edited 2 times in total
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| snowdave wrote: |
| I did the analysis last year on a peak day (and posted it here) showing that at no point were any of the relevant tesla sites fully occupied. |
I remember that post and was encouraged by it. Next month I'm travelling down on a Wednesday and back on a Friday, so hoping not to get caught in a travelling convoy of British Teslas all heading to the Alps at roughly the same time, wanting to stop at the same Superchargers 
Wonder if Tesla's new navigation system (where they take account of cars heading to the Supercharger as well as the number currently there) will help avoid that kind of congestion, when that gets rolled out in a software update? I've done a bit of route planning with ABRP and for the stops I think I'll probably make I always seem to have at least one, sometimes two, Superchargers as an alternative to my Plan A option.
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@MHskier, how do the Tesla prices for you compare to your discounted Ionity prices?
@rob@rar, The Tesla nav has done a few wacky things for me on recent long trips, including trying to stop me within 45 mins of the journey start to charge and pre heating the battery in a hotel car park before I left! I ended up cancelling it and manually routing to a charger 2-3 hours away which is when I wanted to first stop, so I'd suggest a bit of time at the start checking what it automatically is routing you to! Have you put all weather or snow tyres on? Did you swop rims?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| kitenski wrote: |
| @rob@rar, The Tesla nav has done a few wacky things for me on recent long trips, including trying to stop me within 45 mins of the journey start to charge and pre heating the battery in a hotel car park before I left! I ended up cancelling it and manually routing to a charger 2-3 hours away which is when I wanted to first stop, so I'd suggest a bit of time at the start checking what it automatically is routing you to! |
That's one of the reasons I use Apple Maps via CarPlay in mine, I think Tesla's navigation is poor by comparison. Maps can't decide what Superchargers are necessary on a 250+ mile journey, so for the long drives I run the Tesla navigation in the background and, as you say, keep an eye on it for times when it might get a bit too enthusiastic about when to charge and when to pre-heat. But for the actual route planning, traffic info and speed camera data I think Apple Maps does a much better job than Tesla.
| kitenski wrote: |
| Have you put all weather or snow tyres on? Did you swop rims? |
Yes, fitted winter tyres (Pirelli Sottozero T0) last weekend. Managed to get a good deal on the tyres when I bought them (from mytyres) at the end of last winter, and got a great price on secondhand Tesla OEM rims (19 inch Geminis) over the summer, including 4 x TPMS and 3 x lightly worn Hankook Ventus tyres which I'll keep as spares just in case I ever need them. Having two sets of rims will avoid paying to have the tyres swapped twice a year. Was very happy with how the car coped with the new TPMS when I fitted the winter rims - automatically registered them after driving for about a mile, so no reprogramming necessary. That was always a major PITA with previous cars.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Good for them, although I see they are proposing 150kW chargers rather than 250kW or faster. Wonder if they don't want to have the very fastest chargers available to ensure people have enough time to buy some food at their restaurants...?
When using a high speed charger the biggest problem is not that it's too slow, but that you don't have enough time while you are plugged in to have a meal if that's what you want to do while you are stopped. Often there's barely enough time to head to the shop to buy a take-away sandwich, never mind sit down for a proper meal. The threat of Idling Fees looms large when it can be as much as £1 a minute if you reach your charging requirement and remain plugged in. I think the longest I've had to plug in at a high speed charger is 18 minutes. That's not even enough time to fire up Netflix in the car and watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory while I while away the electron-filled minutes.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We needed a splash n dash a week ago so stopped at MaccyD's in Wincanton. Sitdown was closed (about 10:30pm) so I wandered round to the drive through to get a couple of coffees where I was told they couldn't serve me due to health n safety (no pavement so walking in the road). I said fair enough, I'll just walk back down the road but without a coffee. Which I did, and right in the middle too 
Missing a trick I think!
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| Quote: |
| Wonder if they don't want to have the very fastest chargers available to ensure people have enough time to buy some food at their restaurants...? |
well yes, kinda assumed that to be the case!
OTOH we only charge at max 150 anyway, so no biggy - and I suspect the case for quite a few EVs on the road.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Arctic Roll wrote: |
| OTOH we only charge at max 150 anyway, so no biggy - and I suspect the case for quite a few EVs on the road. |
Yes, but future proofing for 800v charging architecture that more cars will have one day might have been a smart play.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Yes, but future proofing for 800v charging architecture that more cars will have one day might have been a smart play. |
But, as you say - who's got time to buy a Big Mac meal when the car only takes 5 mins to top up!
(You are of course right - planning for the future is the smarter move)
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Arctic Roll wrote: |
But, as you say - who's got time to buy a Big Mac meal when the car only takes 5 mins to top up!
(You are of course right - planning for the future is the smarter move) |
Install an intercom on each charging tombstone and get your Big Macs delivered straight to your car as your battery percentage zooms upwards…
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That Octo Aid app is a belter. Thanks@kitenski!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Arctic Roll wrote: |
But, as you say - who's got time to buy a Big Mac meal when the car only takes 5 mins to top up!
(You are of course right - planning for the future is the smarter move) |
Install an intercom on each charging tombstone and get your Big Macs delivered straight to your car as your battery percentage zooms upwards… |
Seriously, this has to be the future. Don’t even need an intercom, just do it straight from the app, which even knows your charger number. Or… from the car screen while you’re approaching so the food is ready just as you pull up. All billed straight to your charging account.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@snowdave, I think Tesla has planning permission to open a Supercharger / Drive-In restaurant somewhere in California. I’m sure that something along the lines you suggest would be a part of their plans.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Arctic Roll wrote: |
| rob@rar wrote: |
| Yes, but future proofing for 800v charging architecture that more cars will have one day might have been a smart play. |
But, as you say - who's got time to buy a Big Mac meal when the car only takes 5 mins to top up!
(You are of course right - planning for the future is the smarter move) |
Thing is, when you get to that point then you're in the same boat as petrol. When it's only a few minutes to top up you don't have to do anything else whilst it's happening....you can fill up then get a meal.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@paulhinch, I think Rob's point about Idling fees need to be accounted for: we will need to think in terms of park, charge, unplug, park somewhere [else], eat. Rather than as currently, and as many EV owners justify the timings of our longer trips : park, charge AND eat, unplug, go.
Yes, it is the same for existing ICE - albeit only once we get to the speed of charging is equal to ICE fill - but we've changed away from thinking in those terms, we'll have to change the mindset back again!
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Thu 23-11-23 12:30; edited 1 time in total
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| Arctic Roll wrote: |
@paulhinch, I think Rob's point about Idling fees need to be accounted for: we will need to think in terms of park, charge, unplug, park somewhere [else], eat. Rather than as currently, and as many EV owners justify the timings of our long: park, charge AND eat, unplug, go.
Yes, it is the same for existing ICE - but we've changed away from it, we'll have to change the mindset back again! |
Yeah - it feels like it'll be the next few years that are the issue there until all the tech & infrastructure stabilises.
Once you're at the point where it's a quick process you'll find the infrastructure that gets built feels more like petrol stations than random bits on the edge of a car park (you'd imagine). The spaces will be geared up for people to roll up, charge for a couple of minutes, move on (and then either carry on driving or park properly for food etc).
You'd imagine stuff like Idling Fees become a thing of the past then (there's no such concept in petrol stations as no one would ever park in front of a pump for 30 minutes whilst they grab a Maccys etc). Feels like they're only there at the moment because the infrastructure is so limited that they need to free it up quickly to get the next car in the spot (and because it's slow to charge, there's this learned behaviour of parking up, going and grabbing food etc whilst it charges).
Where it'll be frustrating is getting from a 15-20minute stop to a 5 minute stop. E.g. when a 10-70% charge is 10 minutes, it's too long to just wait around and not grab food etc, but too short to actually go and grab food (the problem you're describing). Once they break that with tech & infrastructure it's less of an issue.
EDIT: Or alternatively, you'll see infrastructure that's got both options. E.g. a Motorway Services has a bunch of super-ultra rapid chargers that give you 300 miles in a few minutes but also have the entire car park (or big chunks of it) set up for wireless charging where you just pull up into a space and it trickle charges whilst you're having a longer stop....slower but that's fine.
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@Arctic Roll, @paulhinch, it's all part of the mindset change that is often mentioned, and something you only really start to understand when you live with an EV for a bit of time. Like everyone else I suspect, before I bought an EV I thought that charging on long distance journeys would be a real pain, but the reality is that it's been a non-issue, much to my surprise. I sure there are some regions of the UK where high speed chargers are not so widely distributed, but for me driving around the South East and Midlands of England and around South Wales there have always been plenty of options along the way. If anything, the situation in France and Belgium where I'll be driving over the next 12 months looks even better (and cheaper) that it's been here in the UK for me. So route planning to Les Arcs looks incredibly straightforward, and hopefully I'll still be able to do the journey in a single day. I usually take some sandwiches as I prefer not to stop for meals, just fuel/toilet breaks with enough time to stretch my legs and take a bit of a rest before pushing on. In that respect the pattern of EV charging lends itself rather well to how I would normally do that drive. Looking forward to it in three weeks...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| kitenski wrote: |
| @LaForet, I don't own an Ohme With the IO app and my Tesla it starts to charge at the "Standard" rate until IO realises and either stops the charge and schedules or starts a slot straight away at the 7.5p rate. I assume the Ohme has to communicate with IO so you must get some time charging at "full rate"?. |
Yes/No. The sequence is that I enable the charge schedule in the Ohme app and that gets mirrored into the Ohme box. Or I can just enable the charge via the front panel of the box. Then, as soon as I plug in the charge cable I get a message from the Ohme server as a notification from the app, telling me what the charge period will be. Charge periods are always rounded back and forwards to xx:00 or xx:30 For example, if I plug in at 10:21 and the session ends 13:08, then the 7.5p rate will be from 10:00 to 13:30. If the start is deferred, then it may charge for a minute or so, but that doesn't register and I don't pay anything.
If forum discussions are any indicator, then people who choose to - or have to - program charge sessions via their charge point seem to have have fewer problems than those who program via the energy provider or the car. Intelligent EVSEs like the Ohme and Zappi seem to handle things more reliably. Or perhaps it just because fewer elements are in play, I'm not sure.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 23-11-23 15:07; edited 1 time in total
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@LaForet, that seems much better than what I get when IO controls the car and not the charger! I don't think I ever get it backdated and get charged at day rate when first plugging in until I manually stop it or it creates a schedule and auto stops it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@kitenski If you go to one of my Octopus bill pages for a particular day, you'll see that the rate drops to 7.5p between 10:00 and 14:30, but the charge session was shorter - something like 10:20 to 14:10. Which is why the first and last half hours are less than the rest. The peak on the 11:00-11:30 slot includes the washing machine starting up and heating a load of water.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@LaForet, thanks - 10-1030 your paying the higher rate aren't you, it only drops at 1030
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Drove to Les Arcs last week in an EV for the first time (Tesla Model Y Long Range) so thought I’d contribute my experience. For context, I live in South West London about 90 minutes drive from the Eurotunnel terminal. I’ve done this journey two or three times per season for most of the last 20 years; for the last 10 years or so in something like a Kia Sportage or similar. If everything goes to plan I normally leave home about 5.30am and get in to Les Arcs about 7.30pm, maybe 8pm if the traffic or weather is not cooperative. I tend to take several short stops along the way, for fuel, toilet, etc, but not an extended stop for lunch.
In summary, the journey was very easy and took about two hours longer than I would have done in my previous ICE car. It could have been 25 minutes shorter than this as I extended my stop at the Albertville charger as I wanted to arrive in resort with a reasonably higher State of Charge because I wasn’t 100% confident about in-resort charging options. As it turns out, this was unnecessary as there are very reliable chargers just a few minutes walk away from my place, so next time I won’t need to have that extended stop. I stopped about every two hours for charging, which matched well how I tended to take a break when driving an ICE car.
Charging requirements
I charged the car to 100% at home and pre-conditioned it so I started with a warm battery pack. Cost of this was about £6 (7.14 pence per kWh).
At the Eurotunnel terminal I plugged in to the Tesla Supercharger as I had time to kill waiting for my train. To charge to 80% cost £7.22 (38p per kWh).
Next charging stop was at the Tesla Supercharger at Saint Quentin. It’s a couple of minutes drive off the A26, located in a car park for a large shopping centre, so loads of local facilities including fast food, cafes and a large supermarket. There are 24 stalls at this Supercharger, and there was one car charging when I arrived (a Tesla Ranger in a MS Plaid). This continued the pattern for my subsequent three charging stops, no fewer than 20 stalls and never more than 4 cars charging. Queue anxiety was rather pointless. I had about 20 minutes at St Quentin, enough time for a walk around the shopping centre, and the charge cost was €14.72 (32 cents per kWh)
Next up was the Tesla Supercharger at Troyes (which by coincidence is where I used to stop to fill up my car with diesel at supermarket prices rather than autoroute services prices). Another large shopping centre with all the usual facilities, 28 stalls, 3 cars charging. This was a 40 minute charging stop, costing €21.00 (30c kWh)
Next up was Tesla Supercharger at Chalon-sur-Soane. Another large shopping centre, another load of empty charging stalls. 35 minutes at a cost of €21.08 (32c kWh).
Final charge stop was at Albertville Supercharger. I only needed a quick ‘splash and dash’ (actually, a ‘Volt and Bolt’) in order to reach Les Arcs, but I wanted have a higher SoC when I got to resort so I stayed longer than was necessary, about 30 minutes at a cost of €11.52 (32c kWh).
Taking in to count I arrived in resort with 50% state of charge, I’d estimate the cost of the journey to be about £62, with an average consumption of 365 Wh/Mi. The drive was very easy, despite me being the only one doing the driving. The combination of the Tesla Autopilot (basic version, with cruise control and lane keeping function) plus very quiet French autoroutes is a perfect match.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Sat 30-12-23 9:14; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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Interesting info and a good advert for the tesla ecosystem of chargers. I'm pretty prepared for our pre-new year run with discounted ionity the plan a. and a load of charge card alternatives if they're busy. Only issue is that the car is charging quite slowly since temps dropped as it doesn't have the pre-condition-heating option. So I am a bit worried it may tip it over the edge from being relaxed journey into being a pain with lots of waiting.
Just a bit of calculating on your numbers though and it seems you got 100-115 ish KW ave charging speed which isn't that stellar for Tesla Superchargers. Were you preconditioning? I guess looking at "average" is the thing - does it starting high but dropping off quite quickly as SoC % increases? Mine holds a higher rate of charge for longer....but only if the battery temp is sufficient for the car to tell the charger to go for it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@MHskier, yes, the charging curve isn't great, even with pre-conditioning (which the car did automatically). I didn't record my charging speeds, but an average of 100-115 is probably about right, maybe marginally higher. Highest was around 210 kW at the start of each charging session, but with the charging curve that declines as the battery fills up. The lowest I spotted was around 70kW just before completing one of the charges (around 90% SoC). If I was more experienced at this I might have been comfortable to let my state of charge drop to single digits before heading for a charger to get the highest charging speeds, but I'm not yet that confident so typically I'm plugging in around 15% SoC so have to accept lower charging speeds.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@rob@rar, how laden were you and what was your cruise speed? We did very similar to you with 2 people, two dogs and hand luggage but overnighted around Vertus so benefitted from a cheeky free Airbnb charge 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Grinning, just me in the car on the way down, reasonably laden but nothing very heavy. Normally cruising at the speed limit or a fraction below it. Temperature was around 8 degrees for most of the journey, half of which was wet and a bit windy. My summer consumption (mix of motorway and urban mileage) is around 254 Wh/Mi, so you can see the effect of winter temperatures on battery efficiency.
For me the main question was whether I could do the drive in a single day, just like I always have. Getting to the resort at 8pm isn’t significantly different to getting there at 9.30pm or even 10pm in terms of what I can do with those couple of hours. Before I bought an EV I hoped to avoid having to split the journey overnight, not that it would be a dealbreaker as for 360 days per year this is a non-issue. But I thought it would have been nice to avoid that extra hassle, which was easily achieved.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We are breaking journey both ways having previously done it in one day on the way home in the old diesel. Midlands to morzine. So should be reasonably relaxed even if charging is slow.
Ive asked if i can plug in at the two en-route airbnbs. Making it clear I’m using a v high quality after-market extension with a french plug not a dodgy cable and french adapter.
Feels like taking the wee wee not to ask and they may have shonky electrics and prefer you not to risk burning the house down! Both have said yes and one says €10 overnight so at 10 or 12 amps on the granny charger thats about 36kw at €0.27/Kwh for a useful stretch before breakfast the next day.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We have had an EV for months now.
The driving experience is fantastic, the charging away from home has usually been very frustrating.
All garages sell petrol and diesel, any car can use the pumps, and all of the pumps are usually working. The pumps have a canopy to protect from bad weather and have superb lighting. You can use contactless cards at all stations. There are loads of pumps and you don't need any form of app to use them.
Non of the above applies to the EV charging network. Terribly thought out, truly unfit for purpose.
What charging point locator do you all use, or just bung it in Google maps?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Drove to Les Arcs last week in an EV for the first time (Tesla Model Y Long Range)...... |
Thanks for the write up Rob. Really interesting. Be interesting if you could optimise that charging time by maybe adding another really quick stop in and keeping the top ups to 10-60% but your stopping profile is pretty similar to what we've done in a petrol car. We've not always filled up with petrol but we regularly do a 10 minute stop just to stretch legs etc. where you could plug in so you're not losing much in terms of time (and it's an all day drive anyway).
Feels like a tiny bit more planning (particularly if you weren't using a Tesla with the integration to their superchargers) but very, very doable.
That feels like a step change in the last couple of years.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
We have had an EV for months now.
The driving experience is fantastic, the charging away from home has usually been very frustrating. |
That's the main reason I went for a Tesla rather than another brand. The charging experience away from home has generally been fantastic. The car navigates the route including charging stops, provides live information on the status of the charging station you are being directed to, when you arrive there's no messing around with apps or contactless cards you simply plug in and the charging starts. The Tesla charging network has a very high reliability score, so it's almost always available to charge with few technical faults. In the nearly 10 months I've owned an EV I've charged away from home around 20 times, all of them at Tesla chargers except for my most recent charge (which was at a Shell Recharge point). Only once have I had to queue, at the Warwick services which only has 8 slow speed (150kW) chargers, and that was for less than 10 minutes. If one of the charging stalls hadn't been out of service I reckon there wouldn't have been a queue at all. The rest of the time it's been a case of reverse in to one of several free stalls and simply plug in. The car tells me when I've got enough charge to continue my journey, so at that point you simply disconnect and drive off. And all that at a much cheaper price than all other high speed charging networks, sometimes half the price.
I think the high speed charging experience for those who sometimes or regularly drive more than 250 miles a day is improving quickly and the advantage that Tesla's network has over everything else is getting smaller and smaller. Perhaps by the time I eventually change the car I have now there'll be no advantage at all so it won't be a factor In what I choose next. But right now I can't see beyond choosing a Tesla as the wider ownership experience is massively influenced by charging choices, even with the quirks and design choices that Tesla is known for.
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| paulhinch wrote: |
| Be interesting if you could optimise that charging time by maybe adding another really quick stop in and keeping the top ups to 10-60% but your stopping profile is pretty similar to what we've done in a petrol car. |
Yes, I agree. That's all part of the change of mindset that I think is needed when you switch from ICE to EV. Because of understandable range anxiety there's always the temptation to keep your battery as fully charged as possible. But that's not the best way to do long journeys. The best way is to have the lowest possible state of charge, just enough to reach your next charging destination. That way you maximise the speed of charging (empty batteries charge much more quickly than fuller batteries) and minimise your travel time A to B. But that's a bit counterintuitive, so I'm hoping with experience I'll get better at charging strategy. I have to confess I didn't let the car do all of the navigation from Calais to Les Arcs as I chose to use a couple of the Superchargers based on the facilities nearby, a full shopping centre rather than a hotel carpark, for example. I think if I'd just followed the exact route that the car's navigation set it would have been a slightly shorter journey.
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
| What charging point locator do you all use, or just bung it in Google maps? |
I have an Audi eTron GT. Preparing for the first drive to the Alps in January... but I did a sneaky weekend for the Rugby World Cup in Paris so have some experience of the Tunnel and Autoroute charging. I also make regular trips into the depths of mid-Wales (where there are NO fast chargers for at least 60+ miles)
The Paris trip was a breeze and I only had to wait 2 mins at one of the charging locations. The Alpine trip should be equally as easy since we drive through the night and last year I noticed that all the chargers were empty at 2am!!!!!
I use the Audi App and filter for HPC (which only shows me the 150kw and faster chargers). Before leaving home, I'll use the ABRP app (A Better Route Planner) and use that to identify the perfectly placed charging locations, and an "option" for each one if the chosen one is broken/full.
I let the Audi SatNav work out the ideal charging locations, and only change them if it hasn't picked the same ones that I've found.
Since I'm still in the first year of owning the GT I have the Audi ChargeCard for free, which reduces the Ionity price to something like 44p per KW
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Frosty the Snowman, best apps IMHO are ABRP for route planning with stops and zapmap for finding chargers. Play around with filters etc as you don't want to be plugging into 7kw destination chargers on a long trip!
You also can check a forum/facebook group for your car and get a feel for what charging stations work well, Instavolt were always good but not huge amount of chargers per location. Ionity good but expensive, and Gridserve seem to be coming on with big charging stations (Rugby and Wetherby the two I've used)
The 3rd party network is the main reason I went from an iPace to a Tesla Model Y.
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@jamescollings, I had an etron as my first EV (I’m on #3) and the thing that I found amazing was how fast it continued to charge at high %s - I can’t find the photos now (I handed it back about 3 years ago) but I had a pic of it charging at nearly 100kWh (c250 “miles added per hour”) at about 90% SoC (on a 150kWh charger) - the Jag I had after it would drop off dramatically at anything over about 50%. And I’ve only charged my current BMW once away from home in 2 years of driving it, so have no idea about how well it charges at high SoC! (we have slowish AC chargers at work, but 90% of my charging is done at home).
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