Unless she is a willing participant in the EV adventure I think I'd try and make sure her journey could be completed with nothing other than a SuC stop
My wife is similar. Out of pure stupidity every time we drove together I got out and did the Supercharger plug-in by myself. So the first time she needed to do it (on a trip which also required a CHAdeMO charge) she had absolutely no previous experience. She coped fine (but I had to remote start the CHAdeMO from MY phone as she didn't have the appropriate APP for that Charger Vendor on her phone ...)
So suggest getting your wife to do it with you before she needs to do it solo.
When my wife takes the car on business trips she won't go out of range. Too much hassle to charge when on a time deadline. I have never resorted to ICE on business trips yet, and we absolutely take it everywhere for recreational trips - I figure out a way to charge ... somehow. Point of principle, and all that
So CHAdeMO and CCS are used at the same locations generally?
Yes, CHAdeMO likely to be faster though (currently)
the UMC and type 2 which I think come as standard and everyone carries with them
Some people use UMC as the home charger "lead". I favour a tethered lead, so that I have UMC in the car for emergencies (and I don't wear it out using it as the daily-lead).
or they might buy the CHAdeMO as an insurance policy and not need the CCS adapter for a few years
CHAdeMO firmware may prove incompatible at some locations (make sure Tesla update firmware whenever you have the car in for service), and getting it to "lock on" can be a hassle. Its chunky too, my wife finds it a struggle.
My CHAdeMO adaptor has been used twice in 3 years, and that was on separate occasions at the same location.
That was in York where I was staying for the night and is a good example of where a journey has Supercharger, but its the running-around-at-destination, and then getting back to Supercharger, that is "too tight".
Going up the A1 Grantham-York-Grantham is doable, just, and if too tight I can detour to (nearer) Woodall Supercharger on the way back ... but if there is running around in York, or bad weather, that all gets too tight. Type-2 would do me (if shopping / whatever), and a 13AMP socket in the car park overnight top-up might do also. On the occasion that my Wife used it weather was atrocious, and she had to come back cross country [for a way-point] to Grantham, so Woodall was not an option. She left York charged to 100% at CHAdeMO and given the weather uncertainty was still reasonably tight getting to Grantham
Instead of my normal Grantham stop she detoured, outbound, to Woodall to use Supercharger nearest to destination
Left Cambridge temperature 10C @ 100%, to Woodall 391 Wh/mi, arrived 47% charged to 90%
Woodall 4.5C to York 395 Wh/mi, arrive 68%
Some running around, temperature falling, snowing. Overnight stop, cold soaked battery
CHAdeMO charge from 51% to 100% (took 2 hours) Note: CHAdeMO in York is at the Designer Outlet, the Leccy cost me almost nothing ...
Temperature -1C, snow, two legs 470 wH/mi and 450 WH/mi, average speed 50 MPH Arrived Grantham 35%
[Type-2] cable comes with the car or is cheap anyway
O/P: I wouldn't have said the Type-2 cable was cheap. relative to other cables maybe, but its still a chunk of change.
there have been periods in the past when either was an optional extra (I paid for my Type 2)
Yup, I also paid for my Type-2. Definitely need one.
Rapid chargers generally don't let you charge for more than an hour and in busy locations it's polite to limit it to 30 minutes and not leave the car for too long
O/P: Note that at Supercharger there is a "parking charge" if you stay connected after the charging finishes. I think its dependent on if the site is full though. You get notification on your phone 5 minutes or so before charging completes.
a week in Cornwall, which is a supercharger desert, would require an alternative.
Range is only an issue when you don't have enough, Natch. So if running around locally, in Cornwall, then using 13 AMP plug at 5MPH for, say, 12 hours overnight is still 60 miles a day running-around range, so that might do.
I understand that most CCS outlets in the UK are 'slow' lower and power compared to those available in Mainland Europe.
I'd describe that a bit differently. Both UK and EU have widespread slow CCS. So if you had CCS port you could charge "anywhere", albeit slowly. There is fast CCS being rolled out across EU (in particular by Ionity), and MOST of that has/is happening in EU and not UK ... yet.
I have yet to use my Type 2 cable
I use mine whenever there is convenient Type-2 charging nearby. I have never had to, but getting 22 MPH during a 2 or 3 hours stop gives me more options for where to then find a Supercharger - typically skipping the nearest one, which I would use if Type-2 not available. In reality: on at least 50% of occasions, probably more, attempting a Type-2 charge hasn't worked. I did not have the right APP; the 3rd party stall(s) was bust; I had to phone to get connected and, despite telling me that they could, they then failed to achieve that.Typically only a couple of stalls at each site, if occupied likely to be by slow-charging vehicles, so blocked for long time; sometimes all EV stalls ICEd. No ability (that I know of) to see real-time occupancy before arrival. 3rd party charging has been a universally dreadful experience for me.
Supercharger: Plug-in, walk-away. (Actually: Plug-in, check ramps up to 100+ kW; once a year, when the stall is slow, move to another stall
; then walk-away)
I helped a gentleman in a Leaf at Grantham a couple of weeks back. He was clearly circling the car park and kept looking over at the Tesla chargers where I was parked ... I figured he was either thinking he might be able to use them ... or something else. I could see the Ecotricity charger but it wasn't obvious where it was (particularly from his driving viewpoint). I went over to him and he said "
I'm looking for Ecotricity but my SatNav is telling me they are where you are parked and I'm pretty sure I can't use a Tesla charger". He was grateful that I could point him in the right direction