London - Manchester trip this weekend

[arg]

Overall charging time impact - ICE would be 3:30 plus 30 min break (4hrs). On way up, my travel matched this. On way back, due to the Warrington stop early I ended up being around 5 hours for the same journey.

And now, two weeks later, the Keele supercharger has opened and would have eliminated that extra delay!

That's been my regular experience with the car - you plan a journey carefully with tricky charging options, and then look again a few months later to find that it's become hugely easier.

 

[tonyj01]

Thanks for all this info Amanmahal.

My Model S is due next March, and one of my regular longer trips will be the opposite of yours - live in Manchester, travel to London and back. My routes are usually M6-M1 or M6-A500-M1.

We tend to have a coffee on the way, and my range should be enough to cover the outward journey. the question is how and where to charge for the return journey. I think we, reading this, have all worked out that charging at home or work is the most important and most used, but longer trips need some thought, planning, and may take longer if extra stops needed.

I guess AmanMahal, you thought you were staying at Hilton Manchester Deansgate, but you in fact were booked at another Hilton! airport of further?

Regards, Tony

 

[arg]

My Model S is due next March, and one of my regular longer trips will be the opposite of yours - live in Manchester, travel to London and back. My routes are usually M6-M1 or M6-A500-M1.

If using the M1, you've got the Northampton supercharger quite conveniently placed. In a '90 you could almost do Manchester->London->Northampton without charging (but not comfortably at motorway speed), so you need a brief stop southbound - at Northampton, or using a CHAdeMO adapter at other locations if you prefer to make your coffee stop somewhere else. Then northbound you arrive at Northampton close to empty and take full advantage of the Supercharger to put in enough to get you to Manchester in about 20-25 mins.

In case you hadn't picked it up already - Superchargers charge much faster when the battery is close to empty, while CHAdeMO are more constant speed - such that above about 70% full they charge at similar speed. So for your round trip, outbound it doesn't much matter where you stop as your battery is still fairly full, while on the return leg you really want to stop at a Supercharger.

Of course you could as you say try to get the charging done in London - but unless you happen to find charging close to your destination, that's probably more trouble than stopping en-route.

 

[Amanmahal]

Thanks for all this info Amanmahal.

I guess AmanMahal, you thought you were staying at Hilton Manchester Deansgate, but you in fact were booked at another Hilton! airport of further?

Regards, Tony

Almost - stayed at the Radisson Blu at the Airport and had thought it was the one in town. The Hilton was actually the only place at the airport that actually had a charge point, but was a lot of hassle to go between airport hotels.

Agree with arg's point from earlier - by the time March rolls round and you're doing this journey, there's a decent chance there'll be more SC's to build a trip around and this will require even less advance planning.

I think I need to find a site that recommends good service stations (stuff with waitrose etc) with Chadmeo/SC, as I don't mind stopping as long as the food and services on offer are good (maybe I'm a bit of a snob on food too, I'm afraid). My trip was less fun as the dodgy food served up at Norton Cane services on the M6 toll just meant it made the whole stop less enjoyable and a bit more of a chore.

 

[Candleflame]

why are you guys talk so much about chedemo/ecocity charging stations? There is a supercharger 10km outside of Manchester and also a backup one in Stoke and Oxford for the way back respectivley. 90D will easily do London to Manchester in one go.

 

[arg]

why are you guys talk so much about chedemo/ecocity charging stations? There is a supercharger 10km outside of Manchester and also a backup one in Stoke and Oxford for the way back respectivley. 90D will easily do London to Manchester in one go.

Because at the time this journey was being planned, the Keele (Stoke) Supercharger was not open. Warrington is a bit of a diversion and also too early into the return journey - both on account of charging rate (needing to charge to 80-90% so slower) and because it's too early to be a natural comfort stop for the driver. Combined with the expectation for destination charging, that made Ecotricity the best choice for that particular trip.

Today, Keele supercharger is open and the advice would be different - but there's still lots of journeys elsewhere in the country where similar conditions apply: you _could_ make the trip just using superchargers, but for a medium amount of extra charge a better-located CHAdeMO can be the most efficient choice.

 

[tonyj01]

Good evening all,

I posted on this thread some time ago, and now my delivery time approaches -- MS 90D -- Hopefully next week, still agreeing the actual date and time due to my schedule changes. The car will reach Stockport on Tuesday so could be that day.

I will put some miles on the car to try everything out when I get it, and on Easter Sunday, I need to make my first long day trip, going to Manchester-Glasgow-Manchester in one day, around 410 miles. With the fully charged 90D [possibly soon obsolete] advertised as 330 miles, I still feel I will feel more comfortable with a stop or two, or shorter stops at SCs to reduce my newbie anxiety :smile:

There are SCs at Gretna and Abingdon services, as well as Ecotricity at all the others. I have all the maps and the apps ready. I also have ordered a ChaDemo and a type 2 adapter.

My thoughts are to drive up to Abingdon in one go, 160 miles, maybe add 30 mins of charge, spend the day in Glasgow, then pause again at Abingdon to gain more charge for the next 160 miles. I know the charging is faster when the battery lower, but I don't know what the weather will be nor do I yet know what that effect will have on the range.

I usually go up that quiet M6/M74 with eyes wide open at around 84mph, I don't want to tootle along at 75. I'm also aware that cruising at 45mph will allow many more miles to be achieved.

Have I worked things out correctly? Look forward to meeting some of you at chargers and meetups

Regards,

Tony

 

[arg]

With the fully charged 90D [possibly soon obsolete] advertised as 330 miles, I still feel I will feel more comfortable with a stop or two, or shorter stops at SCs to reduce my newbie anxiety :smile:

Note that the 330 miles is hugely optimistic (specially given your intent to drive at 85).

My thoughts are to drive up to Abingdon in one go, 160 miles, maybe add 30 mins of charge, spend the day in Glasgow, then pause again at Abingdon to gain more charge for the next 160 miles. I know the charging is faster when the battery lower, but I don't know what the weather will be nor do I yet know what that effect will have on the range.

Sounds entirely reasonable. May want to stretch to Gretna in the southbound direction if things are looking OK, with a view to being close to empty and a faster stop. Equally, if you're running late outbound you could stop less than 30 mins and still have plenty to get back to Abingdon again.

I usually go up that quiet M6/M74 with eyes wide open at around 84mph, I don't want to tootle along at 75. I'm also aware that cruising at 45mph will allow many more miles to be achieved.

The key tool for this is the 'trip energy' graph - put your next stop into the navigation, then go to the energy app on the big screen and select the 'trip' tab, and refer to it occasionally during the drive.

Graph all green = full right pedal.
Any yellow on the graph = no need to panic, but stick to the speed limit and keep a closer eye on the graph.
Any red on the graph = either divert to a different charge stop, or if you are a fair distance away and not much red, drive very slowly until it goes yellow again.

Can also use the graph while charging to know when you've put enough in.