Supercharger time

[Shooter]

Just done another full charge at Reading. Plugged in at 9.47 with a range of 30 miles and it has just finished a complete charge (100%) 247 miles at 11.42. So 1 hour 55 total.

I am filling up quite a lot at the moment so will keep monitoring as my trip to Geneva next month has a number of stops for charging scheduled. May have to re-estimate my overall journey time

 

[Nhallwood]

It would be interesting to know at what point you were at 80% charge (you should have got a Supercharging almost complete notification at that level) and 90%. Charging really slows down at that point and in most cases 80-90% would be enough to get you comfortably to the next Supercharger in Europe.

 

[mgboyes]

It would be interesting to know at what point you were at 80% charge (you should have got a Supercharging almost complete notification at that level) and 90%. Charging really slows down at that point and in most cases 80-90% would be enough to get you comfortably to the next Supercharger in Europe.

Yep - charge to 80% and then set off is the expected way to use them (assuming there's another SC further down the road). The final 20% probably took well over an hour of your charging time.

 

[martinwinlow]

The key to SC hopping (as with rapid charger hopping) is to arrive at the charger with as little range remaining as possible... without actually running out, of course. Due to the non-linear way in which most EVs accept a charge - faster with low state of charge (SOC), slower with a higher SOC - the time spent at the charger is minimised as the amount of energy required for the next hop will be obtained as quickly as possible. This technique is one more often used with smaller EV battery packs - generally even the MS 60 will have enough range for most users to not have to do more than an 80% charge to get to the next SC... in southern UK and much of Europe at least.

 

[Brunel]

That last 1% can be a killer. Last September I had time to kill having dropped off my eldest at a birthday party, so I went to Ikea Bristol to charge and wander. A Renault Zoe was charging but was at 99%. I waited 40 mins (!!!) for it to finish charging and release the Ecotricity pump - I then used the CHAdeMO to charge my Leaf - walk around and buy couple of things - come back in 30 mins and Leaf is up to 80%.

The Zoe was still plugged in and no owner in sight.

That final 5% is better to do at home unless you are truly on a road trip and need the stretch.

 

[mgboyes]

That last 1% can be a killer. Last September I had time to kill having dropped off my eldest at a birthday party, so I went to Ikea Bristol to charge and wander. A Renault Zoe was charging but was at 99%. I waited 40 mins (!!!) for it to finish charging and release the Ecotricity pump - I then used the CHAdeMO to charge my Leaf - walk around and buy couple of things - come back in 30 mins and Leaf is up to 80%.

The Zoe was still plugged in and no owner in sight.

That final 5% is better to do at home unless you are truly on a road trip and need the stretch.

The Zoe has a designed behaviour where at the end of charging it re-balances the cells in its battery pack, so it will sit at "99%" for absolutely ages if you let it. Leaving a Zoe like that blocking a rapid charge point is pretty poor form.

But even with a Model S on a supercharger by the time you get up to 98% charge it's probably charging more slowly than if it were on a home charge point. Those last few % are not worth waiting for!

 

[arg]

The Zoe has a designed behaviour where at the end of charging it re-balances the cells in its battery pack, so it will sit at "99%" for absolutely ages if you let it.

Model S is exactly the same (not confirmed officially by Tesla, but evident from the behaviour many people have observed, analysis of the balancing circuit from people who have dismantled scrap packs etc.)

 

[J1mbo]

Rarely worth waiting for the last 5% at an SC - you can usually get a better outcome by driving conservatively and turning the AC off.

 

[Shooter]

I'm not normally driving from supercharger to supercharger but driving all over the country and trying to detour to superchargers where possible.

My real world range is in the 180-200 mark when a full charges shows as 247. If I cahrge to 80% then my real world range is 150-170 miles. Then the car is no longer viable given my mileage. Now as the supercharger network expands, it may become viable to maintain at around 80% but in effect I am doing long trips every day so don't have that luxury.

i was hoping for a real world range of around 240 but unfortunately doesn't make it.

 

[smac]

i was hoping for a real world range of around 240 but unfortunately doesn't make it.

I guess as the temperature picks up you'll get much closer to that figure.

One thought , instead of solely using Superchargers, I guess if you just need the difference between an 80% charge and a 100% charge for the car to work for you, maybe an additional stop at an Ecotricity point nearer the end of your journey to stick in 30 miles of top up in 30 minutes would be quicker in over all journey time. (This would require dual chargers or CHAdeMO)