Three long trips. No range or charging anxiety

[J0hn.r]

Scotland tour (from Bristol) over 4 days in September: 1253 miles driven, 23h24min time-driven, 7h34min time charging. Superchargers on the motorway and mostly 50kw chargers in Scotland. 1-minute charging for each 3 minutes driving, or 19min charging every hour driven.

This trip was spent in the company of 5 Porsche Boxsters, who never had to wait for me. In fact, I was leading most of the time and had to wait for them a number of times
I charged before leaving, or after arriving in each location we visited. We did plan to stop for lunch in places with charging, that required a bit of planning ahead.

Exmoor and Dartmoor 1-day trip: 297 miles, 5h49 driving and 1h34 charging. One 50kw and one supercharge. 1-minute charging for every 3.7 minutes driving, or 16 mins charging every hour.

For this day trip, I had a general feel for where I wanted to go but improvised along the way. I wanted to cover both moors and supercharge at Lifton in between but discovered that Lifton was closed during the day. Nevermind, plenty of other chargers to choose from.

Second Exmoor and Dartmoor 1-day trip, with a bit of Cornish Atlantic Highway: 288 miles, 6h21 drive, 34min supercharge after a failed top-up in Bude (it started, I left, it stopped after 1% charged. I just minded my walk around the town).
1min charge for every 11min drive, or 5mins and a bit charge every hour. This is due to fast supercharging (at 130KW for a good portion) in Lifton.

Quite a difference from the previous trip, but still, even the previous trips is more than acceptable.

So, yes. I don't even think about it, I plan my trip and re-plan or re-route as needed. After a year and 12000 miles in my M3 Performance, I consider charging or range anxiety just a myth.

 

[Medved_77]

I bet you enjoyed the road between Braemar/Cock Bridge/Tomintoul. Ballater is my home town, loads of good driving roads around there

 

[J0hn.r]

Oh yes! Scotland was the highlight of the year for me!

I reminded myself that I did actually have a trip with some anxiety. In Wales. Due to 3 50kw chargers not working in/around Aberystwyth !

But first.. here's a Wales trip in September that wasn't that bad. 3 days mountain biking in Snowdon. 407 miles driven, 8h21 driven and no fast or supercharging, just 2 free overnight campsite charges in Snowdonia. And one failed attempt at Morrisons Abergavenny that did not make a dent in the total trip (we had to shop anyway).

 

[J0hn.r]

And here was the bugger: day trip to Aberyswyth, energetic driving all the way there, reaching with 16% to find all 3 fast chargers not working. Spent a few hours on call with support, trying to get some juice in. Then limped back to Llandrindod Wells where - luckily - the 50kw WAS working!
I wrote about it here: I challenged the dragon (Wales).. and I lost!

So: 5h29 driven, 47min charging but what isn't in this picture is the 2h30 I spent trying to charge unsuccessfully, and the slow drive to save energy. So 1-minute charging every 1.6 minutes driving, or 35min charging for every 2h

So yes, no range or charging anxiety - except if driving in Wales (and in your unlucky day where all chargers are broken!!

 

[Artiste]

I had a trip to Scotland a couple of weeks ago, staying in Fort Augustus, and I also did a little over 1200 miles. I didn’t suffer from range anxiety because I planned the trip carefully, but I did spend a fair amount of time sitting in the car waiting while it charged.

It does emphasise the difference between EV and ICE. Seven hours of charging time would equate to less than 15 mins filling a petrol/diesel tank.

Charging would be so much quicker if the charge rate didn’t taper off as the battery filled. Before coming home I charged at Fort William, which has new 250KW V3 superchargers. With a preconditioned battery at 14% I started charging at 205KW. I aimed to charge to 100% (something I do very rarely) for the journey home, and by the time I’d finished the rate had dropped to 14KW. At 50% charge it was less than 100KW.

As well as developing higher capacity batteries, it would be great if a way could be found to significantly reduce the tapering of charge rate.

 

[Adopado]

I had a trip to Scotland a couple of weeks ago, staying in Fort Augustus, and I also did a little over 1200 miles. I didn’t suffer from range anxiety because I planned the trip carefully, but I did spend a fair amount of time sitting in the car waiting while it charged.

I suppose the trip planning has to include how you can use the time when the car is charging. During Covid times there are more limitations but it's hard to believe that sitting in the car is required when you are parked in a location worth investigating. It's usually easy to keep an eye on how the charging is going by monitoring at a distance via the app.

As well as developing higher capacity batteries, it would be great if a way could be found to significantly reduce the tapering of charge rate.

I agree. People look at the manufacturers' headline charging rates and do a quick sum to predict a time needed to charge which is then not born out in reality. The charge taper makes all the difference. I don't know if there's a trade off between fast start and slow finish to even out the average. If that is the case then it looks like there could be a marketing pressure to have a high start rate even if it makes the overall charge slower! Perhaps the advertised rapid charging speed should be quoted as an average rather than as a peak.

 

[doats1]

I'm planning to drive to Midlothian and back with my wife and 2 kids in February. I've planned stops and stay-overs to coincide with charging so I doubt it will be a problem. Did a practice run to the coast and back on a full charge and very confident about realistic mileage.

I also don't think I could get away with more than 150 miles per run with a toddler and a baby anyway!

 

[J0hn.r]

It does emphasise the difference between EV and ICE. Seven hours of charging time would equate to less than 15 mins filling a petrol/diesel tank.

It's not really 15mins, you have to refill 3-4 times for that distance (1253 miles), you have to queue for paying, maybe queue for getting a pump etc. I'd reckon you're looking at 30-40mins vs 7h

And there is a difference. You have to be physically present the whole time. While for the 7h, you can set up the change and go, relax, have a coffee, eat, sleep (for overnight charges). While monitoring the car app to ensure it's still charging. All without the nauseous smells. That's a big difference for me and makes live with the EV very much bearable if not pleasant

 

[hcdavis3]

It's not really 15mins, you have to refill 3-4 times for that distance (1253 miles), you have to queue for paying, maybe queue for getting a pump etc. I'd reckon you're looking at 30-40mins vs 7h

And there is a difference. You have to be physically present the whole time. While for the 7h, you can set up the change and go, relax, have a coffee, eat, sleep (for overnight charges). While monitoring the car app to ensure it's still charging. All without the nauseous smells. That's a big difference for me and makes live with the EV very much bearable if not pleasant

Your trips would be on my bucket list...in a Tesla or am ICE car. Thanks for your post.

 

[Type2]

It's not really 15mins, you have to refill 3-4 times for that distance (1253 miles), you have to queue for paying, maybe queue for getting a pump etc. I'd reckon you're looking at 30-40mins vs 7h

And there is a difference. You have to be physically present the whole time. While for the 7h, you can set up the change and go, relax, have a coffee, eat, sleep (for overnight charges). While monitoring the car app to ensure it's still charging. All without the nauseous smells. That's a big difference for me and makes live with the EV very much bearable if not pleasant

Most filling stations these days offer pay at the pump so queuing to pay should really be a thing of the past. With more and more Teslas on the road queuing for a supercharger might be more of an issue in the future, and that would be a MUCH longer wait than queuing for a petrol pump.

I absolutely agree that there are occasions when you can usefully use the charging time to do something useful or enjoyable, but on other occasions time is of the essence and you just want to get from A to B as fast as possible.

The fact is that charging an EV is nowhere near as fast and convenient as filling an ICE car. It is, though, a price well worth paying.

 

[GRiLLA]

Most filling stations these days offer pay at the pump so queuing to pay should really be a thing of the past. With more and more Teslas on the road queuing for a supercharger might be more of an issue in the future, and that would be a MUCH longer wait than queuing for a petrol pump.

I absolutely agree that there are occasions when you can usefully use the charging time to do something useful or enjoyable, but on other occasions time is of the essence and you just want to get from A to B as fast as possible.

The fact is that charging an EV is nowhere near as fast and convenient as filling an ICE car. It is, though, a price well worth paying.

It's certainly not 'most' around here, only Morrisons and Asda. I would also observe that Shell seen to have chosen to upgrade their stores to include a chicane so you have to walk past every item of oversized 2 for £1 chocolate bars, a costa machine that only ever has vanilla flavorings ,overpriced screen wash, screwdriver bit sets and food that has been kept heated since the store was refit in 2018. Other brands of russian/saudi petrochemical suppliers exist, but they are all camouflaged as M&S and/or Wild Bean.