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^^^^^ mine came through Tusker and I didn't get one, however I have registered for it this afternoon
First Supercharger use today. Handily the Aviemore one is available to all. Tucked away behind the Macdonald hotel but three free bays. App easy to use. Bit disappointed only to get 69kW speed but a coffee and pee was enough time to add 45% to battery. Hoping I have enough to get back there on Sunday, pretty sparse options up in Torridon. Torridon hotel charging 85p/kWh! Definitely enough to get back to Inverness but it’s not exactly blessed with options either. Not used to these prices, never had to public charge since the wall box went in.
@iainc may be worth looking at Electroverse too? You can link it to your Octopus account so it just loads the cost onto your bill. But if you can get the discounted rates through BMW it's well worth it. I got a Plugsurfing card with my Polestar which is 30p on Ionity.
^^^ thanks, will have a look. Public charging will be a rare occurrence so just need to make sure I can access something reasonably fast and moderately priced.
I’m now used to IO home charging at 7.5p/kWh so a bit spoiled 😁
You do know that there are only 15 Tesla sites in the UK that can be used by non-Teslas?
23 at the last count.
We're just in process of going electric with a low milage second hand mg5. We've moved onto octopus and got an intelligent tariff compatible charger being installed.
App wise what are the essentials, over last few pages I've seen
Zapmap for general chargers, route plotting
Electroverse to add charging costs to house bill
Tesla app for the all vehicle open sites
Shell for access to certain chargers (are these not usable otherwise?)
Thanks
Fun fact on non Tesla supercharging.
There are only a few sites in UK currently as stated above but the map for other European countries shows many more.
Well worth knowing if planning an EV trip to the Alps or similar as I intend next year.
Having yolo'd into being a fully electric car'd household a couple of months ago the only apps I use are the home charger one and zapmap.
I downloaded a few others just in case but have never needed to use them.
I strongly suspect that the venn overlap between relatively early adopters of EVs and people who chronically overthink things is almost a perfect circle and this thread is very much an example of things being made to sound more complicated than they are!
^^ I’m in a similar place, as above all my charging to date has been on IO at home. Someone recommended zapmap, which handily shows charge locations, but so does the satnav in the car. I have Chargeplace Scotland as I regularly pass through areas with free charging, but have never used it. The Tesla one I got yesterday, as earlier, for an upcoming trip, with I think I will use. My BMW charge card accesses Ionity, which may be handy on longer trips,
Shell for access to certain chargers (are these not usable otherwise?)
I think the shell card has much the same main networks as the electroverse card, so possibly no point in having both. Also all the chargers I use with my shell recharge card can be used with a credit/debit card. Having said that, I tend to always use the same ones MFG, osprey, ionity, geniepoint. There may be others on the Shell recharge network that require an app (it's worth linking your card to the app, I recently couldn't get an osprey charger to read my shell card but could start the charge from the shell app)
My only advice is it pays to plan ahead if you're going somewhere new. Have a plan A/B/C unless Plan A is foolproof. So, iainc above has sorted out his holiday charging as part of the holiday planning.
I think it's still the case that the most reliable chargers to aim for are Tesla, instavolt, osprey, ionity, MFG, I presume gridserve have swapped out most old chargers now. Geniepoint have a bad rep but are starting to swap to new hardware, I think ones in supermarkets are prioritised.
Instavolt aren't on electroverse card or shell card, but are all credit/debit card.
Chargeplacescotland if you're in or visiting Scotland
I never used an app until a few weeks back when we ended up at a Dragon charger which was app only. But the main networks, on motorways and such, all work with a debit card.
I prefer A Better Route Planner sometimes but it is a bit of overload. Better for route planning but less handy than Zap Map for just checking where chargers are. Zap Map also has an Android Auto app.
I strongly suspect that the venn overlap between relatively early adopters of EVs and people who chronically overthink things is almost a perfect circle
Most true thing I've read in a long time 😅
DrP
I go into the office twice week on a Tue and Wed. Free charging is available at the office.
I’m trying to decide, on the Wednesday should take everything I can get and charge to 100%, to satisfy my tight arse ness. Or charge to 80% to satisfy my need for mechanical sympathy.
In modern cars 100% does not seem to be an issue. At least, as long as you don't leave it at 100% for weeks.
Anyone insured by John Lewis? I am and my policy runs out next month (Nov). I only have an old Leaf and so far it’s been around £200 to insure fully comp every year for the last 7 years….nothing from JL yet.
What is the name of the best Apple App for Tesla charging (for a non-Tesla) - there seem to be a few?
On the search, it’s the one on the top right, Tesla Lifestyle :
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cheers
In modern cars 100% does not seem to be an issue.
It is. Just modern strategies to charge, which is what does most of the damage, are a lot better. (cooling, charge rate reduction etc). The chemistry is better too, but still not *perfect*.
So it'll take much longer to shag the battery.
TBH, anything that heats the battery significantly, rapidly or unevenly will be doing damage.
Just modern strategies to charge, which is what does most of the damage, are a lot better.
Yeah that's what I meant
Also LFP cells in my car, the electrolyte breaks down slightly at a voltage that corresponds to 100% so heat aside, you're not meant to leave it at 100% for days or weeks.
WTF, those bloody "Saudi bots" are working for the Guardian now?
Most modern cars you can't charge to 100% (but you know that anyway. ) Toyota are so keen on battery preservation they've made the car pretty difficuly to use for long journeys - big buffers eat up a lot of the capacity, and limits on how many fast charges per day.
But if it drops to 90% after 5 years who cares? Really
Worst Speed sequel yet
I liked the bit when he says he has mobility issues so didn't jump out at 30mph....
...oh, and where the police spokesman says they brought it to a controlled stop with no damage to either vehicle, after the headline wording around crashing into the back of a police car...
The fact it's electric has nothing to do with it, obviously.
^^^^ hmmm, wonder if it had been an ICE it could have been put into neutral - sounds very odd that all systems locked, such that the gear selector and the brakes were disabled, yet he was still able to open window to speak to police, use phone (though I guess maybe not hands free given emergency situation).
‘The brakes would not work’
This is not believable.
Fun fact on non Tesla supercharging.
There are only a few sites in UK currently as stated above but the map for other European countries shows many more.
Well worth knowing if planning an EV trip to the Alps or similar as I intend next year
Actually, I found that the journey through France is possible without having to leave the motorway network to use Tesla and that provision, especially from TotalEnergies, Ionity and Fastned, is adequate to complete the journey. Most are actually faster than Tesla and many are undercover
prettygreenparrot
Full Member‘The brakes would not work’
This is not believable.
Agree, I'm highly sceptical of his account but just for arguments sake, let's assume he's telling the truth. He says he heard a grinding noise when braking... would be a hell of a coincidence for a mechanical braking fault to occur as well as the other electrical faults.
Best guess I can come up with is a fault on the electronics bus passing spurious sensor readings to the ECUs, e.g. if the ABS ECU gets a wheel-speed readout of zero it will think the wheels are skidding and apply ABS, and that can make quite a horrible noise. Plausible it could be described as 'grinding' ? 🤷♂️
Having a had a car with corroded ABS rings that confused the sensor, that sounds like a reasonable theory. The brakes should still work though even them.
OTOH, I just Googled "MG brake by wire" and this was the first hit: https://www.mgevs.com/threads/brakes-failed.3473/
Aside from the general "it sounds like made up BS" aspect...
Brakes - I'm fairly sure that the car will have a hydraulic circuit as well as a "brake by wire" circuit, so a firm push on the brake pedal would physically engage the brakes. (edit - a quick look at the MG5 manual online and it mentions dual hydraulic circuits.
Constant speed. The only way the car would drive at a constant speed is for some form of speed control to be active - e.g. cruise control - if it was a fixed power to the motor it would either accelerate or decelerate. It sounds rather unlikely that just about every other system on the car should fail except speed control which is working.
Aside from the general “it sounds like made up BS” aspect…
As I read that account, I was picturing Rab C Nesbit at the wheel, on his way home from the pub after a night on the special brew. “Luckily driving round the roundabout slowed the car down to 15 mph”
Yeah, course it did 🥸
‘The brakes would not work’
This is not believable.
The brakes might've applied, but they perhaps didn't slow the car down. There is precedent for this - there was a spate of this happening with Lexus hybrids - the throttle basically electronically jammed open and the brakes were not enough to kill the speed. A family was killed this way. It was considered surprising that touching the brakes didn't kill the throttle automatically, as it does in other cars.
wonder if it had been an ICE it could have been put into neutral
Assuming the control units are working, because this will be an electronically activated thing. Most cars will accept a command to go into neutral when driving along if the controls are responding, but if they aren't then, well, they aren't.
Sounds like part of the software crashed.
In essence though, any modern car is going to go wrong / not work / be dangerous if the electrics go completely wrong. Not limited to electric cars.
I had a Renault Clio that had a throttle that intermittently stuck down and you had to hit it repeatedly then it unstuck again. Garage said nothing wrong with it! Amazing I never had a crash, ended up using for a trade-in offer for a newer car…
The grinding brakes and his statement that he believed the car would stop without the accelerator seems to be just one-pedal driving and then using brakes which were oxidised. If he backed off the brake and then was scared to touch it again, then panicked and pressed either the cruise or cruise reset buttons on the wheel, this could explain maintaining speed/not stopping and how the police were able to stop it with no damage to either vehicle.
It did say on the article that they ‘did something that made it stop…’ - still managed to get onto national news as I was driving to play squash this evening…!
Meanwhile Kia and Hyundai recall 3 million plus cars and advise owners to keep them outdoors due to risk of catching fire. Due to brake fluid leaks. Also another recent one due to transmission fluid leaks. Funnily enough isn’t on the BBC news front page.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/hyundai-kia-vehicle-recall-cars-fire-b2420689.html#
I saw hydrogen refuel stations when I was in Japan recently. One of them in a fairly small provincial town on the east coast. Weirdly, the only cars at each one were the Toyotas, and even those looked to be liveried promotional vehicles. Build it and they will come, and all that…
Is tesla car really that good? I keep seeing news about problem on that brand
Mine has been great as an EV, and has never had anything go wrong with it. I’ve driven all over the country, in a mobile worker role regularly staying in hotels and never had a concern over range or charging. 20,000 miles has cost about £400 in electricity. My previous ICE would have cost £5000 in petrol for the same distance…
But the ergonomics (lights, wipers, aircon are fiddly, and they keep moving the bloody button for the radio) are a bit shit, and it’s not very well made. Certainly not as well made as anything in the same price bracket from a legacy manufacturer.
When reading anything, you have to remember every single thing to do with Tesla is hyped up, problems and benefits alike.
Build it and they will come, and all that
Not in this case. Hydrogen isn't the answer. I used to think it was then I learned about the problems.
Weirdly, the only cars at each one were the Toyotas
Not weird when you consider that the only company that makes hydrogen cars is Toyota.
A family was killed this way. It was considered surprising that touching the brakes didn’t kill the throttle automatically, as it does in other cars.
Essentially, touching the brakes kills the throttle because of the Lexus issue, before Lexus there were only a handful of manufacturers who had Brake Override Accelerator. It's now a legally mandated feature.
The Lexus thing also drove the implementation of several other software development QA processes. ISO 26262 for starters.
wonder if it had been an ICE it could have been put into neutral
Nope, most modern architecture at that point (shifter stack) is all but identical in operation between ICE and BEV.
Not sure if i'm mixing up two separate cases - but this sounds like the panic around toyota's that wouldn't slow down in the US. That was initially reported as a car fault, then an issue with floor mats and after a few years of investigation it was found that the problem was just people pressing the wrong pedal and panicking.
This podcast about it is pretty interesting
The brake override isnt mandatory, although lots of manufacturers have implemented it voluntarily. From memory, in that podcast they did some tests - basically showing that if you push the brake pedal, whether you are accelerating or not, the car slows and /or stalls. I have no idea whether this is the same for EV as ICE- I presume the stall mechanism isn't the same.
The brake override isnt mandatory, although lots of manufacturers have implemented it voluntarily.
Yes, just checked, last time i signed off on it was for 20 or 21MY, it's now been withdrawn as there was 100% coverage in the US. Don't know much more than that.
From memory, in that podcast they did some tests – basically showing that if you push the brake pedal, whether you are accelerating or not, the car slows and /or stalls.
Only if you have BOA installed, are making a concerted effort to stop or have a weedy engine. Get something with a lot of grunt, or drag the brakes for a bit to "slow safely" and you're SOOL, cooking brakes doesn't take long if you're still on the accelerator!
Not sure if i’m mixing up two separate cases – but this sounds like the panic around toyota’s that wouldn’t slow down in the US. That was initially reported as a car fault, then an issue with floor mats and after a few years of investigation it was found that the problem was just people pressing the wrong pedal and panicking.
At least 6 or 7 cases. Probably more. Floor mats, bad ergonomics, bad software and bad components have all been root causes.
I reckon it’ll turn out to be as simple as he engaged adaptive cruise control without realising and then panicked and pressed the wrong pedal. This would explain why the car stopped with the Police van in front of it without any actual contact and damage, and why it pottered along at 15mph.