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Is motorway electric charging reasonably priced?
No, but it's not necessarily cheaper elsewhere. You may well pay less for slower chargers. I don't pay attention much because I rarely do long trips in mine, but the older Gridserve chargers that only do 50kW are usually cheaper in my experience and it doesn't affect me because my pov old tech EV only charges at that speed at best anyway. There are cheaper chargers around, and if you do a regular trip it would be worth a few quid to find them.
It looks like chargers at other premises might be cheaper - lots of Lidls around at 65p rather than the 80p ish at motorway services - guessing they are subsidising the cost a bit.
Maybe it’s just me (considerably richer than ewe), but I don’t consider 80p/kWh to be too bad. Not when the price-capped home charging is 28p/kWh, business electric rates being higher, and you’re paying for the convenience of ultra rapid charging and the pleasure of paying VAT. Plus a bit of profit as ultra rapid chargers ain’t cheap to install.
Maybe it’s just me (considerably richer than ewe), but I don’t consider 80p/kWh to be too bad
Well it's annoying, but like I say I'm not bothered because I don't do a lot of long trips. It makes my EV about the same price as diesel though.
I'm heading off to the Netherlands in a few weeks, in the polestar..
Hopefully the EU charging setup is reasonable!
Oh... I may also have paid for the OTA performance upgrade... But it tak s "1-2 weeks to be sent.." FFS.... They gonna post a few bits of data per day!
DrP
you'll soon figure out your prefered charging away from home options.
i'm quite happy to pay for fast and available charger, yet to try Tesla when away from home.
Usually manage to get to where we are going with either no charge or a quick top up and then sort out a full charge somewhere at the destination.
A regular is Manchester into the wilds of Northunberland, quite happy to do that without charging.
Any suggestions as to the best networks to use/sign up to when visiting Scotland (from Ireland). Looking at Zapmap etc it looks like chargeplace Scotland ticks the boxes, any reason this would not be my best bet? Just want to set up apps/payment options before going over.
Best tip with Chargeplace Scotland is to pre-order the RFID tag.
https://chargeplacescotland.org/request-card/
The CPS machines don’t usually take contactless (although very new units do), and connectivity for app access is sketchy at best.
If you’re near civilisation, then Ionity and Tesla are worth using.
On the subject of Chargeplace Scotland, it used to be operated by Chargeyourcar and people south of the boarder got CYC accounts. Does anyone know if the old Chargeyourcar card / account still works on the CPS network. Or do you need to open a new account with CPS?. Can't find any info on either website.
Maybe it’s just me (considerably richer than ewe), but I don’t consider 80p/kWh to be too bad.
I don't think it's too bad either, but you have to compare it against how much it costs to charge at home and possibly, how much you used to pay in your ICE car.
The Charge Place Scotland charger network is maintained by local councils although Swarco manage the payments. Some councils are better than others at managing the maintenance and repairs of the hardware.
The Dunkeld chargers still hadn't been commissioned when I was there in mid Jan.
If you are visiting Scotland often then the physical CPS card is a must have. It’s a one off £10 fee though but I think well worth having. Both mobile signals and charger cover can be patchy out in the wild though, so you could be caught out when you need it most if the app doesn’t work. Never seen an ultra fast on the network either. Loads of the chargers are old 7kw chargers attached to public buildings. App good for searching though and can be filtered to find fastest options.
A couple of Tesla for all but the Aviemore one is old and only put out 50kw not 150. IONITY brilliant but few and far between. Only petrol station one I have ever used took contactless.
Any new high speed chargers have to accept contactless. If you are with Octopus, sign up for Electroverse and get a discount on IONITY and many others too.
I’d say motorway charging costs slightly more than Diesel. Prices rose fast when wholesale electricity want up, and haven’t dropped with it, funny old thing. When it was reasonable I would top up for peace of mind, now I avoid at all costs. See if you can charge at your destination, even if it’s a 3 pin plug.
Thanks. I have ordered the RFID card to go to my mums (they will not post it abroad). Charging options seem limited where she lives, one 50kwh in next village a couple of miles away and an AC charger in her village. After that it’s a 25mile round trip to the nearest Gridserve fast charger. Guess I will be looking for places to top up when out and about.
I'm in Glasgow area and have the ChargePlace Scotland RFID card - got it when I got an EV in July. I haven't used it, nor the BMW one yet. In fact I have only used public charging when on hols in Northumberland, where I used the Tesla ones on the A1, which needed the 'Tesla charging for non Tesla' app, and worked a treat. 35% to 80% in about 20 mins and cost around £16 I recall.
Oh… I may also have paid for the OTA performance upgrade… But it tak s “1-2 weeks to be sent..” FFS…. They gonna post a few bits of data per day!
I keep debating whether to get it, from what I read most people that do it really rate it but it seems to only kick in over 40mph and you need a high battery charge (not sure how high). So for my driving/use it's hard to justify the £1k
connectivity for app access is sketchy at best
The only time I needed an app to charge (Dragon Charging at Amroth in West Wales) there was no mobile signal. This really annoyed me until I discovered that the car park had its own WiFi hotspot, presumably for this reason as well as allowing people to pay for parking by app. It only worked at the one end where the pay machine and the charger were though.
"Between 40-70% SOC the power boost will be slightly lower. This is to protect battery integrity.
Below 40% the power boost is not available and the standard vehicle power and torque outputs apply. This is to protect battery integrity and due to system limitations."
I completely appreciate it's expensive (and probably not worth it!), but.... hey ho!! Moar Pawah baybeh!
DrP
Edit - also for those with a polestar 2... whilst the OEM mudflaps are £150 (and OEM pencils are £41... and a Hoodie is £210!), go to EV Floormats.co.uk, and the mudflaps are only £14.99 and look ace!!
I’m heading off to the Netherlands in a few weeks, in the polestar..
Interested to hear how you get on, as I am contemplating a trip to southern Sweden in autumn. Are you going by ferry or tunnel?
tunnel...
it seems there's free chargers at either end, plus payable (tesla, open to all) too.
My plan is to leave home (Hove) and charge (likely fast but payable) at the dover end of the chunnel.
Charge once again en route (300 ish KM), then charge at the destination (eftelling theme park. they have EV chargers in the residential car parks, and LOADS in teh theme park too).
Will see how the polestart fairs...
DrP
Edit – also for those with a polestar 2… whilst the OEM mudflaps are £150 (and OEM pencils are £41… and a Hoodie is £210!), go to EV Floormats.co.uk, and the mudflaps are only £14.99 and look ace!!
I got those, they’re great. Their floor mats on the other hand are shit. They went straight in the bin. The proper Polestar winter mats are the bee’s.
I’m ok with 80p per kw/hr, but primarily becuase I rarely use it. If I had to do so weekly and wasn’t getting reimbursed, it would stick in my throat. But once every 5-6 weeks is ok by me. And that said, for 80kw/hr bing able to charge the car at 350kw/hr means it genuinely takes me less than time than a wazz and get a takeout brew than it does to charge. 10 to 90% in 11 minutes… yes please. If we were having a longer stop (ie lunch and kids) I’d consider taking the slower chargers. But mostly… no. As others have said, brim it at home for long journeys and charge just enough to get you home (+\- your own comfort factor!)
350kw/hr means it genuinely takes me less than time than a wazz and get a takeout brew than it does to charge. 10 to 90% in 11 minutes… yes please
WTF are you driving that charges at that speed?
10 to 90% in 11 minutes
What car is that ?!?
Is this a hypothetical calculation - real world cars can only achieve high charge rates for relatively short periods
Taycan?
No, even Taycans can't do 350kW continuously. Nothing can yet.
I think that Percy has a Genesis ? So I think this is a hypothetical not an actual
I’m guessing it’s an e-GMP platform car so an Ioniq5 or 6, Ev6 or GV60?
They’ve probably got one the fastest charging curves of any EV currently but max charging speed is 238kW and 10-80% is quoted at 18 mins in ideal conditions.
Still a fair bit shy of those numbers though.
Fastest I’ve managed was 223 kw and about 20 mins 10-80% and I was shiting myself because the car was practically throbbing underneath me it was sucking up electrons so quickly.
Good to know about the floor mats!
I got a set from carmats.co.uk for my leaf.. They're amazing. They do varying levels too...
The pornstar came with mats so no need there!
Also..still no software update yet...
DrP
Those are crazy numbers perchy. I find it pretty impressive/scary on the odd occasion my niro manages it max 70kw charge rate so 200+ would be terrifying 😀
Anyone on here an MG5 owner? I'm considering a facelifted version. I have been looking at the MG ev forums and they get good reviews but seem to have some minor issues (software/Tesla charging and door opening from inside 🤔). Probably all solvable in the long run.
Other cars in looking at is the facelift Niro (probably too expensive), maybe a Skoda enyaq or an Mg Zs long range.
I've narrowed the options down to cars which have roof rails (75kg), near 60kwh and above battery, vehicle to load capability (not sure the enyaq had that though) and room inside the car with the rear seats down to take a 1.8m bit of wood.
Other option is to get my Roomster mot'd and carry on with it for the time being.
Any other options that might fit these requirements?
Worth checking the MG5 roof rails will carry that much. The first generation’s rails were purely for aesthetics, which was ironic given the way the rest of the car looked
The pornstar came with mats so no need there!
Carpet though?
I always put rubber ones in my cars. Rufty-tufty mountain biker an all that.
@mrchrispy - my i4 regularly hits 205kW for a short time. It’s in no way scary - the only way you can tell is that the dashboard & charger displays show a high kW number and the stage of charge number increases quickly.
That only lasts until about 20% though and then it tapers down until it’s 50kW at 90%
that looks restrictive but in the real world I usually only ever fast charge to “get back home” hence am adding a little bit of charge around the 10-50% region so the slower charging around the top end of the battery isn’t noticed.
Worth checking the MG5 roof rails will carry that much. The first generation’s rails were purely for aesthetics, which was ironic given the way the rest of the car looked
I had read that the original mg5 had untested roof rails. The face lifted mg5 (trophy at least) can carry 75kg which is ok my minimal use.
Compare the GV60’s charging curve where it’ll stay over 200 kw for over 50% of the batteries range. It sometimes makes noises when it’s charging full pelt. A little disconcerting the first time but apparently perfectly normal.
Probably active battery cooling fans making the noise?
Yes, I think it is actually liquid cooled which would have fans along with pumps and valves and whatnot and I think the aircon compressor is used as well.
A bit of that and some thermal expansion of the battery casing. It’s like the occasional ticking a radiator makes when it’s heating up combined with a barely perceptible hum
That GV6 charging curve is impressive!
The ETron I used to have was flat at its max 150kW all the way to 80% and it's definitely a good feature.
Turns out the Q4 is only rated to tow 1200kg as well, which is a bit borderline for me. So the Ioniq 5 is probably still the front runner, and that charging curve is certainly another plus. That said, the Q4 is a lovely car.
the Q4 is a lovely car.
I had one on order with Tusker for close to a year, it kept getting delayed and I eventually cancelled it and went for an i4. The BMW is a much nicer car IMO, and I went with the retractable towball so i can use a bike rack on the back (though more often if it's just me in the car I put the bike in the back with front wheel off)
I can add a +1 for the i4. It's a great car.
It's a "normal car" shape not an SUV style - either a positive or a negative depending on your preference but it does mean that it handles well (low C of G) and have a good range (lower drag). The only real negative is the cramped rear seats due to the Coupe-like styling.
The BMW is a much nicer car IMO
The cheapest used i4 on Autotrader is £39k versus £23k for a Q4. I would love an i4 but I'm just not that rich!
The towing of a polestar is:
Max. trailer weight
USA(lbs)
Canada
(kg)
Without brakes:
1650
750
With brakes:
2000
900
Max. tongue weight
200
90
Not sure if you'd seen or considered that.
I got the topspec model for around your budget..
DrP
perchypanther
Free MemberCompare the GV60’s charging curve where it’ll stay over 200 kw for over 50% of the batteries range. It sometimes makes noises when it’s charging full pelt. A little disconcerting the first time but apparently perfectly normal.
That's really impressive actually, over 100kw until 80-something %