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It looks to me from reviews they've messed up the cross climates a bit in their current version, they seem to have improved their very cold weather/snow performance at the expense of wet performance
Water on the road is around a 10-15% loss.
The bugger have cancelled my Q4 order as they say it will be here before my current E-Tron is due to be returned. Just have to wait nearer the time now and reordered.
Are they they OEM tyres? OEM tyres are crap versions of after market tyres even though they bear the same names.
May i just LOL at that massive and inaccurate generalisation.
Some manufacturers MAY, in SOME cases get a version that is optimised for fuel economy or durabilty.
The vast majority get bog stock production tyres same as everywhere else.
Another small number may get upgraded tyres with improved traction/grip or reduced NVH characteristics or other tweaks.
though they’re EV specced and LRR, they really do spin out quite often.. I’m not trying to accelerate like a nutter, but Brighton is hilly, and often when accelerating out of a junction UP a hill it’ll spin spin sugar…
Do you not think these things are linked?
Reducing RR is a trade off Vs traction (and tyres with a higher weight rating tend to stiffer carcasses as well, which doesn't help) unweighting an inner wheel on a corner and applying torque in a heavy car while going up hill?
You do know where the power for the 12v system comes from don’t you ?
Just to put it into perspective
Just cruising along at 50mph driving the car is about 85% of the power demand on the battery, AC (at full chat) is about 14% all the rest of the 12V systems combined is the remaining 1%, give or take. (Lot of hybrids and EVs have 400v HVAC these days, so it needs to be separated out.)
Some manufacturers MAY, in SOME cases get a version that is optimised for fuel economy
A lot of people have reported the same thing, particularly when Michelin Energy Savers came out. They were fitted to a lot of cars and everyone hated them, however I bought some after market ones and they were pretty decent. I had a car with Turanzas on it that were incredibly shite, but the aftermarket ones are good. It may not be all cars, but it seems very common.
Re rain and range.
I've noticed a pretty significant effect on the motorway - about 10-15% ish drop in predicted range on a 3 hr journey where the car predicted enough range to get to the destination before setting off, but dropped considerably after driving through fairly heavy rain for an hour. Once the rain cleared up the predicted range went back up. I didn't track efficiency at the time but think this equates to about 10-15% "ish" based on the predicted range changes.
It makes sense - rolling resistance will increase due to displacing the surface water on the road. Moving dry air past the car at 70MPH is surely easier than rain plus raindrops which are more or less stationary compared to a cars speed.
I can't see lights and wipers making any measurable effects - they're pretty small power drains especially with modern LED lights - 15W or so each, so lets say 60W total for the whole car. I reckon my ETron uses about 26kW at 70MPH, so the lights account for 0.2% of the power consumption on the motorway.
What tyres are you all running?
I’ve michelin eco things on my Leaf – though they’re EV specced and LRR, they really do spin out quite often.. I’m not trying to accelerate like a nutter, but Brighton is hilly, and often when accelerating out of a junction UP a hill it’ll spin spin sugar…I REALLY wanna stick michelin crossclimates on it, but reaf it’ll bugger the range…
DrP
I've got crossclimates on my Leaf. Absolutely superb, and did not make a noticeable difference to the range.
Which did you go for?
I just stuck xc2s on my Octavia...
Not sure if EV would warrant xc+, xc2 rei forced, or normal...
Probably reinforced....?
DrP
The required load rating for your car will be in the manual...
Another CrossClimate 2 user here. No noticeable impact on range on my Model 3, and if anything they’re quieter than the PS4 that came fitted to the car.
The load rating is 89 for 16s.. to 91 for 17s...
I'm running on 16s..
But the fuel efficiency for the reinforced (94!) XC2s is B rated... C for the 91 load.
Will it mess up the ride having a firmer tyre sidewall? (Bearing in mind I'm fitting some coilovers when they arrive, to lower it and set the suspension!)
I think I've got a mix of the normal/reinforced on the octy..!
DrP
You're dicking about with the suspension, I wouldn't worry about tyre load ratings...
Coilovers on a Nissan leaf?
Just...why?
It's a leaf.
The mind boggles.
Though, there is a Prius round near me with a massive spoiler on the back and a full body kit, lowered/massive wheels etc.
Most mainstream / budget car suspension is as cheap as they can get away with to give an acceptable ride and not fall apart in the warranty period. Coilovers aren't about slamming a car to the deck (the people that want that tend to go for air these days), but it lets you set heights exactly where you want them and adjust damping as you prefer.
You'd think a MTB forum would understand the value of higher quality adjustable suspension 🤷♂️
Just…why?
It’s a leaf.The mind boggles.
Same reason you replied here... just cos I guess!!
I like playing about with things TBH adn fancy fitting them myself.. I've always loved the JDM look ever since I saw a JDM Type R (see my photo above..)..red car, white rims... It could do with being about 30mm lower to look better, and the car feels a bit under damped/wallowy...plus a bit of a mid life crisis situation.. that's why! 😉
Oh..lower = better economy too
You’re dicking about with the suspension, I wouldn’t worry about tyre load ratings…
Meh..still important! It won't change the load situation!
DrP
It’s a leaf.
The mind boggles.
It's only a few bits of fibreglass away from:
Yeah, i think a few of the stickers might be carry over...
It’s only a few bits of fibreglass away from
ooh.. that's a target to aim for 😉
DrP
Went to the National Botanical Gardens in bad weather the other day and got poor economy. I was pretty sure of making it home anyway but I found there's a new charging station at Cross Hands on the A48 and since it's next to a Starbucks I parked up whilst I was getting a coffee derived beverage. In the time it took me to walk over and get drinks it had gained nearly 8kWh at a max rate of 32kW. My car only does 50 max and it was half full anyway. The station offered a max of 50kW but there were 8 stations I think.
A pretty cool experience until I calculated I'd been charged 79p/kWh. There's also an Ionity at McDonalds across the road but I doubt that would have been cheaper.
Has anyone considered the e-Berlingo/ rifter size vehicles? We are a 1 car family, with couple of kids and ideally want something bigger than our current hatchback to cover the usual family stuff of camping, bikes etc, but also be the daily drive. We test drove the MG 5 while back which just didn't really seem to live up to the estate label boot wise. e-Berlingo seems next size up. Avoiding SUVs, range not great but would cover most usage and assume efficiency would be naff due to size. Anyone got one or considered and gone against for any reasons? Thanks
We did. Seemed natural given we have had almost all over belingos over the years.
Range is pants. Quoted range is pants. The real world reviews are even worse. The shape is not conducive to good efficiency
We still have our diesel one.
You don't have to assume anything about efficiency, you can find out online. SUV shapes need not be bad in absolute terms, you can get 4 miles/kWh from an Ioniq 5 as far as I am aware, which is not half bad. More than an Berlingo I think? And overall range much better, don't Berlingos have small batteries?
Of course non SUV shapes will be better still but choice is currently very limited.
Neighbour has this week taken delivery of a Peugeot 2008. Nice car, but she is finding real life range about 150 miles and with a 50 mile round trip daily commute is charging it every other day..
Don’t think she researched it much. And her PodPoint charger, that was fitted a few months back, doesn’t work. We have an Easee one (though no EV yet !) and she is using that, with a full charge of the 50 kWh battery costing £15 (yes, she is paying for the juice used). Despite is costing about half to run as her previous petrol Merc, she hates having to plug it in so often.
you can get 4 miles/kWh from an Ioniq 5 as far as I am aware, which is not half bad. More than an Berlingo I think? And overall range much better, don’t Berlingos have small batteries
I'd hope you would it's about half the useful space of. A berlingo and therefor the shape is different.
Yes the Berlingo has a 50kw battery same as a Corsa - they focused on retaining the load space at the expense of range.
she hates having to plug it in so often.
well , she wants to get over that issue as soon as she can 😂
Sounds like an ideal candidate for an EV with that commute and the range. Tell her to get her kaput charger replaced with something that has a tethered cable. ( assuming hers isn’t already)
It’s very little effort to plug it in.
she hates having to plug it in so often.
Daft reason. Get home, plug in. It's that simple. Ours is plugged in nearly all the time.
Costing half as much as a diesel though, something wrong there. Ours is about a tenth the cost.
^^^ a 50kw battery costs about £15 to charge from close to flat at standard tariff of 30p. That goes about 150 miles. A tank of fuel is, say, £60 and gets maybe 300 miles plus in same stop start commuting use. Those are the person’s (not me) numbers, but they seem ok.
My diesel Audi does about 450 miles on a tank that costs about £90, so seems to equate. 30p is standard tariff with Scottish Power.
She’s not planning running her appliances at night to take advantage of off peak tariffs as had bad experience of such appliances going on fire while family asleep.
she hates having to plug it in so often.
🤷🏻♂️ if it’s just sat there anyway that doesn’t seem like a problem.
Yep, can’t disagree there. Conditioning and mindsets I guess. Probs not helped by her own house charger not working from the get go and needing to wait a few weeks till engineer will come and look at it - crappy service, all part of her lease deal through work I think.
Most generations and countries have had a "peoples Car". What have we got in the EV world and how much?
People's car is currently the Niro and in the future might be seen as one of the forthcoming ID2/Kia EV4 etc but honestly they will be too late. Once the second hand prices come down a bit more and all the 2020 ex lease Niros/Konas hit the auctions they will be the sensible choice.
For the Berlingo/Traveller etc, they really do seem like the only choice in that bracket but would be hard to live with. The 50kwh battery is only about 42 usable, and they use the same drive systems as all the other cars and vans, so m/kWh isn't great and the trip computer calculates range very badly. I have an E-Expert which is about 67kwh usable from what I can tell. If I drive carefully I can get 170m in summer.
Honestly go take a full day test drive in one, see what kind of milage you can get. Then go do the same in a Buzz if you can make the numbers work. I did 144 miles in my test drive Buzz, 3m/kWh, middle of winter starting -3deg.
150miles from 50kWh? Is that all? What’s she’s doing with it?
We get 120-150 (summer-winter) from 33kWh and that’s mixed fast-b, motorway and start stop.
I’d be expecting closer to 200 or 220 at this time of year.
But having looked at it - usable capacity is actually 46kWh and efficiency is really low - less than 3miles/kWh.
In short - pretty crap electric car.
at standard tariff of 30p
There's the problem. The longer your commute the better off you are on an EV tariff, provided you aren't using tons of power during the day. Our commute is 13 miles each way and even then the saving Vs diesel pays for the whole electricity bill.
^^ I don’t think it’s the problem, it’s the reality for many, self included, depending on lifestyle. 4 of us in the house, boys (20 and 16) out most of the day, wife works part time, I WFH probs 4 weeks out of 5 on average.
So in a typical 7am till 10pm period, there’ll be my computer, screens, Teams calls all day, youngest teenager gaming with big pc and twin screens after school, at least one cycle each of washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, probably 3 or 4 showers (all electric). Plus all the routine stuff, making meals, hoovering etc.
I woul imagine I’d need to be doing a lot of nighttime cheap rate car charging to make an EV tariff pay. There is no way we would run appliances like washers/dishwasher when family asleep, not worth the fire risk imo.
Did you do the calculations?
It was a clear benefit for us despite half the mileage, but the four of us aren't using anywhere near that much power. Just reading that fills me with anxiety!
Anyway. BMW i5 looks good, wonder if they'll do an estate.
Anyway. BMW i5 looks good, wonder if they’ll do an estate.
Yup.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/all-electric-bmw-i5-touring-confirmed-2024
molgrips
Full Member
Did you do the calculations?It was a clear benefit for us despite half the mileage, but the four of us aren’t using anywhere near that much power. Just reading that fills me with anxiety
haven’t calculated in any detail, just rough estimate. Yeah, our combined gas and electric without an EV is £480 a month 🙄
Yup
Great, if only there were a cat in hell's chance of being able to afford one 🙂
Yeah, our combined gas and electric without an EV is £480 a month 🙄
That's almost exactly our yearly bill including the electric car. That's with no gas and ignoring the PV.
The EV tarif would have increased the bill given the exhorbitant day time rate.
I saved about £20 per month on an EV tariff even before I got an ev car, and that was just simply by using dishwasher, washing machine and heating water at night. Yes I know there are some who say you shouldn’t do this but I find this strange - we have fire alarms throughout the house, I’d think leaving them on when out is much more of a risk. With 2 ev cars the saving compared to fuel is about £270 per month.
This is with 2 full time workers so we’re not in much during the day.
Good evening gents, is intelligent Octopus still the charging tariff of choice, I've only a hybrid so the 6 hours at reduced rate will be enough to fill it up and I'll on average do it 5 nights a week.
It is if you use enough power in your EV to offset the increased cost of normal electricity. If you're prepared to use your washing machine and dishwasher overnight, this may be the case for lower EV usage.
If you have a hybrid with a small battery it may not be worth it for you. You'll need a spreadsheet.
I'm tempted to dig mine out and put it online or make a website or something.
I’m tempted to dig mine out and put it online or make a website or something.
yes please !
Would be good if you could input different cars, then I can show my disparaging neighbours that my yet to arrive i4 is much more efficient than their Peugeot 2008 🤪. In a mates way of course, as they are dear friends but we do all like to rip the xxxx 😂
Bit of a (non) stealth ad. If anyone needs a home (7Kw) charger, get in touch. Especially if you're an electrician. Got a UK-built product. Reliable and easy to fit. PM me for more info. Thanks
Joined the EV club with a new MG 4. First impressions really positive - basically just jump in and go it's all very intuitive. The rapid acceleration is the main differece when driving vs normal ICE family hatchbacks. The infotainment thing seems pretty straightforward which seems like a gripe on other EVs.
With the i3s due to go back soon I've been looking out for new lease deals. On the work scheme the Audi Q4 E-Tron and Volvo C40 electric keep popping up at slightly less eye watering amounts than others. Anyone got either and care to comment?
I think the Audis are very inefficient no? Doesn't Drac get like 2.7m/kWh? For comparison our Hyundai is getting around double that now the weather's warmed up a bit, although it is a favourable drive. That's more than the official figures.
I had a Q4 E-Tron Quattro on order through work Tusker lease scheme, and swopped it to an i4 on closer research on the numbers. The real life range on the i4 is a lot higher than the Audi SUV. Lease cost wise they were within a tenner a month, both specced with leather and factory towbars.
Trip report:
Opted to take the EV to North Wales, to save money, avoid the miles on my own car, reduce environmental impact and to demonstrate to @SaxonRider how cool EVs are and how great the experience is... hah.
The place went (Pont Cyfyng) is about 170 miles from my house, official range of the car is 183 which is pretty realistic. There are three places to charge on on near the route, A470, and a big charging hub on the A5 at Rhug Farm Estate. So the plan was to visit one the stations on the way up - Llandrindod Wells, Newtown or Betws y Coed to put in 40 or so miles to make it to Rhug Farm on the way back.
We stopped at Llandrindod Wells and the charger was busy, but fortunately the guy came out and finished just in time so we put about 8kWh in at 79p/kWh. We didn't go to Newtown but the one in Betws was indeed busy as expected.
After doing the walk the Betws one was still busy, so we went to Rhug Farm. The cafe was closed, all chargers were free, but none were working. So I called the hotline and they triggered a free 5kWh from their side whilst I signed up for Instavolt. That worked, but whilst mooching the free leccy I realised that we could get to another Instavolt in Chirk that was at a MacDonalds (yay..) that one worked via Charge my Hyundai, it charged to 88% again at 79p whilst we ate and that got me home, just.
Total cost including away from home charging and home electricity was £33, Vs about £42 of diesel that would have been needed. So not way cheaper, due to paying so much at Instavolt. Spent about 2.5 hours not driving, but part of that was eating which we'd have done anyway, so I think it cost us 1h45 on top of 8hrs of actual driving, versus diesel. Very disappointed that Rhug Farm didn't work as that's a major location for North Wales. Also the first time I'd had a failure. Fortunately it didn't leave us stranded. Although they did answer the phone and we could probably have got it working eventually.
But in fairnes Mid Wales is probably the worst serviced part of the UK south of the Great Glen, and it's a short range car. And really, whilst I like driving the A470 the A5/A49 option is actually much better serviced with chargers by the time you get to Chirk, Oswestry and Shrewsbury.
Averaged 5.2m/kWh on the way up and 4.9 on the way back with slightly faster driving, slightly colder air and wet roads for part of it.
Bit shocked at the cost though. A longer trip with one more fill-up at that price would have made it more expensive than diesel.
Oh and I also didn't see it charge above 35kW despite not being particularly cold and starting from low numbers. Not sure why.
We stopped at Llandrindod Wells and the charger was busy, but fortunately the guy came out and finished just in time so we put about 8kWh in at 79p/kWh. We didn’t go to Newtown but the one in Betws was indeed busy as expected.
After doing the walk the Betws one was still busy, so we went to Rhug Farm. The cafe was closed, all chargers were free, but none were working. So I called the hotline and they triggered a free 5kWh from their side whilst I signed up for Instavolt. That worked, but whilst mooching the free leccy I realised that we could get to another Instavolt in Chirk that was at a MacDonalds (yay..) that one worked via Charge my Hyundai, it charged to 88% again at 79p whilst we ate and that got me home, just.
This seems to me to be why EV are not yet ready for prime time. Compare - "needed fuel so stopped at any one of a zillion petrol stations, and filled up in 10 minutes". I'd love to be wrong but it just looks like a massive pain.
Let me be clear this is a problem for Wales. Take a look at Zap Map.
And even then stations are going in very quickly.
Let me be clear this is a problem for Wales
It's also an issue north of Dundee tbh.
And the further north and west you go the worse it is.
It will get better but outside of urban centres it's painful right now.
It's a big problem in Wales, where I have my caravan. The guy on site that last year had a new Kia EV6 that said it was OK, he charged at home to get there and back, but didn't use the car from site (site power wouldn't support EV chanrging), is here with another brand new Kia, ICE car now, and bigger... FFS.
What are i3's with the extender like - could be tempted if my old 22 year old Nissan bike hauler decides to stop - it's not looking likely though!
I'm looking at really low use, as I bike to work, but need to go 150 mile return to my van if not using the other ICE cars, and use at the van for another 100 miles - little chance of charge here.
@tomd - we're testing one of those next week. To replace my wife's 8 year old Fabia. 90% of the journeys she does are less than 50 miles. She actually wants something smaller than the fabia (just room for dog(s)) but all the research we've done suggests the MG4 EV is the one to start with when you're testing. Neither of us have driven an EV before, so should be interesting.
I'll buy my Koraq once the PCP finishes next year. Absolutely no interest in buying a new ICE car and while we still need two cars, getting an electric which'll do about 70% of our journeys seems the way to go.
I expect away from home charging to be about the same (if not a little more) than petrol/diesel but for most people thats far eclipsed by the convenience of charging from home. cost next to nothing and I'm always fully charged. havent visited a petrol station in 18months and havent missed it one bit.
Despite the cost of this trip we're still thousands better off.
Just taken the plunge and ordered a Tesla Y though the company lease scheme. My 165k mile Passat was becoming a little unreliable with a couple of breakdowns recently, so seemed like a good time to look at replacing. Hopefully the transition to a smaller boot and EV will be relatively painless, and more than offset by having a much more expensive and brand new vehicle...
This seems to me to be why EV are not yet ready for prime time. Compare – “needed fuel so stopped at any one of a zillion petrol stations, and filled up in 10 minutes”. I’d love to be wrong but it just looks like a massive pain.
It's odd this argument keeps being made. Define "prime time"? If you're regularly doing long journeys and either don't have the time for charging enroute or there's a lack of chargers (either enroute or at the destination) then yes an EV probably doesn't make sense. Personally though I don't think that use case is "prime time" if you mean by that it would impact a majority of people.
I've used a fast charger 3 times with my EV, all before my home charger was installed. But then my daily commute is 10 miles and the longest trip I've done is 150 miles (which was round trip so didn't need to charge until I was home). I'm probably below average in terms of average trip distance but there's a huge amount of people in between the extremes for who an EV would still make sense
Agree for most the common argument of either inconvenience or cost is moot. We have charged away from home once in 6 months between two cars, and that is only because my partner didn’t fancy using my car which has a longer range.
Daily charging costs about 2.4p per mile. If a couple of times per year it costs the same as fuel then that doesn’t matter one bit.
Infrastructure and reliability of paid for chargers does obviously need to improve a lot though. Plus would be a whole lot simpler if they just all worked with credit cards.
public charge points - idiots guide please !
My EV is due for delivery in a couple of months (BMW i4 though work lease) and we already have the Eesee home charger installed. I will need to do some away from home charging on occasion, rapid and otherwise I suspect.
So what do I need to know, I naively expect to plug in, swipe my credit card and it'll all work !
@Alex no complaints with ours after a few weeks. Very easy to drive and everything seems to work. Wife thinks it's ace, she does quite a lot of A and B road miles and it just cruises along but has the accelration of a ICE hot hatch so makes short work of overtaking.
Home charging no bother at all on intelligent octopus. Takes 20seconds to plug in charger every 3 days. Sorts itself out overnight automatically. We always used to have to go out of our way to get petrol so it's a genuine time saver.
@Iainc
Do BMW do a subscription? I'm on an Audi sub at the moment which gives me Ionity at 30p per kwh
Infrastructure is improving all the time, but it can be expensive - PodPoint at £1 per kwh near me, very busy or broken.
1. Get a decent charger map such as ZapMap or A Better Route planner
2. Have a plan a, plan b and plan c for charging when on a long journey
3. Sign up for all the apps some don't let you just swipe a card.
If you haven't done so already, consider an ev charge tariff for your home such as Octopus Go or Intelligent of your car/charge supports it.
Oldtennisshoes has pretty much covered it. It’s really not a hassle at all, less so with the range they get now. Rock up to your charger plug it in, tap your card or phone then enjoy a bit break.
Mine will be low on charge when I head to work tonight, I’m not working local tonight, so I’ll stick on the charger around the corner when I get there. It’s a slow charger but as I’m working it doesn’t matter. I’ll take it off the charger when I have a break. No need to stop at a garage on the way home sniffing stinking fumes as I top it up and then stand in a queue waiting to pay.
don't want to start an other electric car thread.
but has anyone converted an ICE car to electric ? It's something I've been eyeing up for a while now. I know it's not the most cost effective option, would be good to hear from anyone else that has looked into ti / or actually done it!
public charge points – idiots guide please !
The only ones I've used had a card reader on them and didn't require registering (I did also create and add some credit to a BP Pulse account as I noticed they have chargers on a route I might need to use in future, not entirely sure if I needed to do that though).
As for using the charger - one thing that caught me out was the spring-loaded effect due to the thick cable (on a 150kW charger), the charger connector pinged out of my hand and hit the floor as I casually grabbed it as I would a petrol pump nozzle. No harm done, I just looked a tit, and you don't need any sort of strength to use it just more be prepared for it.
Also the second time I used one it took 3 or 4 goes (disconnecting the charger between attempts) before it actually started, not sure how common that is (I've only used one 3 times in total, it's not happened on my home charger though). So don't assume you're doing it wrong if it fails to start charging.
And one small tip, if you're fast charging remember it gradually slows down the charge rate over about 60% battery level (at least it does on my Polestar 2) so unless you have a lot of time to wait around or you really have to get it to a near full charge I'd stop around 75%.
Also the second time I used one it took 3 or 4 goes (disconnecting the charger between attempts) before it actually started, not sure how common that is (I’ve only used one 3 times in total, it’s not happened on my home charger though). So don’t assume you’re doing it wrong if it fails to start charging.
Weight thing again. Hold it into place until you hear it lock, sometimes if you don’t the pins may not align.
And one small tip, if you’re fast charging remember it gradually slows down the charge rate over about 60% battery level (at least it does on my Polestar 2) so unless you have a lot of time to wait around or you really have to get it to a near full charge I’d stop around 75%.
Yeah it’s a thing for most but not as low as 60% on my e-Troon.
great info, cheers all, I had a look online, the BMW EV app can be downloaded once I get the car and it has some good looking stuff re charger access and locations too. Reviews seem to indicate it should do 300 miles relatively easily (vs quoted 365) so I won't need to charge away from home that frequently
but has anyone converted an ICE car to electric ? It’s something I’ve been eyeing up for a while now. I know it’s not the most cost effective option, would be good to hear from anyone else that has looked into ti / or actually done it!
Loads of people, you can even buy kits now. There's a guy i work with who converted a BL mini in his garage, that's probably 10-12 years old now and still a daily driver, it's probably on it's 15th iteration by now.
His day job is developing PHEV/HEV and BEV platforms.
Yeah it’s a thing for most but not as low as 60% on my e-Troon.
Depends on the battery strategy and design, you can charge harder for longer, but you then either start to degrade the battery, or increase energy usage/wastage to cool it harder. Lots of other factors at play too (ambient temp and starting temp etc)
My summary of away-from-home charging:
- There's slow, fast, and rapid chargers. Slow means 13A plug i.e. 3kW; fast means 7kW AC like the one you have at home (or 22kW but I'm not sure how many cars can do this); and rapid means 50kW DC or more. My car allows you to search for AC or DC, but it's DC you want unless you're parking up all day or in a real bind.
- There are lots of charging companies. Most are really expensive if you just rock up - 79p/kWh or so - but most exist on one of the many many partnership schemes and subscription tariffs to make them cheaper. For example, we charged at Instavolt the other day and paid 79p/kWh through the Hyundai charging app (different to the one that manages your car!) because we don't pay them a monthly fee. You can halve that if you pay monthly.
- Gridserve seem to still be 45p/kWh so if that suits your needs go there.
- Many schemes or car apps I think let you either scan your phone or a card at the charger or activate it directly through the app. Charge My Hyundai app lets you activate a charger remotely even if you aren't there, which was very handy on Saturday as after I failed to get a charge at Rhug Farm I was able to verify that the one at Chirk was working before I went there.
- Some charging companies also have an app/scheme that you can subscribe to directly but of course only work with that specific company - Ionity and Instavolt and probably others. You can also pay them for a subscription but this is probably not ideal as you're then tied to that brand. Guessing you're better off going through BMW.
- It's true you get nowhere near the 'max' charging speed but you may get close depending on how full the battery is and how warm it is. This fantastic page from Fastned shows charging curves for loads of cars. This is your car: 
Well my plug-in hybrid Octavia is probably still another year away at least, so over 18 months in total, so thinking of cancelling and just sticking with petrol again. I'll likely have to take a cancelled order at this point, if I can find something. EV/plug-in will have to wait another 4/5 years I think.
molgrips - very useful, thanks
Oldtennisshoes has pretty much covered it. It’s really not a hassle at all, less so with the range they get now. Rock up to your charger plug it in, tap your card or phone then enjoy a bit break.
Not to flog a dead horse, but molgrips trip report above shows that this is not universally the case. I\m not an EV-sceptic, far from it - last year I met up in Italy with a friend who'd driven his Tesla down from Denmark, and in the course of a week he waxed lyrical about the car (like Tesla drivers do) and had me convinced. But then when I got home I first of all saw the price of a Tesla, and then saw the infrastructure for non-Tesla cars, and noted how many of the charging points I saw in passing were occupied, and how many drivers reported broken points. I'm sure an EV would be fine for 90% of my journeys, but what about the other 10%? Do I need to rent a car? have am ICE car in reserve? I'm ready to buy an EV when the time is right, and assuming that anyone actually has one to sell me, but it doesn't feel like that time has arrived yet.