Forum menu
First commute this morning. 30 miles cruising on dual carriageway and motorway, then a couple of miles of slower town traffic…..it’s an incredibly pleasant experience. I did leave a tad earlier than normal and traffic was fairly light.
The only negative so far is the heater makes a whining noise when it’s on high power.
Was 6 degrees, 30 miles used 11% of my battery. I didn’t check the final miles pkw, but it was just above 3 over half way into the commute. I’m still a little heavy footed, not intentionally, just need to get used to very gentle acceleration. My Q4 is 300hp (or equivalent), I’ve found that even the slightest press on the accelerator pushes the battery use to a high %. Missus has it down to a tee, I’m still adapting after coming from a Cupra that felt like it wanted you to drive it fast.
Weirdly I charged yesterday at a motorway service station (M56 Gridserve), only added about 25%, maybe a bit more, probably just over half an hour. Cost me £1. I’ve been checking my bank and nothing is pending.
Oh last thing….setting up the Audi app is an absolute nightmare!! Going to the dealers today to get it sorted. You’d think Audi would have this sorted by now, but apparently there’s loads of people who get stuck in the same loop as me.
Cost me £1
That's just the pre charge, the real amount will show up in a day or two
Weirdly I charged yesterday at a motorway service station (M56 Gridserve), only added about 25%, maybe a bit more, probably just over half an hour.
You know that different rapid chargers give different amounts of power right? Older Gridserve units only do 50kW but are cheaper. Most modern chargers are 150kW or so, some are 350kW. You may have been on a 50kW Gridserve.
the Pro pack on the i4 – it comes with adaptive suspension
My 320's Pro pack has adaptive suspension. It can switch between 'uncomfortable' and 'really uncomfortable'
Don't get me wrong, it turns in like very few cars and can be hustled with confidence on the back roads. But on poorly maintained roads it's jarring.
Not a fan.
The Skoda app seems to be simple enough to get sorted, but I now also have 3 other apps for charging - ZapMap for overall mapping, but also Chargeplace Scotland (which is just along the road from the house) and Chargepoint (which is what is used in the office - but doesn't show on the actual app).
The charging thing for the first time is 'interesting' - I was hoping to get 1 hour of charge at the office but I couldn't get the system to work - after 10 minutes I'd realised I was reading the company name as Chargeplace but it was Chargepoint - got that app downloaded and registered, but it wouldn't recognise the charger...so I moved to a Chargeplace Scotland charger and that seemed to be much easier.
Picked the Enyaq 60 up on Tuesday morning and by last night it was down to 31% - with the car telling me it had done 112 miles - I couldn't afford the larger battery 80 model, but I'm a bit surprised how quickly the battery drops as I don't think I've done a huge amount of driving over those 2 days.
Anyway, first charging experience was a 7kW and after 25 minutes gave me a 2% increase in the battery. I then used the charger near me and ran that for about 90 minutes and got to about 78% (from 31%) - that cost me £9, the 25 minutes cost me £2 (as a minimum charge). I then stuck it in the rapid charger this morning and it charged to 100% and that cost me £11.
I'll use the rapid charger next time as all the charging points from Chargeplace Scotland were 45p/kW, so the rapid one is likely to be 'better' as I'll get more charge in the same time.
So apart from the rapid usage of the battery (I'm going from a diesel with 700 miles range to an EV that claims a range of 214 miles - I'm hoping that does improve as things get warmer - so for now, I'm liking the car but not impressed with the EV experience yet. I suspect it will improve as I get more used to it.
I'm missing the auto full beam on the car this replaced...and I had a shot in a car with adaptive cruise control and thought it was fantastic, but this model 'only' has cruise control and adaptive cruise control would be a fantastic addition - I seem to have all the controls for ACC but it tells me it isn't enabled (and I'm not going to go looking to see if I can subscribe to having it!).
However, so many apps needed for the various charging stuff!!!
I’m a bit surprised how quickly the battery drops as I don’t think I’ve done a huge amount of driving over those 2 days.
What kind of driving? Short slow trips with the heating on high does ruin range; but having the heating on high on longer faster trips much less so. Still, I generally have mine set to 17 or 18.
Your car may take some time to calibrate its battery estimates to your driving.
first charging experience was a 7kW and after 25 minutes gave me a 2% increase in the battery
That does seem slow. Assuming that 25 mins gave you 2.6kWh given charging efficiency of 90%, if that were 2% your car would have a 131kWh battery.
so many apps. Like parking. Worse in Englandshire.
I have CPS, Zapmap and also Octopus. Plus BP pulse. Luckily we were able to get a larger battery than standard, sole household vehicle, came in handy yesterday as Elgin - Perth - Glasgow - Perth - Elgin. Making use of the Broaden Hub (where even there at least 2 points were out of order or needed manual reset from CPS HQ - who are absolutely brilliant. We had a nightmare first long journey when the claimed range wasn't close - but that's about the same as yours has.
so many apps. Like parking. Worse in Englandshire.
I honestly don't think most people need most of them.
What would be deemed short trips...reckon the shortest is 7 miles...certainly not big distances but most were 10-12 miles. Suspect this is all due to a new method of powering the car, in a few weeks I reckon I'll be fine and sorted, just the new experience and clearly not doing the research beforehand.
Heating is set to 17c...there are no obvious controls to control the speed of the blower (and I haven't worked out how to direct the blower - there is a button to do maximum 'something' on the windscreen, but that seems to be it) - I can set the temperature, but can't see what to do with speed - assume it is automatic. I appear to have dual climate stuff (or 2 sets of temperature controls on the dash) - ideally, I'd like to set it so the temperature isn't dual - never used it in the past and reckon it'll mess with my faux OCD!
New car and needing to learn it all...I'm very pleased to have it and there will no doubt be improvements over the next few weeks.
The range figure is, at best, a guess-o-meter.
The number you want to concentrate on is the efficiency which should be displayed somewhere as miles per kWhr
If it doesn’t start with at least a 3 then you need to wear either a warm coat or a lighter right shoe.
That seems to be sitting at 3.1...I'm trying not to be heavy footed as already aware that without the engine noise (and very little road noise), it is very easy to be going faster than expected, so I'm trying to be cautious so I don't unintentionally speed.
This is all very new hence all my daft questions and comments, but thanks for the confirmations and answers as I suspect I won't be quite so thick in a couple of weeks once it is all settled down and going.
3.1 is about what you would expect to see at this time of year if it’s cold and you are doing short-ish trips with the heating on.
Over a year my car averaged 3.4. Low 3s in the winter, mid 3s in the spring and autumn and high 3s in the summer.
I have heard it said that to get the equivalent of miles per gallon you multiply the m/kwh figure by 40 so the car is doing the equivalent of 124 mpg. Dunno if that’s just internet bullshit though.
DaffyFull Member
It’s £525 from my net pay.
that sounds a great deal, I have an i4 40 though Tusker salary sacrifice, it has a few upgrades - towbar, leather, comfort pack and I pay just over £700 net a month, and am a high rate tax payer also.
It's amazing how much the options add - it's like they have no resale potential, so they're all just lumped onto your costs. £3000 of option (leather, towbar and comfort) is pretty much £100 a month and then there's the £100(ish) to the 40, which is probably the difference.
I still cant bring myself to do it. I've obsessively worked out the math and it sort of makes sense, but the Scot in me seems to have won.
that makes sense. I went onto the Tusker scheme from a PCP Audi Q5, the monthly payments on that were under £400 but adding in servicing, insurance, fuel etc added up. I reckon I am around £150 a month better off with the i4, incl cheap electricity, with almost all my charging at home on IO.
@DB -- our trips around local county seem to yield 3.1-3.3 consumption, if the heating has been on. For longer journeys it does seem to rise to 3.4.3.5 at the moment, as I guess the heating evens out over the journey.
** if you have heated wheel and seats -- ** use that as seems to be a much better use of energy. I didn't even know how to turn on heated wheel for months (never having had that, did have a Saab with heated seats though).
I read on the LEAF FB chat group that the blower volume does have an effect, mine is kind of hidden as a +/- switch on dash.
So, question on rapid charging rates. I normally charge at home on an Easee charger and only occasionally use public ones. Car is a BMW i4 40, and we left home in Glasgow at lunchtime today at 90%
We arrived for a week at a holiday cottage near Bamburgh early afternoon and once we’d unpacked, gone and done a food shop etc, and racked up 180 miles, I popped 3 miles up the road to the open Tesla chargers, which I have used for top ups before, at Purdy Lodge. These are 250kw and when I plugged in, at 38% charge it was going in at about 140kw, quickly slowing down once it got past 50% and by the time the battery was at about 70% the charge rate was at about 60kw. I stopped at 80%, which had taken about 20 minutes and rate was at 50kw.
I realise it drops as the battery fills up, and there were 3 others cars on the bank of around 8 chargers, but I thought it would have been faster for longer ?
Took out a 2024 Tesla 3 dual motor and Tesla Y RWD today for a test drive. The 3 was ludicrous, .... the Y seemed a bit pedestrian in comparison but is a more 'sensible' option for a family of 4. My current car is from 2007, they've come on a bit...
Compared to the alternatives, I like the simplicity of the single screen and supercharger network - anyone moved from Tesla to another EV brand? Be interested in thoughts.,
I have driven a Tesla 3, albeit a more basic, I think a 2022 one. I ordered an i4 as it felt a much more refined place to be, albeit a little slower off the mark, in a straight line.
BMW have been making cars for a long long time in comparison to Tesla and IMO it is reflected in the driving ‘experience’ !
Older Gridserve units only do 50kW but are cheaper.
Since November all the DC chargers have been 79p/kWh. With charging losses that’s close to £1/kWh, or 33p/mile on non-Teslas.
AC charging is marginally cheaper.
However, when you can charge at 34p on the Supercharger network it’s not good value. Arguably Tesla owners are maybe paying the difference in the up-front cost of the car, but ultimately we have Tesla and then a pseudo-cartel of Ionity/Gridserve/Instavolt/Applegreen, none of whom are going to be particularly interested in reducing prices when there’s already a shortage of chargers.
Thanks, currently smoking about in an E92 330i, its a lovely car, but its a bit of squeeze for two adults and full sized teens + holiday paraphernalia and it spends most of its time scraping bits of MSport bodywork on London speed bumps..
I liked the Model 3's ability to squirt an overtake in the blink of an eye and the 'cooking' Y is no slouch but having been through motorbikes and trackdays, road driving 'experience' is not the foremost priority for me.
I guess I'm more interested to know if the alleged simplicity and comprehensive availability of the supercharger network is worth turning a blind eye to the exploits of the company owner and the slight vehicle purchase premium over other options?
So, question on rapid charging rates
It’s all about the charging curve for your car
The i4 hits a peak early and the speed declines as the battery gets more charge
anyone moved from Tesla to another EV brand? Be interested in thoughts.
Somewhere earlier in the thread I posted my thoughts on coming out of a Model 3 after three years and choosing between the BMW i4 and Polestar 2, rather than another Model 3. I bought the Polestar in the end.
I think some of it is on this page…
[url] https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/133/ [/url]
Thanks will take a look ^
The Hyundai/Kia e-GMP platform cars hold a high charge rate much longer than that.
The Model Y RWD seems pretty efficient. Over my first 200 miles I’m averaging 248 wh/mile or around 4mpkwh. That’s a mixture of town driving and motorway/dual carriageway. (about 50/50)
Something to consider @davy90.
Had a go on the supercharger network on Monday night. Dead simple.
Edit: as a caveat to that, I’ve been driving a PHEV for the last three years so am well practiced at ringing as many miles out of a kWh as possible. 😆
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/78/#post-12722623
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/80/#post-12725467
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/80/#post-12725676
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/80/#post-12725838
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/90/#post-12850566
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/131/#post-13088094
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-electric-car-thread/page/133/#post-13104384
Don’t get me wrong though, Teslas are exceptionally good EVs, but the current ones without stalks and a reliance on vision for everything ADAS systems just aren’t for me. Don’t get too hung up on the Supercharger network either… Tesla are rapidly opening them up to all vehicles, and other offerings are now just as good and in some cases (such as MFG) more widespread.
Yeah I don’t really get why they’ve taken the stalks out of the model 3 update and soon to be Model Y. Seems crazy to me for the sake of saving a bit of cash. Glad I don’t have to put up with that nonsense.
I’m finding the auto lights to be ok. Tesla Vision seems ok for parking but I’ve yet to experience the horror show that is auto wipers.
I was actually after an EV6 but they took it off our company car list about a month before I was due to order, annoyingly.
First road trip with the EV this week. Over in Anglesey. Have to say it is a faff with having to use public charging.
The phone signal over here is rubbish. Managed to install an app called Pod Point, first charger had two points but only one working. Then tried using the chargers in Morrisons but wouldn’t take card payment. No signal to install the app this machine was saying to use. Off to Tesco, connected and used the Pod Point app. Connected to it fine, put the money on the app account and managed to get less than 1kw in just over an hour.
This is probably partly because this is new to me. But thought I’d use this trip as an opportunity to see how the car works for longer trips. (Getting about 3.5kwh as an average)
“The i4 hits a peak early and the speed declines as the battery gets more charge”
Yep - for a quick hit to “just get you home” you can charge at a shockingly (sorry) high rate if you time it so you’re starting in the bottom quarter of the batteries capacity - my shortest stop so far has been just over 3 mins plugged in.
For larger top ups the upper half and especially top quarter of the battery slows down a lot which is a little frustrating but I’ve found that in the real world I need to use fast chargers in this way maybe two or three times a year, vs the more common “splash and dash” approach so in reality is not a problem.
^^^ yes, very much my experience yesterday, it went from 38% to 55% in probably under 5 mins, then took another 20 mins to get to 80%. I think given the proximity of the fast Tesla chargers to where we are staying in holiday cottage (a 5 min drive) I’ll just do a few regular top-ups during the week, rather than sit there for half an hour as it slows down. I know that if it’s a bit over 50% Saturday morning it will get us home with probs 15% left ‘incase’.
@bensales thanks.
Re the no stalks thing, didn't mind that on the new 3, its a non issue, the Y we're looking at still has stalks.
On the driver assist stuff, I'm used to having nothing more than cruise and reversing sensors, so not something I've any real experience of.
Our use case is mostly pootling around London with the odd weekend foray into the SE which should be doable on a single charge, and then infrequent road trips on motorways with some to hols in fairly remote places, so I'm expecting to home charge for most use but don't want to rely on phone signal in the sticks for charging apps.
This is what I absolutely want to avoid..
The phone signal over here is rubbish. Managed to install an app called Pod Point, first charger had two points but only one working. Then tried using the chargers in Morrisons but wouldn’t take card payment. No signal to install the app this machine was saying to use.
We're also not on a company car scheme so looking at Personal Contract Hire which is also a factor.
Sometimes , when on holiday with the wife and kids, i like to escape the madness and pootle on down to charge the car, take a coffee just relish the peace and quiet for an hour ( with a bonus full battery afterwards 😁)
"First road trip with the EV this week. Over in Anglesey. Have to say it is a faff with having to use public charging."
Yep, that looks like a pretty challenging location. Holyhead Clock Tower gridserve is your best bet I'd say.
Re the no stalks thing, didn’t mind that on the new 3
I hated them - why are they on the same side? And the lack of a hatch is a big downside to the I4 and Polestar, I'm not sure I'd get my bike in there unless it was dismantled.
Some folk love the Tesla vibe, I preferred the offerings from car people - Audi, BMW and Polestar/Volvo all feel like cars.
The tesla is an appliance.
You can fit a bike in without any trouble if you take the front wheel off. Mountain bike is probably easier because you can drop the seat post.
Bit of planning ahead needed if you fill the boot and then realise that you left something importing in the cavernous hole under the boot floor. The moral of the story is to store things like the charging cables in the froot.
On the driver assist stuff, I’m used to having nothing more than cruise and reversing sensors, so not something I’ve any real experience of.
Tesla have removed ultrasonic parking sensors now, it’s done purely by vision. Supposedly it’s as good as ultrasonics, but given the vision-based systems in mine had trouble seeing rain and activating the windscreen wipers, or saw shadows on the motorway and thought “LORRY” and panic braked on adaptive cruise, I’d be a tad reluctant to trust it.
Well, I am about 3 weeks with my first EV and it’s funny how your mindset changes.I have been charging the car at home and been making the most of my cheap tariff and managing to keep the car topped up from my daily driving for around €1.50 a night. Was popping toTescos this afternoon for a few bits so thought I would have a go at using a public charger for the first time. It wasn’t a long charge as I just wanted to have a go and only got 16km added in the time I was shopping but I felt cheated at the €1.50 cost as this gets me 80km at home 🤣. Charging even gets you free parking so I avoided the €1 parking fee but still felt ripped off🤣. I have a work trip next week and it’s about 400km trip and the hotel has public Tesla chargers so will be able to top up quickly/easily…..but at about €25for the pleasure! Previously I would think nothing of sticking €50-€80 in diesel into my car, but now I feel ripped off if I need to pay anything over my €1.50 nightly charge. Is it just me who has become a tightwad?
Don’t get too hung up on the Supercharger network either
Are there still huge queues at those as they are cheaper and people will wait for hours to save a few quid?
Re not having mobile signal - when this happened to us (Amroth in Pembrokeshire) I swore a bit then discovered the charger had a WiFi hotspot. So it's worth checking. Presumably the charger needs its own internet connection so I presume they are offering that to you for the purpose of using it.
Are there still huge queues at those as they are cheaper and people will wait for hours to save a few quid?
I’ve not had that kind of experience since getting our first Tesla in 2018. The closest was a ~10 minute wait at peak time somewhere in Scotland on the way down south from Dundee back in 2021.
Maybe charging is a lot more popular these days? Great! Time to catch up on Netflix.
I've not got the luxury of a home charger, so relying on the public stuff - or the work chargers (which give me 4 hours free - which is rather nice - however, the car park is rammed so I can't rely on it unless I visit in the evening - which I'm doing just now as I've a bit of work to do and may as well make use of the free charge!).
My very local charger is 45p per kW and it does 7.5Kw or 22Kw charges, so I'm happily using that and it seems to be about £19 to fully charge from about 31%. The local one to my partner is 69p - but the same network as the one next to me and I stupidly assumed it was the same price, so got stung for £29 to charge there.
I'm really liking the car - it is far too big for me, a decent size for 4 people to use and the range is rather poor - 224 miles - and I can watch that drop down as I drive around (if I could have afforded the larger capacity to get the 350-ish mile range, then I would have gone with that, but I couldn't). I'm sure this thinking will change over next 4-8 weeks as I get used to how to run this and also find out how much this is costing me. It is still very new so I'm hoping I'm driving around more as it is a novelty.
I've also noticed that since this, I seem to be driving about 5mph below the speed limit in town (or 18mpg in a 20mph) and about 50-55mph on NSL roads - obviously trying to eek out as much distance as I can - getting about 3.5kW/mile, which I think is ok and I'm hoping that improves as it gets warmer.
Only had it a week and I'm converted to the idea of not needing fossil fuel to drive...I suspect in another 4-5 weeks I'll get a shock when I find out how much I've actually spent on charging, but I'll then (hopefully) adapt to that as well.
What do you have the heating set to? Slow queueing traffic on a 10 minute trip with the heating on 22C demolished the range in my Leaf, despite having a heat pump. 17C had far less impact and is still quite comfortable with a jumper on.
@molgrips - heated seats if you have them. They warm you, not the air volume of the car. Jumpers also good.
"Is it just me who has become a tightwad?"
The whole point is you've paid a big whack extra (compared to ICE) in order to have a battery that can use cheap energy. I certainly resent using a public charger where I'm paying more per mile (for a smallish EV) than my diesel van used to cost.
My car has been at 17 or maybe 17.5 - whatever the lowest setting is - all winter. It's fine with a hot seat and steering wheel. The seat is too hot, actually - I wish there was a lower setting.
My clothing habits have changed since driving an EV, they're similar to when I had an open top car. I dress for the weather outside and take nothing off when I get in the car. I then use the heater on the lowest setting that stops the screen misting/freezing.
I've just checked out the charge networks for a road trip this Summer. I checked out some of the UK chargers that were available rather than in use and got 79p to £1.40. Ouch.
Tesla have removed ultrasonic parking sensors now, it’s done purely by vision. Supposedly it’s as good as ultrasonics, but given the vision-based systems in mine had trouble seeing rain and activating the windscreen wipers, or saw shadows on the motorway and thought “LORRY” and panic braked on adaptive cruise, I’d be a tad reluctant to trust it.
Its not bad since they improved it from the initial embarassingly bad version but its not as good as the 360 degree camera view in the likes of a Nissan Leaf. Personally I use a combo of mirrors and rear view camera when parking my Model Y with the occasional glance at the park assist graphics.
Are there still huge queues at those as they are cheaper and people will wait for hours to save a few quid?
Have had to queue for a Supercharger twice in over a year of driving a Tesla all over the UK. Longest was 5 mins at Tebay Services on an August bank holiday Sunday at lunch time when everyone was piling in for their roast lunches.
My clothing habits have changed since driving an EV, they’re similar to when I had an open top car. I dress for the weather outside and take nothing off when I get in the car. I then use the heater on the lowest setting that stops the screen misting/freezing.
Those days are long over. Get yourself a decent EV and lose the hair shirt.
Just done a road trip up from Cheshire to Aberdeenshire in our 130,000 mile Model S. Was going to use the diesel estate but it sprung some Ad Blue failure and both mechanics I spoke to said "don't think I'd take the risk if I were you"
Fully charged it gives a range of around 210 mile and it was 294 to destination. Travel up Good Friday. 3 stops with 10-15 minute waits at Charnock Richard and Abingdon to get on a charger. Empty at Dundee despite it being open to non Tesla. (Wanted more in the battery as not got a charger at my sisters)
Exacerbated by Gretna being closed and not being able to use the newer V3 superchargers as ours doesn't have the CCS combo adaptor.
Biggest issue was the lack of a home charger staying with my sister. Able to plug in on the 3 pin plug and add 6 miles an hour!
Back on Easter Monday. Had a decent charge before leaving by visiting a slow cheap charger at nearby hotel so topped top at Dundee and then stopped at Abingdon for a long charge and late lunch before getting home with 9 miles left.
Overall on a regular trip I reckon it added about 1 hour 20 to the time we would normally have taken. Ok its an older model and charges slower, can't use the fastest chargers and did have a couple of waits on 1 of the busiest days for travelling but otherwise pretty smooth.
For our day to day needs it's perfect and usually have other options for long drives but shows its possible to do.
Now have to decide if we do update to the CCS adaptor for £211 as the new superchargers are CCS only!
Those days are still here. There aren't many cars that do better than the Zoé on Miles/kWh and the vast majority of charge points In France haven't got any more powerful since I bought it. You still spend 10% less time charging on a long run without the heater on.
Those days are still here.
Well maybe in France. My vehicle doesn't expend 10% of its power maintaining cabin temp but even if it did since I spend about 30 mins charging on a long run I'd be happy to spend 3 mins more on the charger so i don't have to wear a coat and hat.
I don't think we have the same idea of a long run. 🙂 A long run with 22kW A/C and 50kW DC chargers is hours of charging per day whatever the car. Anyone with e-tron levels of leccy consumption should take a good book or a musical instrument to play. I take a guitar even with the Zoé. Minimal heater and 96kmh max gets the most km per hour on the road.
A car needs 2-3kW to maintain the cabin at 22°C above ambient so with a heat pump with a COP of 2.5 at 0°C that's 1kW. The Zoé is often around 10kW on roads other than autoroutes. Ski jacket or down jacket in Winter. 🙂
A car needs 2-3kW to maintain the cabin at 22°C above ambient
I'm sceptical it's that much. Admittedly mine isn't set to 22C above ambient, but I've seen 18 or so, and the consumption of the heat pump on the Leaf when everything's already warmed up was zero with a spike up to 500W or so every 5 ish seconds. I suspect the blower fan used more than the heater overall. However, that's once everything was warmed up. Whilst getting up to temperature it would chew 2.5kW of electrical power easily, hence my comment about slow queueing traffic and high heat on cold mornings.
Just had my first 'full' bill from IO go since switching/smart charger etc...
In a month we used (at the cheap rate) 700kWh, which cost just over 50 quid....
The average unit cost for the house was 13.8p/kWh.... (Standard rate is about 31p/kWh)
That's bonkers and it honestly feels like I'm being paid to drive the car (as charging it switched the whole house over to cheap rates..)..
DrP
Wisely Automotive did a comparison on heat pump vs no heat pump for the I3 and found it made not a jot of difference on power consumption for journeys under an hour. 2.5kW is what the i3 draws to run the heater, but I don't know what it drops to once that's up to temperature, but my guess is that if you're still drawing cold air from outside and the car itself is cold, it'll still be quite high.
Just dropped the ICE into the garage for its annual service, that's going to cost me £300. The difference between that and the EV's next service pays for a year of fuel for the EV.
Nice Dr P. Was hoping for similar experience regarding lower bills.....but I'm struggling to get everything working together!
My Ohme Home Pro Charger has an app, electricity provider is intelligent octopus and has an app, my Audi has an app.
None of the apps are set to charge as soon as the car is plugged in...but it does. Octopus Energy is set to be ready for 0630. The My Audi app I think is the problem....this I set a timer in to say 80% by 0600. Ohme I have similar settings. I have read the instructions and know I should just be using ohme, but I don't know how to disaccioate the My Audi app from my charger/car (I don't really want to disaccoiate it from the car). I really don't want to delete the My Audi account.
GOt home last night and plugged the car in, instantly started charging and at 67p pkwh. Paused this and tried to work out what was going on. I can't be waiting up until Midnight to start my charging every evening!
Hmm...
I'm kinda lucky in the sense that neither my polestar or leaf 'speak' to the charger... So all timing etc is done via the ohme=IO, rather than the car.
(This means the ohme thinks the car is ALWAYS at 0% when you plug it in, which then makes it panic it won't meet your charge time, and starts charging earlier at the lower rate).
I would, erm, completely remove any charge timers from the car..
There's a good walkthrough on the IO site in how to link..
Basically, you don't have any set timers, and once ohme is linked with IO, it'll smart charge (or not) depending on the grid capacity.
Basically, I just always plug the car in, but it's not always charging...
DrP
Nice Dr P. Was hoping for similar experience regarding lower bills…..but I’m struggling to get everything working together!
Just connect the ohme pro to intelligent octopus and don't bother trying to integrate the car to the charger, or the car to io.
Then set up a daily schedule on the ohme charger for it to add 100% by whatever time in the morning you normally head out.
I'm seeing similar numbers to drp for io, around 13.5p per kwh
Re heater usage, the merc uses 7kw for heating when cold, it has 2 x ptc heaters and one heat pump.
Yeah I've removed all timers from all my apps....but the My Audi app just creates one. Renove it again and it comes back. I am sending the update to the car from the app to say no timer and it comes back sucessful. But 10 minutes later and the car is charging again at peak rate.
Looking at the My Audi app now, there is the weird timer showing (always one week away). But I don't think the app is set to use it, I can select Start Timer Mode and it would then use the timer that has been automatically created by the app.
The Ohme app is set to Avoid Peak Charging (no timers are set). IO is currently saying a charging plan will be made shortly after I plug in, which I would expect.
I think this is the correct settings and will try it again tonight. I still think it will just automatically start charging again though.
Once I get through the quirks I'm sure I'll really enjoy the car. I'm also struggling with the blowers, I set the temperature to 22 degress (was cold and wet this morning)...they just don't let much warm air come through the blowers. Its a mere trickle. Again I think this is me not knowing the correct settings to use.
Just to add, I have my Ohme set to Intelligent Octopus Flux Import (No idea what the Flux Import is but that was the only option I had)
In my Ohme app this shows at 22.0p/kwh off-peak and 29.60 p/kwh peak. Octopus energy app was showing my Intelligent Octopus tariff as 7.5 p/kwh off peak and 28.12 p/kwh peak.
I do think its the My Audi app that is taking control, going to keep playing with it tonight, I may even delete my account from the My Audi App.
The Ohme app is set to Avoid Peak Charging
Don't select that - as per instructions.
Just to add, I have my Ohme set to Intelligent Octopus Flux Import (No idea what the Flux Import is but that was the only option I had)
That's wrong.
But 10 minutes later and the car is charging again at peak rate.
With Intelligent Octopus Go, all the energy going to your car is charged at low rate, regardless of what time of day it is. It will schedule cheap power whenever there is a surplus and your car needs it - that's the 'intelligent' part. Additionally, your whole house is guaranteed to be at the low rate during the off-peak period regardless, even if your car isn't charging.
heated seats if you have them. They warm you, not the air volume of the car.
The car I'm getting later this year (Lexus Rz) has infrared heaters mounted below the steering column and in a similar position the front passenger seat area so they heat the person rather than the car.
The Facebook group "Ohme integration with Intelligent Octopus Go" is a very useful resource. If there's an issue with the Audi app I'm sure they will have come across it. There's a setup guide somewhere in that group which might even fix the issue if you go through it. As molgrips says above you basically have to turn off all the stuff that you think sounds correct in the Ohme app eg. "avoid charging at peak times" and let Octopus have complete control.
The Facebook group “Ohme integration with Intelligent Octopus Go” is a very useful resource.
This. It's a life-saver. But be sure to read the pinned posts before you ask a question 🙂
"anyone moved from Tesla to another EV brand? Be interested in thoughts.,"
Yes, and back again
A 2019 Model 3 SR for 2+ yrs, to VW ID3 for 2+ yrs, back to a Model 3 SR
ID3
+Pos. ID3 was a hatch back, spacious inside and the matrix headlights were awesome
-Neg. ID3 infotainment system drove me mad to the point where I didn't want another, average performance, ok to drive but nothing special, lane keep was annoying, the single software update it had in the 2 years involved VW keeping the car for 3 days.
Model 3
+Pos. M3 infotainment is awesome, speaker system is great, fantastic performance, nice to drive, you can alter lots of stuff, I like the simple layout in the cab, regular over the air updates, my tesla service guy has been brilliant, I've found parts to be reasonable (2 new key cards £39, new front passenger window glass fitted by Tesla outside my house £271 autoglass wanted £600) , lane centering is much better than lane keep, useful front boot, comfortable drivers seat - driver profile remembers your seat position and you can set up easy entry,
-Neg. M3 auto full beam and auto wipers don't work very well, Elon Musk, it's not a hatchback but I do manage to get 2 bikes in, expensive to insure, the suspension is probably a little bit too stiff on the older M3s.
When I was returning the ID3 and looking at what to buy next, I seriously considered the Polestar 2 as it's a lovely looking car and a hatch. What put me off was that it isn't a ground up EV and the cabin felt quite small (I banged my knee on the steering wheel a few times, getting in). Also I wasn't sure what the android infotainment system would be like whereas I knew the tesla system from previously having one.
@andylc
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/bG26ctnV/Screenshot-2024-04-03-19-58-12-845-com-m4consulting-octopus-comparison.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/bG26ctnV/Screenshot-2024-04-03-19-58-12-845-com-m4consulting-octopus-comparison.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
My first month on Agile Octopus. Figure excludes daily standing charge. I don't know if it's excluding or including 5% vat, but 510kwh @ £50 so approx 9.80p/kwh
Also I wasn’t sure what the android infotainment system would be like whereas I knew the tesla system from previously having one.
Fyi...it's great!
I've an android phone, and though it doesn't link within the car (doesn't need to) you can send routes etc via Google maps on the phone "to the car"...
Also, as it has its own network connection, Spotify etc are all phone free too...
DrP
M3 auto full beam and auto wipers don’t work very well,
My Model Y has just received the OTA which enables matrix headlights. Haven't had a chance to try it yet but initial reports from other Tesla drivers are encouraging. As for the wipers my car must be special because I've never had a problem with them.
@B.A.Nana cheers.
Decision has been made, actions deferred to post upcoming hols and next problem is moving on current car and campervan...
My first month on Agile Octopus.
Might be a good weekend coming up - I'm going to try and beat my 24hr usage record of 102kWh (that cost me 50p)!!
My matrix headlight update came in last night.
I’ve seen videos of them working and they seem to be very good. (RSymons RSEV on YouTube)
Still not sure about the wipers. I do find auto is a bit hit and miss, but can be worked around using the stalk and steering wheel buttons (not ideal).
@davy90
I'd also reiterate what Bensales said about the supercharger network, it's not as big deal as it was 4+ years ago and will continue to be less so. I suppose what is still good is the Tesla 'plug and charge' makes it all a bit nicer.
Something I forgot to mention is the Tesla app is very comprehensive, with lots of features, I think the VW app basically just turned the heating on remotely and you could see the state of charge and locate it.
Possibly a negative of the Tesla might be service call out is all done thru the app. People who want to actually speak to a human, might not like it. I wasn't keen on the idea to start off, but after using it a few times I'm now happier (all my service call outs have not been problems with the car as such, so please don't think that they might be unreliable)
24hr usage record of 102kWh (that cost me 50p)!!
50kWh cost me 4p a few weekends ago.
Shame the Corsa e I bought lives with my other half and she is on intelligent octopus tariff.
I have suggested that she moves to the Agile tariff to try and take advantage of the cheaper power that sometimes occurs.
@sharkbait
I've paid £10 to octopus watch app for 12 months weather graph and 48hr predicted prices. For just £10 The weather graph is handy and easier than looking at weather apps, you can easily see days in advance when it's going to be windy and or mild (in winter) and plan accordingly. Not convinced by the 48hr predictions yet. Yes indeed, this weekend looking good.
I’d also reiterate what Bensales said about the supercharger network, it’s not as big deal as it was 4+ years ago and will continue to be less so.
Maybe not but for me coming from using the rest of the public network for 2 years to using the Supercharger network for the last year its been a revelation. Always a working charger available, mostly high power and plug and charge. Charger anxiety gone. Also worth bearing in mind that for Tesla drivers the Supercharger network is getting on for half the price of the other networks. In the last year my Supercharging has been done between 33p to 55p per kWh.
A car needs 2-3kW to maintain the cabin at 22°C above ambient
I’m sceptical it’s that much
It's about that, depending on humidity and what other heat sources are being used, how hot the battery was when you started etc, can also be more if the battery is too cold.
The scary thing is heating up from scratch, that can use 6-7kW for the first few minutes of a journey.
heated seats if you have them. They warm you, not the air volume of the car.
It's a "standard" low battery strategy for several manufacturers, once the battery starts to get low, they'll switch the AC down to *just* controlling the battery and switch the heated seats on at a low power, some give you an option to go into a low power mode, others just do it without telling you (and without indicating that the seats are on!).
Supposedly it’s as good as ultrasonics,
Hmmmm, it can be, when the cameras are nice and shiny and clean and it's not rainy, dark, foggy or snowy. It's just not a very robust solution, and performance drops off very quickly if conditions don't fit into a narrow band.
Dunno what you guys are setting the car to 22 for, that's roasting hot. Did a 600 km round trip this weekend in t-shirt/jeans at 18 degrees. Lovely comfortable drive.