Testing the range of the Trophy MG4

[Derek25]

I've waited until an EV arrived that I could afford, and which could do Warwick to Aberystwyth on a single charge. And that's a journey I make perhaps 6 times a year. Probably with my enthusiasm for new and shiny, if it was just down to me, I'd be OK with a rapid charge in Newtown, Shrewsbury or Telford. But I wouldn't want to explain it to my family - "this journey we used to just blast through, now needs a break; also we can't just break anywhere, it must have a charger".

If I was regularly doing a journey involving a scheduled ferry, then yeah, I wouldn't want a car that made me have to get up half an hour earlier, and have anxiety about getting to the ferry on time.

Although aren't there rapid chargers on the other side?

There are way more rapid chargers in France than in the UK, conveniently located in hubs at motorway services where you'll likely be stopping anyway. Lots of new hubs appearing at French supermarkets too. France is actually much better for public charging than the UK.

 

[ukslim]

There are way more rapid chargers in France than in the UK, conveniently located in hubs at motorway services where you'll likely be stopping anyway. Lots of new hubs appearing at French supermarkets too. France is actually much better for public charging than the UK.

I imagined so.

Still, I can see it would be still be irritating if you often made a journey like this - drain a battery, take a ferry, drain a battery again. Charging this side gives you lateness anxiety. Normally we say "Just combine your charging stops with a toilet/snack/meal break", but coming off a ferry, you've just had an ample toilet/snack/meal break.

It's really tempting to say the ferry ought to provide chargers on-board, but there are obvious physics-related reasons not to.

I bet the haulage industry is looking at charging in the queue to board the ferry.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

It's really tempting to say the ferry ought to provide chargers on-board, but there are obvious physics-related reasons not to.

Maybe not on the channel ferries, but you can pre-book a charger on the way to Dublin.
Remember that many newer ships are now diesel-electric powered, so they're not short of a Watt or two.

Electric Cars | Irish Ferries | Charging points

We are delighted to offer recharging points for electric vehicles on our Irish Sea and Ireland-France services

www.irishferries.com

 

[Macadoodle]

My ideal EV is 350 miles at 80mph, which I can easily get from either of the ICE cars in the family ( Polo and Evoque )
I wouldn’t do 300 miles non-stop, but it covers Aberdeen to Glasgow and back and would be nice without even having to consider charging, that’s the ultimate aim.
It will happen soon enough.

It would be nice to have but I just can't see it happening anytime soon unless you're willing to drive a single seater the shape of a falling raindrop We're used to technology just getting better and cheaper in most areas of our lives and I think that's why the range of EV's is hard to adjust to.

Liquid fuel at around 10 kWh per kilo is a bugger to come close to matching.

 

[Derek25]

I imagined so.

Still, I can see it would be still be irritating if you often made a journey like this - drain a battery, take a ferry, drain a battery again. Charging this side gives you lateness anxiety. Normally we say "Just combine your charging stops with a toilet/snack/meal break", but coming off a ferry, you've just had an ample toilet/snack/meal break.

It's really tempting to say the ferry ought to provide chargers on-board, but there are obvious physics-related reasons not to.

I bet the haulage industry is looking at charging in the queue to board the ferry.

I'm pretty sure some of the ferry companies are looking at this. It would be fairly easy to offer on board charging and would be very useful on the longer crossings. Banks of rapid chargers in waiting areas are also an obvious addition.

 

[ukslim]

I'm pretty sure some of the ferry companies are looking at this. It would be fairly easy to offer on board charging and would be very useful on the longer crossings. Banks of rapid chargers in waiting areas are also an obvious addition.

Surprised to see this is a thing, because the objections seemed obvious to me - energy is weight; it's either load on heavy batteries, or extra diesel.

But as pointed out, there might be excess power on board once the boat's moving, might as well sell it. Price it to manage demand. As @WonkoTheSaneUK pointed out -- and I didn't realise -- some Irish ferries have it already (including Ireland to France).

 

[siteguru]

Liquid fuel at around 10 kWh per kilo is a bugger to come close to matching.

Although you also have to factor in the cycle efficiency ... you get nowhere near 10kWh per kg usable energy. (Although still more than an EV battery provides per kg).

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Liquid fuel at around 10 kWh per kilo is a bugger to come close to matching.

Shame ICE motors throw away ~60% of that energy as heat and noise, isn't it?

 

[Macadoodle]

Although you also have to factor in the cycle efficiency ... you get nowhere near 10kWh per kg usable energy. (Although still more than an EV battery provides per kg).

Very true, even the best Diesels don't do better that 40% depending on load ( before drivetrain losses.)
When you think that 4 gallons of Diesel , which you could easily carry with one hand ( around 15 kg ) will take any old diesel hatchback 200 miles with relative ease even though it's wasting the vast majority of that energy, it's clear that batteries have a way to go.

 

[Macadoodle]

Shame ICE motors throw away ~60% of that energy as heat and noise, isn't it?

Aye. As a serial turbodiesel owner I thought I would drive them till the day I died. Now I avoid driving behind the dreadful smelly things wallowing in my green smugness

 

[bowfer]

Aye. As a serial turbodiesel owner I thought I would drive them till the day I died. Now I avoid driving behind the dreadful smelly things wallowing in my green smugness

Around towns, agreed.
However, our turbo diesel Evoque with good old fashioned cruise control ? is an absolute joy to drive long distances.
I’d love an EV to match it, but they all have this bloody motherhecking pile of pish active cruise now.
God I despise active cruise….

 

[ukslim]

This is very true, but who would want to drive an ICE at 55-60mph?
I’m not willing to sit at that speed on any long journey, that’s my personal hell right there.
So until EVs are able to do the longer journeys I quite regularly do at the speeds I do, I’ll continue to use alternatives.
My EVs have always been ‘local’ cars.

Some people like to hypermile in ICE vehicles. My dad had a Rav 4 for a while - he could justify it on the basis that he drove some moderately rough country tracks, but he still felt some guilt for it being a gas guzzler. But it had an average MPG display, so he'd assuage his guilt by gamifying trying to bring the average down. Lower speed, less braking, gentler acceleration, higher gears, all that.

 

[Archev]

Yes, this is a paradox. I didn't want to drive an ICE at 55-60 mph. I had a GTi for goodness sake. I now have a car which is significantly more economical than the GTi even when driven the same way, and which also has a performance that isn't so far from what the GTi could do. Why would I now start driving like Miss Daisy to get even more economy, when I was in the habit of belting along the motorway as fast as I thought I could get away with even though I knew very well that it was playing havoc with my mpg?

I did nearly 200 miles yesterday, a fair bit of that on the M74/M6, and while I was on the motorway I drove my MG4 in just the same way as I would have driven my GTi. And yes there were a few times I looked at the speedo and saw a number that made me realise I better cool it in case there were speed cops about. In the afternoon the car heated up and I put on the aircon and it was very nice thank you, less fierce than the Golf's, and only decreased my predicted range by about eight miles.

I'm perfectly happy with the way this is working out. It's certainly no more expensive than the same trip in the Golf (even at the rip-off prices Blink Charging is charging for its type 2 chargers), the car is a joy to drive, and this morning I realised I was much less tired than I have usually been after driving the same route in the Golf.

EVs give us a lot of advantages. We don't have to be squeezing every last electron of efficiency out of them for them to be worth buying.

Agreed, my automatic diesel Citroen Berlingo’s used to fairly easily cover 600 miles between fill ups with a wee drop spare. But because of the erratic nature of my work all over Scotland I did still manage to run out on a couple of occasions. A walk in the rain (or snow) to yon light on a farm or whatever a couple of miles away didn’t help focus the mind. I’d forget to fill again sometime. Too eager to get to that leaking hot water tank emergency job a hundred miles up the road ?‍. Of course I wasn’t going for any red diesel from their tanks but that’s another story officer ?
Now retired, relaxed and just enjoying more than 200 miles plus any time I leave the house. I always promise my wife I’ll get the shopping in Tesco’s - I sometimes forget to promise which branch I’ll use ??but I do enjoy the run to Oban or Galashiels and Dundee is doable too ??

 

[Alansurfer]

After 10 years driving ev the charge speed is the biggest improvement on a longer trip than longer range. On regular long trips I stop for a toilet/refreshment break at about 3 hours driving time (175 miles in good traffic), plug in and get 142kw in my trophy which puts me back up to 80% with in the 15-20 minutes it takes me to get back to the car. It really doesn’t take me any longer in the MG4 as anything I’ve ever driven in the past. Even a 10 minute quick toilet break is more than enough to carry on for another 3 hours or more of driving. Faster DC charging with good thermal battery management is king.

 

[PeteC]

After 10 years driving ev the charge speed is the biggest improvement on a longer trip than longer range. On regular long trips I stop for a toilet/refreshment break at about 3 hours driving time (175 miles in good traffic), plug in and get 142kw in my trophy which puts me back up to 80% with in the 15-20 minutes it takes me to get back to the car. It really doesn’t take me any longer in the MG4 as anything I’ve ever driven in the past. Even a 10 minute quick toilet break is more than enough to carry on for another 3 hours or more of driving. Faster DC charging with good thermal battery management is king.

I agree. The rapid charging of the trophy is quicker than I am when I take a break on a long journey. It's very impressive!

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I agree. The rapid charging of the trophy is quicker than I am when I take a break on a long journey. It's very impressive!

Tried mine on a Tesla Supercharger at the weekend.
It was drawing 90kW into a half-full, cold battery! (for about 5 mins before slowing down)

 

[PeteC]

Tried mine on a Tesla Supercharger at the weekend.
It was drawing 90kW into a half-full, cold battery! (for about 5 mins before slowing down)

This was mine on a Tesla charger at Newport. It was after a drive down from Scotland at 70mph wherever possible so the battery would be warm but the weather wasn't! It stayed well above 100kW for quite a while.