Advice on the best charging apps & charging strategy when on a trip?

[ralphaverbuch]

Hi All

So I've owned my standard model MG4 since September 2023. In that time I've only made one, what I would call, long drive. It was from Edinburgh down to the south Ayrshire coast but I managed it, with a little trepidation, in one shot with about 17% battery left. That was plenty to get me to a 22kw charger in the town of Wigtown.

That gave me a lot more confidence in the capabilities of the no frills MG4 to be used for longer trips as I did that run in the first week of getting the car and it was my first EV too. Since then, living just outside Edinburgh, almost all my charging has been at home with a Zappi. I can count on the fingers of my hands still the number of times I've needed to use a commercial charging station and that's been exclusively with the ChargePlace Scotland app using the network of Council controlled and maintained chargers across Scotland.

That hasn't been without issue. Almost every charging session I've had I've encountered problems necessitating a call to support with the exception of a recent visit to Dundee which went without a hitch on a 50kw fast charger.

In August I'm driving from home to Colwyn Bay in North Wales. It's supposed to be a 5 hour drive and 286 miles but I need to factor in one charging stop once I drop below a third of a charge, I'm guesstimating. That's going to mean that I'm beyond my comfort blanket of using the Chargeplace network in Scotland, so I'm really keen to get the advice of EV road warriors who have a good sense of what the options are in terms of the best/most reliable apps, or even good stopping places with plenty of decent fast chargers available on the M6 south of the Scottish border as I make my way to north Wales?

What should I be doing to avoid what I'd describe as still an EV novice's mistakes with the current charging network?

Cheers

Ralph

 

[emmadragon]

You could do a lot worse than read through @Rolfe's posts on her experiences. She's also up in Scotland with an SE, and as far as I can tell, has been all over in it.

 

[Gadget Geek]

I presume you've got the usual apps for route planning and charger locations. My personal favourite networks are Osprey and Instavolt. A little bit pricey, but reliable. The new Gridserve units are good, and of course there are the open Tesla Superchargers, which are cheap and reliable (make sure you've pre-installed the app and set up a payment card).

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Rolfe]

You could do a lot worse than read through @Rolfe's posts on her experiences. She's also up in Scotland with an SE, and as far as I can tell, has been all over in it.

I'm in the Edinburgh area and prepared to go any damn place I please. I'm currently planning a trip to Brighton on Tuesday, which I did for the first time when I'd only had the car for four months, and enjoyed every minute of it.

I would advise spending some time playing with A Better Route Planner. I didn't find it very intuitive at first and at one point was close to giving up on it, but once you find your way around it's very good. It will give you suggested charging stops, but then you can look around and find something you like better if you want. ZapMap is also very good for finding chargers, and especially for telling you whether they're occupied or not, although it won't plot a route.

I would advise with the SE SR, if you're driving at motorway speeds, looking at about 150-160 miles from home for your first charging stop. Subsequent stops legs are going to be more like 130 miles, because you're not going to charge to 100%. You can work it out, 90% of the battery (to take you to 10%) is 45 kwh and at 3.5 miles/kwh you're going to go almost 160 miles. That's your first leg.

Then, I would advise charging up to 85%, it doesn't take that much longer than 80% and gives you a bit more wiggle-room. So you'll have 75% of the battery available for the second leg, which by the same calculation is about 130 miles. You can keep an eye on your miles/kwh running figure to see if you're going to come in on schedule, and do something about it if you aren't (maybe a headwind). You should have an idea of alternative charging stations both before your planned stop (in case you're running low earlier than expected) and near/beyond it (in case of broken chargers, or an appalling queue - appalling queues are unusual these days though).

Pick places with something to do, somewhere to eat - it's not boring waiting for the car to charge if you're having a nice lunch, or even going for a walk or looking at a tourist attraction.

You may find that you get further than I do, if you don't drive like a bat out of hell on the motorway, but these suggestions are a decent first approximation.

Here is my plan for Tuesday., to let you see how it works in practice.

I know I'm going to get to Forton, the first stop. I would have got there last time if they'd had any decent chargers, and now they do. But having said that, if things were going inexplicably badly (or if it was winter) I could stop at Tebay and then recalculate the rest. I also know where there are local 50 kw chargers between Tebay and Forton as a back-stop. But I'm going to Forton.

While there I'm going to go up to 90%, because I want to make the Solihull Tesla superchargers. This is a change of my original plan which was to stop at the NEC charging hub eight miles earlier, but these are BP Pulse chargers which are said to be less reliable, and also if there are Tesla chargers available they're cheaper. (I don't think there's any food there and the only entertainment may be looking at Teslas, but it's worth it for the reliability and availability of the chargers, as well as the price.) I've got a keen eye to the miles/kwh I'm going to need to get to Solihull, and if it's not working out there is the NEC eight miles sooner, or there are 150 kw chargers near Norton Canes service station. (The service station itself only has the old Electric Highway 50 kw installation.) I'm going to make a hand-written note of the alternatives, and check what payment they might want, before I go. I'm already set up with Tesla - Elon knows the way to my bank account.

I should make Cobham easily, and there are 18 Instavolts so I'm not expecting trouble. This stop also gets me flexibility. I only need 50 miles range to get to my destination, so if I'm running late for whatever reason I can unplug and go after only a short stop. However if I'm up to time I'm planning to go to 80% so that I arrive with enough charge to save having to go out the next morning to get enough to get me to my destination that day, which has AC charging.

Tips. Find out how whatever chargers are on your radar want to be paid, in advance, and download their app (if necessary) in the comfort of your own home. But going for places that take ordinary plastic is a good plan - you might lose out on a cheaper deal, but does that really matter when it's only an occasional trip?

Also, remember that the SR has a maximum charging rate of only 88 kw. That means you're going to be spending longer at the charging stations than people with the LR batteries, just relax. It also means you have a wider choice of chargers. The guys with the LRs will be jockeying to get the 350 kw chargers, but for you anything over 100 kw is much of a muchness. Sure, you want to avoid 50 kw units if you can, but it's not a disaster if you have to use one.

The old Electric Highway units, now Gridserve's "medium power" chargers, are worth keeping an eye on. There are usually two chargers, one with one CCS and one CHAdeMO plug, and one with two CCS. (There will also be at least one AC plug.) They're usually rated at 50 kw and if you can get one to yourself they're not that bad. The problem is they will share power and if someone else is also on your charger you'll end up with 25 kw which is terrible. My trick is to get the CCS on the charger that also has the CHAdeMO and hope nobody shows up in a Leaf.

So if you're at a venue or a service station that has these units as well as higher powered ones, and there is pressure on the high-power units, they're well worth considering. I've used one at Southwaite, before it was upgraded, nobody else near me, charged pretty quickly. One at Cherwell Valley because it was a bit of a scrum around the 350 kw units and I just thought, what the hell, and one at the Rheged Discovery Centre near Penrith. Each time I've been at 80%-85% before I was finished my coffee.

A word of warning. Killington Lake service station has a grid problem and the old chargers there (which are all there are) have been rated at only 40 kw on ABRP. That's 20 kw in the unlikely event someone turns up to share with you. Avoid that service station unless you're looking for a really leisurely lunch.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Zap-Map does have a route planner. If you go to "Routes" (3rd icon along at the bottom of the screen), you can plan your route.

Also, if you are using Android Auto with Google maps, you can select chargers and it will show you the local chargers near your location as you drive along.

This is a post I made of an unplanned journey using Google maps.

Charging stations in Google Maps

Hi everyone, Just thought I'd mention this in case any Android Auto users didn't know about it. It's in Search, Categories, Charging Stations, and here's how it works: Yesterday, like Bilbo Baggins, I had an unexpected journey and decided to drive it as I would an ICE car without planning it...

www.mgevs.com

 

[Rolfe]

Now, I just had a look at Colwyn Bay in August. This is really dead easy and you have no worries at all. Here's the plan ABRP produced with no prompting about favourite chargers or anything. It doesn't seem to be quite as far as you thought it was.

It has come straight out with Forton again as the charging stop, and that makes perfect sense because with the SR's summer range it's in exactly the right place. Don't worry about stopping as high up as 33% of charge - you'll be fine and it will only turn into a two-stop if you do that. Also, the car charges a lot faster down at 10-20%. I'd probably go right up to 80-85% there, to give you some wiggle-room at Colywn Bay when you arrive.

Forton is a bit of a dump, not a gourmet paradise, and I have been avoiding it since about 1976 for that reason. But it has basic motorway service ameneties, burgers and stuff, and it's worth putting up with that because it's so well placed. Tebay is much MUCH nicer, but it's earlier in the journey and not only will your charging speed be slower, you'll have trouble getting all the way to Colwyn Bay from there and you'd need a second stop. (Save Tebay for winter journeys, because you can't get as far as Forton when it's cold.)

So there's your plan, really. Remember when playing with ABRP to tell it the date of your trip so it can guess the likely temperature. Or you can manually enter the temperature from the weather forecast closer to the date.

Do you have any plans for charging at Colwyn Bay itself? It looks a bit of a desert, one AC station (4 plugs) at the council offices is about it. They might even be restricted to employees, you'd need to check. So I'm assuming you don't have accommodation with charging? Take your granny lead and a decent extension for sure, it could just save your bacon if something went very wrong. But there are a couple of DC possibilities not too far away, a single PodPoint at Llandudno Junction and a couple of Instavolts at Darwin Escapes (Conwy Marina). Make sure you get to Colwyn Bay with enough charge to get on as far as one of these.

On the way back I assume you'll not be starting from 100% so you'd need two stops anyway, and indeed there isn't a charging station well placed to do the return journey with only one even if you could. ABRP suggests Burton-in-Kendal and Gretna (which has a load of Applegreen units, and the old Electric Highway setup, as well as the Ionitys).

I got home from Burton-in-Kendal without another charge last August, but admittedly I had to go to 93% to do it and that was tedious. I'd have been quicker stopping I guess - and I'm actually a bit south of Edinburgh. Note that ABRP suggests only going to about half-full, charging on the fast part of the charging curve each time, and then getting on. This is the fastest way to get in the charge that you need, if you're making two stops there's no need to hang around to go to 80-85%.

Burton is a bit basic again, burgers and stuff, but the chargers are good. Gretna has a lot of chargers, with the Ionitys in a different place from the others (Applegreen, Gridserve and Tesla). But actually you might prefer the 12-unit Ionity-only station at Carlisle, only a few miles south of Gretna, next to a Starbucks.

Anyway, have a play yourself, putting in your own home location, and see what it comes up with. The SE SR is very good about its GOM, so long as you have done balance charges (which obviously you will have) it will be accurate, and you can run it right down without worrying so long as you know you're going to a charger that is in range. I rocked up at the MFG chargers in Aberdeen last month with only seven miles left, but I knew I'd be fine. Detouring off to Laurencekirk or some godforsaken place because of cold feet would have been silly.

Another tip is to do a <10% to 100% AC charge not long before you leave. That lets the car get a good look at the bottom of the charging curve and makes the GOM even more trustworthy.

Zap-Map does have a route planner. If you go to "Routes" (3rd icon along at the bottom of the screen), you can plan your route.

Also, if you are using Android Auto with Google maps, you can select chargers and it will show you the local chargers near your location as you drive along.

This is a post I made of an unplanned journey using Google maps.

Charging stations in Google Maps

Hi everyone, Just thought I'd mention this in case any Android Auto users didn't know about it. It's in Search, Categories, Charging Stations, and here's how it works: Yesterday, like Bilbo Baggins, I had an unexpected journey and decided to drive it as I would an ICE car without planning it...

www.mgevs.com

Thanks, I didn't know all that, that's brilliant. I use Android Auto but I haven't tried asking it to show chargers - I just check in advance where I'm heading for.

Here's the thread where I was chewing over possibilities for my trip next week.

You CAN road trip an SE SR

So here's the plan. Regular readers may remember that I drove to Sussex and back (from central Scotland) last August to attend the Glyndebourne Festival. I enjoyed it so much that I'm going back in May this year (and again in August), and the May trip has also diversified. Day one, 21st May...

www.mgevs.com

 

[ralphaverbuch]

@Rolfe Thanks for the really helpful insights. I suspect the reason you're getting different numbers is that I'm east of Edinburgh in the village of Pencaitland. Not too far from the A68 but it's still a bit of a loop before you get to the A702 and work your way south towards the M74...

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to give such a comprehensive amount of advice. Really appreciate it. Gives me plenty of reassurance that this is easily doable with a bit of forethought.

Three big takeways from your advice for me are:

1. Plan your trip and where you will stop for charging @50Kw minimum (and have alternates).
2. Be ready with the apps that work with the planned/alternate stops and have them ready ahead of time.
3. Don't get caught out at the destination (Colwyn Bay) - look for where charging can be done locally and do not arrive with no charge.

I hope I've not missed any of the fantastic advice in that distilled list. Whilst I'm not more than ever confident that this is entirely doable, you always have those niggling doubts, further exacerbated by the constant media dissing of all things electric in the UK. It's ceaseless!

Thanks again.

Ralph

 

[Gadget Geek]

Thanks, I didn't know all that, that's brilliant. I use Android Auto but I haven't tried asking it to show chargers - I just check in advance where I'm heading for.

I usually plan it down to the inch, but on my unexpected journey, I thought "why not?", and decided to wing it. And I was surprised how easy it was. I suppose it could have been worse if I'd had to queue for a charger, but I didn't, so I think the infrastructure is improving.

 

[Rolfe]

Yes, putting in your actual location makes the trip longer. ABRP now suggests a quick 6-minute stop at the Carlisle Ionitys to get enough to get to Forton. It's 171 miles for you as opposed to 147 miles for me, and while you could make it on a single charge in August you'd have to watch your speed. Better to do a quick stop and the Carlisle Ionitys are perfect. You'll get in a bay straight away.

The thing to watch here is not to give in to the temptation to hang on too much longer at the quick volt-and-bolt stop, just see it for what it is, a few % to make sure you get to Forton without anxiety.

I also asked it to arrive in Colwyn Bay with at least 20%, to make sure you have enough to find one of these chargers when you get there. It said to stay at Forton to 83% to manage that. So you have one very quick stop where you don't bother getting out of the car, or maybe just visit the toilet, and one 40-minute stop where you can have lunch, albeit not exactly cordon bleu.

The way back doesn't change, just slightly longer stops to account for the longer distance.

Again, you could consider the Carlisle stop rather than Gretna. Carlisle is just the 12 Ionitys next to a Starbucks and is less busy. Gretna is generally heaving. The four Ionitys are beside a petrol station, but there are a bunch of Applegreens nearby next to the food court, which is a bit more varied than just Starbucks.

This actually looks like a good plan. Once you're in Colwyn Bay you can scope out the charging possibilities. if you can leave the car overnight on one of these AC chargers by the council offices, great, but if not, you know where there are a couple of DC chargers within reach.

I usually plan it down to the inch, but on my unexpected journey, I thought "why not?", and decided to wing it. And I was surprised how easy it was. I suppose it could have been worse if I'd had to queue for a charger, but I didn't, so I think the infrastructure is improving.

I think things are getting to the point where winging it is more and more feasible. But as the OP is quite new, planning seems to be a good move for now. There's also the use of ABRP in planning a time-effective trip. Who would think of stopping at Carlisle for six minutes on the way south, without a plan? But it gets you to the best principal charging site at Forton, whereas you'd miss it otherwise and possibly find yourself at Killington Lake for way longer than you wanted to be, on a really slow charger.

 

[ralphaverbuch]

That's just great advice. Thank you.

As of right now the only apps I've used in the past are Chargeplace (for Scotland) and Zap Map which I've only ever fiddled around with. I see it can be paid for on a monthly basis. Is it even worth the £2.99 for a month's full access for this trip do you think, or is ABRP just better?

Cheers

Ralph

 

[Gadget Geek]

That's just great advice. Thank you.

As of right now the only apps I've used in the past are Chargeplace (for Scotland) and Zap Map which I've only ever fiddled around with. I see it can be paid for on a monthly basis. Is it even worth the £2.99 for a month's full access for this trip do you think, or is ABRP just better?

Cheers

Ralph

I think the subscription is to integrate it into Android Auto to "use on the go". Mine works as a stand alone app on my phone without subscription.

 

[Rolfe]

That's just great advice. Thank you.

As of right now the only apps I've used in the past are Chargeplace (for Scotland) and Zap Map which I've only ever fiddled around with. I see it can be paid for on a monthly basis. Is it even worth the £2.99 for a month's full access for this trip do you think, or is ABRP just better?

Cheers

Ralph

What I'm going to do now that I have my plan is to put Forton, then the Solihull Tesla centre, then the Cobham Ionitys, then my destination into Android Auto (Google maps) sequentially and take the journey as four essentially separate legs. I'll have a printout of the ABRP plan in the car which will give me an overview of the whole trip, and on the back I'll note the back-up chargers I've identified with distances just to remind me what's there. I don't expect to need them, I didn't last year.

I just find that simpler to cope with compared to running the entire thing through ABRP or another app on the go. I might change my mind on that some time though!

 

[Grriff]

We're on holiday in Colwyn at present but have been able to charge at our accommodation which we are paying for. Tried the Tesco's 7 kW PodPoint chargers today but you need to use their app.
I'll post more details later.

 

[Rolfe]

Is that a proper charger, or are you using a granny lead? But there you go, inside information for @ralphaverbuch, isn't this forum great!

 

[Gomev]

When going to Colwyn Bay area, I have done a last charge about 14 miles before Colwyn at the Talardy Hotel/pub 100 yards or so off the main route at St Asaph on the Ospreys there. This ensures I have plenty for running about during my stay and a convenient place to charge for the return journey.

 

[Gadget Geek]

St Asaph. Haven't been there in years. When we were kids, we had an aunt and uncle who lived there, so many of our holidays were spent there. I fell in love with north Wales.

 

[Grriff]

Hi Ralph
Further to my post above, I am charging at my accommodation using a granny charger and extension lead using a socket in the hall and the extension cable through the letter box. I have a meter which plugs into the socket, bought from Amazon.
The Tesco's PodPoint fast (ie 7 kW) chargers are at Llandudno Junction. I would install their app and add a credit card before you need to use the charger, as my card was declined and I had to buy a deposit of £10 which my card accepted.
I would also get an Octopus Electroverse card (you don't need to be a customer) and add a credit card to it. You can use it at Osprey chargers
There is a fast charger at the Groes Inn (good food) in the car park in front of the hotel accommodation not in the main car park opposite the pub.
Bodnant Gardens has a free charger (make a donation to NT) on the right below the coach parking just as you drive in. It has one Type2 socket and one 13A socket. It is often in use.
I haven't explored the rapid chargers in the area but would suggest you use the ones on the A55 as noted by Gomev.
,

 

[ralphaverbuch]

Thanks for the detailed inside track. That's really helpful.

Cheers

Ralph

We're on holiday in Colwyn at present but have been able to charge at our accommodation which we are paying for. Tried the Tesco's 7 kW PodPoint chargers today but you need to use their app.
I'll post more details later.

Which location?

Which location?

Scrap that. See it's in your later reply

Hi Ralph
Further to my post above, I am charging at my accommodation using a granny charger and extension lead using a socket in the hall and the extension cable through the letter box. I have a meter which plugs into the socket, bought from Amazon.
The Tesco's PodPoint fast (ie 7 kW) chargers are at Llandudno Junction. I would install their app and add a credit card before you need to use the charger, as my card was declined and I had to buy a deposit of £10 which my card accepted.
I would also get an Octopus Electroverse card (you don't need to be a customer) and add a credit card to it. You can use it at Osprey chargers
There is a fast charger at the Groes Inn (good food) in the car park in front of the hotel accommodation not in the main car park opposite the pub.
Bodnant Gardens has a free charger (make a donation to NT) on the right below the coach parking just as you drive in. It has one Type2 socket and one 13A socket. It is often in use.
I haven't explored the rapid chargers in the area but would suggest you use the ones on the A55 as noted by Gomev.
,

re octopus electroverse, can I just use the phone app and NFC to pay?

Installed the electroverse app and ordered the card.

 

[siteguru]

I've got an Electroverse card (even though I'm not with Octopus). It's easier to use than the app, plus at some chargers you get a discount for using Electroverse card vs other payment methods.

 

[Grriff]

I've just checked out the rapid PodPoint charger at Llandudno Junction Lidl. It's just past the store entrance on the left. It has three cables, AC, Chademo and CCS. So, in effect, rapid charging for one car. You have to use the PodPoint app.