Cambs to Glasgow and back

[MGCamb]

Drove from Cambs to Glasgow and back yesterday (Collecting the last of our offspring from Uni) with the aim of checking out Tesla in Harrogate and Larkhall along with Ionity at Gretna Green. Route is A1,A66,M6,M74. Harrogate because it is another option from using Gridserve at Wetherby (78p per KWh); Gretna because off peak it is closer to the motorway than Carlisle which we normally frequent; Larkhall as it is newly available and a Tesla in C Scotland useful if heading further north or east. Bought the Ionity Passport which requires you to cancel straight away if only using for a month as you need to give a month's notice but as we are going up next month (graduation ceremony hopefully) will cancel in a month's time. Distance is roughly 670 return but would have done more to take in Harrogate. Speed mostly 65-70. Left with 100% and finished with 20% so add on another £4. Previous ICE car would have used 22 gallons. Stops could have been better organised for efficiency i.e. more Tesla but ...

company	place	cost		KWh		ppKWh
Tesla	Harrogate	£11.60		29		£0.40
Ionity	Gretna Green	£20.56		36.456		£0.56
Tesla	Larkhall	£10.50		25		£0.42
Ionity	Carlisle	£21.55		38.208		£0.56
Tesla	Harrogate	£15.60		39		£0.40
Ionity Monthly		£5.49		167.664
		£85.30

Note for anyone using Harrogate Tesla that when heading north the shop was closed and my phone connected to the App as normal but on returning in the afternoon I had to use the shop's (Weeton's) free wifi. As a country food shop Weeton's was full of some delicious food at prices more reasonable than you would find on a motorway. There was some traffic in the afternoon but for almost half price charging was well worth the detour.

 

[Martinonline]

Very interesting, so about 50mpg equivalent.

Were you not able to use the Trophy's Hotspot to connect to the internet?

 

[MGCamb]

Very interesting, so about 50mpg equivalent.

Were you not able to use the Trophy's Hotspot to connect to the internet?

No, dead as a dodo. I assume that the shop being open grabbed any signal. There is always a new way for charging stations to confuse.

 

[siteguru]

Have Ionity dropped their prices? Or is that a member-rate price? (I presume that's what the Ionity Passport means - a bit like having a Tesla membership to get Tesla-owner prices).

 

[Tight Git]

You look like you were right on the point where a month of Tesla subscription would have paid for itself.

 

[MGCamb]

That's their membership price at £5.49pcm which drops the price by 18p a KWh or into profit after 30KWh.

 

[MGCamb]

You look like you were right on the point where a month of Tesla subscription would have paid for itself.

Yes it was not an exact science but I knew the Ionity was a cert. If Tesla open up their new station at Carlisle then Ionity will be history. One thing yesterday at Harrogate there were Audis using the Tesla machines as the end bay had parking, allowing the car with its rear charging port on the wrong side to access the charger.

 

[Anon70]

Agree about the phone signal at Harrogate, you do get some strange looks form the Tesla owners when you have to waive your phone around to get a signal for the app to connect ?

 

[Deleted member 11291]

Thank you @MGCamb for posting this.
I have a holiday booked to SW Scotland (not till next June). I checked out Ionity at Carlisle and Gretna to charge at on the way.

 

[MGCamb]

Thank you @MGCamb for posting this.
I have a holiday booked to SW Scotland (not till next June). I checked out Ionity at Carlisle and Gretna to charge at on the way.

The Gretna one is tied onto the back of the BP petrol station which has the usual BP offerings but you could walk further to better amenities while the Carlisle only has a Starbucks although you pass by a large Asda.

 

[Rolfe]

Thank you @MGCamb for posting this.
I have a holiday booked to SW Scotland (not till next June). I checked out Ionity at Carlisle and Gretna to charge at on the way.

There are 12 Ionitys at Carlisle and they're less busy than Gretna. If the adjacent Starbucks is enough for you I'd go there.

Gretna only has 4 Ionitys beside a petrol station, and they tend to be more busy. (They also played up in one of the MacMaster videos, although sometimes I wonder if he actually engineers or fakes that.) Across the site, beside the food court, there are quite a lot of Applegreen chargers as well as the old 50 kw Gridserve units and a Tesla-only supercharger installation.

It's the usual motorway service station offering of burgers and sandwiches and one-armed bandits. Personally I prefer Carlisle, or I might go on to the new Gridserves at Annandale Water.

 

[Deleted member 11291]

There are 12 Ionitys at Carlisle and they're less busy than Gretna. If the adjacent Starbucks is enough for you I'd go there.

Thank you, that will be more than enough, Im sure.

 

[DrPlokta]

My first long run in my new (to me) Trophy will be north Wales to Glasgow next Friday, and I’m also planning to charge at Ionity in Carlisle and Tesla in Larkhall, so I’m glad to hear it all went smoothly. Hope it’s not too much busier on the Friday of a bank holiday weekend.

 

[Tig170]

There are 16 Tesla's V4's (open to all) going in at the Gretna outlet village (alongside the exisitng tesla only at the main M74 services), which will hopefully fill some of the west coast gap for those of use who like to use their network.

Gretna	Gretna - Caledonia Park	2024	Dumfries and Galloway Council Ref 23/1025/CLP [Submitted 18/05/23]	Initial groundworks underway as of 13/05/24: construction area fenced off. 16 x V4 supercharger stalls shown on planning application documents for a site at Caledonia Park, Glasgow Road, Gretna, just off the A74 (M). Tesla map marker (original labelled "Gretna - Caledonia Park") added February 2023 close to proposed location. Target date change: Q1 2023 to 2024 (March 2024).	#5,903 (31/05/23) #7,509 (14/03/24)
Gretna Green	Gretna Green, UK	TBC	Expansion	Awaiting final commissioning: 14 x V3 stalls replacing previous 4 x V2 ones. New stalls, plus 4 charger cabinets, in place (site temporarily offline) as of 13/02/24. Groundworks for additional 11 x V3 stalls alongside old V2 stalls completed by mid Jan 2024. Groundworks commenced as of 23/11/23 and stall foundations in place as of 15/12/23, adjacent to existing V2 stalls. Four charger cabinet bases also constructed.	#6,826 (15/12/23) #7,005 (23/01/24

 

[Rolfe]

Good to know. I wonder when they will be open? Excellently placed for me as a final charge before getting home from the south.

 

[Tig170]

Good to know. I wonder when they will be open? Excellently placed for me as a final charge before getting home from the south.

Not sure, but would have thought that it may be quicker than others, as their is probabliy enough power capacity at the site already. They are going in near the main entrance, which was once the disabled parking / behind M&S.

 

[Rolfe]

If they're at the outlet village rather than the service station, maybe that will take the presssure off Applegreen and Ionity to reduce their prices! It could be a double whammy for Ionity if people (like me) catch on and give Ionity Carlisle a miss to head there. A bit nicer a place to stop than the service station too.

In that MacMaster video, which was last October I think, he connected to the Gretna Ionitys at a pretty low SoC - only time I've ever seen him start a charge on a 350 kw charger when his battery was low enough to get his maximum charging speed, and sure enough it went to 250 kw. But then, after ten minutes, the power cut. Something about insufficient grid supply. Cue tantrum. Also cue a lot of lost time faffing around to get reconnected, and in the end staying to go all the way to 100% on reduced power. Instead of realising he'd got enough in that ten minutes to get him to Abington or even the Fastned site at Hamilton. But I have wondered about the power supply to that area ever since. It's fairly rural, though not remote. I suppose they must think it's OK though.

 

[Tig170]

There are now 14 x V3’s (Tesla only) at the service station, AND are installing 16 x V4’s at the shopping centre.

 

[Rolfe]

Wow. (Should have bought a Tesla...)

 

[KH11]

The Gretna one is tied onto the back of the BP petrol station which has the usual BP offerings but you could walk further to better amenities while the Carlisle only has a Starbucks although you pass by a large Asda.

There is also a Costa across the road from Starbucks