Our first long journey...

[DannySB1]

Me and the missus are heading up to the Lake District for a week away next month, a place we've both wanted to go to for a while.

I know there are plenty of threads discussing longer journeys in the MG4 so please delete if necessary, however some advice would be appreciated.

We are heading off from Milton Keynes and staying just outside of Kendal (Flookburgh), my current plan is to M6 it the whole way.
I was thinking the main charge stop to be at Moto Knutsford (Northbound). Google says it's 135 miles to that service station which is well within my Trophy's range (Maybe I am over cautious because of the motorway miles), and then a second charge stop at Moto Burton-In-Kendal to top up before reaching the Lakes, but then I wonder if I am playing it too conservatively?

Thanks guys,

 

[slmorgan42]

Use ABRP to get a rough plan and route. It helps point out chargers on the way.

If you have not done much public charging I would strongly recommend doing some test charges on different types/brand of chargers before you go. Just to get your confidence up.

 

[siteguru]

I'd target open-to-all Tesla sites if you can - much cheaper charging cost. And if those stops coincide with your bladder range, all the better.

(That's my metric for charging stops - set them at a point where I need a break).

 

[Edd Beesley]

If you can charge at your destination you may make it in one go with no stops at all?

 

[DannySB1]

Use ABRP to get a rough plan and route. It helps point out chargers on the way.

If you have not done much public charging I would strongly recommend doing some test charges on different types/brand of chargers before you go. Just to get your confidence up.

Yes I've had a look at ABRP and may well use it on the day, but was put off by the amount of different options you can set (I don't know what my exact SOC% will be when we set off for example), so I found just using Google maps to map out the route to be best for me at least when planning in advance.

Thanks for the advice though, I've done some public fast charging albeit not too often as my journeys don't often venture much out the city!

 

[DannySB1]

If you can charge at your destination you may make it in one go with no stops at all?

No chargers on site that I can see unfortunately, so will likely need to rely on public charging.

 

[DixieTGS]

Me and the missus are heading up to the Lake District for a week away next month, a place we've both wanted to go to for a while.

I know there are plenty of threads discussing longer journeys in the MG4 so please delete if necessary, however some advice would be appreciated.

We are heading off from Milton Keynes and staying just outside of Kendal (Flookburgh), my current plan is to M6 it the whole way.
I was thinking the main charge stop to be at Moto Knutsford (Northbound). Google says it's 135 miles to that service station which is well within my Trophy's range (Maybe I am over cautious because of the motorway miles), and then a second charge stop at Moto Burton-In-Kendal to top up before reaching the Lakes, but then I wonder if I am playing it too conservatively?

Thanks guys,

At the Lake District parks authority offices on the outskirts of Kendal, there's a few 52 kW public chargers for 50p/kWh. They worked fine last summer with an electroverse card (no signal to download an app).

The Electroverse app claims they haven't been used for a month so I'd have a backup such as the Sainsbury's rapids on the other side of the town.

 

[DannySB1]

At the Lake District parks authority offices on the outskirts of Kendal, there's a few 52 kW public chargers for 50p/kWh. They worked fine last summer with an electroverse card (no signal to download an app).

The Electroverse app claims they haven't been used for a month so I'd have a backup such as the Sainsbury's rapids on the other side of the town.

Perfect, thanks for that. I don't have an Electroverse card, would regular contactless work on those chargers?

 

[sanda65]

Perfect, thanks for that. I don't have an Electroverse card, would regular contactless work on those chargers?

I would get one. Its great. I use it lots. The electroverse app is great for planning trips. Went up the peak district from south west london over easter and it was great guide where to stop. I put range in and your vehicle and it calculate the stops. first long trip with the ZS. Advantage on the RFID card you don't pay all those authorisation charges.

 

[Anon70]

When travelling at motorway speeds I am lucky to achieve 2.5 - 3.0 miles per kWh so plan accordingly and also add in a a 50 mile contingency in case the weather requires use of extra systems like demist functions or heaters. The contingency is also in case your planned charging stop has faulty chargers or excessive queues and you need to find an alternative.

I find the best plan for charging stops is little and often, so even on a trip where I could probably get to my destination with a single stop it will usually be faster to plan in 2 stops that will take less overall time (remember the car will charger faster between 10% and 50%).

 

[DannySB1]

When travelling at motorway speeds I am lucky to achieve 2.5 - 3.0 miles per kWh so plan accordingly and also add in a a 50 mile contingency in case the weather requires use of extra systems like demist functions or heaters. The contingency is also in case your planned charging stop has faulty chargers or excessive queues and you meed to find an alternative.

I find the best plan for charging stops is little and often, so even on a trip where I could probably get to my destination with a single stop it will usually be faster to plan in 2 stops that will take less overall time (remember the car will charger faster between 10% and 50%).

Good advice, thanks. I considered the 135 mile trip to my first planned stop to be quite conservative, however if I'm achieving 2.5 mile per kwh things could get a little tense! All fun and games planning these long journeys

 

[2Sheds]

If it helps, we made a similar journey last October, from just south of Daventry to Ambleside (M6 and using M6 toll). We aimed to do it with one charging stop and top up enough for the remainder of the journey and to give us enough juice to run around locally for the week (no destination charger) and get back to a similar point on the return journey for charging for the trip home. I think your trip may be about 20 miles further (btw, I wouldn't describe Flookburgh as "just outside Kendal!"). Anyway, I made some notes:

The outside temperature on the trip was between 10 and 14 C
Set off with 100% SOC.
To Charnock Richard Services:
Achieved 4.2 m/kWh (probably very minimal use of AC).
SOC went from 100% - 50% (139 mls) 140 remaining.
Charged to 95% (35min). 269 miles.

Travelled to Ambleside (via stop at Bowness), 95-71%. 197 miles remaining.

I can recommend the Charnock Richard services as a charge stop.

Unfortunately I didn't make similar notes on the return, but we only did one charge stop, at a similar (if not the same) location (probably Lancaster Southbound), and put in enough to get home with about 20% remaining.

When on motorways, I tend to set the drive mode to ECO, regen on A, and use the ACC set at around 65mph. Seem to get good figures doing this, certainly never seen anything like 2.5m/kWh!

Bottom line is that you could do it with a single stop easily (provided you drive conservatively). If you do a lot of local miles during your stay, you may need an additional top up sometime before your return trip.

 

[DixieTGS]

Perfect, thanks for that. I don't have an Electroverse card, would regular contactless work on those chargers?

All public chargers of 50kW or above should now offer contactless according to the regs, but not all operators fully comply yet (e.g. some Tesla) so I wouldn't rely on it.

Zapmap shows the one I mentioned as contactless now, so your only problem should be finding them within the carpark as the map pin isn't very accurate.

I would still get an electroverse card as it's free - just register your credit card with them when you get it just in case you need it one day. Also I found in Wales a lot of the beach carparks had 7kW chargers not covered by the contactless regs and with poor mobile coverage for their app. They did take electroverse though.

 

[Anon70]

I'm achieving 2.5 mile per kwh t

My figures are for the XPower which starts off slightly heavier the the LR so I guess it depends how much stuff and how many people you will be travelling with as to how efficient the car will be

 

[Griffian]

Instead of going upto J19, consider the Tesla chargers at Trentham Gardens (ST4 8JG) a few mins from J15. There are 18 so chances are there will be one available.

 

[JonnyG]

......................Advantage on the RFID card you don't pay all those authorisation charges.

A good reason alone to get one IMHO...as well as the large number of chargers that Electroverse cover. It took me 3 goes (defective chargers) last week at EVpoint on the M1 to charge, but just the one correct ££ amount taken from cc (pending and then taken) after using the Electroverse app for all three attempts.

I was surprised that my Gridserve app even took a £30 Authorisation card last week. I'm sure its never done done that before. Good job that started first time with no issues !!

 

[DannySB1]

If it helps, we made a similar journey last October, from just south of Daventry to Ambleside (M6 and using M6 toll). We aimed to do it with one charging stop and top up enough for the remainder of the journey and to give us enough juice to run around locally for the week (no destination charger) and get back to a similar point on the return journey for charging for the trip home. I think your trip may be about 20 miles further (btw, I wouldn't describe Flookburgh as "just outside Kendal!"). Anyway, I made some notes:

The outside temperature on the trip was between 10 and 14 C
Set off with 100% SOC.
To Charnock Richard Services:
Achieved 4.2 m/kWh (probably very minimal use of AC).
SOC went from 100% - 50% (139 mls) 140 remaining.
Charged to 95% (35min). 269 miles.

Travelled to Ambleside (via stop at Bowness), 95-71%. 197 miles remaining.

I can recommend the Charnock Richard services as a charge stop.

Unfortunately I didn't make similar notes on the return, but we only did one charge stop, at a similar (if not the same) location (probably Lancaster Southbound), and put in enough to get home with about 20% remaining.

When on motorways, I tend to set the drive mode to ECO, regen on A, and use the ACC set at around 65mph. Seem to get good figures doing this, certainly never seen anything like 2.5m/kWh!

Bottom line is that you could do it with a single stop easily (provided you drive conservatively). If you do a lot of local miles during your stay, you may need an additional top up sometime before your return trip.

This is a great overview and sounds like a very similar trip to what we're doing, thanks for the advice.
Looks like the Charnock Richard services are a little further along than my planned stop but if I'm also achieving similar m/kwh to you I'll probably go to the same services.

 

[slmorgan42]

A good reason alone to get one IMHO...as well as the large number of chargers that Electroverse cover. It took me 3 goes (defective chargers) last week at EVpoint on the M1 to charge, but just the one correct ££ amount taken from cc (pending and then taken) after using the Electroverse app for all three attempts.

I was surprised that my Gridserve app even took a £30 Authorisation card last week. I'm sure its never done done that before. Good job that started first time with no issues !!

The reason I always use credit card if paying by card.

Still the annoying thing is different prices for different payment type. I have two local charger. On one if I pay with card it is cheaper than Electroverse on the other Electroverse is the cheapest.