Down to 2% today...

[mj224]

Left Cardiff bound for Llanelli area, with 27 miles left. Plan 1 was to visit a Genie Charger. Arrived there, plugged in but it refused to connect. Twice. Plan 2 was then to go to the nearest motorway service station, which I know only has a Chademo, and a 7 watt type 2. My ideal option was to get to the next service station at Sarn which has the CCS charger connection. Near the first service station, I had 3 more miles than the distance to Sarn, so I bit the bullet and headed for Sarn.

An amazing own goal showed up at 10 miles left in the tank, when the GOM actually quits. Its a bit like my old boat, the echo sounder is wonderful, but really only necessary when you are in 2 metres of water. I diverge...

Anyway, when this 10 miles left was reached, I still had about three miles surplus, bearing in mind it was dark, so headlights were being used. About 3 miles from Sarn, the car reduced speed to save energy, I was going uphill at the time and the set sped was 50mph. It slowed down to about 35mph. This is dangerous on a motorway! I indicated left to any car approaching me in the slow motorway lane. But once up the hill, and the road flattened out, the speed picked up again.

Ayway to cut the long winded account short, I reached the Ecotricity CCS pump, connected, and the dashboard readout showed I had 2% left. Which was about 2.4 miles roughly...

Nice to get to the bitter end, and see how the car/battery behaves. Temperature was about 3' Celsius, car is a month old with about 600 miles on the clock. Anyway quite pleased with that, and bl**dy lucky really. My first EV ran out of juice just once, a mile from home, and the RAC towed me the last mile....

 

[Simondi]

Lucky but thanks for posting. I'm an EV newbie so have the ' running out of charge fear' lol.
It's good to know that the car attempts to conserve energy when it gets low on charge. Apart from speed were you aware of anything else that was restricted?

 

[Chrispydoc]

I keep ours topped up at all possible times.......Its like having a full tank....thats it. Not like on a ICE car...where fuel is available everywhere, a different approach is required. IMO of course.

The only range anxiety we got now is on a long run.....where we plan any possible stops.

Anyway I've little choice..........my Mrs. would go mad is such circumstances!!!

 

[Simondi]

I keep ours topped up at all possible times.......Its like having a full tank....thats it. Not like on a ICE car...where fuel is available everywhere, a different approach is required. IMO of course.

The only range anxiety we got now is on a long run.....where we plan any possible stops.

Anyway I've little choice..........my Mrs. would go mad is such circumstances!!!

Aye, I know what you mean. In my other cars I get jumpy when the fuel gauge gets to a quarter. I think, for me anyway, that it will be a case of just getting into the habit of charging.
Like my dad used to say' nothing wrong with only ever filling up half a tank- just make sure that it's the top half'

 

[mj224]

Lucky but thanks for posting. I'm an EV newbie so have the ' running out of charge fear' lol.
It's good to know that the car attempts to conserve energy when it gets low on charge. Apart from speed were you aware of anything else that was restricted?

I did not notice any other energy saving strategies. As said, I was driving in the dark, and was using sat nav. No heating nor Air con. Just a speed reduction, when going up the hill. My Cruise control was set at 50mph...

 

[mj224]

Have to just add, despite the white knuckle ride, and the achievement of actually arriving at the Electric pump, and the pump working, the bill for a 30 minute charge was £3.49.............

Whoopee

 

[ChrisT]

Cruise control can use the battery more and possibly less efficient in driving, tuck behind a lorry is a good one to save power. We accepted a few ev basics in the first year of driving an ev in 2017:

1. When you arrive at destination always try to charge the car so it's full when leaving.

2. Try not to go below 20%, if in doubt head for motorway services but more chargers are now available.

3. If you are struggling pull over, get on zap map and make a plan which includes driving style.

4. This one is for us, dont obsess about free electricity, chances are the free charger will be broken.

Good experience though and thanks for sharing.

 

[mj224]

My use of cruise control "seems" to be more economical than manual. I only base this on my observation that it "seems" to accelerate far more slowly than my right foot, and keeps a very low power consumption.

I am talking about motorway or A class roads, where CC is useful.

 

[Stuart Wright]

This week I deliberately only charged my car to 50% (set the alarm and then unplugged) after what Miles said (in the podcast) about it being bad for the battery to keep it full all the time.
I ran out of charge 1km from home. I pushed it the rest.

 

[Kithmo]

This week I deliberately only charged my car to 50% (set the alarm and then unplugged) after what Miles said about it being bad for the battery to keep it full all the time.
I ran out of charge 1km from home. I pushed it the rest.

 

[Chrispydoc]

The battery is covered under the warranty...so I don't worry about it.

 

[Marcad]

I thought the battery has a built in buffer both at the top and bottom of it charge, hence usable battery V full battery capacity. Keeping the battery fully charged and not using it isn't good for it and charging from 80% to 100% continually isn't good, AFAIK as Chrispydoc says it covered. This battery thing is a dark art, where is Harry when you need him?

 

[Paulie68]

Cruise control can use the battery more and possibly less efficient in driving, tuck behind a lorry is a good one to save power. We accepted a few ev basics in the first year of driving an ev in 2017:

1. When you arrive at destination always try to charge the car so it's full when leaving.

2. Try not to go below 20%, if in doubt head for motorway services but more chargers are now available.

3. If you are struggling pull over, get on zap map and make a plan which includes driving style.

4. This one is for us, dont obsess about free electricity, chances are the free charger will be broken.

Good experience though and thanks for sharing.

Please everyone, do not "tuck in" behind trucks, especially not at this time of year. The draught of the truck picks up all the road detritus, stones, grit, etc and you drive through it! I'm so tired of hearing this appalling advice. If you value the paintwork on the front of your car and don't want it media blasting, or your windscreen chipping or cracking, my advice is keep well away from trucks!

 

[jamesie]

This is worth a view....



I would suggest that it's better to have some sort of charging strategy that maintains the health of the battery even if it is under warranty.

 

[Noraf142]

I found out on Christmas eve that when you get really low on charge, it'll cut the heater down quite a bit more than what it does in eco mode.

Did get home with 'plenty' of range left.
It cut down on the heater just a couple of km from home.

Other than that, I always keep enough juice in the battery to be able to reach the closest hospital. (About 30km, but will need more range than that, as I won't necessary be keeping to the speedlimits)

Mainly charge at home, so the battery should have plenty of opportunities to Equalise.

 

[ChrisT]

Please everyone, do not "tuck in" behind trucks, especially not at this time of year. The draught of the truck picks up all the road detritus, stones, grit, etc and you drive through it! I'm so tired of hearing this appalling advice. If you value the paintwork on the front of your car and don't want it media blasting, or your windscreen chipping or cracking, my advice is keep well away from trucks!

In five years of driving ev's I have never had an issue with using lorries as wind breaks and to extend range. Common sense needs to be used in assessing road conditions and distance which I assumed did not need to be mentioned in this forum. Handed my lease car back last year wilth all paint still attached to front of car.? Dont use gritters as wind breaks though ? they will resurface your bonnet ?

 

[mj224]

I think if you slipstream lorries, 1. you are too close 2. you may well get caught up in some flying debris.

With the "radar" on the MG ZS, and other modern cars, you can safely follow a lorry at the max distance setting...

 

[Paulie68]

In five years of driving ev's I have never had an issue with using lorries as wind breaks and to extend range. Common sense needs to be used in assessing road conditions and distance which I assumed did not need to be mentioned in this forum. Handed my lease car back last year wilth all paint still attached to front of car.? Dont use gritters as wind breaks though ? they will resurface your bonnet ?

You must either be the luckiest person alive then, or not particular enough to notice the paint erosion! Lol!!

 

[Deleted member 823]

That video was really interesting, thanks @jamesie - looks like this guy is qualified to know what he's talking about! I wish they'd roll out similar EV schemes in England as they have done in Wales - perhaps it's time to write to my MP!

Edit: regarding slipstreaming - my experience shows you'd have to be pretty damned close to get any benefit, even at max distance on MG Pilot I feel too close! I must be missing something