megamac
Established Member
We dropped off our daughter to university on Saturday, and drove from London to Plymouth and back on the same day. The wife and kids took the train. I drove with the luggage and her things in the MG, and brought two of them back from Plymouth.
I left with 100% battery and returned with about 55%. Charged 4 times.
Started with 100% charge from Westminster and did the first top up at Bridgewater (went from 30% to 85%). I used Gridserve with the CSS socket. It was charging at 65kW! Considering we charge off street at an average of 3kW this was insanely fast!
Then went from Bridgwater to Plymouth and parked and charged at a slow charger (3kW per h) topping up about 10kW, while we had lunch.
On the way back stopped at Exeter services (amazing station, with loads of chargers). Again topped up to 85%, and again at around 65kW per hour.
Finally when we got closer to Reading, was down to about 27% on the battery so charged at Membury Services and topped it up to 80%.
My experience was mostly positive. I was surprised how at Membury , Bridgwater, and another couple of services I stopped to check, they only had one or two charging sations. Exeter was amazing, with many charging stations.
In addition, most of the charging stations had two port types but only one could be used at a time, so either one or two cars can charge. This could mean a good 30-45 min wait if you were stuck waiting for someone to finish up.
Charging beyond 80% was not worth it as the speed went from >60KW per hour to under 20, so you are better off driving and stopping more often than charging to over 80%.
Got a bit of range anxiety when reaching Reading though. Stopping at a couple of locations with the units being taken up was a bit of a concern.
I guess we now know how to do the trip, where to stop etc, so going to see her will not be an issue.
Cost wise it was about £80 there and back, for 480 miles so about 17p per mile, and this was using Service stops, which for diesel would have probably cost double that in our old 520D.
Since buying the car back in Feb it is the first time we used a DC charger. It has been AC charging at 3kW or 7kW per hour.
I left with 100% battery and returned with about 55%. Charged 4 times.
Started with 100% charge from Westminster and did the first top up at Bridgewater (went from 30% to 85%). I used Gridserve with the CSS socket. It was charging at 65kW! Considering we charge off street at an average of 3kW this was insanely fast!
Then went from Bridgwater to Plymouth and parked and charged at a slow charger (3kW per h) topping up about 10kW, while we had lunch.
On the way back stopped at Exeter services (amazing station, with loads of chargers). Again topped up to 85%, and again at around 65kW per hour.
Finally when we got closer to Reading, was down to about 27% on the battery so charged at Membury Services and topped it up to 80%.
My experience was mostly positive. I was surprised how at Membury , Bridgwater, and another couple of services I stopped to check, they only had one or two charging sations. Exeter was amazing, with many charging stations.
In addition, most of the charging stations had two port types but only one could be used at a time, so either one or two cars can charge. This could mean a good 30-45 min wait if you were stuck waiting for someone to finish up.
Charging beyond 80% was not worth it as the speed went from >60KW per hour to under 20, so you are better off driving and stopping more often than charging to over 80%.
Got a bit of range anxiety when reaching Reading though. Stopping at a couple of locations with the units being taken up was a bit of a concern.
I guess we now know how to do the trip, where to stop etc, so going to see her will not be an issue.
Cost wise it was about £80 there and back, for 480 miles so about 17p per mile, and this was using Service stops, which for diesel would have probably cost double that in our old 520D.
Since buying the car back in Feb it is the first time we used a DC charger. It has been AC charging at 3kW or 7kW per hour.
.
