First time long trip with my Zs Ev Trophy long range

[Lovemyev]

I found on my trip to Bach Wen (Do you know it?) ECO mode gave no Air Con at all!
In fact it was dangerous whilst going over the pass from Bala the temperature went down and humidity up but it couldn't keep the windscreen clear and it misted up no matter what we did!
At least the I-Pace gave me, the driver, the choice to either have effective Air Con or range. It was my call.
You could play with temperature and fan speed and see the effect on the GoM!

I am not familiar with that area sorry, but it looks very nice I have to say !.
The Bala lake and its surrounding areas are only about 30 miles away from our home address.
You are correct, in Eco mode you are only receiving a very small amount of chilled air into the cabin.
When the weather conditions are hot like this week, the warm ambient air is past through the HVAC unit, and it has very little effect in cooling it down.
It's effectiveness can hardly be felt really.
Increasing the cooling temp even more, will chill down the air entering the cabin, but in Eco mode it is fighting a losing battle TBH.
When the ambient temperatures are this high, then only MAX cooling will bring down the cabin
temperature really quickly.
Normal mode will allow this, but it's use does have an affect on the range.
I find to get the cabin temperature down quickly, put the HVAC unit into recirc mode.
This way it will shut off the flap in the HVAC unit, that permits hot area from entering into the unit from outside and will slow down the cooling process.
The negative effect here is, that this can increase the risk of "Fogging" of the glass.
As soon as you see this, release the recirc button.
The requirements of Max cooling or Max heating for that matter, while trying to conserve range by using Eco mode, don't go hand in hand really ?.

 

[sixbacon]

I did my first long trip last weekend 195 miles on one charge. But not by choice! I had not used a fast charger before and my ZS Trophy would not take a charge reporting Abnormal Voltage each of the 5 chargers I tried. At the last charge point I got an HV battery fault which would not clear. The AA man knew exactly what to do because they have been doing it a lot - reset the compter.HV fault went and I could fast charge. He told me I needed software updated. 3 months old but needed 5 updates. Make sure you are updated. And no the dealers will not recall you for updates!

But I did do 195 miles on one charge!

 

[MichaelJHunt]

I did my first long trip last weekend 195 miles on one charge. But not by choice! I had not used a fast charger before and my ZS Trophy would not take a charge reporting Abnormal Voltage each of the 5 chargers I tried. At the last charge point I got an HV battery fault which would not clear. The AA man knew exactly what to do because they have been doing it a lot - reset the compter.HV fault went and I could fast charge. He told me I needed software updated. 3 months old but needed 5 updates. Make sure you are updated. And no the dealers will not recall you for updates!

But I did do 195 miles on one charge!

SR or LR ?

 

[sixbacon]

LR

 

[pgh]

My first long(ish) trip yesterday. 140 mile trip, mix of country lanes, A roads and M40/M42/M5. Outside temp around 30, inside a lovely cool 21. ACC set to 65 on the motorways, mode Normal. Final average economy of 3.9miles/kWh. Lovely stress free and cheap motoring.

 

[Thebiglad]

Just got back after being out in our 38°c temps and with the car set-up on Eco mode and with the aircon on with mid position for the fan we were getting loads of cold (not cool) air coming out the vents.

As good if not better than my previous car, a Jaguar XJ.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

As good if not better than my previous car, a Jaguar XJ.

That’s a big statement

 

[Thebiglad]

That’s a big statement

Yes Mike, that's why I wrote it.

Mine was a 2008 LWB car with everything running correctly, but my ZS is just so simple to use effectively, so economical, that I have no regrets whatsoever.

 

[Lovemyev]

Today was declared as hottest day in Wales on record !.
It broke the record held in the 19's by almost 2 degrees.
We where travelling down to Llandudno today and it was a great day to test out just how well A/C could keep pace with the conditions.
The car had been parked on the drive and the internal temp in the car was like a green house at about 10.30 ish this morning, before starting out.
The sun had been hitting the back windscreen hard, since early in the morning.
When I opened the drivers door, you could feel the hot air rush out !.
Baring in mind, how hot it was outside today !.
After a few minutes, I decided to enter the car and boot up the HVAC into AUTO mode.
Of course it responded by providing MAX cooling and fan speed number 5 at first.
I thing the HVAC temp was set to around 20 - 21 ?????.
Only one mile down the road, the car was feeling lovely and cool.
After a only couple of miles, the fan speed reduced as it started to hit it's cooling target.
We travelled along the A55 expressway at a steady ( not in rush ) 55 - 60 Mph.
The cabin was a really nice place to be, it maintained the temp constantly for the whole trip.
No fiddling and farting about with the controls, it just did a great job !.
The effect on the range was not that massive, because the hot weather was keeping up the efficiency.
We had no idea just how hot it had become, until we left the car !.
Which is great testament to the effectiveness of the HVAC unit.
We where away from the car for just over 1 hour, when we returned it was just as hot inside as it was before, at home.
I did try using the App on the way back to the car, but it was not having any of it !.
It was still showing we where still at our home address.
I tried it 30 minutes latter, and it was back up and running, how frustrating.
The return trip was equally as pleasant inside the cabin.
I think it is safe to say, if the HVAC could keep pace with this weeks weather conditions, then it can deal with pretty much anything thrown at it.
Impressive really !.
Yes - It will consume some extra range, but today, who the hell cares to be honest ?.
Oh ............ and yes, the wife fell asleep AGAIN on the way home ?.

 

[Merry]

The range loss using ac is considerably less than heating. I noticed while stopped at the lights with the AC/fans on full it was drawing 5 amps. I've seen the heater pull over 20. I suspect it probably pulls more, I just haven't noticed.

 

[Lovemyev]

The range loss using ac is considerably less than heating. I noticed while stopped at the lights with the AC/fans on full it was drawing 5 amps. I've seen the heater pull over 20. I suspect it probably pulls more, I just haven't noticed.

Yeah I agree, the heating does consume more than the A/C for sure.
I first noticed this when I had a VW Golf PHEV for over four years, back in 2015.
When you have such a small HV battery, you become very protective of that small amount of EV only range of about 20 - 30 miles.
Using MAX heat in the winter, would deplete the small battery at a frightening rate !.
Using the HVAC in the summer, less so.
It's a very similar effect on a pure EV but your battery is massive in comparison of course.
Paid a very rare visit to the petrol station on Sunday, because I wanted some petrol for my gardening equipment.
You know .... the standard plastic petrol can you buy at most DIY stores.
I think it holds just over 5 litres , not one of those huge jerry cans you can buy.
It was full in no time, then I looked at the price on the pump !.
OMG ........ £11.65 or something close to that.
Honestly, we could not afford to run a fossil, as our main car anymore folks.
I am completely guilty of losing touch with the price of fossil fuel now.
Really, I am not gloating because I have an EV this is the truth and the plain facts of the matter.

 

[slmorgan42]

I did my first long trip last weekend 195 miles on one charge. But not by choice! I had not used a fast charger before and my ZS Trophy would not take a charge reporting Abnormal Voltage each of the 5 chargers I tried. At the last charge point I got an HV battery fault which would not clear. The AA man knew exactly what to do because they have been doing it a lot - reset the compter.HV fault went and I could fast charge. He told me I needed software updated. 3 months old but needed 5 updates. Make sure you are updated. And no the dealers will not recall you for updates!

But I did do 195 miles on one charge!

Hey

Glad you had an AA man who could sort it ;-)

When you say he reset the system do you mean cleared fault using ODB or held start button for 15 second to reset the system?

Many thanks

 

[sgt4hed]

I did my first long(ish) trip Tuesday/Wednesday

Tuesday - Gloucester to Coventry (74.6 miles) - M5, M42, M6, A roads... A/C set to 16 (it was fecking hot), MG Pilot set to 60mph, Radio on loud to hear over the blaring fans. Averaged 4.3M/kW.

Wednesday - Coventry to Gloucester (60 miles route change due to trraffic, shorter distance, longer duration) - A46, M5 at Evesham. A/C set again at 16, MG Pilot set to varying combinations due to A road limitations and road works speed restrictions. Averaged 4.4M/kW

base on the average over the journey of 4.35M/kW this shows a max range of 297.1 miles, based on the usable capacity of 68.3kWh