Range Anxiety?

[Chrispydoc]

I have just completed my longest ever run........it was my 'Mountain to climb" and I wasn't looking forward to it! Neither was my wife, who has range anxiety.

We visit a holiday home in Norfolk of a regular basis...or at least we did until lock-down. It's 155 miles each way from Derby to Horning via the A52 and A47.

Its not a quick road with only a few section of duel carriageway....but we seemed to be making our normal progress.....I was watching the satnav mileage and GOM like a hawk. I had the car in Eco mode and only used ordinary ventilation..no air-con. Max speed 65-70, on a few occasions. Outside air Temp 17-18 c. I only used cruise control on long clear sections of road, as I hate the thought of unessessay braking, instead or re-gen.

Right from the get-go, the prediction was arrive at Norfolk with 20 mile range left. As you can see, we did slightly better 154.5 + 27. you do the maths...I don't want to open any old wounds. This is what I actually got....I'm dead chuffed..

 

[Severnless]

We are in the fortunate position of having a holiday home in Pembrokeshire, so our journey from the West Midlands to the bungalow is either 146miles through Builth wells and Carmarthen or 160miles via motorway and dual carriageway
Builth might be shorter but there are quite a few hills! But we have spotted a rapid charger on route in Llandovery! So will have a cheeky walk with the dog for 20mins
We are planing to go on Friday morning for a long weekend, as it’s been empty since we were last there in January! Not looking froward to the up keep and work on the house but we are strangely Looking forward to the drive!
Hope you have a nice stay in Norfolk Chris!

 

[Simon S]

I am really surprised, well done Chris. That is a massive distance. I am learning that speed is really important in affecting the range. I took a friend to Heathrow (from Nottingham) recently. There was no way I could make it all the way there (128 miles) and rapid charged at the lovely King's Langley (after 110 miles) (I think there was 10+ miles left). The differences no more than 70 mph, but Motorway all the way, no Air Con, probably 25C. I was in Normal mode, my assumption is that it makes little difference, you just have to press the pedal more in Eco to get the same speed. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has properly tested the difference between Eco and Normal? And how the journey home turns out, Chris?

 

[Nibloprice]

4.3m/kWh is a great achievement! Well done. Do you know your average speed. Was the outside temp decent?

We just did a trip from London to the edge of Cornwall, 230miles. A303 and M5 so generally 50-65 Mph on average. It was pretty foul weather, raining and 12-15degrees. And the best we could manage was 3.5miles/kWh. Admittedly the car was full, 3 people and lots of luggage and plants (don’t ask!). I imagine that will make a difference. But I am pretty careful with my acceleration. We noticeably gained a lot of extra miles on downhill sections. We were on eco mode too. Stopped at a rapid charger at 140 miles with 10 left in the tank.

Normal mode surely makes a big difference. As soon as you switch To that the max range drops 10-15 miles.
Cheers
N

 

[Nibloprice]

Hi Simon
128miles should be doable. We did Gordano services to west London in one go with 10m to spare. And that was after a rapid charge to 80%. So not even full. Mph was around 60-65.
Cheers
N

 

[Chrispydoc]

I think speed and Eco mode were the two main factors. There was a lot of other traffic and I was happy to sit behind most of the time.

We did have an "Ace up our sleeve" about 2/3 rds of the way from our destination, the new Necton services had finally got the bank of rapid charges working. We had planned to stop, but as we approach, we still had about 65 miles of range and only 45/50 miles to go......I decided to press on. The Mrs wasn't impressed one bit!

It got much worse very quickly as the distance to our destination and our range started to merge together ....what was going on? It then occurred to me that I had put Necton in as a waypoint and although we passed within a few meters of it, the satnav kept trying to take us back!! Once re-set, the 20 mile margin re-appeared and we both settled down again!? We will be calling at Necton of the way home, just to try it out.

BTW, my granny charger, re-charged the battery fully from noon yesterday, by 06.00 today. I have bought a 7KW? charger off eBay that will be fitted soon, but to be honest we don't really need it as we only do about 90 miles a day as we potter about. With the PHEV it was an irritant to use petrol on such occasions.

..that why we love the MG.

I'll go outside now, cut the hedge and pull the weeds.... in the rain........months of neglect has taken its toll.

 

[Chrispydoc]

4.3m/kWh is a great achievement! Well done. Do you know your average speed. Was the outside temp decent?

Yes if you look on the first photo..av speed 41 MPH temp 17/18 degrees. I think when you put it Eco mode it changes a few things slightly.... Its a pity the car doesn't remember it for your next drive...The trip normally takes about 3 hours 30, but we added 10 mins this time...which probably saved 20 miles of range!

 

[Chrispydoc]

We are planing to go on Friday morning for a long weekend, as it’s been empty since we were last there in January! Not looking froward to the up keep and work on the house but we are strangely Looking forward to the drive!
Hope you have a nice stay in Norfolk Chris

Thanks very much, same to you. Its rather damp here, but a welcome change of view.

 

[Dave S]

Chrispydoc - Many thanks for a great post.

Not only well done, but this is very encouraging. As a "newbie" to EVs, I practically get range anxiety whilst leaving our drive!!.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your KERS set at? I'm finding that on a long drive, if I set it at light(1) the range availability's reduction is on par with the mileage.

 

[Chrispydoc]

If you look on the first photo you will see the KERS is on 3, I tend to keep it on that to save my brake pads and get that energy back. I know there are different opinions about the different levels, but that tends to be my normal choice....and its one of setting the car actually remembers!

Although i've only had the MG since January, I had several years driving the PHEV and that sort of got me into this eco business. Its not that I can't afford to but petrol in....but I just resent it. Every time I take the MG out, I smile inwardly with the knowledge that 1) its free road tax, 2) it costs virtual nothing to run (solar panels) and 3) I'm not harming the environment as much as if I was driving and ICE engine and 4) it goes like stink, if required.

ICE engines really do belong in the ice age. My car has a sticker on my back window which sums things nicely for me, (being a DeLorean owner as well)....but I suspect it irritates some folk that follow me.

Thats one thing about getting old...you worry a lot less about what other people think of you.

 

[KasEV]

@Chrispydoc,
Very well done. You have indeed come very close to what can be expected in summer. This is very brilliant.
The expected max summer range for the ZS EV in mixed driving with max regen + eco is said to be 180-185miles and city driving about 250 miles.
The quoted WLTP 163 miles/230miles will correspond to Regen1/N mode but I am not sure about exact temperature range.
I have jet to see anyone who can claim to have achieved these numbers.
The few ZS EV taxi / City cars that are about fall far short of these numbers.
To date, I know only of one pensioner and his wife who use the ZS EV only for going to the shop and back who apparently have been able to do over 200 miles on one charge.
Your data shows that of the 44.5kWh power available you used 36 to 37 kWh for 150miles. This leaves 7.5 kWh
So that is spot on as I can see that the red warning light for the HBV is on and there is only 1 bar of HBV left. I know the GOM is showing 27miles but I will suggest you exercise caution because the rate of discharge of the battery after when the red warning light comes on is not linear to the rate at higher states of charge and most likely the battery will run out before 27 miles. Especially if one is continuing to drew at 70mph on the motorway. The recommendation is to ensure one is within 5 miles (winter) - max 10 miles from a charger when the HBV warning comes up.
Getting a good miles per kWh ratio is the key a high range and is achieved by very smooth driving and avoidance of unnecessary and repeated rapid acceleration and deceleration. Your miles per kWh of 4.3 is brilliant.
Most of us with bad driving habits may only manage 3.5 which will mean we will struggle to make this journey on one charge.
Well @Chrispydoc all the brilliance here is just you and you driving style and power management rather than some magical ability of the ZS EV to perform over and above nature dictates.

 

[Tim Green]

In February I did a long run from Oxford to Rock in Cornwall. No hope of doing this on one charge, I think about 240 miles. Car fully loaded with 2 people, 2 dogs plus luggage, and nearly all motorway. It was a bit of a nightmare trying to find and use the quick charge points -I hope the provision of these improves a lot very soon. Car is brilliant -no problems there.

 

[KasEV]

@Tim Green,
My wife is doing Manchester to a place near Penzance next week. Over 700 miles round trip and I am a bit worried. No range anxiety as such just worry that charging stations will be out of service. I have made few combination route plans for the journey but almost all the charging stations have "issues reported" warnings on Zap Map. Any Tips on improving my Journey planning are most welcome.

 

[Chrispydoc]

My experience is very limited...obviously you will spend less time at rapid charger's. Ive personally only ever used 2 before, one of them on a horrible rainy night in Kings Lynn! I am hoping for a much better experience today at Necton.....6 brand new rapids, a Costa Coffee shop and Co-Op onsite. I'd definitely run the car in Eco mode and keep the speed down a bit..that all helps.

 

[KasEV]

@Chrispydoc,
Thanks. Eco plus 65mph/max 70mph will do. But worried about turning up to find chargers out of service at the motorway service stations. I am having to plan such that I still have 30 miles available at each of my target motorway services so if their chargers are out of order, I can come of the motorway at next junction and drive to a nearby town to charge. Worried this may make the journey longer. Several of the Services chargers have an issues reported notice on Zap Map.

 

[Tim Green]

Kasev: I think your wife will have to stop at least 3 times en-route at fast chargers. I would suggest you identify more than that before she sets off and has a handy list of their postcodes on the satnav. I found them difficult to operate and often had to ring the operator's help number. Realistically you cannot go slowly on a motorway but stick to 70mph in Eco mode. Remember that fast chargers only get you to about 80% so don't expect 160 miles after each charge, more like 120 miles. At Sedgmoor on M5 Jnct 21/22 Roadchef is good place to have lunch whilst charging, both going and returning. I assume she can use granny charger whilst down there. Good planning is required! Good luck!

 

[Mark Holmes]

All I’ve used these rapid chargers quite a few times and polar and pod point have always worked well for me the only time I had a problem was with Electrocity. I don’t tend to plan the journey to much but do normally pull over with about 35 miles left and use Zap-Map to search the local area for rapid chargers, which generally gives you the most recent information about points working or out of order. I do also update zap map on my experience at the charging point.

 

[KasEV]

@Tim Green,
Thanks. Yes 120 miles then charge is good timewise and still safe if further drive to another charger is needed. Will do. Hopefully all the chargers at the target charging points are available and in working order. Sedgemoor Roadchef noted and added to Journey plan. I believe Ecotricity chargers available northbound. Are the Chagers southbound in the Roadchef car park or more towards the Shell Service station?

@Mark Holmes, comments noted. Will include enroute local Zap Map search for better live info.

 

[Mark Holmes]

Did you also know that when you andriod auto and google maps you can whilst driving use the voice command and ask for electrical charging points and it will show you the charging points on route, the function also works with polar charging point and pod point too. In fact you can try your local popular supplier in the same way and see what results you get. Have a play with the technology and use it to your advantage as google is a really powerful addition to the EV world.

 

[DangerousDoug]

When using Zap-Map to plan charges for our holiday journey (Up the M5/M6 from Herefordshire to Cumbria) I noticed something that I'm sure most of you folks already know - when looking up a charger on Zap-Map, the headline says "issues reported", but if there are multiple charging stations at that location, the "issues" may only be reported on one or two of the posts, with others showing "successful charge" once you drill into the "info" page for the charging location in Zap-Map - am I the last one on the forum to notice this??