First long(ish) journey report

[EdinburghID3]

After a few months of largely enjoyable use, we’ve finally taken the car on its first “longish” journey. Appreciate everyone’s definition of long is different but in our case its heading north from Edinburgh to Cullin….

So, could we make the 200 mile journey north on one charge? I dont normally charge to 100% as per guidance but we’ve been seeing a return of 240 miles around town now that its a bit warmer.

Clearly this trip is a bit different with some faster roads and a fully loaded car/boot so I was unsure what range we would see. Zapmap reckoned we could make the journey in one go but with 2 young kids, a half way stop for lunch was essential and no point sweating it.

Having checked the Charge Place Scotland app, I decided in advance that a stop in Brechin would do for a 30 min topup. We left with the battery at 98% (due to a false start of forgetting some essentials and returning home) we arrived in Brechin with 63% range left. We added 29% (50kw charge place scotland rapid charger) so the second half started at 91%.

Later, we arrived in Cullin with the battery sitting at 51% so we would have comfortably made it without stopping had we wished. Traffic was light the majority of the journey and I stuck close to the speed limit throughout.

Now we are here, I tried charging on the local charge place scotland point (advertised at 22kw) but only getting speeds of 11kw from it using my standard VW supplied type 2 cable. Presumably these are limited to 11kw? No big deal but interested to know if the cable is limited?

Overall though, a really smooth and comfortable journey. Gives me more confidence going into the next long trip

[shire-dweller]

[...] but only getting speeds of 11kw from it using my standard VW supplied type 2 cable. Presumably these are limited to 11kw?

The cable is not limited, but the in-car electronics are limited to 11kW (AC charging).

My own longest journey was 2,000 miles round trip from Leeds (England) to Obertraun (Austria) over a holiday week. I had to stop to charge more than once, but it was fine! The fastest I got to charge was around 100kW in Ionity DC charging stations — there were plenty along the way and they all accepted the VW We Charge charging card.

[sidehaas]

ID3 hardware is only capable of 11kw AC. It's three 16A phases, of which two are combined in some way to achieve 32A on single phase. This approach is almost universal to new EVs now. Very few of them can do 32A 3 phase (22kw).

[EdinburghID3]

ID3 hardware is only capable of 11kw AC. It's three 16A phases, of which two are combined in some way to achieve 32A on single phase. This approach is almost universal to new EVs now. Very few of them can do 32A 3 phase (22kw).

Thanks. I was scratching my head a bit and not something I really understand. We had a 3 phase supply installed at home when the DNO unlooped us. Didn’t consider installing as 22kw charger as car sits on our driveway all night but especially glad I didn’t now!

[DumfriesDik]

Nice one @EdinburghID3. If you did the same trip again, and didn't need a comfort break, would you do it without a charge stop?

[EdinburghID3]

Nice one @EdinburghID3. If you did the same trip again, and didn't need a comfort break, would you do it without a charge stop?

100% at this time of year, probably not in winter. We’ll be driving back down the road on Friday. I dont intend to recharge before we get home if I can avoid it….. will report back!

As a side note, the charging infrastructure up here is decent and I haven’t had to queue or go out of my way to top up

[smyth1492]

I don't think 200 miles is realistic on a 100% charge in the depths of winter, 170-180 'just' if you are very gentle and don't have the interior to warm. Expect to end at less that 5% charge from my experience.

[Trilby]

Great to hear you made the journey there and back ok!

We did a longish journey last weekend. Nuneaton to London (Kew) it was 110 miles there and similar back. I had a couple of charge stops planned in for the return journey, but we didn’t need them despite M6 closures and a few extra miles detour. Got home with 13% remaining and GOM showing 22 miles. Not bad for mostly 70mph motorway once we were out of the stop start of London.

[DCB]

Had my TourS just over 7 weeks and done two long trips, we live in Cumbria, the first trip was to Warwick, no need to charge going down, and Warwick Square has about 6 BPPulse chargers - you need your cable. If charging the Council do not ask for car parking, so I left my car on charge while visiting the castle, again no need to charge on the way home.

My second trip last week was to the Gower where we hired a cottage, about 316 miles each way. The cottage owner had a 6 kWh charger which he allowed us to use for free! We topped up in Oswestry at a rapid InstaVolt which cost me £15 to 87%. On the way down we topped up in Ludlow on an EV charger at less than half the price of the InstaVolt, but it was only 11kwh, but no problem as we had a meal.

I’m still waiting for Octopus to fix my Smart Meter, on the blink since going over to Octopus in April, so I’m home charging on Economy 7 night rate. Octopus have been promising an engineer since I joined them, despite 5 E Mails and consequent promises I still haven’t a date for an engineer, which runs contrary to their advertised great customer support!

[sidehaas]

Had my TourS just over 7 weeks and done two long trips, we live in Cumbria, the first trip was to Warwick, no need to charge going down, and Warwick Square has about 6 BPPulse chargers - you need your cable. If charging the Council do not ask for car parking, so I left my car on charge while visiting the castle, again no need to charge on the way home.

My second trip last week was to the Gower where we hired a cottage, about 316 miles each way. The cottage owner had a 6 kWh charger which he allowed us to use for free! We topped up in Oswestry at a rapid InstaVolt which cost me £15 to 87%. On the way down we topped up in Ludlow on an EV charger at less than half the price of the InstaVolt, but it was only 11kwh, but no problem as we had a meal.

I’m still waiting for Octopus to fix my Smart Meter, on the blink since going over to Octopus in April, so I’m home charging on Economy 7 night rate. Octopus have been promising an engineer since I joined them, despite 5 E Mails and consequent promises I still haven’t a date for an engineer, which runs contrary to their advertised great customer support!

Ref Octopus, I recommend calling, tweeting or sending a DM via twitter. You seem to get a better response than via emails. They can be pretty useless for more complex problems though. They are usually pretty efficient and transparent for straightforward stuff like tariff switches.

Good to see new owners getting on well with their cars and with public charging

[EdinburghID3]

+1 for contacting Octopus via Twitter DM. Their service (compared to my last provider EON Next) is generally very good. They even gave me advice when EON messed up my final bill, advising me I should claim compensation for the delays as certain rules around closing accounts…. Got £60 after raising with EON so it was good of them to point out

[EdinburghID3]

Nice one @EdinburghID3. If you did the same trip again, and didn't need a comfort break, would you do it without a charge stop?

Drove back today, starting with 98% in the battery. Stopped in Dundee for a toilet break but no charge. Still had 19% left when we got home.

[DumfriesDik]

Drove back today, starting with 98% in the battery. Stopped in Dundee for a toilet break but no charge. Still had 19% left when we got home.

Well done!

My friend in Lincoln doesn't know that I am planning a visit him one day. It's a 225 mile trip south so I would expect to need to charge en-route. BUT now? Maybe I don't?

Did you find the GOM pretty accurate??

[EdinburghID3]

Drove back today, starting with 98% in the battery. Stopped in Dundee for a toilet break but no charge. Still had 19% left when we got home.

Well done!

My friend in Lincoln doesn't know that I am planning a visit him one day. It's a 225 mile trip south so I would expect to need to charge en-route. BUT now? Maybe I don't?

Did you find the GOM pretty accurate??

Yeah, it was spot on. I did tend to keep slightly below the speed limit on the way back. Probably around 65 on 70 roads. Quite a few B roads on the initial part of the journey (satnav sent me an interesting route for 30 miles or so) and had to drive closer to 30 as some of the roads were pretty narrow. But the bulk was on 60/70 mph roads after that until I hit the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Drove mostly in D mode with a bit of ACC here and there too but I mostly prefer to be in charge so had it off in the main.