Sat Nav Routing

[DumfriesDik]

How much do you trust the ID3 sat nav to pick out a reasonable stop for charging on a long drive?

Does it try and plan a stop roughly half way?

'Planning' a trip from Dumfries, Scotland to Tregaron, Wales (290 miles) and the suggested charge stop is near Haydock and 145 miles down the road from me. It has 3 CCS charge bays @50kW. Go another 30 miles and at Road Chef Chester and there are a plethora of 350kW chargers. Surely a better bet? What say the experienced long distance traveller, where would you stop?

[sidehaas]

It picks out a stop that it thinks it can get to with the remaining minimum miles you have set in the infotainment (see yesterday's thread on how to do that). To estimate this it does a calculation based on your recent consumption and current SoC (similar to the GOM). I find that it often starts out a little optimistic but will readjust on a route quite well. In your case it probably doesn't think you have the range to reach the faster charging site with enough % left in current conditions. You could try turning down the miles remaining option and see if it changes the plan or not. Of course reducing that number creates slightly higher risk.
It does take account of available kW from a charger, as it works out what is the fastest option for you.
The problem with it is that it doesn't seem to prioritise, and doesn't allow the user to specify it should only use, sites with more chargers. If I could set it to use only sites with 6 CCS plugs, I'd use it whenever I needed it. But unfortunately you can't do that and it will sometimes direct you to unnecessarily "high risk" sites with only one or two plugs. You really need to spot when it does this and change the plan, but obviously you can't do that safely/easily when driving.

[steviebabes]

I live at Bont, about 5 miles from Tregaron, and regularly pass the Roadchef services on the way to Preston. I've not called there since they had the Gridserve 350kW chargers in a few weeks ago. It's 95 miles from here so about 100 miles from Tregaron and approx 190 miles from you. You should be OK depending on the weather and your speed on the M6/M56 and the battery will be warm and low enough for a high charge rate. If you go into Aberystwyth there are plenty of chargers, open to all Tesla's at Park Royal Hotel, 40 at the National Library and all council car parks have at least 4 22kW units. There are 4 at the council car park in Tregaron too.

[sidehaas]

For this specific journey, I wouldn't personally aim for Chester at this time of year unless you plan on doing 60mph the whole way. 185-190 miles is a bit much for a leg. The best site is actually MFG Crow Orchard, which is immediately off J27 and has 8 150kw chargers. I've stopped there a few times, it's a good site. If you get there and have lots in hand you could continue to Chester. Or perhaps even better, just do a 5 minute top up at Crow Orchard before continuing to Chester. You can then top up to a high level at Chester while you have a longer break, which will give you plenty for the rest of the journey.
The MFG site is in zapmap, for some reason it's not shown in wecharge, they never show MFG sites - this is the other problem with the system as MFG is a major operator.

[DumfriesDik]

Thank you good people. I have a friend with an ID3 moving to near Tregaron and hope to visit in the Spring. I suspect it will be a two stopper for comfort more than anything.

The MFG Crow Orchard looks perfect for me with another top up at Welshpool or Newtown. Aberystwyth is a bit too far from the route I fear.

As you say @sidehaas it is a shame you can not change the preferences in the car.

Thanks again, it is giving me confidence.