Category: funky cat

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European Travels

I had intended to blog about my experiences of driving the Funky Cat from the South West of England to Newhaven, taking the ferry to Dieppe, driving to a campsite outside Paris, then driving to Germany, visiting Cologne, Luxembourg City, before heading back home cross the Channel between Dunkirk and Dover.

However…

The Funky Cat is still with the dealer being fixed after the CarPlay update went wrong. In the end I had to take a petrol courtesy car across with me.

It had CarPlay and that worked well. I had planned a charging route, but relying on an internal combustion engine meant that this was thrown out! I had to re-apply for a range of low emission zone certificates, stickers and registrations, having already done that for the Funky Cat. I also had to change a range of bookings for the ferries and campsites with the different car registration.

It was a good trip, but I think I would have preferred to use the Funky Cat.

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I finally haz the CarPlay

…but not quite in the way I wanted.

CarPlay

As I mentioned previously my CarPlay update to my Ora didn’t go to plan… As I write this the Ora is still with the dealer and I have a courtesy car, a petrol Nissan Juke.

I needed to charge my iPhone, I haven’t needed to do that in the car since I was provided with it. In the Ora I use wireless charging, so rarely use a cable. However, wanting to charge the phone, I plugged it in. The Nissan noticed it and asked if I wanted CarPlay!

Well I wasn’t going to say no was I.

First impressions are very favourable. Waze is so much better than the built-in navigation on the Juke (and the Ora Funky Cat). I like how I can access my music, both from the phone, but also from Amazon Music.

Slightly disappointed by the lack of apps that are available through the interface, but certainly am pleased to finally “have a go”.

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Saw another one in the wild…

Saw another red Funky Cat in the wild, this time driving into Cheltenham on the A40. I was driving in the opposite direction. I would have waved or flashed my headlights, however at the time I was driving a courtesy car, a Nissan Juke, as my Funky Cat is still being updated…

This is the fourth wild Funky Cat I have seen.

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Didn’t quite work out…

Well the CarPlay update to my Ora didn’t go to plan…

The dealer had the car for the whole day, but didn’t start the update until close to the end of the day. The update failed, so they needed to keep the Funky Cat to try again. Alas it was a bank holiday and I was working away in London this week. So the plan is to pick up the car on Friday.

In the meantime I had a courtesy car, a Nissan Juke. After spending ten months driving the Funky Cat, it was quite disconcerting to go back to a manual petrol car.

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CarPlay is here…

This morning I got an email from Ora.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are here. Get directions, listen to your music, send and receive messages and chat to your new voice assistant (just don’t tell Hello ORA).

After waiting for a fair while, Apple CarPlay is now available for my Ora Funky Cat. I have booked my car in for the update with my local dealer.

CarPlay is a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone while you drive. You can get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, and enjoy your favourite music. All on your car’s built‑in display. And CarPlay now features more app categories and custom wallpapers for your CarPlay Dashboard.

I have been wanting CarPlay for the Funky Cat for a while now, so that I can use Waze and also access Music (and Podcasts) on my phone through the car.

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New app on its way

Recently saw on the app (and in an email) that there is to be a new Ora app for the Funky Cat.

Screenshot

Important Update: New My GWM App

Coming Soon!

Dear valued customer,

We are committed to delivering the best customer experience at GWM, and to further enhance your journey with us, we’re excited to announce an upcoming update.

In the near future, we’ll be launching a new app. As part of the transition, the current “GWM ORA” app will be discontinued. You’ll soon receive a prompt to download the brand new ‘My GWM’ App.

The new app not only improves existing functionalities but also introduces exciting new features, all wrapped in a refreshed design.

Stay tuned for more updates!

I generally use the app to check my car’s progress in charging. The map function has never worked for me, when I am at home, my car appears to be in Croydon.

There is no indication about the functionality of the new app and whether it is a direct replacement, or something new and better (or possibly not as good).

No timeframe has been given.

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Saw one in the wild…

Saw another red Funky Cat in the wild, parked in Castlemead in Bristol.

This is only the third wild Funky Cat I have seen. Though I am not sure if the first sighting was a Funky Cat now, as I haven’t seen it again. The second was a red Funky Cat at Junction 19 of the M5 coming from Portishead.

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It must be getting warmer…

Having charged the car to 100%, I was pleased to see that the predicted range was 182 miles. This is the biggest range I have had in a while (and is close to the advertised 193 WLTP electric range). I think part of the reason is that my AEC (Average Energy Consumption) figure which over most of the winter had been in the 32+ range, has been much lower recently, around 25 kWh/100 mile.

I used the Revive chargers at the Diamond Batch car park at Worle Station. When I first connected, it initially said it was going to take nearly six hours to charge from 23% to 100%. In the end it did the charge in just over three hours.

Still find it a little strange (and need to remember) that when the battery is at 100% there isn’t any regenerative braking, so I have to use the brake pedal more.

 

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Working now

I mentioned previously the last time I tried to use the Revive chargers at the Diamond Batch car park at Worle Station they didn’t work. I was unable to charge my Funky Cat and had to move to a “normal” space.

This time, when parking at the car park, I connected the Funky Cat to the charger, went to the app, and all worked fine.

The only downside is that North Somerset have raised the cost of parking at the car park by 20p and now charge 10p if you use the app. Still, as I was going to park there anyhow as I was catching the train to Bristol, it’s nice to be able to charge the car up as well at the same time.