Ouch, down to 1%

I hadn’t planned on getting down to a 1% charge, but that happened to me recently.

I had done a day trip to Dunkerque and had arrived back on the ferry at Dover with a roughly 50% charge left on the car. I had used more battery power than anticipated, as I had managed to get an easier ferry to Calais, but then during the day I had to travel from Calais to Dunkerque, only a 25 mile trip, but it was an unplanned trip. I also did think I might be able to charge at one of the French supermarkets I stopped at, but didn’t see any chargers. Well, I wasn’t really looking hard, but if there was one I would have probably put some charge on the Funky Cat.

I had to drive from Dover to Weston-super-Mare, a total distance of 215 miles. The Funky Cat has a maximum (published) range of 193, though when I recently charged to 100% I had a maximum range of 176. If I started off with 100% I could have done the trip with a single stop for a charge. Now if I wasn’t worried I could have stopped off anywhere at the services, paid 85p kWh and charged up there, but I wanted to save some money.

Having arrived back quite late, I knew I could take advantage of Instavolt’s off peak rates. I couldn’t use the Tesla chargers at the Channel Tunnel as they are only for people getting on or getting off the trains on the Channel Tunnel. So I headed down the M20 to the Instavolt chargers at Ashford. These chargers are near The Ashford Cattle Market, as a result after putting the Funky Cat on charge I stayed in the car.

It cost 54p kWh which is much cheaper than their standard 85p. A couple of days before I had used an Instavolt charger at the peak rates. For roughly the same amount of money, during peak charging I got 15.33 kWh, whilst off peak I got 25.18 kWh. Quite a substantial saving.

I didn’t charge to 100% as it takes quite a long time, especially that last 20%. So knowing there was 100 miles to the Tesla chargers on the M4 westbound services at Reading, I made sure I had at least a 125 mile range. I then set off.

However there is where all best laid plans started to go amiss. I found out via Waze that the M25 was closed between junctions 9 and 10. This meant I missed the Cobham Services, but did mean that I saved some power, as I find A road driving is more energy efficient then motorway driving. I also saw that the M4 was closed, which I saw was between J10 and J11.

So I wasn’t too worried. Waze took me down the M3 and through Bracknell and Wokingham. I’ve done this route before, so wasn’t too worried and assumed that this was also avoiding where the M4 was closed. However as I approached the M4 junction with the A329(M) the slip road onto the M4 was closed. This probably meant that the M4 was closed around the services as well. Time for a plan B. I asked Ora for the nearest charging station and saw that there was a bank of Tesla chargers at Wokingham.

I arrived at the Wokingham stalls, and noted on the app they were compatible to non-Tesla chargers, and the rate at that time was 41p kWh. Great I thought, however these were the older model chargers and I have had issues with these in the past. It was going to be a similar story, despite plugging in, I couldn’t get the Funky Cat to initialise a charge with the Tesla charger. I was now getting quite low on power. So after driving through Reading, I once more asked Ora for the nearest charger, and I ended up at a Shell Garage on Basingstoke Road. I put the Funky Cat on charge which was going to cost 85p a kWh a lot more than I was expecting to pay and compared to the Tesla costs.

As I sat in the car (again) I checked the maps and I did think from what I could read that the M4 was open from J11. 

So I did a minimal charge and set off, however at the junction the slip road was closed off. I headed off through the diversion and joined the M4 at J12. I decided I would stop at one of the services on the M4, and just do a charge there.  I approached Chieveley Services, I saw I still had enough range to get to Membury Services. I had had issues before at Chieveley Services, so decided I would go to Membury.

As I approached Membury Services, my range got lower and lower, until it went to zero. My heart rate started to increase and I slowed down. I got to Membury Services and checked the car I had 1% charge left. There are a bank of Tesla chargers at Membury Services, however they don’t work with non-Tesla cars. So I had to use the Gridserve chargers.

I had to recreate my account with them to use the app, so I could get the lower rate of 79p kWh. I put on enough charge to get me home and then some.

Even so, when I got home I had 6% left of charge.

It had been a frustrating trip, but I rarely do something like this, so though annoying, the Funky Cat is still a great drive. I had to remember that it was mainly frustrating as I was trying to save money on charging and keep my driving costs down.

Well that’s better

So after getting just 125 miles recently, I  did a charge to 100% and the predicted range was a much better 168 miles.

This was guessing down to warmer temperatures and recently using the heating less.

How low can you go?

After what I thought was a low predicted range at a 100% of 139 miles, I found myself with a predicted range of just 125 miles when I recently charged to 100%.

Certainly a combination of low temperatures, heating, pre-heating the driver area, motorway driving, and demisting the windscreen.

Though this time last year it was just 122 miles.

Disappointed but not surprised

Was disappointed but not surprised that the predicted range for the Funky Cat on a 100% charge was just 139 miles.

It has been cold and I have been driving with the heating on.

Charging to 100% in the cold

I charged the Funky Cat to 100% a couple of times a week or so ago, and the results were very similar at 167 and 168. Considering it is cold, and I have been using the heater (and pre-heating) in the cold weather, these predicted ranges are better than I would have expected.

However on the past two charges to 100% the weather has been much colder and this has impacted on the predicted range.

These were lower at 157 and 155.

Both times I charged using a standard 13amp three pin socket.

Charging to 100%

I have recently charged the Funky Cat to 100% a couple of times this week, and the results were very similar at 167 and 168.

Considering it is cold, and  I have been using the heater (and pre-heating) in the cold weather, these predicted ranges are better than I would have expected. Both times I charged using a standard 13amp three pin socket.

 

Granny Charging to 100%

I have been using my granny charger a lot more since moving house. A granny charger is one you can plug into a standard normal houshold 3 pin outlet/

Though it is very slow, last night I left it charging the Funky Cat to 100%. It is charging around 2-3 kWh, which is much slower than the rapid and fast chargers I normally use. Took about twelve hours to get from 45% to 100%.

Of course it is cheaper as well at 25p kWh.

My predicted range is 173 miles, which I think is quite good, considering the cold weather and I have been using the heater a lot.

Well that was expensive!

I should probably point out that I wasn’t too surprised by this, but does show how varied pricing is when charging an electric vehicle.

On Monday I charged my Funky Cat using the Tesla superchargers at the Mall at Cribbs Causeway near John Lewis. Tesla have recently allowed non-Tesla electric vehicles to use them. Having said that I had originally planned to charge the Funky Cat using the superchargers at the Tesla dealership close to Cribbs on Lysander Road. However upon arrival, despite their being plenty of free chargers, the cables were very much on the short side. Add in road bumpers in the parking spaces to stop people knocking over the chargers, I was unable to plug the Funky Cat in to charge. The Funky Cat charging port is on the front passenger side of the car, whereas the Tesla charging port is at the back of the Tesla. I had planned to charge there as with their dynamic pricing it was just 35p per kWh. Having failed to charge there I, as I said, went to the Tesla superchargers near John Lewis. These though at the same time were 42p per kWh. Parked, and plugged in, the Funky Cat charged without any issues. I did a full charge taking the car from just under 20% to 100%. The total cost of this was just over £14.

Having done a fair bit of driving on Monday and most of Tuesday, I was down to an 18% charge when we went out for dinner at The Landing Light. In their car park they have two Osprey chargers.  Plugged the Funky Cat in and set it charging. As with the Tesla charging, I let it charge to 100%. The time to charge was similar, but the cost this time was over £30 as the price was 79p per kWh.

Unlike petrol, the price of EV charging can be so variable. It’s not just about the power (speed) either. Also unlike petrol, you can charge at home using your own electricity. I can’t say I understand the variable pricing of EV charging, but it does mean you need to think differently when you want to charge.

171 miles

Used the revive chargers at Worle Railway Station and at 100% charge I had a predicted range of 171 miles.

Noticing that recently my 100% charges have been less than the 185 I got a year ago. It is colder, but I don’t think it is that cold.

Over time any EV battery will degrade, so will keep an eye on the battery performance.