Category: funky cat

Posted on

Charging at the Q-Park Dickens Yard

When I had stayed in Ealing before I had parked my car in the Q-Park at Dickens Yard. On those visits I had remembered seeing the EV charging spaces as I drove through the car park to park.

So on my most recent visit to Ealing, driving there in the Funky Cat, I needed a place to park, so I decided I would try out the charging points in the Q-Park Dickens Yard Car Park.

Having first parked in a space with a non-functioning charger, I moved my car to a different space and, using my own cable, plugged the Funky Cat into the charger.

The process is different to other chargers I have used, you need to walk towards the pedestrian exit and there is a machine there. To be honest I nearly missed it. You then scan the barcode on your ticket and select the right bay on the screen. Then the charging starts.

The bill for the charging is added to your parking charge. So when you come to pay for your parking, your EV charge is added to the parking charge. This is nice and simple. The charge is 35p/kWh. These are Type 2 (7kW) chargers so won’t be charging your car that rapidly, but useful for adding charge to your car whilst shopping (or as I was eating). I got something like a 25% charge in just under two hours.

Posted on

It’s 185 again

I had charged to 100% on Friday, with a resulting 159 mile predicted range.

After a weekend of local driving and a 50% charge left,  I once again charged to 100% and the predicted range rose to 185 miles

Did some driving after charging, and as I write this, I have a 80% charge with a predicted range of 155 miles.

This is an interesting figure as 80% of 185 is 148 miles, so I am driving more economically than predicted. Of course if you inverse 155 miles at 80% to 100% you get 193 miles. This is the published range of the Funky Cat.

Posted on

185 yesterday, 159 today

The other day I charged up to 100% and had a predicted range of 168 miles.

Yesterday I charged to 100% and this range went up to 185.

Today I charged again to 100%, but the range dropped to 159 miles.

Despite the driving being quite similar, I still don’t quite get why it varies quite so much.

Posted on

Charging in Portishead

Went off out. I originally planned to go to a National Trust property, but decided it was probably a little too far away, so went to Portishead instead.

Parked on the road, but as I walked towards the marina I saw an EV charging station in the Parish Wharf Leisure Centre car park.

It had four spaces and was on the Revive network. The car park it was in was free for three hours. I didn’t need charging (urgently) so didn’t use it. Useful though to know it was there for a future visit to Portishead.

Posted on

ACC not activated

I have been using the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) on the Funky Cat quite a bit. I quite like using ACC when travelling through urban areas with a 20mph speed limit. It keeps me within the speed limit and obviously slows me down when there is traffic.

I did though have an issue with it yesterday when it failed to activate. I don’t know the cause, but with all the rain we’ve been having, I wondered if there was water on the sensors, which would mean that it wouldn’t function properly.

It wasn’t an issue I just had to drive without it.

I checked later on my journey and it was working again.

Maybe one to watch, just in case it happens again.

Posted on

No regenerative braking…

As I left the office today I realised that the regenerative braking wasn’t in effect. The Funky was driving along without slowing down when I took my foot off the accelerator. 

I thought there was a problem and I remembered a similar thing happening a couple of weeks ago as well. I was concerned that maybe there was another software issue.

Then it struck me, I had charged the Funky up to 100%, it had a full charge. How could the regenerative braking charge up the battery, when it was already at 100%.

Once I had driven a few miles, and the power had dropped a few percent the regenerative braking started working normally and as expected.

Posted on

Not one, not two, but three

I had left my car for a few days at the airport after travelling to Amsterdam.

Got in the car and set it to demist. When this happened in my old petrol car, I would usually wait a bit and drive off, so the engine would heat up quicker. Obviously with an electric car, this doesn’t happen, so I just had to wait.

I then got an error message that the the tyre pressure in one of the tyres was low and needed to be checked. As I was at the airport, and it was only slightly off, so decided to drive home and then sort it out the following morning. There was nowhere at the airport to check air pressure anyhow.

However as I travelled home, I got further warnings. First it was one tyre and by the time I got home it was three out of four.

Next day checked pressure on all four tyres and got them back up to pressure. 

The sudden drop in ambient temperature is probably to blame. Always worthwhile though going to service station and checking air pressure.

Posted on

Spotted, a Funky in the wild

This morning I saw another Funky in the  wild. This is the first time I have seen another Funky Cat outside the dealership. I know that the car is quite rare, so had been looking, but today I caught one on the streets.

I was a little surprised to see that it was in the same estate where I live. A green Funky with the white roof. 

I have had my Funky since August, and have done over 2000 miles in the car,  including trips to Warwick and York, as well as regular trips and commutes to Bristol.

I thought I would see my first wild Funky in Bristol, but the first wild Funky I spotted was just a few  hundred meters from where I live. 

I was unable to photograph the Funky as I was driving, but it was there I tell you, it was there in the wild.

Posted on

Charging in Sand Bay

I hadn’t planned on using the EV (electric vehicle) chargers in the car park at Sand Bay. I had driven down to go for a stroll along the beach. However many others had the same idea and though the car park was full, the two EV car spaces were free. Well I was driving an EV, so I parked there. Paid for my parking through the MiPermit parking app. 

This was a Revive charger. I had issues with the Revive chargers up at Cribbs Causeway. Mainly as they didn’t accept my debit card or my Shell Recharge card. As I had some time I decided to register with Revive and use the charger.

They don’t have an app, so you register for the chargers on a website.

This I managed to do, but had to immediately do a password reset, as my saved password didn’t work.

It was then a “simple” matter of plugging my Funky Cat charger into the charging point and the car.

You then use the website to start the charging process.

Well. Though the charger itself said it was charging, the right light was lit up, the website said it wasn’t. The Ora app, also said it wasn’t charging. I waited, but in the end I did want to go for a walk.

As I walked along the beach I checked the Ora app and saw that the charge had increased by 2%, so it was charging.

When I got back, I did find it quite challenging to initially stop the charge. The initial website status page had “vanished”.

There was no menu item for stopping a charge. 

I found out that I needed to scroll down the page, past the menu, and then I could see my current charging session. I was then able to stop the charge, disconnect the cables and drive home.

Well at least now I have registered for the Revive network. I could get an RFID card for the service, but it costs £9, which seems expensive, compared the free apps and cards from other services. I think I will stick with the website instead.