Tag: charging

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Charging in East Anglia

boats

I was travelling in East Anglia, staying in Ipswich. I was on my way to the Suffolk coast and stopped at the Tesla chargers at the Anglia Parkway retail park.

I had charged the Funky Cat there back in October 2024 without any issues. It was the same experience with the MG IM5 this time.

I arrived and set the charge going, as I was there before 8am I was able to get the off peak rate from Tesla.

I spent 29 minutes adding 42kWh to the car battery. I had to stop at 80% charge, as then Tesla start charging a congestion fee. That is one limitation of the Tesla app that it doesn’t tell you if there will be a congestion charge or not. At 50p a minute, it’s not something you want to leave to chance.

I did a similar trip in the Funky Cat, and also used the Tesla chargers at the Anglia Parkway retail park. Following that charge on my way home in the Funky Cat, I stopped at Newmarket to do a charge, I then had to stop at Hopwood Services on the M42 as I wouldn’t be able to reach the Gloucester Services to use the Tesla chargers there.

With the MG IM5 following charging to 80% at Anglia Parkway retail park I would have had enough charge to get home covering around 270 miles.

Though actually on my way back I did stop at the Gloucester Services, not just for coffee, but also to put some more charge on the MG IM5 as I knew the following day I would need to drive to Birmingham.

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No more Trouble with Tesla

I was on my way to Heathrow (again) and I stopped at the Reading Services, gave the MG IM5 a top up charge using the Tesla chargers. Easier said than done, as only the westbound services have compatible Tesla chargers. So, I left the M4 at Junction 11, reversed back onto the M4. 

It took 40 minutes to deliver 57.3kW, which average out at around 86kWh. About twice as fast than when charging the Funky Cat.

As on my previous visit, I reversed the MG IM5 into the bay. The charging socket is in the same place as Tesla cars, so though these chargers had the longer cables, having the charging port in the same position as a Tesla, will make it easier with those Tesla charging banks with shorter cables (such as Cribbs Causeway). Using the app I set the charger going and then plugged it into the car.

The MG IM5 comes with 800v technology can take a 396kWh maximum charge and theoretically will take 17 minutes to charge from 10-80%. However the Tesla infrastructure is 400v, so I wasn’t going to get anywhere near that.

I am planning to try out a 800v charger at some point, the Ionity chargers are supposed to be 800v.

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No Trouble with Tesla

I was on my way back from Heathrow and I stopped at the Reading Services, gave the MG IM5 a top up charge using the Tesla chargers.

Unlike my experience at Dart’s Farm, this was a smooth and easy experience.

I reversed the MG IM5 into the bay. The charging socket is in the same place as Tesla cars, so though these had longer cables, it will make it easier with those Tesla charging banks with shorter cables (such as Cribbs Causeway). Using the app I set the charger going and then plugged it into the car.

The MG IM5 comes with 800v technology can take a 396kWh maximum charge and theoretically will take 17 minutes to charge from 10-80%. However the Tesla infrastructure is 400v, so I wasn’t going to get anywhere near that.

It took 19 minutes to deliver 27.7kW, which average out at around 87kWh. Faster than the Funky Cat which (according to my charging history took 38 minutes for about the same amount of charge. 

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441 miles, that’s quite a bit more than the Funky Cat

I recently charged my new MG IM5 to 100% and though it took a while, the predicted WLTP range was 441 miles.

This was the first time I had charged the car since I got it. It was quite simple to plug it into the fast charger (11 kWh) and it just started charging.

Comparing that 441 mile range to the Funky Cat, it’s quite a difference. When I first got the cat, I would get 185 miles on a 100% charge, not quite the advertised 193 mile range. However, after three years I was lucky to get 175 and more often it would drop to 165 in warm weather, but could go as low as 125 in cold weather. 

Obviously not had a chance to charge the MG IM5 in cold conditions.

Once the charge was at 100%, it was a relatively simple affair to unplug the charge cable from the charger, and then remove the cable from the car. One of the annoyances of the Funky Cat was that often you had to lock the car and then unlock it again, for the charging cable to be released.

Online in some of the forums, people recommended changing the WLTP range to DFRE (Dynamic Fuel Range Estimation).

WLTP: Shows a fixed, ideal range based on official laboratory testing cycles.

DFRE: Shows a live, dynamic range calculated continuously from your recent energy use, driving style, and climate control loa

I’ve not quite worked out how to do that.

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Charging at Charlecote Park

I was on my way back from Birmingham and I had time, so stopped to visit Charlecote Park, a country house set in rural parkland near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

As with many National Trust properties they have EV chargers available. I plugged the Funky Cat in and let it charge. I went to explore the house and grounds, and have a cup of tea, well an iced coffee, it was a hot day!

When I arrived no one was using the EV chargers, it was a weekday, but even so the car park was quite busy. With EV ownership is on the rise, I wonder why more people don’t take advantage of the charger, it might be the cost, as 60p kWh though cheaper than some, is on the high side for fast 11-22 kWh chargers.

Charging pricing is so varied, but I am guessing part of people not taking advantage of the EV chargers, is people charging (for less) at home. I rarely charge at home and don’t (yet) have an EV charging point installed. My main reason for having one installed is less about saving money, but more for convenience.

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Charging at Arlington Court

Arlington Court

I was visiting Arlington Court in Devon. It took me a while to find the EV chargers, literally drove around the entire car park before I found them. These were the same Chargepoint EV chargers available at other National Trust properties. A simple matter then of plugging in the Funky Cat and using contactless to authenticate and authorise payment. Chargepoint take a hold of £15 which is a lot less than other providers who, from my experience, can sometimes place a hold of £50 on your bank account.

I then left the car to charge and went to enjoy exploring Arlington Court.

When you read social media threads about EVs, often a criticism made about EVs is the time it takes to charge. I often think that criticism is misplaced as people are thinking that charging an EV is like filling a car with petrol. Though there are EV charging stations on major roads and at motorway services, you can often find EV chargers in many other places such as hotels, car parks, theme parks, shopping centres, designer outlets, and National Trust properties.

So, yes you can stop on your journey to charge, but you can also charge when you reach your destination. So, no surprise when visiting Arlington Court in Devon that there were EV chargers available to charge the Funky Cat. I arrived, I charged, I enjoyed my visit, and the Funky Cat was at 100% when I was ready to leave.

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On street EV charging

One feature of London suburban streets is the availability of on-street EV charging, usually making use of street lighting to provide the power.

I was staying with family in Wimbledon in London and I decided to take advantage of the availability of the charger to charge the Funky Cat.

It is a slow charger just pushing out around 5 kWh, so this is a solution for when you have time to charge. There is a twelve hour limit for the charger I was using. Despite the slow speed, it’s not cheap, between 7am and 12pm it’s 60p kWh but overnight it falls to 40p which is better value.

I only used it for three hours getting 15.6 kWh. The real advantage was convenience, not having to drive somewhere to charge was a real bonus. Of course for local residents who don’t have a driveway, this is a solution for when you need a charge.

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Problem, not my problem

One of the regular places I charge when travelling back from London is the Tesla chargers at the Westbound Reading MOTO Services. There are no Tesla chargers on the Eastbound side, why that is, I do not know.

It normally just works at these chargers, but on this visit, the charger failed to work. Usually I never have problems with these chargers, however having arrived and parked, but was unable to start he charge on the app. This also then locks the charging cable  in the car. I then had to do the usual hassle of opening the bonnet to manually release the charger from the car. I moved the car and put it on charge and it all worked fine from then on.

I don’t think this was a problem with the Funky Cat, I think that there was a specific problem with that charger.

I did get 23.8 kWH in 35 minutes, which took the Funky Cat from around 30% to 50%. This was delivering at a rate in the region of 50kW. One of the downsides of the Funky Cat is that it can’t take advantage of the speed of some of the rapid chargers out there. Some are rated to deliver 350kW, the Funky Cat can’t take that kind of power.

Having reached just over 80% I stopped the charge and unplugged. I find it strange that unplugging after a successful charge just works. I wonder if there is a kill switch on the charger itself so that it doesn’t remain locked when a charge fails to initialise.

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Charging once more at Stourhead

Stourhead

Back in February I visited Stourhead and did a behind closed doors tour, however the house’s state rooms weren’t open, since I had always planned a repeat visit to see these rooms.

On that visit I did make use of the EV charging facilities. Though I had a few issues with the ChargePoint app and my bank card, in the end I used ApplePay and all was fine.

So, on a recent return visit to the property I was able to easily plug the Funky Cat into the chargers, and again I used ApplePay to set the charge going.

Stourhead also had some rapid chargers which looked like they could deliver more charge (so faster charging). The last time I was there they weren’t available as there had been a cable theft. This time they were working. After my visit I disconnected from the fast (11kWh) chargers and decided I would top off my charge using the rapid chargers. I was at about a 70% charge, so wasn’t expecting miracles, but the actual charge rate was very slow, so I didn’t connect for long.

There was an issue which may be just me, but on the fast charger   ChargePoint put a £15 hold on my card, I spent just under £10, but the remaining hold was still there five days later! The rapid charger took a whopping £35 hold and likewise it was still being held five days later.

I don’t think I had this issue at other National Trust properties recently as I have spent more than the £15 held. This time though there was a £50 hold on my bank card and I only spent £13.

Didn’t put me off, and I do appreciate the fact that chargers are available at some National Trust properties.

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Charging at the National Trust

I recently visited Stourhead, my last visit was nearly ten years ago back in May 2016.

 Having arrived at the property, I was pleased to see EV chargers, so I put the Funky Cat on charge. I could use contactless to start the charge, though if you have the ChargePoint app you can use that. I did in fact try to use the ChargePoint app, which then attempted to charge my debit card, which the bank blocked. No idea why, so I avoided the app and used ApplePay instead.

As well as 22 kWh EV chargers, Stourhead also had some rapid chargers which looked like they could deliver more charge (so faster charging). I was less pleased to see that there had been a cable theft from the rapid chargers.

It all worked out using the 22kWh chargers, though the Funky Cat can only draw down 11KwH.

When a couple of weeks later, I made a trip to Kingston Lacy, another National Trust property down in Dorset I was pleased to see they also had chargers. I headed to the EV charging and I put the Funky Cat on charge.

By the time I finished my visit to the house and gardens, the Funky Cat was at 100%. I had time left, and it was only twenty miles away I headed off to Corfe Castle.

I parked in the National Trust car park, and was pleased to see they also had EV chargers. I didn’t put the car on charge, but with hindsight, it might have been a good idea, but I hadn’t used that much charge travelling there. In the end I didn’t need to charge on my way home.

With the often rural locations, travelling to National Trust properties often means finding a charge on the way there or the way home. However, as the National Trust starts to install more chargers at different properties it becomes a lot easier for EV drivers.