Tag: mfg

Posted on

It just didn’t work…

I was travelling from Weston to Loughborough via Wolverhampton and had planned to stop at Merry Hill in Dudley and use the Tesla chargers at the shopping centre.

I arrived, plugged in the charger. The Funky Cat recognised that it was plugged in. However on the Tesla app, it failed to recognise the Funky Cat. I couldn’t get the charger going. It also wouldn’t unlock me from the cable. I had to use the manual release to unlock the cable. I remember the first time I did this, I struggled to find the cable under the bonnet. I think it was because I was looking for a substantial cable and handle, and not something that looked like a bicycle brake cable.

I did try a different charger, but this also didn’t work.

In the end I use the Ora navigation to find a charger nearby, and up on the hill there was a choice of three, MFG, Instavolt, and BP Pulse all very close together. I chose the MFG as I had a card I could use with them. 

Alas my plan to walk around the Merry Hill shopping centre was scuppered and I had to make do with Greggs.

Having got a 77% charge, I unplugged and drove off.

Posted on

Festive Charging

I was a little surprised and a little intrigued charging the Funky Cat to 100% today to have a predicted range of 182 miles.

The last time I got close to that it was back in October. More recently it has been between 140 and 160.

I haven’t had the chance to charge to 100% recently, using rapid chargers to charge the Funky.

My local MFG worked normally when I used that to charge the Funky, giving it an additional 50% charge.

I used a Mer charger at the local library, however despite having it on charge for 30 minutes, it only added 2% to the battery, so I gave up and went to my local MFG.

One interesting experience was using the MFG up at Cribbs Causeway, as it happens opposite the Wessex Ora dealership. I set it to charge, as it got going it did indicate that it needed thirteen hours for a full charge, I knew that it “fibbing”. I gave it a few minutes and it then gave a more realistic figure on the app of 85 minutes. With 50 minutes left to a full charge I decided to have a coffee, checking the app while I waited the time left had “suddenly” dropped to 20 minutes. I had to leave my coffee and go and grab the car.

Posted on

Coffee and charging…

After seeing that the chargers at the Shell Garage had gone live, and needing a charge, I decided to take advantage and try them out.

They have a series of six 150KW chargers, each with CSS and CHAdeMO chargers. I connected the Funky to the charger. I plugged the cable in, which as with a lot of CSS chargers was quite heavy. It was then a simple matter of tapping with contactless and setting the charge going.

It was nice not to worry about if the chargers are in use, with six I was pretty sure one would be free. This is unlike the Osprey chargers at the nearby Travelodge which I have found to be used quite heavily, and I have on the odd occasion when using them, find them in use, forcing me to come back later. At least with these MFG chargers, there being six, means more chance one will be free.

Whilst I was charging I went for a coffee at the Starbucks next door.

Within fifteen minutes I had already gone from a 18% charge to 42%.

I wasn’t going to do a full 100% charge, the aim was to get between 60% and 80%.

Posted on

Finally…

When I was considering an electric vehicle I was concerned about where I could charge the car. Close to where I live is a Shell Garage and they had a series of six 150KW chargers. This I thought would be ideal for rapid charging the car when needed.

You can imagine when I got my car back in August and checked the garage out I was somewhat disappointed that the chargers had not been connected to the grid and weren’t operational.

When I checked with the staff, they said it had been planned for the end of July… they didn’t have a date for when it would be done.

This was annoying and frustrating. There are a couple of Osprey chargers at a nearby hotel and I have used them. One time though it was challenging as others were  using them, luckily I was not in a hurry.

So it was a nice surprise when I was at the garage today, to wash Funky, when I saw that the MFG chargers were operational now and that other electric vehicle owners were charging their cars.

The MFG app, which I have downloaded, also confirms that they are connected and working.

They’ve not been added to the Zap-Map yet, nor on Google Maps.