Tag: tesla

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Unsuccessful Charge

I was visiting IKEA in Bristol and according to the Tesla app the Tesla chargers at the Eastgate Retail Park work with non-Tesla cars.

Alas, despite success with other Tesla chargers across the UK. I was unable to get a successful charge with these with my non-Tesla EV. I tried two different chargers without success.

Plugged in and the charger was unable to “find” my car. I had to manually release my car from the charger.

I got home with 8% left, so popped to the local MFG for an emergency top up charge.

Posted on

These ones worked

After my poor experience with the Tesla chargers at Merry Hill I was a little hesitant when I arrived at the Frankley southbound services on the M5. I did know that if these Tesla chargers didn’t work, there was a bank of Gridserve chargers I could use.

However, unlike Merry Hill, this was a seamless experience, I parked, plugged the Funky Cat into the chargers and set it charging on the Tesla app.

I had time for a quick lunch, and, it wasn’t long before I had sufficient chaarge to continue my journey.

When I went to York last year, these chargers weren’t installed. I have also seen at the southbound Gloucester services on the M5 they are installing a bank of Tesla chargers.

I have also seen that there are now Tesla chargers that can be used by non-Tesla vehicles in Eastville in Bristol. It’s getting much easier to find and use Tesla chargers with my Funky Cat. 

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

More chargers at Reading Services

I had read some time ago that non-Tesla electric vehicles could use some selected Tesla superchargers. Alas none in the Bristol area can be used, so I’ve never had the chance to try them out. As well as using the chargers at  Studlands Retail Park in Newmarket in Suffolk, I also used the Tesla chargers at the westbound Reading Services on the M4.

They use to have a couple of Gridserve chargers for electric vehicles, they have since expanded the provision to fourteen Gridserve chargers and twelve Tesla superchargers. There are an additional four BP Pulse chargers at the petrol stations as well.

When I arrived at the services I was not the only interloper (non-Tesla) electric vehicle to use the Tesla chargers, there was a BMW as well.

I found it interesting that these Tesla chargers are opposite the Gridserve chargers. The Gridserve chargers are 20-30p a kWh more expensive than the Tesla chargers. I used the Tesla chargers there, as it was easy through the app (and cheaper than the Gridserve chargers.

Posted on

Not all plain sailing…

electric car being charged

I had read some time ago that non-Tesla electric vehicles could use some selected Tesla superchargers. Alas none in the Bristol area can be used, so I’ve never had the chance to try them out. On a recent long distance journey to Norfolk I  stopped at the Tesla superchargers in the Studlands Retail Park in Newmarket in Suffolk, and it all worked really easily and smoothly.

On my return journey, I decided to use the superchargers again. It was mid morning when I arrived and there was a fair few Tesla cars in place charging. As a result I had to use the space differently than on my previous visit. The first Tesla charger I used, I had to stretch the charger over the bonnet, I plugged in and using the Tesla app, set it to charge. However it wouldn’t charge. Tried again, but still no joy. Ah well I thought, I would use a different charger. The car though wouldn’t unlock the charger. I did my usual lock, an unlock routine, but that still didn’t release the charger. I had to use the manual cable release under the bonnet, which took me an age to find, but this once found worked fine.

I then moved spaces and tried again. This time the charging worked fine. I headed to the café in the Tesco and had a coffee and did some work.

Once I had a good charge on the Funky Cat, I headed off.

Posted on

Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be…

…a Tesla

I had read some time ago that non-Tesla electric vehicles could use some selected Tesla superchargers. Alas none in the Bristol area can be used, so I’ve never had the chance to try them out.

So on a recent long distance journey to Norfolk, I planned a stop at the Tesla superchargers in the Studlands Retail Park in Newmarket, in Suffolk. I had a backup to use the nearby Instavolt chargers at McDonalds if I couldn’t use the Tesla superchargers.

I had never used the Tesla superchargers before, so wasn’t 100% confident it was going to work. I created an account on the Tesla app, set up the payment, and then plugged the charger into the Funky Cat. On the app I set the charging going. I was pleased (and a little) surprised it worked.

The chargers were in a retail park, but the Costa coffee was still under construction. It was rather cold and chilly. I had to go elsewhere for refreshment.

After charging to 80% I headed off to complete my journey. It had take less than forty minutes to charge from 9% to 80%, which I thought was quite impressive.

The charger was cheaper than other rapid chargers I have used. Using these off-peak these are 55p per kWh compared to 85p for the Gridserve chargers I usually use at services. 

I believe part of the compatibility issue is the length of the charging cable. The Tesla superchargers when charging Tesla vehicles, don’t need a long cable, as they only need to plug into the charging socket in the boot area of the Tesla. Other electric vehicles, their charging sockets are all over the place. The Funky Cat is on the front passenger side, on other cars I have seen them at the front, in the middle, rear driver side, and so on. The Tesla superchargers at Studlands had cables of a sufficient length.

It’s a pity that the ones in and around Bristol are Tesla only.