Tag: tesla

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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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Trouble with Tesla Chargers

I drove to Dart’s Farm, with a plan for a quick charge using the Tesla chargers, I was down to around 25% in the MG IM5. Grab a coffee, maybe some stuff from the farm shop.

In the past I have had issues with Tesla chargers and my old Funky Cat. I was hoping with the MG IM5 that I would now avoid these problems.

So, you can imagine my annoyance when I was at Darts Farm down in Devon about to use the Tesla chargers there and I had an issue.

Ironically, I never had any problems with these chargers and the Funky Cat, so my expectation was that I wouldn’t have any issues with the MG IM5.

I used the app, selected the correct charger and set the charger to charge. I was promoted them to plug the charger into the car. This was the process I used with the Funky Cat when using Tesla chargers before. I plugged the MG IM5 in, and nothing happened. I went into the MG app and clicked start charging. I even sat in the car and clicked start charging.

Nothing happened. The Tesla app was reporting that the charger was connected, but no charge we being delivered.

Then I couldn’t unplug the charge cable, reminded me of the Funky Cat. There is a manual release for the charger in the boot, but I couldn’t find it. Of course, when I locked and then unlocked the MG IM5, the cable did eventually release.
 
Unfortunately, no other chargers were free, well there were free chargers, just none that were accessible for the charging port on the MG IM5 (another thing it has in common with the Funky Cat).
 
I moved the car to a normal parking space. I went to Dart’s Farm and had an iced latte.
 
Checking the Tesla app to see how many chargers were free I saw I had an issue with the app. The app was still initialising a charge, despite the car not been connected.
 
I did a hard restart of the app, this didn’t work.
 
I shut down and restarted the phone. That didn’t work.
 
I signed out of the app. Restarted the phone again, yes, you guessed it, that didn’t work either.
 
In the end I deleted the app and then reinstalled it.
 
Even then, the app still said initialising a charge, then it said it had stopped.

I could now see there were more free chargers. I was going to try again. I moved the MG IM5 to a different charger to the one I had before, and guess what, yes, it started charging straight away.
 
Though the MG IM5 had a charge capability of 396kW, this is only with 800v chargers, the Tesla chargers are only 400v. So, I was only getting around 87kWh. Better than the Funky Cat, but still.

Came back to the car, which had around a 50% charge now. Disconnected and started my drive home.

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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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80% or bust

The Funky Cat has a WLTP range of 193 miles, real life experiences when I first got the car was in the 185 mile range. These days with the car approaching its third birthday, is close to 165. For 90% of my driving this isn’t really an issue. However, it does or can become frustrating on longer journeys.

On those trips that are significantly longer than the range I obviously have to stop on the way to charge the car. My preference is to stop at Tesla charging stations, in the main as they are significantly cheaper than chargers such as InstaVolt or GridServe, but also some of the charging stations are in locations other that motorway services (though I do use those Tesla charger as well).

What I like to do is to charge to at least 90% and if I can even 100%. However I have noted that there can be an issue with Tesla chargers when the chargers are busy.

On one recent journey back from York to Weston-super-Mare (around 240 miles) I had planned to stop at a National Trust property and charge there. The night before I had been to the Tesla chargers at the Designer Outlet York, where I had eaten, and then post 8pm had put the Funky Cat on charge until I had reached a 100% charge without issue.

My first stop on the way was Hardwick Hall, according to the website they had EV chargers, in fact they did not. I left charging to another time and went to explore the house. 

After visiting the house, and looking at the route home, knowing I had about a 40% charge left, I saw that the Designer Outlet East Midlands, which was about ten miles away, had a bank of Tesla Chargers. So, I drove there and plugged in.

Now the M5 Gloucester Services (Southbound) are 120 miles from the Designer Outlet East Midlands. WIth a 100% charge that wouldn’t be an issue, even with a 90% charge, I would still have around 145 miles range. With just a 80% charge that would give me just a 128 mile predicted range, with motorway driving, probably not enough range to get to the Gloucester Services.

The problem I had with the Tesla chargers is that they charge congestion fees. When I was charging at Designer Outlet East Midlands I was charged an extra £2 for charging an extra four minutes over my 80% charge.

Supercharger congestion fees are fleet-wide initiatives to ensure a frustration-free charging experience for all Tesla drivers. Superchargers are designed for fast charging and therefore, should only be used for as long as it takes to charge a vehicle.

Congestion fees accrue when a Supercharger site is busy and your vehicle’s battery is already at or above the congestion fee level of 80% battery charge; or your charging session has ended. Fees are waived for the first five minutes, and then billed until the vehicle is moved.

They have a congestion charge of 50p per minute, which starts once you have reached a 80% charge. Now with a Tesla Model 3 with a WLPT range of 332 miles then an 80% charge would give you around 267 miles. However, my Funky Cat with an 80% charge would get just a 128 mile predicted range. I knew this would be pushing it to get to Gloucester services, so I headed on home down the M42 and stopped at the Solihull Retail Park. Once again I was limited to an 80% charge, but I was only 103 miles from home, so it was enough to get me back.

When I got the Funky Cat three years ago there was an EV charging infrastructure in place, but in some places it was limited. In Weston-super-Mare back in August 2023 there were just two rapid chargers available, since then another twenty or so chargers have been installed. In addition more fast (22kWh) chargers have been installed in various other locations as well.

Back in September 2023 I wrote about another journey back from York which was challenging as there were limited chargers at the different motorway services I went to and often they were busy. Back then there were only a couple of chargers at Hopwood and Strensham services, today there are many more. The services down in Exeter has nearly a hundred EV chargers installed.

The lease for the Funky Cat is coming to an end, I have decided whatever I replace it with, that EV will have a bigger range than the cat.

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Problems with the Tesla Chargers

red car next to Tesla charger in a car park

The last time I went to Cribbs Causeway I had problems with starting a charger using the Tesla chargers next to John Lewis. I have used these chargers before and have had issues as well.

The process I use is to park, using the Tesla app and start the charge, I then plug the charger into the Funky Cat. What should then happen, is the charger should initialise and then start charging. What actually happens is the charging fails to initialise, however when you “stop” the charge in the app, the charging gun remains locked to the car (this is a car issue thinking the gun is still live). I then have to use the manual release of the cable from under the bonnet, which should be an easy task, but isn’t.

The last time I tried to charge I made three attempts across two different chargers. None worked, in the end I went to Lidl and used their charger.

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Charging at Darts Farm

Down in Devon in Topsham, close to Exeter is Darts Farm, a wonderful farm shop. I discovered it through the Tesla App, as they have a bank of Tesla chargers which my Funky Cat can use.

I have used them a number of times now, and each time the experience has been seamless. This is a little surprising as these are the V3 chargers and in some places I have had issues with charging with these with the connection failing and then I have to pop the bonnet of the Funky Cat to manually release the charging cable. I never have issues with the bigger V4 chargers, these are at Reading Services for example.

At Darts Farm it is a simple matter to set the charge going on the app, plugging the charge cable into the Funky Cat and all is well. I then head off to the shop, either to buy some amazing produce, or get a drink in the cafe.

The location is ideal when visiting places in Devon (even Dorset).

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Out of order

I use Tesla Superchargers for my Funky Cat because they are significantly cheaper than other public charging options. I was on my way back from Birmingham, and though I didn’t have enough charge to get home, I did to get to the Gloucester Services. On previous trips back from Birmingham I would visit Frankley southbound services on the M5 and use the Tesla chargers there, which would then get me home. However, my preference was to head to Gloucester as the services there are much nicer than the ones at Frankley and I did fancy getting something from the Farm Shop at the services.

When I arrived, I had a 12% charge left on the Funky Cat. I drove around to the Tesla chargers, and it looked like most were free, and there was a reason for that. I did my usual process of starting the charge on the app and then plugging in the cable to the Funky Cat. This appeared to go okay, but then as I waited for the charging to initialise and start, I saw there were problems. The Tesla driver next to me was having a similar issue. It appeared that the chargers were temporarily out of order.

The Gloucester Services have a set of other chargers in their parking as well. However, all the other chargers were all busy. 

I popped into the services anyhow as I needed the loo. My new plan was to go to the northbound services via Junction 12. However, when I came out I saw a car was about to leave the (other) chargers, so I quickly took their place and put the Funky Cat on charge. At 69p kWh not as cheap as the Tesla chargers, but certainly cheaper than Gridserve or InstaVolt at other motorway services.

I went in to the services to get some coffee and browse the shop.

By the time the Funky Cat was at 84% I saw that the Tesla chargers were now working. Was it worth moving the car, well the ones I were using were 13p more per kW. So, using the other chargers and with my 31.3 kWh I was charged £4.07 more than if I had used the Tesla chargers at 56p kWh.

However, moving the car for probably another 5 kWh would save me 65p, so I didn’t bother. I had enough charge to get home, so I unplugged the Funky Cat, took a photograph of what I had been charged and headed home.

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Made it by minutes…

pocket watch
Image by Bruno from Pixabay

I often use the Tesla superchargers when charging the Funky Cat, as they are often significantly cheaper than other public chargers. The last time I used the chargers at Cribbs Causeway I had an issue with one of the chargers so I missed the cheaper charging window.

On my way up the M5 and needing a charge I tried again, though this time I arrived with about ten minutes to spare (not quite the fifteen I planned for). However this time I used the charger that worked last time first and it just worked. This meant I got my charge at 32p kWh rather than 56p kWh. This saved me over nine pounds on my 39kW that I put into the Funky Cat.

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Missed it by minutes…

I often use the Tesla superchargers when charging the Funky Cat, as they are often significantly cheaper than other public chargers.

For example the Gridserve chargers often charge around 85p kW, however the Tesla chargers are not only cheaper at peak times, but much cheaper off-peak. It does vary, but at the time of writing the Tesla superchargers at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol are 56p from 9am to 8pm, 37p from 8pm to midnight and for the rest of time they are just 32p.

To put that in perspective, charging my Funky Cat and putting a big charge of 32Kw into the car could cost £27.20 from Gridserve, but if I put the charge before 9am at Cribbs on the Tesla chargers, then the cost would be £10.24. That is a big difference. 

I decided to head to Cribbs and use the cheaper rate for charging by Tesla. I arrived with about five minutes to spare. This doesn’t matter as the rate you pay is the rate at the point you start charging.

However, the first charger I used, did not work. I have had this issue before with some Tesla chargers. I tried starting the charge again, once more no luck. I then needed to unlock the charging pin, move the car to a different chargers and try again. By the time I moved the car, it was now past 9am, so, I had to pay the higher rate. The difference was that my 33.9Kw charge cost me £18.63, but if I had managed to get the charge going at the cheaper rate then it would have been £12.54, a saving of just over £6.

I think the next time I try this, I need to get there at least fifteen minutes before the charging window changes so I have time to move the car if I need to.

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Driving and charging in France and Belgium

So last week I took the Funky Cat on a driving holiday to France with a side trip to Belgium. I had planned to use the Funky Cat last year on a similar holiday to France and Germany however that didn’t work out as the Funky Cat was stuck with the dealer getting updated at that time, so I did that trip in a Nissan Juke.

This time though I was able to take the Funky Cat. We were staying just outside Calais, so the overall distance of around 240 miles plus a ferry crossing. With a range of 175 odd miles I knew that I would need to charge up on the way.

I left Weston with a 100% charge and made our way to Dover. I did originally plan to stop at Reading Services, but in the end kept going until we reached the Cobham Services on the M25. They have both Ionity and Gridserve chargers there, both costing in the region of 79p per kWh. I put on a good charge there using the Ionity charger, which took two attempts to get charging, and I left the car to charge whilst I had a coffee. After we charged (and finished the coffee) we then headed down to Dover. There I added a small extra charge at the Tesla chargers in the St James Retail Park while we grabbed some snacks.

There was no issues with the ferry crossing, except I did get a notification on my phone (from the car) that the vehicle had moved abnormally. It said please check if it is stolen or collided. Well it was quite a rough crossing, so I think that was it.

Upon arrival I drove to the campsite and checked in.

Later that evening I saw that the local Lidl had EV charging available and it was just €0.39 per kWh which is significantly less than most super fast chargers in the UK. The next day I charged the Funky Cat from the Lidl charger. It took a little time to sort out and I had to use the Lidl app to set the charge going and the Lidl app decided to localise and only use French. I managed to sort out the app and payment and I set the Funky Cat on charge. So I did some shopping and was able to get a decent charge on the car. Later times I saw French motorists charge there who were obviously not shopping at Lidl. I did charge at Lidl a few times when we were there in France all without issue.

On one of the days on the holiday we drove to Bruges in Belgium. Upon arrival we parked in the underground parking garage ‘t Zand and there were charging facilities there as well, they had 65 charging stations for EVs. The charging used the Charge Assist app which, though I don’t recall installing, I did have on my phone. It took a couple of attempts to charge, but mainly because I picked the wrong charger on my first attempt. Also due to the vagaries of the mobile connection, I wasn’t sure if it was working until I was above ground. These were 22kW chargers so slower, but perfect for charging the Funky Cat whilst we spent the day in Bruges.

I also found that there were two charging stations on the campsite, these were 22kW chargers, but they required a €75 holding charge which I thought was extortionate for charging, so didn’t use those.

After leaving the campsite I did hope to use a charger at the Cité Europe Shopping Center which we had planned to stop at, however we didn’t find any (easily, though I am sure if we looked harder we may have found some).

Having caught the ferry home to Dover, I put the Funky Cat on charge at the St James Retail Park while we had some refreshments. This gave me sufficient charge to get to the westbound Reading Services on the M4, where I did an additional charge with the Tesla chargers there. No idea why there are only Tesla chargers at the westbound services and none at the eastbound, what’s that all about?

Overall charging the Funky Cat on this holiday was relatively stress free and I had minimal range anxiety. Unlike the last time I drove back from Dover what with road closures meant at one point I was down to a 1% charge. This time however, all was well, and I would be happy taking the Funky Cat back to Europe in the future.