Hello from the Netherlands

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hondaeboy
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:42 pm
Location: NL

Post by hondaeboy »

Just found this very helpful forum, especially since I'm new to this whole electric driving thing. I also got my (second hand) Honda e earlier this year. I did tweak the wheels a bit for better range.

My e was a Crystal blue one at birth, but now goes through life as a Metallic red. All the chairs had been redone in full black leather with cinnamon double stitching, and the back now actually has two proper seats. I did trade in the standard 17" rims and tyres. I replaced them with some (very light) new glossy black 16" Brock RC Design rims. I also got some all-season tyres (I hate switching the tyres twice a year), so I went the Goodyear tyres that had the lowest rolling resistance and best all-weather performance (and all the snow flake and mountain icons).

I really love this small car. Although I thought I would eventually end up hating the lack of luggage space, I noticed that I simply stopped using the car as an oversized garbage can. I normally go on extended trips to Norway, Germany, and UK regularly, but I'm still a little hesitant to do so with the Honda e. The charging curve seems to have gotten a bit worse over time at public charge stations. So far I've been able to get everywhere while charging fully at home. I did charge a few times in major cities on those roadside AC chargers, but only because I've found those charging spots sometimes are the only parking spots available! That was a bit of an unexpected perk. I also charged once at a Fastned, to check out how and if it worked, but also to test out the Google Chromecast while charging.

Even though Android Auto works pretty well, I do use the onboard navigation mostly. I tinkered with the preferred route settings, so it does try to take the most economical route while at the same times avoiding highways, if they add too much to the distance. So far so good. It's been around freezing point, and the real world range hasn't dropped below 210 km yet. All the external software, websites and updates seem broken and the Honda+ app hasn't been working for me ever, bit I was able to get Netflix via HDMI to work, in case I ever dare go on longer trips. I did get a bunch of different charge cards, but how is everyone else coping on trips that are longer than the typical range of the car? Did anyone run into any issues?
2021 Honda e Advance on 16" RC30 wheels with Goodyear 195/55 & 205/55 tyres.
Wrapped in Red metallic with full black and cinnamon leather interior.

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londiniumperson
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Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:37 pm

Post by londiniumperson »

Welcome.
If you can work the search facility on this forum then I'm sure that you'll find the answer to any question that you have, however if you fail to find anything then I'm sure someone will pipe up with an answer.

As to your question on coping with longer trips then there a few people on the forum that have a lot of experience with this. In my case I only need to charge away from home a couple of times a year and here's my personal opinion.

You'll find a lot of EV owners suggest planning your route in advance, by not only checking the charge units on a route but also if they have recently been used and are still operational, then have a plan A, B, C & D, i.e. make sure that you have 4 options to charge in the event of an issue or the charger is occupied. I tend to check my route both outbound & return on ZapMap and pick several rapid charge options by eye and don't rely on the recommended choices suggested by ABRP, ZapMap, etc., using an assumption that I get 1 mile/%SoC (100 mile range) in the UK on average. Also I know where all of the the rapid chargers within about a 10 mile radius (excluding the one a mile from home, there are only 2 working rapids so this is easy), then as long as I can reach one of those on the return home and have less than 10% SoC left I know to charge otherwise I'll probably not make it.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
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hondaeboy
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:42 pm
Location: NL

Post by hondaeboy »

Hi,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I enjoy this forum and was able to find most of the things I was looking for, as I needed those before buying an e. It prevented a lot of disappointment.

Also thanks for the Zap Map suggestion. It was really helpful, especially because I'm going to the UK the next week. I didn't realise quite a few of my charge cards didn't have roaming in the UK, as Zap Map pointed out way more options.

I do play with the ABRP a lot, just to optimise the route and/or speed a bit in advance for longer stretches or just for fun. It might be just my feeling, but I feel that driving faster than 100 km/h or 60 m/h hardly ever results in faster arrival times (the higher speeds also seem to result in more or longer charge times, cancelling each other out). But I'm working on an excel sheet right with lots of variables now to figure out optimal driving speeds for the longer-than-range trips to see if this is actually the case.
2021 Honda e Advance on 16" RC30 wheels with Goodyear 195/55 & 205/55 tyres.
Wrapped in Red metallic with full black and cinnamon leather interior.
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londiniumperson
Posts: 1764
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:37 pm

Post by londiniumperson »

hondaeboy wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:49 am Hi,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I enjoy this forum and was able to find most of the things I was looking for, as I needed those before buying an e. It prevented a lot of disappointment.

Also thanks for the Zap Map suggestion. It was really helpful, especially because I'm going to the UK the next week. I didn't realise quite a few of my charge cards didn't have roaming in the UK, as Zap Map pointed out way more options.

I do play with the ABRP a lot, just to optimise the route and/or speed a bit in advance for longer stretches or just for fun. It might be just my feeling, but I feel that driving faster than 100 km/h or 60 m/h hardly ever results in faster arrival times (the higher speeds also seem to result in more or longer charge times, cancelling each other out). But I'm working on an excel sheet right with lots of variables now to figure out optimal driving speeds for the longer-than-range trips to see if this is actually the case.
My method of longer trip planning in the UK has been to assume that there will not be any destination (i.e. 7kW) chargers available and plan to use rapid chargers (>50kW) either on the outbound, return or both journeys.

We used to have a lot of free 7kW chargers at supermarkets (Mainly Tesco) in England but recently due to cost of electricity they are now chargeable.

If you're using public charge points in the UK, I would suggest avoiding BP Pulse unless you've checked beforehand that they are operational because my experience has not been good with these mainly due to issues accepting payment and starting a charge, whereas using Instavolt & Shell Recharge units have always been easy and worked first time for me even if expensive.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
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iHansz
Posts: 563
Joined: Fri May 22, 2020 11:32 am
Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Post by iHansz »

Hi and welcome hondaeboy! If you want to go to Norway again with your e, it is very doable. You can take the new ferry from Groningen and in Norway you will find a fast charger in almost every village. Handy to download a few Norwegian apps in advance, as the Shell Recharge pass often doesn't work there (while Shell claims otherwise). See also my photos here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1154. If you have any questions, just DM me. 8-)
Dutch Advance in Charge Yellow on 17"
1st registered Oct 2020
Home charger: public charging stations only
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hondaeboy
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:42 pm
Location: NL

Post by hondaeboy »

londiniumperson wrote: Mon Feb 06, 2023 12:08 pm If you're using public charge points in the UK, I would suggest avoiding BP Pulse unless you've checked beforehand that they are operational because my experience has not been good with these mainly due to issues accepting payment and starting a charge, whereas using Instavolt & Shell Recharge units have always been easy and worked first time for me even if expensive.
That's interesting that BP is so bad. I was under the impression it was part of the (German) Aral group, and they're usually pretty solid. But I even read similar warnings on the website of the official national (Dutch) roadside assistance organisation ANWB. They also actively warn against BP Pulse for this very reason, especially the fact that they sometimes first charge you a full amount, and then *hopefully* refund you the part that you didn't use for charging. :o
2021 Honda e Advance on 16" RC30 wheels with Goodyear 195/55 & 205/55 tyres.
Wrapped in Red metallic with full black and cinnamon leather interior.
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hondaeboy
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:42 pm
Location: NL

Post by hondaeboy »

iHansz wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:35 am If you want to go to Norway again with your e, it is very doable. You can take the new ferry from Groningen and in Norway you will find a fast charger in almost every village. Handy to download a few Norwegian apps in advance, as the Shell Recharge pass often doesn't work there (while Shell claims otherwise).
I will definitely check out the pictures. I have been to Norway many times already, and with that exact ferry right from the start. Last October I was surprised to see the *red* Honda e at one of only 3 dealers in the country, for less than 30k euro. Ooof. If import taxes hadn't been prohibitively high, I would have bought it right there! :D

As I'm planning a trip for next May again, I followed your suggestion and looked into specific charging apps. For now, I applied for the "Mer" and the "Circle K" charge card. I'm surprised how little roaming coverage there is with our own cards though. I did notice that they installed a bunch of rapid chargers right at the Kristiansand ferry dock. And I was trying to look at that massive Telsa charger spot right by Sandefjord airport, but I read on this forum that that is an absolute no-go. lol
2021 Honda e Advance on 16" RC30 wheels with Goodyear 195/55 & 205/55 tyres.
Wrapped in Red metallic with full black and cinnamon leather interior.
Mailforkev
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2022 9:04 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Post by Mailforkev »

@hondaeboy, can I tempt you to post a few photos of your car?

I'd love to see what the red wrap looks like and check out what you've done to the interior.
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hondaeboy
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:42 pm
Location: NL

Post by hondaeboy »

Mailforkev wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 10:22 am @hondaeboy, can I tempt you to post a few photos of your car?

I'd love to see what the red wrap looks like and check out what you've done to the interior.
Oh, sure! I've been meaning to take some pics, but somehow it had been raining non stop for a month, so they all turned out crap. :D I will make a few new ones shortly. I'm especially happy with the rear seats, and the leather side panels.
2021 Honda e Advance on 16" RC30 wheels with Goodyear 195/55 & 205/55 tyres.
Wrapped in Red metallic with full black and cinnamon leather interior.
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