Destination set beyond battery range

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ChesterUK
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 8:22 am
Location: Cambridgeshire

Post by ChesterUK »

City car? Who says!?!

Thursday was a great day. We wanted to get out somewhere we hadn't been before and stretch our legs, so we set our target on Bakewell, land of the tart (careful people ;) ) in Derbyshire.

However to get there we'd need to charge part way. It was 7°C outside and you know what that means; reduced range, or stay cold. Our first ever rapid charging session was at Markham Vale services with Instavolt. Pain free with contactless payment, although the touch screen needed a huge amount of pressure to work.

Image

The display shows the charging rate which peaked at 33.7kw (we were down to about 17% charge at the time). We had a coffee whilst charging to 95% and got on our way.

I've got to say that Bakewell and the surrounding area is just breath taking. The roads leading in, and a different way out with a woodland switch-back climb was just awesome. We stopped just South of Mansfield at an engenie point for a volt 'n' bolt (need another expression for splash 'n' dash!) to get from 55%ish to 75%. That got us to Stamford for a stop with 30%, but on the way home we were panicking a little. The battery level was clicking down percentages at a much higher rate than we were miles, so I slowed down from 70 to <60MPH to conserve energy. We were down to 8% with around 4 miles to go, but parked up with 7%. That's the first time the battery has depleted to below 10%. Then about half an hour later, Chester's Mrs used the Honda+ app to check the battery that hadn't started charging: 9%! Er, pass!

194 miles covered with absolute ease. I was expecting to feel some aches as I don't feel the seats are that comfortable but as we were stopping frequently, we both felt fine.

As any EV owner will say, planning journeys for charging is the key. We cannot recommend Zap-Map enough. We registered for Zap-Pay through the same app and filtered for contactless and Zap-pay payments. They're talking to all of the charging networks to entice them on-board; enginie is the first with a few more coming on-board now and hopefully all the rest will follow. Zap-pay was equally as painless as contactless, and with everything prep'd in advance, it's probably the best tool in the box for long journeys. Chester's Mrs was sending the charging locations to Google Maps and that instantly appeared on the car's screen using CarPlay. Effortless!

We're looking forward to more interesting charging spots to become available and with hundreds of new ones every month now countrywide, it's getting easier for those with a 'city car' to go venturing the country. Enjoy!

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londiniumperson
Posts: 1764
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:37 pm

Post by londiniumperson »

Thanks for sharing your charging experience on your day out.
Lucky you don't have the 17" wheels, you might have been very close to not making it home with that little left.

On the observation that you made about arriving home on 7% but 9% half an hour later. This will most likely be because of difference in the battery temperature after your drive & then after it had been sat a while.
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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keithr
Posts: 448
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:30 pm
Location: Dorset, UK

Post by keithr »

ChesterUK wrote: Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:45 am volt 'n' bolt (need another expression for splash 'n' dash!)
:lol: I like it!
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