Electric car anyone?
76 watchers
May 2023
7:36am, 24 May 2023
46,725 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Sorry LotTL (nice to see you btw!) Nice surprise to not only find rapid charger in Isle of Lewis on hols, but 4 of them, and at less than half the price per kWh of mainland 20p v 50p! Did a fill up for 1.5 hours while family was having dinner, just over £10. Did us another 2 days driving round island and the 200 miles home. Winner! Been charging at home on solar only last few weeks too, so that's now free too.  G
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May 2023
7:50am, 24 May 2023
1,018 posts
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Last of the Time Lords
Hello HappyG :), no worries. Enjoy the solar charging. I've got battery storage as well PVs and this month has been fantastic with loads of free miles. 3 years of EV driving for me and it's the norm for me. First trip coming up onto the continent with my Model Y, hence the reason for asking if anyone has experience of the French network. Have found this site that seems pretty helpful chargemap.com |
May 2023
8:06am, 24 May 2023
21,159 posts
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larkim
I prefer ABRP for charging locations, and I believe it is a worldwide app, whereas zapmap is UK specific. (A Better Route Planner). Seems to show plenty of northern France chargers and if you use the app (premium) you can have it sync with (some?) cars' battery status so it makes sensible choices about where you can or should stop. It's the only app I've used for long trip planning in the ev and it's been pretty reliable. |
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May 2023
8:19am, 24 May 2023
1,019 posts
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Last of the Time Lords
Thank you Larkim, I wasn't aware of ABRP so will take a look. Much appreciated. |
May 2023
10:19am, 24 May 2023
304 posts
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dobbers
Hi Last of the Time Lords - I came across a mobile app called ChargeFinder which looks pretty good to show Europe wide charge points - not used it in anger yet but will give it a try in June when I am over in France
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May 2023
5:39pm, 24 May 2023
1,020 posts
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Last of the Time Lords
Cheers Dobbers, will be interested to know how you get on. Enjoy your trip next month. |
Jun 2023
7:26pm, 2 Jun 2023
5,779 posts
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K5 Gus
A new EV tariff from OVO "Charge Anytime" - plug your car in, tell it what time you need it charged by, and they'll charge it for that time, using the "greenest" charging times. You only ever pay 10p per unit - so if your standard tariff is 30p per unit, you'll get billed for 30p in the month the charging took place, but then receive a 20p credit the following month for every unit that was used to charge your car. Doesn't yet work if you have solar as they say they can't at the moment work out how much of your charge came from the grid and how much from solar. But they are working on it. ovoenergy.com |
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Jun 2023
8:10am, 3 Jun 2023
46,824 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
That seems a very convoluted one. What if I said at 4pm I needed 30kWh and I needed it in 4 hours? That would require 4 hours charging at peak time? Anyway, good to see innovation I guess. G
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Jun 2023
5:48pm, 6 Jun 2023
14,890 posts
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jda
New car day here! I mentioned ordering a van a while back, I think. Well, a year on and there's no sign of progress, and TBH I was also getting slightly cold feet about the whole idea as it's hugely expensive and the nominal 170 mile range is a bit awkward (my mother lives 170 miles away...) and it has various disadvantages on both country lanes and urban roads. 2nd choice when we looked into EVs a few years ago was a Kia Soul. We just rented one on holiday and loved it so much that after getting home on Friday, I phoned the local dealer on Sat, test drove one that morning, and a 22 plate car with a handful of miles on the clock arrived at 8am! (Actually bought unseen from another dealer on Sat afternoon, we just wanted to check that the EV was basically the same as the petrol version we'd hired in USA.) What really clinched it was the realisation that now the Soul has been around for a while, there are lots of 2nd hand (nearly new) ones available for less than half the price of the van, so relatively speaking it's a much lower risk if we decide it's not right for us after all. We'll keep both for a while and see if the van gets any use. It's pretty much on its last legs anyway, I was also worrying I might have to buy a new one in a hurry at some point. I may have questions about charging apps and networks....though I may be able to work it out. It will mostly get charged overnight at home of course. My wife did well over 5 miles / kWh today on a fairly typical trip which seems rather good. |
Jun 2023
8:01pm, 6 Jun 2023
6,759 posts
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ThorntonRunner
Sounds good 👍. Will be interesting to hear how you 1 on with it.
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