For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By cotterpot
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1911891
Non-Tesla owners blocking bays causing Tesla owners to wait hasn't happened to date across the test sites



Well Tesla owners blocking bays causing other brand owners to wait has happened in Norfolk.
There was one in our local Tesco today but I bet they don't charge him extra. Bliddy cheek.

Oh the Tesco chargers don't actually cost anything - as someone who has, of late, done 800+ miles and paid £2.53 knows :D
#1914297
Well, I have just taken a plunge with the MG ZS EV 51 kWh battery and 'Trophy' level trim.

My first impressions are that for an EV in the <£30k range there is a lot to like. I am still tentatively finding my way around the whole EV paradigm of charging at Tesco etc but getting there.

Any advice on the best domestic 7kW charger, tethered or untethered? How to find a charger en route ?

I am sure you lot will have figured it all out :D
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1914309
.....or the cab

Not an issue (yet?) don't know how much copper there is in a cable.

If one is worried about electricity being stolen you can get a box which requires authenticating with a card before charging or switching off the supply when one is not charging.

I have a tethered box with card function. I went for the long cable 22ft. Stops some family members from having to reverse into the charge area.
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#1914317
Long trips in an EV require planning, like a flight would be with knowledge of location and type of charger, will you need an app or RFD card, if it’s u/s or occupied enough range for an alternative. I use ZapMap and A Better Route Planner.
I have a lot of cards and apps. But mostly I charge at home, currently £2.70 for a full tank and 230 mile range.
And the driving experience is so smooooth.
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By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1914333
Tethered is much less hassle (only need to plug in one end instead of two).
The chargemaster chargepoint I have I don't think is still on the market - I have a key to turn it on / off (to stop people plugging in for free) but as they would first need to drive up my driveway I don't bother using it. It also has a built in phone chip - in theory I can view charge details on a website somewhere. I looked at it for the first few weeks - haven't looked at it since (my energy supplier and car already provide that info).
So unless you hope to get extra functionality from a charge point - I wouldn't overthink which one to get. Its ease of dealing with installers which would be my main criteria. If you want more than a standard install it gets quickly pricey (which normally means connection to meter, 1 hole through wall, cable pinned to external wall for a short distance, charge point attached to all).
Extra functionality could include information delivered to you via app / website; control of access via smart card / keyfob; remote stop/start/schedule of charging; auto-linking of charging to an energy tariff or home automation.
#1914334
Jim Jones wrote:But mostly I charge at home, currently £2.70 for a full tank and 230 mile range.
And the driving experience is so smooooth.


To put that in perspective, I bought 5 litres of fuel for my hedge trimmer and strimmer yesterday. It cost over £9 and will probably cut about 230 yards of hedges and strim a similar amount of riverbank. Plus the 2 stroke fumes are like a 40 a day smoking habit and the vibrations are definitely not smooooth.

Once they die a death, I'll be replacing them with the excellent looking Stihl battery powered equivalents.

Electric is definitely the way forward. And not just for cars.
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By TheKentishFledgling
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1914343
Last week I gave back the Renault Zoe I'd had on two month loan. Interesting trial.

As others have said before, the driving experience was totally effortless. I was surprised how much I noticed this, but it really is a different experience to an ICE car.

The vehicle itself was seriously bland. A bit plasticy, cheap feeling and basic. But then it's sold as a "van" (and wasn't particularly well specced) so perhaps that shouldn't be surprising. Anyway I wasn't trialling it as a Renault, but as an EV...

Relying on local public charging points is a total and utter nightmare. In my first 10 attempted charges locally, eight of the chargers were out of use. Thankfully the charger 100 yards from my front door was serviceable for all but two weeks of the trial (albeit slow), so that was my main charge point overnight. Interestingly of the two sockets on the charger, one was much quicker than the other - but still below it's supposed 22kW.

We did one "longer" journey in the thing: a 200 mile round trip to see the in-laws. Arrived there with having used 48% of a charge, and very much not willing to risk getting home on the remainder. Took an hour to find a serviceable charger with the correct adaptor (type 2) within a reasonable distance of Maidenhead, by which time charge was even lower. In the end we found one but it involved a collection / drop off from FIL in his diesel barge which felt a bit ridiculous. And then the charger was so slow, I was only at 65% by the time it booted me off. Attempted a charge at Cobham on the way home but at least five others in front of me in the queue so sod that. Naturally the traffic was awful, and by the time I got home I was on 8% and starting to get seriously jittery.

The other big lesson was just how much driving style effects range. We drove Canterbury to Gatwick on a Friday evening after work. In full on "get-there-I-want-a-beer" mode we used about 40% of a charge. Coming home a few days later at a much more sedate pace (though still not using "eco" mode - its 62mph limit on the motorway is not fun) and it was IIRC 22% of a charge...that was an eye opener.

Would I buy one? Yes, as a run around but absolutely NOT if reliant on public chargers. And for those of us who depend on local on street parking, that feels a long way away.
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1914362
TheKentishFledgling wrote:
Would I buy one? Yes, as a run around but absolutely NOT if reliant on public chargers. And for those of us who depend on local on street parking, that feels a long way away.

Fair writeup - yes - I use my zoe as a city run around, and trips which have up to 120 miles round distance, so I don't need to think about range. 80 mile round trip to go flying at Prestwick can be anything between 3.1 miles/kWh to 5.3 depending on how quick I want to get there & weather conditions.
Since journeys aren't that long, I don't need a fancy car. We've only been beyond that single charge round trip distance a few times using public chargers - or I use public chargers when they are there rather than because I need to use them. Currently still have an old diesel Civic for the occasional longer journeys. I hoping it will keep going until the mess that is the different charging networks stabilise. I still don't understand why they all didn't take contactless credit cards from the start...
#1914364
Paultheparaglider wrote:Once they die a death, I'll be replacing them with the excellent looking Stihl battery powered equivalents.

Electric is definitely the way forward. And not just for cars.


I am looking forward to replacing / augmenting my petrol Stihl Combi power unit with one of their electric ones (KMA 135 R); I have seen them in use & spoken to the operators and they are well liked. And being able to use the existing tool heads makes it a no-brainer AFAIAC.
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