When are you going fully electric?

Caporegime
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150kW is only peak, and is the goldilocks zone of battery charging with right SoC and temperature, some cars cant even take the max charge but i dont think you mentioned the car?
 
Soldato
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1 Mar 2010
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21,785
EQC ... really you want to know what are the reasons why a charger might be down on power,
can it be a regular local grid supply issue, at peak times, so you should perpetually black mark that one ? or is it always charger hardware,s/w itself.
like for traffic diversions, I suppose you can find other people divert to alternatives too, creating queues there
 
Soldato
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Hi all,

I am hoping to get a polestar 2 in the next 2-3 years… a couple of people have warned me about buying a preowned electric car as the batteries would have taken a battering and wouldn’t be running at 100% capacity due to age,

someone said to me that the Tesla model 3 battery normally starts deteriorating at 3 3 years and needs to be replaced by 10 years… is this a load of rubbish or is there some truth behind it ?

It's interesting there's so much misinformation out there, even now at the fairly early stages of EV adoption all the signs point to the battery outlasting the car it's in, much like the engines in cars these days.

Maybe people get confused as their mobile phone has a lithium battery and is done and dusted after 4 years and so apply the same logic to cars.

Based on Tesla battery packs you'd expect something like this, it should only get better as better battery chemistries come around.

prm5bbtgb7661.png


There'll always be outliers where there is a fault in the battery, much like if your engine petrol exploded at 20,000 miles but they'll be covered by the almost universal 8 year battery warranty pretty much ever manufacture offers.
 
Associate
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23 Jan 2012
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150kW is only peak, and is the goldilocks zone of battery charging with right SoC and temperature, some cars cant even take the max charge but i dont think you mentioned the car?

As jpaul said, it’s an EQC which as a relatively flat charging curve. At 20% I’d be expecting 105-108 as a charging rate. The ionity unit managed 107 later on the journey.

EQC ... really you want to know what are the reasons why a charger might be down on power,
can it be a regular local grid supply issue, at peak times, so you should perpetually black mark that one ? or is it always charger hardware,s/w itself.
like for traffic diversions, I suppose you can find other people divert to alternatives too, creating queues there

Not sure if the reason but it was c.12.30-1am so certainly off peak. Zap map points to issues at one of the units.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
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14,059
I doubt it would have been a grid issue.

Having been driven from 60% down to a low SOC and had a rapid earlier in that day suggests the battery shouldn’t have been too cold or too hot to take a decent charge rate, and it was relatively warm too.

But the two chargers having the same issue and then again at another location sort of implies the car may not have been handshaking with the charger correctly.

It may be worth a conversation with BP and Merc, either way one of the issues with faulty chargers/dodgy handshakes is people not actually reporting them. It’s all well and good putting a message on Zap Map but that isn’t going to get it fixed.

I remember Tesla having issues with dodgy handshakes and certain chargers when the Model 3 launched which the charger manufacturers had to deal with. That said the EQC has been out for awhile so that shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
 
Associate
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I’ll definitely have a chat with both bp and Merc - good idea. Some constructive feedback might resolve a problem that was unknown etc
 
Soldato
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I’ll definitely have a chat with both bp and Merc - good idea. Some constructive feedback might resolve a problem that was unknown etc

Fella up the road from me has an EQC and he told me about a similar/same issue with BP where the charger would not deliver more then 100A to the car, he uses his for work and often does medium-long trips in it, it is frustrating especially as he gets free BP Pulse through his employer, but can't take full advantage so opts for Instavolt and Ionity. Problem has been reported to BP and MB more than once but no one wants to own up to being responsible.
 
Soldato
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I think the common consensus when it comes to (non Tesla) EV charging is Instavolt > * they're the only ones I look for and would go a little bit out of my way for one rather than taking my chances on the others. The other ones are all varying levels of average to bad!
 
Soldato
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I think the common consensus when it comes to (non Tesla) EV charging is Instavolt > * they're the only ones I look for and would go a little bit out of my way for one rather than taking my chances on the others. The other ones are all varying levels of average to bad!

Agreed

Did a full charge at an instavolt in under 45mins using one of their 125kw units. Absolute beast.

Even at 99% it was pulling 22.

Wouldn't usually go all the way to full but needed the range that day.

45mins soon goes when you nip to Costas for a coffee.

Still had some etron credits left so cost me nothing :D
 
Soldato
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Belfast
Agreed

Did a full charge at an instavolt in under 45mins using one of their 125kw units. Absolute beast.

Even at 99% it was pulling 22.

Wouldn't usually go all the way to full but needed the range that day.

45mins soon goes when you nip to Costas for a coffee.

Still had some etron credits left so cost me nothing :D

Northern Ireland is attrocious for rapid chargers and the only proper rapids are in the Republic of Ireland. Had a trip in my E-Tron 50 a few months back and stopped with 53% battery at an Ionity 350kW but my car topped out at 127kW. Had a quick lunch and Icecream with my 8 year old and 20 minutes later the car was at 100%.

I used my E-Tron card that had credit but was still charged £8.60. It seems that the E-Tron credit only applies to the UK. I did tell a guy at my local Audi dealer that maybe the N. Ireland customers should have their credit setup for use in the Republic of Ireland. The look I got told me he didn't give a crap.
 
Soldato
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Northern Ireland is attrocious for rapid chargers and the only proper rapids are in the Republic of Ireland. Had a trip in my E-Tron 50 a few months back and stopped with 53% battery at an Ionity 350kW but my car topped out at 127kW. Had a quick lunch and Icecream with my 8 year old and 20 minutes later the car was at 100%.

I used my E-Tron card that had credit but was still charged £8.60. It seems that the E-Tron credit only applies to the UK. I did tell a guy at my local Audi dealer that maybe the N. Ireland customers should have their credit setup for use in the Republic of Ireland. The look I got told me he didn't give a crap.

Audi customer service has been shocking. I'm going to enjoy the etron for one more year then it's going.
 
Associate
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Fella up the road from me has an EQC and he told me about a similar/same issue with BP where the charger would not deliver more then 100A to the car, he uses his for work and often does medium-long trips in it, it is frustrating especially as he gets free BP Pulse through his employer, but can't take full advantage so opts for Instavolt and Ionity. Problem has been reported to BP and MB more than once but no one wants to own up to being responsible.

Well, I can leave a bad review and shake my fist in anger at every BP garage. It was just super frustrating as it was late, tired etc
 
Associate
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26 Nov 2007
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Reading about all the charging woes on here makes me glad I opted for a M3LR. Had it about a year now and charge mostly at the free charger my work has provided but when I'm away from home the Tesla SC network is unreal, most of the time I'm getting 200KW+, it will take me from about 15% SOC to 80% in the time it takes to eat a MCDonalds.

People moan about the build quality too so I must have got lucky as mine has been flawless and with the performance upgrade it's stupidly fast too. All in all I would definitely buy another.

We need a new 7 seater next year when my wifes PCP expires, it's just a shame the X is so damn expensive or I would be ordering one. Might look at the ID Buzz when it gets released.
 
Soldato
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Belfast
Audi customer service has been shocking. I'm going to enjoy the etron for one more year then it's going.

I have to be honest, other than this their support and responses have been excellent for me. Really made me feel valued, with a loan car provided at short notice when my E-Tron went in for updates and a squeky B pillar (turned out to be the adjustable seat belt thing).
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
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15,942
Reading about all the charging woes on here makes me glad I opted for a M3LR. Had it about a year now and charge mostly at the free charger my work has provided but when I'm away from home the Tesla SC network is unreal, most of the time I'm getting 200KW+, it will take me from about 15% SOC to 80% in the time it takes to eat a MCDonalds.

People moan about the build quality too so I must have got lucky as mine has been flawless and with the performance upgrade it's stupidly fast too. All in all I would definitely buy another.

We need a new 7 seater next year when my wifes PCP expires, it's just a shame the X is so damn expensive or I would be ordering one. Might look at the ID Buzz when it gets released.

2 years with my SR+

couple of issues - both dealt with very well by Tesla. No charging issues, been plenty of 300 miles in a day drives, charging never been an issue anywhere in scotland so far.

Wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
 
Soldato
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21,785
new model y autogefeul video, wooden dash inserts significantly soften the spartan feeling
chassis rigidity comments are interesting, I hadn't appreciate casting extent/size,
https://chargedevs.com/newswire/first-model-y-megacasting-produced-at-teslas-gigafactory-texas/ ->
Lots to recommend this, but there are two sides to every advance. I'd like to know how the 3 primary castings are joined, and what severity of collision makes my Model Y a total loss. (Since I am planning to buy my next EV next year, and it may very well be one of these Texas-made Model Ys.) And how one manages lower-severity repairs. (As I recall, the alloys for die-casting are rather limited in how much they can be straightened if bent.) And what all of this does to insurance rates.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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50,537
If you had 350kW chargers at every service station then long journeys would be painless and you could stop for just 15 minutes and top up a decent amount. The Ioniq 5 would go from 20-80% and you'd be away again.
You don't need such chargers at 'every service station'. When the majority of EVs on the road have a range of 230-310 miles then away-from-home charging will be a fairly rare event. There's already enough 350kW chargers around to enable me to visit any part of the UK I would ever wish to visit :cry: with a single top-up.
 
Associate
Joined
17 Jan 2007
Posts
146
Reading about all the charging woes on here makes me glad I opted for a M3LR. Had it about a year now and charge mostly at the free charger my work has provided but when I'm away from home the Tesla SC network is unreal, most of the time I'm getting 200KW+, it will take me from about 15% SOC to 80% in the time it takes to eat a MCDonalds.

People moan about the build quality too so I must have got lucky as mine has been flawless and with the performance upgrade it's stupidly fast too. All in all I would definitely buy another.

We need a new 7 seater next year when my wifes PCP expires, it's just a shame the X is so damn expensive or I would be ordering one. Might look at the ID Buzz when it gets released.

I find that people that mention the build quality tend not to be actual Tesla drivers. I also think that because of this rep, new owners do tend to go full ham on looking for faults. I previously never would have thought to look at panel gaps, yet alone measure them. Yet this is exactly what I have seen a lot of people say they are doing. They are far from perfect, but in my experience, they are no worse than any other car mfr. At least, the Model 3. I did have a friend that has had to have a whole nvidia unit on his S as they had soldered in a storage chip that was woefully under-provisioned because of the amount of data processed through the chips. But that same owner also had a battery upgrade for free, so swings and roundabouts.
 
Associate
Joined
9 Jul 2019
Posts
204
Update on running a PHEV, car is great, electric only mode is amazing and getting around 32miles of range from it and then 400+ miles on petrol. That last part is a god send as a trip to the lakes (220 miles round trip) found no chargers at all for electric cars and Edinburgh (250 miles round trip) is looking just as barren.

Also why are there so many different companies for charging, everyone needs a new app and new sign up. It's an absolute ball ache getting them all set up. If petrol was such a faff to fill up the car would have died 100 years ago.

Rant over. Would seriously consider an electric car next time if range was 400 miles as the charging infrastructure is a huge let down.
 
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