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EV general discussion

b0rn2sk8 said:
A lot.

I don’t know when you last charged at Cambridge but it’s had a massive expansion in the last year.

It’s gone from 6 Ionity to 30 Ionity and 12 gridserve ultra rapids plus the 4 plugs old 50/60kw units.

3 mins off the same junction is 6 shell recharge and 5 mins down the road at the next junction is 12 tesla chargers.

There is no shortage of provision put it that way.
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I'm there pretty frequently and it was exceptionally busy on that day. In fact it was why I raised the question about disabled EV bays as there were people circling the Ionity chargers looking for somewhere to charge yet the two disabled bays sat empty.

I'm just applying my very simplistic mind to this but the 400 odd space car park was pretty full, well over 300 cars, and the EV bays pretty much at capacity. If just half those people applied the charge when you can mindset (which seems the obvious thing to do) you are over 100 chargers short if every ICE vehicle there was an EV. Obviously all these numbers are maxed out and the 'problem' is many many years away but it did get my idle mind wandering enough to take my mind off what was actually in that "beef" kebab.

Just how many people stop at those sort of places as part of their regular commute is up for debate as well I guess.

Don't get me wrong, due to my job my knowledge of motorway services are a frequent part of my working day and I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever seen provision not match demand at a particular site. I'm just hypothesising into the future where EV is the norm and ICE are the exception.
 
lordrobs said:
I'm there pretty frequently and it was exceptionally busy on that day. In fact it was why I raised the question about disabled EV bays as there were people circling the Ionity chargers looking for somewhere to charge yet the two disabled bays sat empty.

I'm just applying my very simplistic mind to this but the 400 odd space car park was pretty full, well over 300 cars, and the EV bays pretty much at capacity. If just half those people applied the charge when you can mindset (which seems the obvious thing to do) you are over 100 chargers short if every ICE vehicle there was an EV. Obviously all these numbers are maxed out and the 'problem' is many many years away but it did get my idle mind wandering enough to take my mind off what was actually in that "beef" kebab.

Just how many people stop at those sort of places as part of their regular commute is up for debate as well I guess.

Don't get me wrong, due to my job my knowledge of motorway services are a frequent part of my working day and I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever seen provision not match demand at a particular site. I'm just hypothesising into the future where EV is the norm and ICE are the exception.
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Charge while you can doesn't really apply when the price is 10x charging at home at off peak rates. Same as people using service station petrol stations to be honest, avoid unless you have to is more the mantra I'd say.

I've turned up to many service stations and found the EV charging bays nearly empty, but I probably don't turn up at peak times. If you are doing it for work then you probably hit more of the busy periods that I do.
 
chanjy said:
Charge while you can doesn't really apply when the price is 10x charging at home at off peak rates. Same as people using service station petrol stations to be honest, avoid unless you have to is more the mantra I'd say.

I've turned up to many service stations and found the EV charging bays nearly empty, but I probably don't turn up at peak times. If you are doing it for work then you probably hit more of the busy periods that I do.
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‘Charge when you can’ applies when you NEED to use public charging.

If I’m arriving at home with 1% and not going out again that day then it’s absolutely fine. If I’m doing a long journey and plan to stop half way at a public charger with 1% then that’s dumb (you arrive with 2% like I did a couple of weeks ago while testing the range of my car :D)

Essentially, doing multiple shorter stops in the way is better than saving it for one large stop due to risks of broken/full chargers and putting all your electric eggs in one basket.
 
Penfold101 said:
‘Charge when you can’ applies when you NEED to use public charging.

If I’m arriving at home with 1% and not going out again that day then it’s absolutely fine. If I’m doing a long journey and plan to stop half way at a public charger with 1% then that’s dumb (you arrive with 2% like I did a couple of weeks ago while testing the range of my car :D)

Essentially, doing multiple shorter stops in the way is better than saving it for one large stop due to risks of broken/full chargers and putting all your electric eggs in one basket.
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You want the stops to be on the low end of the battery % though to maximise the charge speed, so its the same risk regardless?
 
Gammawolf said:
You want the stops to be on the low end of the battery % though to maximise the charge speed, so its the same risk regardless?
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Depends how you view the stops though. I think we were talking in terms of stopping when you want or need to and throwing the car on charge while you happen to be stopped. It might not be the most efficient way of doing the journey in pure time terms but that shouldn't really be the priority for your own well being anyway.
 
Gammawolf said:
You want the stops to be on the low end of the battery % though to maximise the charge speed, so its the same risk regardless?
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It’s not about the charge speed or getting a particular percentage in though - this is about ensuring the battery is kept topped up as much as you can so you aren’t arriving at the charger with nothing left and suddenly finding they’re all full or broken.

Not something I ever really thought about with ICE, but currently a consideration with EV’s. If the infrastructure was larger and more reliable then it wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but for now you’re better off doing several small charges from a half depleted battery than risking an empty one with no way of charging it.
 
Its just a trade off though - they are both sides of the same coin, you're not better off in terms of time spent on the journey. You could apply the same logic to ICE, just replace battery with tank and charger with station, I know people who will fill up at half, and others that'll take it down to fumes. It's just you are risk adverse so prefer to mitigate that with more time spent charging. Neither is right or wrong, its just whatever people want to do vs the perceived gains.
 
LiE said:
Haven't used it for any long trips, tomorrow is the first 110 mile trip.
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Trip completed. Managed 3mi/kWh on both legs. Covered a total of 214.

Started with 95% and returned today on 24% and 81 miles remaining.

I like the iX and the way electric is effortlessly smooth. For a lot of the journey I used ACC which did a really good job. My only sticking point is the seat comfort level - when I'm sat in the seat it feels like the weight is in my lower back. Previously in my A4 (and in my current Z4) I feel a lot more weight is taken by my mid/upper back which spares my lower back. It's not the worst, but it's a fly in the ointment.
 
Penfold101 said:
‘Charge when you can’ applies when you NEED to use public charging.

If I’m arriving at home with 1% and not going out again that day then it’s absolutely fine. If I’m doing a long journey and plan to stop half way at a public charger with 1% then that’s dumb (you arrive with 2% like I did a couple of weeks ago while testing the range of my car :D)

Essentially, doing multiple shorter stops in the way is better than saving it for one large stop due to risks of broken/full chargers and putting all your electric eggs in one basket.
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Was talking about in the context of a 400 space car park though, not everyone is on a long journey (in fact most are not)
 
Gammawolf said:
Its just a trade off though - they are both sides of the same coin, you're not better off in terms of time spent on the journey. You could apply the same logic to ICE, just replace battery with tank and charger with station, I know people who will fill up at half, and others that'll take it down to fumes. It's just you are risk adverse so prefer to mitigate that with more time spent charging. Neither is right or wrong, its just whatever people want to do vs the perceived gains.
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They currently aren’t comparable. I spent 20 years going from full to empty in my ICE cars because fuel stations are everywhere, are incredibly reliable, have many pumps that rarely brake or were unavailable, and you never queue for more than ten minutes if at all.

Being able to public charge an EV in any given location is not currently a guarantee - this isn’t a game of risk, it’s just a fact. I love them and don’t want to go back to ICE but the fact is the network isn’t as good as the fuel station one yet.

The time difference in charging whether half full or empty is tiny, it’s not even a consideration. It’s simply reducing the chance that you end up in a pickle by being empty and not getting to a charger when you’re relying on the public network which has its limitations.
 
LiE said:
My only sticking point is the seat comfort level - when I'm sat in the seat it feels like the weight is in my lower back. Previously in my A4 (and in my current Z4) I feel a lot more weight is taken by my mid/upper back which spares my lower back. It's not the worst, but it's a fly in the ointment.
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Does it have lumbar support adjustments you can play with?
 
Gammawolf said:
You want the stops to be on the low end of the battery % though to maximise the charge speed, so its the same risk regardless?
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As someone who had one the worlds slowest charging, yet most efficient BEV's, I can tell you this matters 0%. If you are stopping to pee and there is a free charger, spending an extra 20-30 seconds to plug it in even if you only end up with 5% extra is still valuable towards non-wasted time (if you care about that) and you've bought yourself a buffer at a zero time cost.

I used this analogy to a friend looking at a BEV and doesn't get the ABC mentality. It's like popping to the shop for a bottle of milk and thinking about buying bread but not bothering, then you get home realise you do need bread so have to go all the way back. If you'd just bought it in the first place and it wasn't used then you just stick in in the freezer to use later, as you were 100% going to need it at some point. I await the daft questions about what type of bread etc. and rubbish that will follow from such a comparison.
 
Journey said:
I used this analogy to a friend looking at a BEV and doesn't get the ABC mentality. It's like popping to the shop for a bottle of milk and thinking about buying bread but not bothering, then you get home realise you do need bread so have to go all the way back. If you'd just bought it in the first place and it wasn't used then you just stick in in the freezer to use later, as you were 100% going to need it at some point. I await the daft questions about what type of bread etc. and rubbish that will follow from such a comparison.
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What if the freezer is full? What then?
 
Journey said:
As someone who had one the worlds slowest charging, yet most efficient BEV's, I can tell you this matters 0%. If you are stopping to pee and there is a free charger, spending an extra 20-30 seconds to plug it in even if you only end up with 5% extra is still valuable towards non-wasted time (if you care about that) and you've bought yourself a buffer at a zero time cost.

I used this analogy to a friend looking at a BEV and doesn't get the ABC mentality. It's like popping to the shop for a bottle of milk and thinking about buying bread but not bothering, then you get home realise you do need bread so have to go all the way back. If you'd just bought it in the first place and it wasn't used then you just stick in in the freezer to use later, as you were 100% going to need it at some point. I await the daft questions about what type of bread etc. and rubbish that will follow from such a comparison.
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I like that analogy, but only really works at free chargers. Otherwise it's a case of buying loaf at 89p a slice when you can have it at 9p at home :) .
 
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