Luckypants

The Gridserve replacement of Ecotricity chargers has slowed down quite noticeably. It seems unlikely that they will hit the target of replacing all the old charger with the new ones by the end of this month. There has also been moans about reliability of the new chargers on Twitter and Zap-map. I hope these are teething troubles. I found out something interesting about the new Gridserve chargers going in on the Electric Highway network (mainly on motorways). They are advertised as 120kW chargers, but can only achieve this on 800V cars. The rest of us mere mortals will have to put up with 60kW. There is more to charging speeds than the headline speed. I also saw the same issue on another MFG's high speed chargers, 160kW for 800V but 'only' 80kW for normal 400V cars.

On that subject, I found out something interesting about the new Gridserve chargers going in to replace the ageing Ecotricity ones on the Electric Highway network (mainly on motorways). They are advertised as 120kW chargers, but can only achieve this on 800V cars. The rest of us mere mortals will have to put up with 60kW. Bit of a derail, but there is more to charging speeds than the headline speed. (I also saw the same issue on another network's high speed chargers but cannot remember which one)* *I remembered, it is on Motor Fuel Group's new high speed chargers, specifically at their new hub in Stretford. The headline speed is 160kW but the small print on the charger shows 80kW at 400V.

I think as he gets used to it the efficiency will improve. For example running re-gen level1 in town when it most likely should have been level3 or auto. However, if it doesn't get up past 3.2 I think it will damage Hyundai/Kia reputation for efficiency as people expect them to be good now. Efficiency in our ID.4 has definitely improved as we have got used to it, even allowing for better weather now over when we first got it.

Someone on the ID.4 group had the same issue, it was a disconnected drain hose.

I doubt very much is the suspension is adjustable in this fashion. More likely the transit blocks left in as has been previously suggested and they've taken them out to 'adjust' it. The adjustment story is likely BS to cover up their error. Its noticeable that no one else has complained of this problem with standard suspension on here or in any of the FB groups I'm in. I'm glad you've got it sorted and the car rides properly now.

There is a chap in the UK Enyaq owners Facebook group that has his Enyaq 60 on as a taxi. Might be worth having a search on there for any info? https://www.facebook.com/groups/3036207156410016

May be relevant, may be not. On the VW ID.4 and ID.3, the first part of the first over the air update to the software causes exactly these errors to appear. When the update is ready to be installed, the errors clear. I don't know if this update is being pushed to Enyaq yet, but you could check?

Should you be using Charge Your Car app now? SWARCO have launched a replacement app and that is the one they update. CYC have nothing to do with it anymore.

This could be a step up for MG but I think will struggle against the perceived quality of European manufacturers at that price point. Not coming to the UK either, so won't make a difference here. I think the more significant car for MG is the MG5 long range, with around 250 mile range and 100kW DC charging capability. An electric estate car with over 250 mile range might well have got my vote over the ID.4, I like estate cars.

Reading that article and the 'news' article on CPS website (https://chargeplacescotland.org/uncategorised/phase-2-of-network-migration-is-underway/) will make every seasoned IT professional cringe. All the problems they are talking about are easily identified ahead of time. The database merge they are talking about for instance, that should have been done well ahead of time and run in parallel for a couple of months.

I linked that in yesterday ^^^^^^

Some good news for charging in the UK, Osprey are brining in Kempower's smart chargers that will see more cars get max charge power more often. Osprey’s first Kempower sites will open in Wolverhampton in mid-September and Banbury in mid-October. https://fullycharged.show/blog/dynamic-load-sharing-a-rapid-charging-gamechanger/

This article was from before the UK notified the UN of the change from GB to UK id letters. the photo is an old photo Grant Schapps tweeted in November.

After looking up "skeumorphic" I have to agree!

Yes I have seen many with the green stripe on the left, but I am on a number of EV forums where people post pictures of their new EVs I have seen none of the other formats and think those were only for consultation. As far as I can tell, you can still have country letters and flags displayed as previously, even 'in the green'. This is a UK thing only though. If travelling abroad you will need a 'UK' sticker if you have a green plate, as this is not EU compliant for country identification. To travel abroad you need to display a Union Jack with 'UK' on your plate. I assume plates made up before this ridiculous change to a 'UK' instead of 'GB' identifier are still valid. https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/flags-symbols-and-identifiers

Nope, I got mine in March and the plates were introduced from December 2020, so really the dealer should have been well aware. Plenty of EVs still being supplied without them from what I see. Not that I'm bothered, it seems a gimmick to me. None of the supposed benefits of having a green plate have materialised, everything is about 'raising awareness' these days instead of actually doing something. I would have liked the dealer to have offered a choice of plain, UK 'euro style' or 'green stripe' though. What are the benefits of these 'Green' plates? Apart from virtue signalling of course!

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/gb-car-sticker-to-be-replaced-by-new-uk-version/ The green stripe is a UK thing, so if you want to drive abroad with an EV green plate, you will still be required to have a 'UK' badge displayed. On the EV green stripe thing, many dealers are not aware, so new EVs are supplied with normal plates. I was not even asked and didn't think about it, so my car was supplied with bog standard plates and no stripe of any kind.

@wr0na Thanks for the reply.

Take a look at this too, better camera bundle and fitted at Halfords for only a little more money? https://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/nextbase-522gw-front-and-rear-dash-cam-bundle-450454.html

@wr0na With your experience of long distances now, do you think driving slower and getting more miles per charge is a better strategy than driving fast and spending more time at chargers? Why do you think so? What was your charging regime? Did you use any route planning software such as A Better Route Planner? Interested in a real life experience and will no doubt have more questions!

Hi Wrona, great review which I also read on the Facebook group. That was a big ol' drive!

From what I've seen, all MEB platform cars come with one of several brands of summer tyres. AFAIK these are:- Hankook Ventus S1 Evo Continental Eco-Contact Pirelli Scorpian Verde Bridgestone Dueller

I looked into this before lockdowns happened. I reckoned you get 9 miles per hour charging on 3-pin and the car is parked for 9 hours. So 80 odd miles added, with a 90 mile commute round trip. Seems a good saving. Moot now, full time WFH.

You will only get max charge rate at low states of charge, typically below 15%. At 50% it won't go at full chat and will ramp down slowly to 80% full and then drop off significantly. So for long trips its fastest to drive down yo low state of charge then rapid charge to 80%. See the graph of charging rate below.

The max state of limiter works for both AC and DC charging, regardless of location. Scheduled charging is not working in the car, so use the scheduling on your home charger to ensure you use the off-peak rates. You just have to remember to raise the limit to 100% if you want to use the full potential of the battery.