I liked this Alpine with just some blue trim. Dogs out for whatever before trip. Anyway. An early start and only 6 degrees C, lots of rain and today that ment 20-30 miles less range than over the past weeks of higher temps. Meant charging to add a few miles before my destination just 5 miles further on. New chargers going in hopefully.

Edited yesterday at 10:101 day by Evolution13

5 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

I liked this Alpine with just some blue trim. Dogs out for whatever before trip. Anyway. An early start and only 6 degrees C, lots of rain and today that ment 20-30 miles less range than over the past weeks of higher temps. Meant charging to add a few miles before my destination just 5 miles further on. New chargers going in hopefully.

Not found if the Alpine 290 is getting the same upgrades the R5 in the aero and battery department but it should see a few more miles range.

I would be keen to try both the upgrade R5s and the upgrade Scenics, would avoid even more of the public charges.

Just hope they come to the UK as we do get a restricted list of Renault and I would presume other marques too.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/renault/5/370305/updated-renault-5-offers-more-range-more-google-tech-and-even-more-style

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/renault/scenic/370350/new-renault-scenic-embarrasses-tesla-model-y-range-again

New 67 Kwh Scenic should be well under £30k for a very roomy car and have the LFP charging to 100% being no worries.

Edited yesterday at 15:531 day by lol-lol

6 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

I liked this Alpine with just some blue trim. Dogs out for whatever before trip. Anyway. An early start and only 6 degrees C, lots of rain and today that ment 20-30 miles less range than over the past weeks of higher temps. Meant charging to add a few miles before my destination just 5 miles further on. New chargers going in hopefully.

Blimey that Alpine is ugly! Too much 'addenda' at the front and the wheels are awful!

All in my opinion of course...

Girvan harbour DC charger only 1 in town and 5 weeks I have been reporting out of service. Today I was there early before some teacher would put on AC charger all day even though max 5 hours. Car get charged and stays plugged in locked in. Not even moved at lunch time. So one car charging on B. Post A fails to start. I try 3 times. Then 3 times with electroverse. Then call CPS. Poor mobile reception area. Get the usual script. A fault with your card. I used it yesterday. Close windows and lock doors. I tell him that makes no difference and never ever has. He tells me charger working and he can not start remotely. I told him he can he is on a mobile to me and he is in Broughty Ferry and the SIM in the charger gets a signal. Phone goes dead. Charger starts. I try calling back as I want to report the big charger. No signal. Then he calls me. I give him charger number and he says he will check. He says out if service 4 weeks. I said 6 and 5 since I first reported. Line went dead. Got a call to do satisfaction survey just now.

PS. So 45 minutes & it had charged 2.2 kWh. The other car plugged in is a 28 kW 2020 Hyundai Ionic and with 22 kW charger is only giving us 3 kW each not even 6 kW each. So likely in 5 hours plugged in max I get is 15 kW at 55 pence a kWh. I will be heading 4 miles to the Farm Shop to get a charge in the DC @ 55 pence a kWh.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by Evolution13

1 hour ago, Evolution13 said:

PS. So 45 minutes & it had charged 2.2 kWh. The other car plugged in is a 28 kW 2020 Hyundai Ionic and with 22 kW charger is only giving us 3 kW each not even 6 kW each. So likely in 5 hours plugged in max I get is 15 kW at 55 pence a kWh. I will be heading 4 miles to the Farm Shop to get a charge in the DC @ 55 pence a kWh.

That is not what you want to see is it, so further delays in getting a decent charge

10 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

That is not what you want to see is it, so further delays in getting a decent charge

Getting economic and logical to carry a power station and ones own solar panels perhaps.

With the right battery ie one that can supply 3.7 kws, and granny cable doing 16A and maybe some foldout portable solar panels one can have an onboard backup in the boot.

Also versions of onboard software coming out every few months and updated battery packs every 2 years the problem goes away.

What a load of total guff IMHO, unless maybe doing some world travelling in a region that is not the UK. Scotland just happens to have 32 local authorities and many of these have no commitment to helping get to net zero with the upkeep of public ev chargers. £5 minimum charge here and i am at £6 after nearly 3 hours. Now 12 kWh of a charge. The other car must have unplugged and now i am getting 6 kW i expect.

1 hour ago, Evolution13 said:

What a load of total guff IMHO, unless maybe doing some world travelling in a region that is not the UK. Scotland just happens to have 32 local authorities and many of these have no commitment to helping get to net zero with the upkeep of public ev chargers. £5 minimum charge here and i am at £6 after nearly 3 hours. Now 12 kWh of a charge. The other car must have unplugged and now i am getting 6 kW i expect.

Having been let down by Gridserve twice last Sunday, chargers said payment verified, took my ten pound deposit then said not playing, very poor service. They are suppose, like all CSPs, to be 99% reliable but they clearly are not. Whwether it is Grid overload or Russian hacking or too much local load to take on another EV on that bank of chargers it is a mystery as to what happens when the DC charger shout not playing. 5 days later these £10 deposits are showing pending or processing. Crap.

Should have gone to the Tesla chargers at Frankley, even at peak time they are only 66p per KWh, 34P at the 10 pm to 7:59 am period. Made several charging mistakes that day but at least I know the real limti of my Urban 40 Kwh R5 which proved to be just over 20 miles past 0% SoC being shown. Got going again thanks to my VTOMAN 2200W which supplied 8A on my granny charger ie just under 2 KW supply for about 20 minutes which, presumably with a bit of chemical recovery in the depleted battery got me the last half mile home no problem. Did not even bother to put in the VTOMAN 2200 slave battery which would give me a total of 3 KWh and as each weights less than 18 Kgs are easyish to carry.

Their day job is saving money on downstairs larger electricity consuming devices ie TV, my computer setup but not the Sky, BT or router as they are low powered but good to be able to pop them in the boot, even the Mini's boot, and take that power out to where it is needed. Need power units which are atleast half as big again ie with more than 3 KW stable output and a 2 KWh battery capacity so over 4KWh in total. Hopefully not over 22 Kgs in weight plus more solar than the VTOMAN 2200W one which can only take 400W of solar. Expect there will be megadeals for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Wpould also like to add a portable ie on wheel but probably 50 Kgs or so home battery to add to my smaller one already have. The Aferiy PH062 looks a bit of kit... Should pay for itself in a few years and give me peace of mind if we actually get the blackouts we got close to this summer. Not too difficult to move to a new house. I could genuinely charge the EVs with gathered solar electricity with this and even at 3.7 KW or maybe more.

• 5.12kWh LiFePO4 battery with up to 6,000 charge cycles for long-lasting performance

• 6200W AC output power to support high-power home appliances and backup needs

• Up to 6500W PV input with built-in 120A MPPT solar charge controller for efficient solar charging

• Dual AC outputs with pure sine wave inverter for stable and reliable power supply

• Portable design with built-in handles and universal wheels for easy movement

• Smart BMS provides comprehensive protection for the battery and entire system

• Supports WiFi & GPRS connectivity with smart app control

• Wide PV input voltage range (60–500V DC) for flexible solar system integration

• Dust protection kit included, suitable for harsh outdoor environments

• RGB lights clearly indicate different operating modes

• Dimensions (H × W × D): 780 × 440 × 230mm; Net weight: 58.5kg

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by lol-lol

2 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Getting economic and logical to carry a power station and ones own solar panels perhaps.

With the right battery ie one that can supply 3.7 kws, and granny cable doing 16A and maybe some foldout portable solar panels one can have an onboard backup in the boot.

Also versions of onboard software coming out every few months and updated battery packs every 2 years the problem goes away.

I can't believe you are suggesting the average person will carry that lot about... What a load of tosh

8 minutes ago, skomaz said:

I can't believe you are suggesting the average person will carry that lot about... What a load of tosh

Not the 5 kwh battery with 6 kw supply but the little sub 20 kg power supplies, only longer journeys, no problem, don't take up much space, make sure one has the tyre pressures pumped up but one is only adding 1% or so to the weight as most EVs are already in the 1.5T to 2T zone. Not like the days when my mini, ford escort etc weight less than half the current vehicle weights. Would only be on those odd months I do a 200 miles plus journey having learnt that public chargers are still nowhere near 99% reliable.

45 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

Not the 5 kwh battery with 6 kw supply but the little sub 20 kg power supplies, only longer journeys, no problem, don't take up much space, make sure one has the tyre pressures pumped up but one is only adding 1% or so to the weight as most EVs are already in the 1.5T to 2T zone. Not like the days when my mini, ford escort etc weight less than half the current vehicle weights. Would only be on those odd months I do a 200 miles plus journey having learnt that public chargers are still nowhere near 99% reliable.

Still adding weight and taking up space in an already pretty small boot. Better not to try and not play "count the pennies saved" by avoiding that little extra top-up to give yourself that safety margin. Come on you know the rule: keep the battery between 20% and 80%, and there's the ABC rule (always be charging) whenever you stop.

1 hour ago, lol-lol said:

Having been let down by Gridserve twice last Sunday, chargers said payment verified, took my ten pound deposit then said not playing, very poor service. They are suppose, like all CSPs, to be 99% reliable but they clearly are not. Whwether it is Grid overload or Russian hacking or too much local load to take on another EV on that bank of chargers it is a mystery as to what happens when the DC charger shout not playing. 5 days later these £10 deposits are showing pending or processing. Crap.

Should have gone to the Tesla chargers at Frankley, even at peak time they are only 66p per KWh, 34P at the 10 pm to 7:59 am period. Made several charging mistakes that day but at least I know the real limti of my Urban 40 Kwh R5 which proved to be just over 20 miles past 0% SoC being shown. Got going again thanks to my VTOMAN 2200W which supplied 8A on my granny charger ie just under 2 KW supply for about 20 minutes which, presumably with a bit of chemical recovery in the depleted battery got me the last half mile home no problem. Did not even bother to put in the VTOMAN 2200 slave battery which would give me a total of 3 KWh and as each weights less than 18 Kgs are easyish to carry.

Their day job is saving money on downstairs larger electricity consuming devices ie TV, my computer setup but not the Sky, BT or router as they are low powered but good to be able to pop them in the boot, even the Mini's boot, and take that power out to where it is needed. Need power units which are atleast half as big again ie with more than 3 KW stable output and a 2 KWh battery capacity so over 4KWh in total. Hopefully not over 22 Kgs in weight plus more solar than the VTOMAN 2200W one which can only take 400W of solar. Expect there will be megadeals for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Wpould also like to add a portable ie on wheel but probably 50 Kgs or so home battery to add to my smaller one already have. The Aferiy PH062 looks a bit of kit... Should pay for itself in a few years and give me peace of mind if we actually get the blackouts we got close to this summer. Not too difficult to move to a new house. I could genuinely charge the EVs with gathered solar electricity with this and even at 3.7 KW or maybe more.

• 5.12kWh LiFePO4 battery with up to 6,000 charge cycles for long-lasting performance

• 6200W AC output power to support high-power home appliances and backup needs

• Up to 6500W PV input with built-in 120A MPPT solar charge controller for efficient solar charging

• Dual AC outputs with pure sine wave inverter for stable and reliable power supply

• Portable design with built-in handles and universal wheels for easy movement

• Smart BMS provides comprehensive protection for the battery and entire system

• Supports WiFi & GPRS connectivity with smart app control

• Wide PV input voltage range (60–500V DC) for flexible solar system integration

• Dust protection kit included, suitable for harsh outdoor environments

• RGB lights clearly indicate different operating modes

• Dimensions (H × W × D): 780 × 440 × 230mm; Net weight: 58.5kg

All of the issues with duff chargers, etc., have been reported before by @Evolution13 and by one or two others, plus numerous vloggers such as Dave Takes It On, etc., and yet still there are those who live in denial and often complain that these events never happen and the grid can cope perfectly. Only today @Evolution13 mentioned that he was sharing a 22KWH charger but was only actually getting 3KW each, and he regularly posts about issues with chargers, etc.

When has anybody ever heard about a pump spitting out fuel at dramatically reduced rate because of an ICE car pulling up on the opposite side of a pump at the same time?

6 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

All of the issues with duff chargers, etc., have been reported before by @Evolution13 and by one or two others, plus numerous vloggers such as Dave Takes It On, etc., and yet still there are those who live in denial and often complain that these events never happen and the grid can cope perfectly. Only today @Evolution13 mentioned that he was sharing a 22KWH charger but was only actually getting 3KW each, and he regularly posts about issues with chargers, etc.

When has anybody ever heard about a pump spitting out fuel at dramatically reduced rate because of an ICE car pulling up on the opposite side of a pump at the same time?

Only of fuel pumps giving engine wrecking fuel as Tescos did and I think there gas been other similar instances. DC and AC charges seem to work or not work and I have not heard of battery wrecking over amperage or over voltages thankfully. EVs systems seem good at controlling the amperage and voltages where ICE vehicles will readily accept contaminated fuel, fuel with water in it or the wrong fuel entirely petrol in a diesel car is it not but other way round does not happen due to different nozzle sizes.

Tow one of these behind you

1 minute ago, lol-lol said:

Only of fuel pumps giving engine wrecking fuel as Tescos did and I think there gas been other similar instances. DC and AC charges seem to work or not work and I have not heard of battery wrecking over amperage or over voltages thankfully. EVs systems seem good at controlling the amperage and voltages where ICE vehicles will readily accept contaminated fuel, fuel with water in it or the wrong fuel entirely petrol in a diesel car is it not but other way round does not happen due to different nozzle sizes.

Tesco was not the only supermarket with duff fuel. I once cross-fuelled a diesel car and had to be towed to an AA depot, where they drained the tank and flushed the fuel lines before I could continue my journey. I was actually on my way to a job interview in Birmingham at the time 🫨.

26 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Still adding weight and taking up space in an already pretty small boot. Better not to try and not play "count the pennies saved" by avoiding that little extra top-up to give yourself that safety margin. Come on you know the rule: keep the battery between 20% and 80%, and there's the ABC rule (always be charging) whenever you stop.

Really quite small, not much bigger than a shoe box. Certainly lesson learned about charging up when one stops for even 15 minutes and half full if it is going to give one enough to complete the whole journey and battery is going to be warm to accept good charge rate although the charging from 59% to 90% or invariably slower than the charging from 19% to 50% is the reality.

Nice cheap sub 10p a KWh today and looks even cheaper for tomorrow 4th of September and even cheaper than that, possibly negative, on the weekend ahead. Hopefully some plunge pricing at public charges due to over abundance of wind and solar generation as we approach the autumnal equinox.

2 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

Tow one of these behind you

You'll certainly use it a lot, since towing destroys the range.

Just now, Graham Butcher said:

You'll certainly use it a lot, since towing destroys the range.

Picking the sweet spot is the aim.

56 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

DC and AC charges seem to work or not work and I have not heard of battery wrecking from over-amperage or over voltages thankfully. EVs systems seem good at controlling the amperage and voltages

Chargers can send spikes into the battery and cause damage, and also chargers, especially home chargers, and really especially those that have been self-installed have done a lot of damage to themselves, and I daresay that they even caused fires that may have destroyed/damaged their homes.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Graham Butcher

7 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Chargers can send spikes into the battery and cause damage, and also chargers, especially home chargers, and really especially those that have been self-installed have done a lot of damage to themselves, and I daresay that they even caused fires that may have destroyed/damaged their homes.

I have not heard any credible supports of such. All our EVs and numerous home batteries seem very good at copping with electrical inputs and tvay xan be wrong polarity, voltages outside range. My experience over lastc5 years.

I am concerned about this move by the UK Grid to continue to rachet done the voltage from 240v down towards mainland Europe's 220v as I think that could cause a number of issues.

48 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

I am concerned about this move by the UK Grid to continue to rachet done the voltage from 240v down towards mainland Europe's 220v as I think that could cause a number of issues.

Why are you concerned by that? Europe's voltage is actually 230V not 220V.

Currently, we have a minimum approved voltage of 240V -6% = 225.6V, whereas Europe has an allowed voltage variation of up to -10%, so 230V - 10% = 207V.

Now, given that most of our appliances are either sourced from Europe or made to their standards to allow us to sell to them, nothing major will happen. If we continue to use the 6% variation standard, then we will be better off than mainland Europe. Don't forget that because the voltage has dropped, so will the energy drawn, so bills will drop slightly.

Proposed UK Mains Voltage Changes Explained | eFIXX

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Graham Butcher

1 minute ago, Graham Butcher said:

Why are you concerned by that? Europe's voltage is actually 230V not 220V.

Currently, we have a minimum approved voltage of 240V -6% = 225.6V, whereas Europe has an allowed voltage variation of up to -10%, so 230V - 10% = 207V.

Now, given that most of our appliances are either sourced from Europe or made to their standards to allow us to sell to them, nothing major will happen. If we continue to use the 6% variation standard, then we will be better off than mainland Europe. Don't forget that because the voltage has dropped, so will the energy drawn, so bills will drop slightly.

Proposed UK Mains Voltage Changes Explained | eFIXX

Slower EV charging was my main concern. Hope to have 3 phase at the next place.

Z

3 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Not the 5 kwh battery with 6 kw supply but the little sub 20 kg power supplies, only longer journeys, no problem, don't take up much space, make sure one has the tyre pressures pumped up but one is only adding 1% or so to the weight as most EVs are already in the 1.5T to 2T zone.

Seriously?? - Madness.