Reached my next charger with 19%.   One rapid and there is as Jag on the AC and it has been on 14 hours and got 33kWh. Of charge.  My car is not getting a good speed because of this but I have a day to charge so will just leave it an hour now and charge again later.  

Selfishness seems to be a major problem with public charging, exacerbating lack of infrastructure.

Is 2030 really far enough off, I wonder?

I am away from the car but only 1/2 a mile and was checking the charge via my phone.  It took 30 minutes until it got to 43%.   I was going to head back but the speed charging just doubled as the Jag must of come off.  I will give it another 20 minutes and free up the charger.   

 

 

Edited 26 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

50 minutes ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

Selfishness seems to be a major problem with public charging, exacerbating lack of infrastructure.

Is 2030 really far enough off, I wonder?

Maybe the design of the chargers needs to have a tweak to automatically physically eject the charger plug when the charge rate drops to the point were it's clear that the vehicle is fully charged (or maybe even 90% charged)?

 

That would stop charger hogging.

Not all chargers stay locked once they stop charging because full or cut out, but that is no use if you can not get your car to the cable.

 

Charging heads falling out of chargers and being on the ground is the common reason for many being broken and then out of order for many months with CPS/ SWARCO being the back room people who as they say they do not maintain them.

That will be SWARCO as SWARCO that has the Maintenance Contract but obviously CPS run by SWARCO are the same people but with different contracts.

 

Some drivers leave the charge cable able to be taken out of their car.  With the Kia Niro there is a switch at the drivers door that allows the cable to not be locked.

 I have a txt number on a timer card in the windscreen  that someone sends a message to and i will return and let them charge.

I never leave a car in attended on a Rapid / Quick charger more than an hour.     

Ps. 

So 1 hour and at 95% now and that will do for today.

 

 

Edited 26 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

3 hours ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

Selfishness seems to be a major problem with public charging, exacerbating lack of infrastructure.

Is 2030 really far enough off, I wonder?

 

Opening up the Tesla network will solve a lot of problems.

 

4 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

Maybe the design of the chargers needs to have a tweak to automatically physically eject the charger plug when the charge rate drops to the point were it's clear that the vehicle is fully charged (or maybe even 90% charged)?

 

That would stop charger hogging.

Chademo on Leaf/Outlander will auto-unlock when finished charging.

Unfortunately the now widely adopted CCS is controlled by the car, despite the plug belongs to the charge operator.

 

I agree, we need:

1 - Many many rapid chargers at single location (single chargers are useless, source of charger anxiety)

2 - 7kW AC chargers nearby

3 - Rapid charger plugs unlock and rapid charger becomes available for new customer when charge rate drops below 10kW

4 - At below 5kW (for example), per-kWh unit price doubles to encourage people to move on

But of course this is when over 70%, let's say. Don't want people being charged double when cold-gating...... or do we? This way would make those cars undesirable and we get better EV's.

Still free from  Perth and south at several council areas that were supposed to have started imposing tariffs.   Many including me would prefer to pay and have better maintenance and chargers working and with overstay charges.   Free is lovely if you are able to just pop past and charge but the ignorance of some really does give a sour taste. 

On 25/02/2022 at 21:42, wyx087 said:

I hugely dislike the Peugeot's dash-over-wheel design. I've had Peugoet rental cars. But the steering wheel always obstructs my view for the dash because I prefer to drive half lying down. Move the steering any lower and my leg get squished.

 

I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked for me. If I was driving something sporty I would lie a lot flatter, but in an SUV it seems perfectly natural to sit reasonably upright. Certainly wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me.

Well today I did a car swap with my friend and got to drive the hybriddy a bit more than I'd expected  It's always nice driving something new, as the sensations are all strange to you, the steering feels different, the acceleration too as well as the noise, handling and doodads to play with.

 

Anyhoo, I did come to a few minor conclusions about it. Firstly, it's super comfy. Almost in the way cars used to be, before the Nürburgring turned everyone's family car in into an overdamped circuit star. It is also quiet and well screwed together, which surprised me as it's a Peugeot. No insult intended, but I did sell them for a short while and they weren't the best things on the block. 

 

The economy round town is pretty good if you use the hybrid mode and seems even better if you program up the satnav as I believe it then works out where best to share it's meagre electrical resources. Also, the turning circle is amazing for an SUV, it's more like a micra in that respect, the only let-down is the steering is super light. But the weird shape of the wheel wasn't a problem and I can see over it fine, which is useful for not crashing as well as seeing the high up dashboard. It's a novel concept that seems to work reasonably well in this SUV. 

 

The charging is an odd one though. It's super slow charge rates mean even when on a 16amp supply, it takes nearly 4 hours from flat to full (I think typically at home you would rarely go from entirely flat to full so your standard 8/10amp charger would probably still do a charge in around 4 hours - the battery has a little over 10kWh that you can use out of around 13kWhs in total) and that only gives a max of 39 miles range, which at the moment in the cold weather seems like 20 miles at best and even less, as the temperature drops further. I'm not sure about the 2nd 12V battery thing though. I guess it's there for running the general electrics while the car is running in EV mode and once it drops below a certain level the car defaults back to petrol mode permanently until the 2nd battery hits a certain charge %. I think I might have seen this happen, but I can't say for certain, as I don't know what the car is thinking. Probably, familiarity over a long time would give clues to its methodology?

 

Overall it's a nice place to spend time, comfy, quiet and in sports mode, quite brisk, which it should be for it's total of 296bhp and 383lb/ft even though it's a bit chunky in weight thanks to its battery mass - or it just eats a lot of pies when nobody is looking? I buy one I reckon and suffer the dirty looks from the EV boys and girls at the charge stations with my thickened skin. 

Maybe check the tyre pressures to see if they are over inflated to give better range rather than safety with grip / traction and not feeling skittery.

 

Even at a sensible pressure if it is the Michelin Primacy 4's that are fitted they are just horrible tyres IME that get fitted to Hybrids & EV's and really are just summer tyres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 March, 20224 yr by roottoot

There shouldn't be dirty looks from EV drivers as long as you are using suitable chargers that reflects capability of the car.

Rapid charger are for BEV's. "Fast" charger are for all plug-in vehicles.

 

4 hours charging time shouldn't be a problem at all. Unlike liquid refill, you don't need to stand there holding the plug. So just take 5s to plug in (when you have it set-up at home for easy plug/unplug) and 5s to unplug.

50 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

So just take 5s to plug in (when you have it set-up at home for easy plug/unplug) and 5s to unplug.

While you find something to do for the remaining 3 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds...

 

If you're on a long drive that's a lot longer than it takes for a comfort and snack break.

 

If it's in a town that's a lot of shopping buying things you don't want/need.

 

If you are in a town and popping to the shops then 15 minutes on the charger charging free without even checking in on an app might be all the time needed to put in the energy you used getting there and going home with you shopping, or you might spend 30 minutes.

 

EV's and hybrids can be lifestyle changers or maybe just suit your life work balance.

 

Lots of people with a Motability Car are now driving Plug in Hybrids or EV's, so less than £10 a day for a car under 3 years old, no extra costs and maybe not even paying for Fuel or Electric. 

There are thousands of Motability cars on UK roads as they are the biggest group buyer / owner. 

(in the region of 650,000 cars owned by them at any one time.

200,000 cars a year bought then sold at 3 or sometimes 5 year old)

 

Hybrid drivers on a journey tend not to be sitting charging to get the good fuel economy, but then there are people with lots of time on their hands that might well do like Robert Llewellyn.

 

It is good to have the choice to charge free at places so travel free if you have a vehicle and do short stints between charging.

 

I know someone with an old Nissan Leaf and he is skint and he hops about 50 miles between chargers and sleeps in the car and cycles while the car charges. 

It takes him a few days to get from home to Glasgow and back and when he went to London he was 10 days there and back but used only free chargers.

 

All the time in the world, no job, little money and the UK is his oyster. 

Edited 3 March, 20224 yr by roottoot

29 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

While you find something to do for the remaining 3 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds...

 

If you're on a long drive that's a lot longer than it takes for a comfort and snack break.

 

If it's in a town that's a lot of shopping buying things you don't want/need.

 

I have to ask, do you always refuel to full tank of petrol?  You do know you can stop refuel/unplug whenever suits you right?

 

EV have charging speed tiers. Completely different mentality to "fill up petrol every week" and then car is parked for other 95% of the time.

Rapid charging: 10-40min very quickly back to 80% for on-ward journey.

"Fast" charging: many hours, for overnight/workplace charging.

 

If you are on a long drive, you would never plug in PHEV during a quick comfort break. Or a quick 20min comfort break for a good and efficient EV (TM3) would see you back on the road for another 3+ hours.

 

If it's in town, typically you'd have enough range for return trip in any BEV, you can unplug whenever you want.

Eg. I drove Leaf 30 miles to work, charged up at work, 30 miles back and then 10 miles to a shopping centre (have the range for return without charging) we stayed for 2 hour and charged for free. Free charge was able to cover return trip to the shopping centre plus 50% of single leg of my commute. it was not full when I unplugged. There was no waiting around or buying things don't need.

1 hour ago, PetrolDave said:

While you find something to do for the remaining 3 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds...

 

If you're on a long drive that's a lot longer than it takes for a comfort and snack break.

 

If it's in a town that's a lot of shopping buying things you don't want/need.

 

I'm fairly new to EV and so far found this to not be the case in the 12 months / 11K miles we've had the car. We charge mostly at home and always have the range to go where we want. We plug in at the local free chargers when we visit the supermarket and un-plugged when done shopping, no 'finding things to do' - occasionally we go for lunch during the shopping trip just like when we had an ICE car and the car gets extra charge while we do. This free charging will cover the trip to the supermarket and a leg of my wife's commute. Never have I needed to 'find stuff to do'.

Doing a long trip over the Storm Eunice weekend we found that stopping at our usual stop (Tebay) and plugging the car in to a 50kW rapid the 50 minute charge while we ate dinner gave ample charge to complete our journey. Same on the return trip, a planned coffee / comfort stop covered any additional charge needed. The bug bear on that trip was the screw in the tyre......

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

I have to ask, do you always refuel to full tank of petrol?  You do know you can stop refuel/unplug whenever suits you right?

 

EV have charging speed tiers. Completely different mentality to "fill up petrol every week" and then car is parked for other 95% of the time.

Rapid charging: 10-40min very quickly back to 80% for on-ward journey.

"Fast" charging: many hours, for overnight/workplace charging.

 

If you are on a long drive, you would never plug in PHEV during a quick comfort break. Or a quick 20min comfort break for a good and efficient EV (TM3) would see you back on the road for another 3+ hours.

 

If it's in town, typically you'd have enough range for return trip in any BEV, you can unplug whenever you want.

Eg. I drove Leaf 30 miles to work, charged up at work, 30 miles back and then 10 miles to a shopping centre (have the range for return without charging) we stayed for 2 hour and charged for free. Free charge was able to cover return trip to the shopping centre plus 50% of single leg of my commute. it was not full when I unplugged. There was no waiting around or buying things don't need.

I always fill the tank to the brim, I never know when I'll get that call and have to drive 200-250 miles at very short notice. 

 

As for topping up PHEV, I think for me, I would want one fully charged when possible. As mentioned above and also when considering my detached duty while working away from home, it would not often be easy, or even possible, to charge up the hybrididddy battery. Certainly,  on my regular jobs and using my normal accommodation, I can't see an easy access charger nearby. Also, as I work 12-15 hour days on these specific jobs, charging is a total pain to consider on top of trying to find food and sleep. It's one of the reasons EVs simply wouldn't work for me. 

 

But, I've had my eyes opened a little about hybrids and perhaps this is a way forward for me. It's certainly not something that gets my blood flowing, but there again, I'm a dyed in the wool petrol head. 🏎️

Hopefully by 2030 and beyond, there is option to plug-in at most places, rather than having to specifically find places to plug in.

(this is slow chargers, where cars usually dwell for hours at a time)

 

Idea with battery EV is that cars are already parked majority of the time. Most of the time don't need <5min refuel like a busy human eating lunch between meetings. When parked up for hours on end, EV can graze like sheep, they have the time to leisurely re-energise.

 

Of course, quickly munching between meetings is possible via rapid charging should the need arise at short notice.

(if there is available rapid chargers...... my problem is that there's too many single rapid charger locations and it's occupied when you turn up.... wouldn't be a problem if they are as visible and as numerous as current petrol stations, don't need more despite longer rapid charging time due to many EV able to home charging)

 

 

rant:

At no point during 1900's roll out of petrol refuel stations, people would think: "that's okay, a single unattended petrol pump that is liable to faults in the middle of nowhere is totally fine"

Why is it okay for companies to put down a single rapid charger at random locations now?

/rant

There is a 'Massive Taiwan blackout leaving many without power'. following an accident at a power station.

 

In the UK/ Europe / EU there might well be outages coming and maybe even petrol & diesel rationing might be required so non essential workers / driver might be those getting fuel first.

It is good that the NHS, Social Work and various local authorities and utility companies have hybrids and EV's that can be getting charged at cheap / off peak charging or just when electricity is available and this can keep essential workers moblie. 

Also Doctors and nurses with e-Bikes to get out and about locally to patients. 

https://alloaadvertiser.com/news/18112747.eco-friendly-gps-bring-e-bikes-house-calls

 

Large Scale Battery Storage locally for electricity from renewables produced locally is going to be necessary going into the future and more storage using vehicles battery capacities. 

 

Energy produced locally stored and used locally from windfarms, solar farms, bio mass generation etc as well as power going to the national grid.

There is still lots of renewable electricity generated or that can be generated rather than companies being paid to stop generating it in parts of the UK that does not go to the National Grid or that is not getting used to produce hydrogen or being stored.

 

 

Edited 3 March, 20224 yr by roottoot

I still hope that one day I can own a hydrogen car  

7 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

I still hope that one day I can own a hydrogen car  

 

Solid state Lithium I would prefer... 

 

Lithium 

People often overestimate the casualties of Zeppelins and their like. Hydrogen does 'go up' rather well, but that's one of things about it, it likes to go up. It burns very quickly and upwards, unlike a petrol fire. Around 2/3s of the Hindenburg passengers and crew, survived and it seems to be generally thought, a lot of problems with the fire and it's propagation, was due to the doped fabric used on the airship (It was even said that it would have burned if the airship was full of helium because of this fabric). 

 

I'm not worried about hydrogen and my airship exploding. At least no more so than worried that the EV parked next to me is going to burn in an uncontrollable fire that can't easily be extinguished....certain "recently sunk ship" owners, may disagree. 

 

I so want an airship now... 

 

30 minutes ago, Lady Elanore said:

I so want an airship now... 

 

Do I sense a 'Non-Skoda Project' thread???

Oh come one, who doesn't want an airship? 

 

23 minutes ago, Lady Elanore said:

Oh come one, who doesn't want an airship? 

 

 

Very true. Means I could one up my neighbour's caravan on the driveway then.