Help please, planning charging on a route

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SimonH
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by SimonH »

As we have a pod-point at home , so so far I have only charged the Born at home. All good.

In a couple of weeks I am going to Lincoln, a round trip of about 300 miles so not possible on one charge.

I could take the ICE car but want to go in the Born to get the hang of going electric on longer journeys.

I downloaded zap-map on my phone, and looked around my destination, as probably where I'd recharge, and just saw a sea of chargers, none of which looked particularly great.

I'm not good at winging it, I like to have a solid plan, particularly as I won't have much left at that point,

All tips on how to plan such a journey. gratefully received đź‘Ť

Benjo88
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2022 7:03 am

Post by Benjo88 »

Hi Simon,

I find “Chargemap” quite handy and simple to
Use.

There are also the following:

- EVNavigation
- plugshare

Your pretty safe with most service stations these days. Although we all like to plan in advance just ensure you have the sat nav set of the born and you’ll find chargers along the way around your half way point.

Hope this helps.
Cupra Born | V1 | Tech L Pack | Greyser Silver | Newcastle (North East|
TheBornIDentity
Posts: 192
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:55 pm

Post by TheBornIDentity »

If you leave home with 100% charge and don’t do more than 75 mph on the motorway you be able to go about 170 miles and still have 20% battery remaining.

I’d look for rapid chargers around 10 miles before and also in Lincoln (so you have a back up) and look for one around 20 miles from home.

I’d then stop at the one 10 miles from Lincoln and top back up to 80% and if it’s not available top up at the one nearest Lincoln. Then on the way back if the computer says you have enough range go all the way home and if not pull back in for a little boost at the one 10 miles from Lincoln and if that’s not free do it at the one 20 miles from home.

I find planning this takes a few mins but takes the worry out of getting a charger as you have a back up and never get really low except for near home where you have your own charger.

You can use Zap map to check if the ones you plan in have recently worked or been reported faulty.
Ghiribizzo
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2022 8:04 am

Post by Ghiribizzo »

A must-have for you is WattsUp. It only shows rapid chargers to suit your car, so you’re not wading through 7 and 22’s in ZapMap or PlugShare.
It will show you what’s on the way, also you can choose to look at say - an address in Lincoln and see what’s around and nearest to that place.

My own preference is ABRP ( @routebetter on Twitter)
You can use it for routing like WattsUp but gives you a seamless view in CarPlay or Android Auto.
If you add a Sub, then ABRP van get live data ftom the car to give you a where and when to charge.
Deadly accurate if a bit geeky with lots of variable parameters. I use it a lot when going dahn sarf and abroad.
Ask if you have questions…

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Ghiribizzo
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2022 8:04 am

Post by Ghiribizzo »

*obviously the WattsUp screenshot only shows where the chargers are. It doesn’t know how long you’d be there.
ABRP does…
SimonH
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by SimonH »

Thanks all! This is great info, I will feel much happier once I have a plan sorted!
SimonH
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by SimonH »

So started to plan things.

First hitch, there is a Shell that looks convenient, but it it looks like you need the Shell recharge app. So I downloaded that, and it transpires you need a fob/card that takes 5 days to arrive and needs activating, which isn't going to happen by tomorrow! Is this normal? So I suppose Shell is out?

Do I need a gazillion apps for all flavours of chargers and is it typical to need a physical card? Seems like something from last century!

I thought I'd just be able to turn up plug in and pay like at a petrol pump!
Born2Ride
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2022 1:32 pm

Post by Born2Ride »

I'm pretty sure you can pay just using contactless payment card. Think this has been a thing for new rapid charge points for a while. See here https://www.shell.co.uk/motorist/ev-cha ... l#recharge
SimonH
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by SimonH »

Update:

So I played around with the various apps and ended up with a decent idea of where I could potentially stop.

I started the return leg with 70 miles of range, more than I'd expected (I'd hoped to top up before arriving at the destination but ran out of time) so was reasonably comfortable I'd find somewhere, and had earmarked a town en route with a good selection of chargers.

In the end the car sorted it - the SatNav showed me a free 150kwh charger at a Shell on my way back, and lo and behold the charger was free. Slight hitch in that it wouldn't work! But I'd been told by a friend it's not uncommon and to call the service centre to get it rebooted. I spoke to a very helpful chap who did just that and then it worked perfectly. It wasn't the cheapest but got me back just fine.

It's very rare I will use the car like this (hence not buying the bigger capacity version) but good to know it's doable when the need arises.
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