Honest opinions on commuting please

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daern
Posts: 177
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:31 pm

Post by daern »

Garth wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:23 pm I'm a full battery person with everything so that'll take some getting used to.
It's worth noting that this applies to pretty much everything with a Li-Ion battery in it - phones are the biggest culprit. Most people charge them as quickly as they can to 100%, but in reality, if you don't need it at 100%, you can massively extend the lifetime of the battery by avoiding this where possible. Likewise, any battery-powered device that you don't intend to use for a period of time is best left stored in some sort of mid-charge state - i.e. not flat, not full - any this will also extend the battery.

Regarding the car, I'll typically charge to 80% (rarely need more), but if I need the range, then I'll charge to 100% without worrying. Likewise, if I get a sniff of a free charger, then it's going to 100%. Free electrons are free electrons, after all :-)

BornAgain
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:36 am

Post by BornAgain »

Charge to 90% and assume you will return with 20%, this means a useable capacity of 70% (assumes 58kWh battery), which equates to 40kWh . Let's assume 3miles/kWh is worst case, e.g winter +70mph +cabin heating. You could get 120 miles out of it.
If you cant get 120 miles, then I'm afraid you will have to compromise on one of the 3 things that eat range. Slow down, and/or get a car with heat pump. In warmer weather, heating will be off and you can increase your speed and probably only need to charge to 80%.
You will get to know your car's consumption with your driving style and you will soon learn to adapt the driving style so that you dont run out of juice.
It's a trip you will be doing everyday, you will soon be such an expert, you will know exactly what things affect range, e.g. even elevation, but from my calculations of worst case, you should be able to get 120 miles out of a 58kWh battery and not need to charge to 100%.
The bigger question is will you be able to get an overnight charge from 20% to 90% (40kWh) every day all at the cheap rate?
Octopus gives 4 hours at cheap rate and at 7kW/hour charging speed you will only manage to put in 28kWh, which isn't the 40kWh you will need for the daily commute. I think you will have to top up the leccy at the expensive rate.
monkeyhanger
Posts: 565
Joined: Tue May 31, 2022 8:12 pm

Post by monkeyhanger »

OK, I did a proper mild Winter 240 mile journey today...

235 miles, Newcastle to Bedford. Left on 100%, at 0530, 5.5C ambient temp, with no heating at all. First 4 miles is on 30/40 roads, then its all motorway/dual carriageway at 71mph on the ACC, and almost no slowdown. Managed 140 miles to my first charge stop (Retford) and the car did a slightly disappointing 3.1 miles per kWh there - no idea how bad it would've been with heat!

A1(M) slowed down a little as it became dual carriageway and the trucks hogged both lanes as one at 59mph overtook another at 58mph etc, and my overall journey improved marginally to 3.2 miles per kWh.

My destination had an employee 7kW charger spot free, so I took it (just visiting as a client) and got 30% back in the 3 hours I was there. Drove 20 miles to our Head Office in Milton Keynes and am stopping the night. Hopefully it'll be warmer on my way home tomorrow afternoon!

Stopped at Retford because my Electric Universe app had uncovered some seemingly great rapid charge rates - 38p per kWh and 175kWh charging with the Electric Universe card (tied to my Octopus Go account. In reality, my Electric Universe card wasn't accepted, so I had to go with the normal rate of 65p per kWh. If I'd known upfront, I wouldn't have bothered. It wouldn't take Amex either, even though signage said it did, but it did accept my Visa Debit card. Some guy with a kid (presumably he was a footballer) was revving the tits off a Lambo as he was filling up at the adjacent Esso garage.

20230111_084003.jpg

2022 V2 E-Boost L-Tech Pack - Aurora Blue
2023 Audi S3 - to avoid rapid charging on long journeys.

Octopus referral: https://share.octopus.energy/lush-fawn-565
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