Using the EV chargers at STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

This page is intended for employees and visitors of STFC-RAL, until something official becomes available. This is the situation at March 2022. Hopefully some of what I've learned in nearly 6 years of EV driving is useful. TLDR; download the Chargepoint app and plug in! At the Harwell campus there are many tenants, STFC being … Continue reading Using the EV chargers at STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

New 2020 Ioniq Electric announced – but it’s not all good news…

Hyundai have launched the next Ioniq Electric model for 2020, with a bigger battery- up to 38.3kWh useable. Hardly a surprise there. A modest increase, within the existing platform, sounds like a sensible but incremental step. Think of it as Ioniq V1.5 rather than V2. 38kWh compared to the existing 28kWh means up to around … Continue reading New 2020 Ioniq Electric announced – but it’s not all good news…

Ioniq electric battery health at 3 years and 36,000 miles – very healthy, 100% health and 28.6kWh net capacity *Updated*

Welcome to my most popular blog post. Looks like battery health/life is a big concern amongst my readers! NB this post relates to a 2016 "IONIQ electric". Since then the IONIQ has become available as a 38kWh version and IONIQ is now a sub-brand of Hyundai. When I bought my Nissan Leaf at 3 years … Continue reading Ioniq electric battery health at 3 years and 36,000 miles – very healthy, 100% health and 28.6kWh net capacity *Updated*

What spec does a long-distance family electric car really need in the UK?

I think there's a strong case for a family pure-electric car with a modest battery, good efficiency and fast charging. As public charging points become more plentiful and powerful, the modest battery EV gets more useful. A side-effect is that the embodied energy of such a car is less than one with a larger battery … Continue reading What spec does a long-distance family electric car really need in the UK?

How much can you top up an Ioniq in 10 minutes from a Polar Ultracharger?

To answer this question, I tried out a Polar Ultracharger at the Holiday Inn Swindon, in the UK. The charger is quite close to J15 of the M4, and while the M4 is fairly well-served for charging, it's on the Electric Highway network which is, how shall I put it, a little creaky right now. … Continue reading How much can you top up an Ioniq in 10 minutes from a Polar Ultracharger?

Lets compare theoretical long journey times in the Ioniq, Leaf(s) and a diesel…(Version 2)

March 2018 Update - The 2018 Leaf 40 appears to have issues with repeated rapid charging,  for example see Twitter posts tagged #AberdeenEVRace . In a contest between the Leaf 30 and the new 40, the Leaf 30 won! We have yet to see what response Nissan have to this. My guess is that it's … Continue reading Lets compare theoretical long journey times in the Ioniq, Leaf(s) and a diesel…(Version 2)