This is why. Hopwood Park services off the M42. Non-Teslas can't use this particular site as it's deemed "high-usage". It happened to be empty when I arrived! On a 260-mile drive I needed a 10 minute charge to get home (or face driving ~150 miles at 50mph on the remaining charge). The Gridserve public chargers … Continue reading Why Tesla?
Holidaying with a short-range pure EV
Instead of a week jetting off to the Canary Islands, this October we took our Hyundai Ioniq electric to South Wales. Partly because of concerns over booking travel close to an impending Brexit deadline, and partly concerns over my carbon footprint - I've already had 2 long flights this year, partly down to holidays. Wales … Continue reading Holidaying with a short-range pure EV
How long does it take to charge up 100 miles with an Ioniq Electric?
Update August 2019: this original post was written based on a Polar 50kW charger. I have since used a 62kW Instavolt which just opened at Frilford near Abingdon, UK. Even though I started with more charge, this saved over 5 minutes on the Polar- 101 miles added in 20 minutes, with an average rate of … Continue reading How long does it take to charge up 100 miles with an Ioniq Electric?
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…
Why am I not getting a 50kW charge from a “50kW” rapid charger?
Simple - it's not really a 50kW charger. Eh? Today's chargers such as Polar's Ultracharger, and most other rapid chargers, in the UK at least, will deliver, at most, 125 Amps*. Whether that translates to 50kW, depends on the voltage of your car's battery. (Power = Current x Voltage). Take into account some loss along … Continue reading Why am I not getting a 50kW charge from a “50kW” rapid charger?
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?
Battery temperatures and #Rapidgate
Rapid charging any battery heats it up. So can driving the car in anything other than a very gentle style. Some cars can remove that heat with a cooling system; others rely on passive cooling. Whether that heat causes any issues for the user depends on the starting temperature, charging power, software limits and a … Continue reading Battery temperatures and #Rapidgate
The Ioniq electric: more like a “Model 3” class car than a Leaf
Updated with EPA figures! TLDR - The Ioniq's class-leading combination of fast charging, very low drag and battery thermal management make it a very interesting alternative to the Leaf 30, or even the "new" Leaf 40 if you want to use the car for long trips. For lower speeds, day-to-day use and commuting the new … Continue reading The Ioniq electric: more like a “Model 3” class car than a Leaf
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)
Cross-country in a 4 1/2 year old Nissan Leaf
Just returned from a holiday where I left my Leaf at airport parking for a week. It was far enough away (123 miles) that I needed to charge en route, and wanted to leave the battery at half-charge while I parked, as it should avoid any degradation that way. As any electric car battery ages … Continue reading Cross-country in a 4 1/2 year old Nissan Leaf
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