EV Newbie planning first reasonable distance trip (UK)

[thealbs]

Hi

I’ve had my 4S for a few weeks now and we are planning our first trip of any distance, which will involve a public recharge or maybe two. This is our first EV so we are public recharging virgins, and wanted to see what advice is out there on the most optimal way of planning and executing the trip.

We have…

- Porsche charge card
- Octopus Electroverse charge card

Both offer discounts but at different EV charging providers.

My preferred Sat Nav is Apple Maps as it includes UK speed cameras … but doesnt apear to natively plan a trip based on EV considerations as far as I can tell.

It seems I have a few options and am unsure of the best one…

1. let Apple Maps guide me, and separately research fastest/cheapest charging points en route (probably Electroverse as these seem more prevalent than Porsche preferred ones around the route I will be taking)
2. use the My Porsche app to plan the route and send the route to the car then rely on built-in navigation (but no speed camera warnings)
3. Use the Octopus Electroverse app to plan route then send it to car, where it seems to interact with Apple Maps … but I haven't tested that one yet
4. Others?

What are others’ experiences of similar decisions?

Also, this is a day trip to a place a few hundred miles from my home. There is no charging point at the remote destination but I do have a home charge point. Would you:

1. plan each leg of the journey individually, and just make sure there is adequate charge (25%?) minimum at the remote location?
2. plan the entire round trip (home to home with a stop-off point at the destination and ask the chosen app to start with 80% and be happy to end with 20%?)

As you can tell, I’m a newbie! At the risk of missing out on some of the fun of trial and error… what is the seasoned EV owners’ advice in these circumstances?

Apologies if these combos have been discussed in other threads too. Please feel free to direct me there if so…

Thanks in advance…

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[Tacoman]

I am about to be an EV virgin come April.....so.. marked.

 

[Throb]

Hi

I’ve had my 4S for a few weeks now and we are planning our first trip of any distance, which will involve a public recharge or maybe two. This is our first EV so we are public recharging virgins, and wanted to see what advice is out there on the most optimal way of planning and executing the trip.

We have…

- Porsche charge card
- Octopus Electroverse charge card

Both offer discounts but at different EV charging providers.

My preferred Sat Nav is Apple Maps as it includes UK speed cameras … but doesnt apear to natively plan a trip based on EV considerations as far as I can tell.

It seems I have a few options and am unsure of the best one…

1. let Apple Maps guide me, and separately research fastest/cheapest charging points en route (probably Electroverse as these seem more prevalent than Porsche preferred ones around the route I will be taking)
2. use the My Porsche app to plan the route and send the route to the car then rely on built-in navigation (but no speed camera warnings)
3. Use the Octopus Electroverse app to plan route then send it to car, where it seems to interact with Apple Maps … but I haven't tested that one yet
4. Others?

What are others’ experiences of similar decisions?

Also, this is a day trip to a place a few hundred miles from my home. There is no charging point at the remote destination but I do have a home charge point. Would you:

1. plan each leg of the journey individually, and just make sure there is adequate charge (25%?) minimum at the remote location?
2. plan the entire round trip (home to home with a stop-off point at the destination and ask the chosen app to start with 80% and be happy to end with 20%?)

As you can tell, I’m a newbie! At the risk of missing out on some of the fun of trial and error… what is the seasoned EV owners’ advice in these circumstances?

Apologies if these combos have been discussed in other threads too. Please feel free to direct me there if so…

Thanks in advance…

Hi

What is your actual origin and destination (roughly)? Manchester to? Might be useful to demonstrate what *my* strategy would be on your road trip.

First of all, I think you'll quickly learn how to strategise charging on long journeys as soon as you've done it once or twice. It's actually very easy. You'll also be happier going down to a lower percentage before you charge (circa. 5%, sometimes).

Some key points:

* Always aim to charge at a low percentage (less than 20%, ideally).
* Preheating is essential to get a fast charge. The Macan should do this automatically (there is no way to start it manually).
* You'll know your battery is at the optimum temperature by viewing the display in the left-hand tube in the instrument cluster. The line indicating the temperature of the battery should be at the bottom of the white "bracket".
* Aim for ultra-rapid chargers (above 250 kW, if you can). I always try to use Ionity, as they're the cheapest using the Porsche Charging Service.
* As you approach the chargers, try to find a stall that is far away from other people, otherwise you can sometimes end up sharing the power, and both of you get a slower charge.


In terms of strategy, this is much simpler than it seems:

* Forget the one suggested by the car. Often what it thinks is a good plan is far from it.
* Navigate each leg separately. You know roughly how far you'll get on your first leg before you need to charge, so just think about chargers in that area. Things constantly change so it would be very difficult to plan the whole return trip without something affecting it. Be flexible.
* If there are several companies with multiple chargers in that area, you can risk going down to a lower state of charge. Alternatively, if you're planning to stop at a charger which is on its own, then allow more spare charge when you get there in case it doesn't work.
* While you're charging at the first stop, you can then plan your next stop based on how the first leg went. Maybe you got unexpected extra range?
* Always have a plan B or C, due to road closures and unexpected diversions.
* Mentally assess how your plan is going as you're driving. How's the consumption? Is there a trend with your battery's state of charge on arrival? Is the arrival percentage going up or down? If it's going down then keep an eye on whether you need to charge earlier. If it's going up, maybe you could stretch the leg out further and carry on to a different charger?

* Based on your next stop, unplug at the appropriate time.

This is a rough outline, but any questions, do ask...

 

[Yves]

Well in summer I just use Apple Maps (you can select add stop and filter on EV stations, works brilliantly), de battery conditioning is not needed.

In winter I would use the Porsche Navigation as you cannot pre condition the battery manually. (The iX can so I use Apple Maps all year long)
Some prefer to navigate leg by leg, I just put in the destination and start driving … if I see I will arrive at a charger over 20% I keep on driving and it will pick the next available one … Yeah I know this feels awkward and maybe it is in the UK, but here over in EU there are plenty of charging opportunities.

So basically I drive my EV’s like an ICE car, it takes a leap of Faith, but it works.
If you are afraid of this way just familiarize yourself with the charging infrastructure upfront …

 

[thealbs]

Hi

What is your actual origin and destination (roughly)? Manchester to? Might be useful to demonstrate what *my* strategy would be on your road trip.

First of all, I think you'll quickly learn how to strategise charging on long journeys as soon as you've done it once or twice. It's actually very easy. You'll also be happier going down to a lower percentage before you charge (circa. 5%, sometimes).

Some key points:

* Always aim to charge at a low percentage (less than 20%, ideally).
* Preheating is essential to get a fast charge. The Macan should do this automatically (there is no way to start it manually).
* You'll know your battery is at the optimum temperature by viewing the display in the left-hand tube in the instrument cluster. The line indicating the temperature of the battery should be at the bottom of the white "bracket".
* Aim for ultra-rapid chargers (above 250 kW, if you can). I always try to use Ionity, as they're the cheapest using the Porsche Charging Service.
* As you approach the chargers, try to find a stall that is far away from other people, otherwise you can sometimes end up sharing the power, and both of you get a slower charge.


In terms of strategy, this is much simpler than it seems:

* Forget the one suggested by the car. Often what it thinks is a good plan is far from it.
* Navigate each leg separately. You know roughly how far you'll get on your first leg before you need to charge, so just think about chargers in that area. Things constantly change so it would be very difficult to plan the whole return trip without something affecting it. Be flexible.
* If there are several companies with multiple chargers in that area, you can risk going down to a lower state of charge. Alternatively, if you're planning to stop at a charger which is on its own, then allow more spare charge when you get there in case it doesn't work.
* While you're charging at the first stop, you can then plan your next stop based on how the first leg went. Maybe you got unexpected extra range?
* Always have a plan B or C, due to road closures and unexpected diversions.
* Mentally assess how your plan is going as you're driving. How's the consumption? Is there a trend with your battery's state of charge on arrival? Is the arrival percentage going up or down? If it's going down then keep an eye on whether you need to charge earlier. If it's going up, maybe you could stretch the leg out further and carry on to a different charger?

* Based on your next stop, unplug at the appropriate time.

This is a rough outline, but any questions, do ask...

Thanks @Throb - great advice. I’m travelling from Manchester to southern Cotswolds so will be taking in motorways initially then plenty of A + B-roads and smaller towns closer to destination. IUt seems Ionity is an option but slightly off route so wil see how I go… cheers.

 

[thealbs]

Thanks @Yves . I didnt realise I could add an EV stop on Apple Maps. That gives me even more options ;-)

 

[Yves]

Thanks @Yves . I didnt realise I could add an EV stop on Apple Maps. That gives me even more options ;-)

Yes when in my iX it knows apparently it’s an EV and it will show me POI that are EV on route, on second thought need to check this in the Macan to be sure …
Yes it does show the charging option when you are navigating to your destination and want to add a stop

 

[ukdriver]

Interesting question - Also in the UK here and also an EV virgin.

Currently I am using the inbuilt nav system because of charging concerns. Additionally I also run Waze in the background for cameras, traffic and police notifications.

You have to remember to turn off one of the voices otherwise you’d get two announcements all the time

That’s been my poor solution to the problem you state above.

Will be great to hear from more experienced members.

 

[Throb]

Thanks @Throb - great advice. I’m travelling from Manchester to southern Cotswolds so will be taking in motorways initially then plenty of A + B-roads and smaller towns closer to destination. IUt seems Ionity is an option but slightly off route so wil see how I go… cheers.

Right, so this is how *I* would approach a trip like this.

* Manchester to Cirencester (for example) is 148 miles, so you could make it there on a full charge, no problem, even in freezing temperatures.

* I would ask myself, "will I be able to charge at my destination, and if so, will it be to 100%? If it's a "yes" and "yes", then the strategy is simple. Leave with 100% - charge to 100% at destination - drive home without stopping to charge.
* If the answer is "no charging at destination", I would then be looking at where my last charge would be before getting home in Manchester. In this case Ionity West Bromwich (81 miles from Manchester), or Ionity Stafford (57 miles from Manchester) would be by choices.
* As you've got your plan for the last leg, you've only go to think about the middle part (i.e. somewhere in that window before arriving at your destination or just after leaving your destination.
* If you charge before arriving at your destination, then you just need to put in enough energy to get you to Ionity West Brom or Ionity Stafford (via your destination). If you charge after you leave your desination in the Cotswolds, then it needs to be fairly soon, but not too soon that your battery hasn't had enough time to pre-condition.
* There are no Ionity sites near your destination, but there is a Porsche Centre at Tewkesbury, just off the M5. That would be my first choice to stop as you get the preferred rate of 39p/kWh. The only issue with Porsche Centres are that the chargers are often blocked or not working. Therefore I may have a plan B to use the Gridserve at Strensham Services on the M5 Southbound just before Tewkesbury (59p/kWh), or the Opsrey 150 kW chargers (59p/kWh) just off the A417 near Gloucester. The reason the Opsrey is a good choice is because there are 12 chargers at that site, and even though it's 150 kW, that doesn't really affect your charging time as much as you'd think, especially when doing a deep charge. I would base how much I charge to depending on what I have to do at my destination. If you find it's taking too long, then you can adjust your final stop to Ionity West Brom rather than Stafford, and therefore you don't need to charge as long.

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