Tips for electric car ownership

[LokiCokey]

I've just taken the plunge and ordered an electric car after debating it for several months.

Are there any top tips/ advice current owners can give me?

Also need to get a charger so any recommendations appreciated!

A middle ground with charger installation, assuming your car will come with a domestic / 13A / "granny" cable. (Ask an electrician to) run a new circuit from your consumer unit to wherever you're going to charge your car. Ask them to use cable suitable for a 32A EV charger. But install a cheap 13A plug socket instead. You've then paid for almost all the labour you'd need for a safe, outdoor charging point without the expense of the unit itself.

If you find you are doing the miles or not parking it for long enough that you need a faster charge - you can upgrade really easily.

We have an MG too - love it . Can charge at work for free so don’t have a home charger other than 3 pin which is fine overnight if needed. On holiday long journeys we use InstaVolt they are the best chargers really fast and usually next to a cafe costa or McDonald’s and the app tells you if it’s available. I thought we would get a home charger but just haven’t found we needed one and they are about £800 . Join the MGEV forum there’s loads of info there it’s like mumsnet but just about MGs .😁

I'm planning on 10-12 hour drives in rural Australia (and have experience with long rural drives in an EV here), so I'm surprised that the 5h drive is a barrier. Have you tried the "a better route planner" website / app? Yes, you need a few diferent apps for the different types of chargers, but once they are downloaded, I found it easy.

It's not at all complicated. The vast majority of chargers out their work with a tap of your contactless bank card. Although admittedly the older type electric vehicles that need a Chademo cable may have reduced options.

The ZapMap is a great app for finding out what you need before you go anywhere to charge it also route plans for you if required...but the price difference between chargers and their charging speeds is something to be aware of.

Andersen EV have gone into administration this week so maybe avoid them.

My tip - get a charger with a fixed cable so you don’t have to get 10m of (filthy, wet) heavy cable in and out of the car every time you charge!!

We have just ordered and paid for a charge point to be installed, then found out the car has been delayed by 3 months. So the warranty period on the charge point will run out before we get the car.

We are hoping someone with an electric car will do us a favour and test it out for us, but next time I'd hold off on the charge point until we actually have the car.

Can you get your charger to charge on a timer to take advantage of overnight tariffs?

@Finerthings if you’re near sw london happy to help!

Same happened to us @Finerthings. Car ordered ages ago. Charger been in for yonks and still no car 🤣

We have just got a Nissan Leaf, finally delivered this week after ordering in January! We have also had a home charging point fitted (via Hive with British Gas) which was pricey but we are hoping it will be the only one needed for a very long time. We had issues with a looped electric supply with our neighbours (houses are from the 1960s when this was common apparently) but we had that sorted for no charge by the regional power distribution company. We had no idea we had a looped supply until we ordered the ev charger and you cannot run an ev charger off a looped supply as it draws too much. The fix involved them digging up the power cables and having the power off for a while for both houses but it was all done and made good in a couple of days.
We will be mainly charging at work though as they have subsidised Podpoints at a good rate. We are looking at going to Octopus or another supplier with an ev friendly tariff for home but we are fixed till May so won't move until then. So far the car is great, definitely need to read the manual and get the car manufacturers app to find out the most efficient ways of driving. Definitely get Zapmap too as everyone we know who has an ev uses it!
One other thing is that the car acceleration is bananas quick, and as there is no engine noise it is really easy to be speeding without realising it!

We also manage overnight charging with a normal plug about 2-3 times a week. Plus we charge for free at Aldi while shopping. I have also found it a hassle to use other chargers. Setting up account etc and then still having trouble getting it to start the charge. The ones where you tap your bank card are easy but cost more in my experience. We only use ours for commuting and local journeys so not an issue. We've got a big family car for long journeys as our zoe is on the small side for holidays etc with 3 kids and dog!

Just realised that I should have mentioned that Intelligent Octopus is only available for certain brands of EVs - Tesla, Jaguar and Land Rover at the moment. Cheap electric 11.30pm - 5.30am

@LilithImpala67 We had exactly that problem with the looped supply to get our podpoint installed. Fortunately SSE came out and sorted it for free, but it was a heck of a palaver that took 5 days of digging up gardens and our block paved driveway. The team were great though and restored all the paving, reseeded the lawn etc.
We got the podpoint free under the Audi scheme too.
We haven't switched to a night charging tariff though, mainly because DH can charge at work for free on the days he goes in to the office, mostly he is working from home though so needs the electricity during the day.

We took our first long journey in it the other week. It allegedly has a 250 mile range - but we've found the estimated milage indicator not very accurate. It requires an adjustment in journey planning, but we were reasonably reassured by the availability of fast chargers around - particularly now Tesla have opened theirs up. So we only needed to sit on a Tesla charger for 15 minutes to give us enough additional range to get home.

The 0-60 is bonkers fast - obvs can't drive like that though 😎

yes. Ours automatically turns on at 12.30 and goes off at 4.30. Can override it if we need it to charge more than that eg to get to 100% before a long journey. But day to day I just plug it in when I park then it does it’s thing when it’s cheap and it’s ready to go the next day without any faff on apps or anything.

@modgepodge thank you.

You can "beat" your range prediction on motorways by using the cruise control and keeping to about 60-63 as much as possible, rather than braking and accelerating all the time.
When you're charging, 20-80% charges faster than 80-100%, so if time is the issue just charge to 80% even if it means stopping twice.

We're not but thank you!

I've had an eGolf since June 2020 (I LOVE IT??) and we couldn't have a pod point fitted due to the layout of our house and the fact that we rent.

I've used the 3 pin plug to charge the car as I only do minimal mileage every week so the car only gets charged once a week and it takes about 10-11 hours depending how many miles it has left

DH's office have now had a fast charger installed that he uses at the weekend and it takes 3.5 hours

So basically, depending on how often you need to charge, a 3 pin plug is more than capable

Some great tips here, thank you

Ooo. Just got notification my new VW E-up has been built and is in its way. We live rurally and we will be charging 100% at home.

Is octopus still the best utility provider to speak to if we're charging overnight?

Just in case anyone needs to know, Tesco chargers are no longer free.

I second those that say switch to Octopus go or intelligent. We have intelligent as DH has a Tesla and it means we get 6 hours overnight at 7.5p p/kWh. I use it to put my tumble dryer and dishwasher on overnight too.

We have a zappi charger as it links with our solar panels. As DH and I both have ev's we needed more than just a basic 3 pin charger as we needed to get as much as we can in that 6 hour window.

For context, our electricity bill last month was £150. That's for all household costs (5 bed house, 2 adults 3 DC) and charging two cars.

Thanks @BlackandJello I will give them a call then!

If you use my octopus ref code we both get £50. I have octopus go too, everything goes on overnight here.

share.octopus.energy/sand-jewel-588, copy and paste into your browser if anyone will find it useful.