The all things EV chat thread

[PJ87]

Bear in mind that article is basically a marketing effort from a company that makes the type of DC converters that you might use instead of a 12V battery.
So they probably have a vested interest

But reading it, the one plausible reason for keeping an entirely separate 12V system that occurs to me is that if you use DC converters from the main battery for the 12V side, if it goes horribly wrong then you might get high voltage fed into the ancilliaries with potentially fatal consequences for the occupants. That's probably reason enough, and the first one I've seen that makes sense to me.

To be fair I think if it could be done safely I reckon Tesla would have done it because they love to break the mold and do things differently

Hopefully more manufacturers will follow and use lithium ones soon as they fail less

 

[jim8flog]

Oh the bible. Absolutely. Great training for working on cars. I open the bonnet on my hybrid now and I have the petrol engine on the left and the electric motor on the right. I have no idea where the 12V battery is. They just have two metal connections under the fuse cover that you connect the charger to.

where to find the battery

PS looking around on the net dead 12v batteries on the IonIQ is a well known problem. So much so that a lot of people have bought electric boosters judging by the videos I watched.

 

[cliveb]

To be fair I think if it could be done safely I reckon Tesla would have done it because they love to break the mold and do things differently

Hopefully more manufacturers will follow and use lithium ones soon as they fail less

Using a lithium 12V battery instead of lead acid makes sense. (Although of course it would cost more).

But that's a separate issue to whether there needs to be an entirely independent 12V system that cannot possibly be exposed to high voltage from the main battery pack.

 

[PJ87]

where to find the battery

PS looking around on the net dead 12v batteries on the IonIQ is a well known problem. So much so that a lot of people have bought electric boosters judging by the videos I watched.

That's why Kia and Hyundai were taken off octopus intelligent go itself (can still sign up with a compatible charger) what was happening was every 30 mins octopus would ping the car to wake it, check state of battery etc but it was causing some of them to drain so it's been removed as it's not an issue their software can fix. Only the manufacturer

The way I'm signed up to octopus intelligent go is via my ohme so instead the ohme has a SIM card and provides charge when it's instructed which is better.


Tbh more and more cars are being removed from the tariff In favour of chargers being used instead as manufacturers don't like octopus using their API

 

[Robster59]

where to find the battery

PS looking around on the net dead 12v batteries on the IonIQ is a well known problem. So much so that a lot of people have bought electric boosters judging by the videos I watched.

Cheers, except mine is a Skoda Super iV.

 

[PJ87]

Cheers, except mine is a Skoda Super iV.

Doesn't sound very super only messing

 

[jim8flog]

Cheers, except mine is a Skoda Super iV.

HaHa I do not know where I got the IonIQ from but it explains why you cannot see the battery, from what I have seen I think it is in the boot.

 

[Robster59]

Doesn't sound very super only messing

It certainly isn't at the moment!

 

[Mudball]

My EV stopped charging in the middle of the night... Could not figure it out next day... So had to mail tech support. A few emails and photos later, i realised the RCD inside the EV box had tripped. I am assuming that night there was thunderstorm and stuff and it might have tripped.
Luckily the charger has a small window thru which you can see it. So had to open it and trip it... Bingo.

Only other irritation... my home RCD is active if they are up and they trip downwards. The EV chargers trip up and active downwards. Why??

 

[jim8flog]

My EV stopped charging in the middle of the night... Could not figure it out next day... So had to mail tech support. A few emails and photos later, i realised the RCD inside the EV box had tripped. I am assuming that night there was thunderstorm and stuff and it might have tripped.
Luckily the charger has a small window thru which you can see it. So had to open it and trip it... Bingo.

Only other irritation... my home RCD is active if they are up and they trip downwards. The EV chargers trip up and active downwards. Why??

Probably just done for ease of wiring.

In a house distribution box (normally) all circuit wires will go up not down.

 

[PNWokingham]

long live the v12! No EV ever will have antwhere near the emotion of this

Ferrari 12Cilindri revealed as 819bhp GT with screaming V12 | Autocar

812 Superfast successor is a striking, high-tech celebration of Ferrari's biggest engine

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[PJ87]

Fantastic drive from Havering to bath with the kids

Left home 9am 99%
Stopped at fleet after 1 hour 45 for a wee stop, plugged in at gridserve for 10 mins got 5% added

Got to bath 49% left so used 55% total for 155 miles of driving.. decent

Will top up before we leave Monday , got enough to do today's 10 mile remaining and tomorrows 40 miles so will just fast charge at the hotel Monday to head home

Gridserve was empty aswell. The one that's linked with my octopus was full except 1 space but saw gridserve 4 charges free so just plugged in, tapped my phone and left it whilst the kids went wee.

Brilliant

 

[Fade and Die]

My EV stopped charging in the middle of the night... Could not figure it out next day... So had to mail tech support. A few emails and photos later, i realised the RCD inside the EV box had tripped. I am assuming that night there was thunderstorm and stuff and it might have tripped.
Luckily the charger has a small window thru which you can see it. So had to open it and trip it... Bingo.

Only other irritation... my home RCD is active if they are up and they trip downwards. The EV chargers trip up and active downwards. Why??

Probably fitted upside down

 

[PJ87]

Well the time has come to settle into the hotel for the night before heading home

We did 50 mile driving today on top of 160 miles yesterday

Ended up with 29% battery when I plugged it in. (Yes we topped up 5% on the motorway at the services just because)



Instavolt 3 min walk from the hotel ... Pricy at 81p kWh but I could have driven 15 mins down the road and had a 66p a kWh charger but this way I'm in the hotel helping putting the kids to bed when they have had some chill time.



Cars only been on 15 mins and already added 11kwh which is 18%

Only need to get it up to 80% and I'll be fine for the drive home .. I'll go move it to the hotel car park in a bit.

Going home last month I used 63% battery , coming down yesterday we used 57% so 80% will be ample to get us home.

Be a successful weekend.

No stops just the charge. Everything has been around our normal life , no failed charges, first charge I paid by my Google pay on my phone, this one is via octopus so will come off my balance.

The entire cost of 360 mile round trip shall work out roughly £40 including filling back up tomorrow at home. Which is reasonable.

The only bit where I have to do something that's not part of the trip is going to move the car. However that's just polite. Would be rude to leave it on that charger all night (there are only 2 of them)

 

[SteveW86]

Well the time has come to settle into the hotel for the night before heading home

We did 50 mile driving today on top of 160 miles yesterday

Ended up with 29% battery when I plugged it in. (Yes we topped up 5% on the motorway at the services just because)

View attachment 53167

Instavolt 3 min walk from the hotel ... Pricy at 81p kWh but I could have driven 15 mins down the road and had a 66p a kWh charger but this way I'm in the hotel helping putting the kids to bed when they have had some chill time.

View attachment 53169

Cars only been on 15 mins and already added 11kwh which is 18%

Only need to get it up to 80% and I'll be fine for the drive home .. I'll go move it to the hotel car park in a bit.

Going home last month I used 63% battery , coming down yesterday we used 57% so 80% will be ample to get us home.

Be a successful weekend.

No stops just the charge. Everything has been around our normal life , no failed charges, first charge I paid by my Google pay on my phone, this one is via octopus so will come off my balance.

The entire cost of 360 mile round trip shall work out roughly £40 including filling back up tomorrow at home. Which is reasonable.

The only bit where I have to do something that's not part of the trip is going to move the car. However that's just polite. Would be rude to leave it on that charger all night (there are only 2 of them)

What time will you go and move it?

 

[PJ87]

What time will you go and move it?

Once the kids are out the bath. It's at 81%.

Wife will put them to bed whilst I move the car to the car park

 

[PJ87]

Must say I'm impressed..

By the time I got to the car naturally it was at 90% so ample to get home

If you can afford an EV (second hand is good) and have a driveway to charge it's worth it..great experience

Even going out of the range of the EV we have managed 5 of us with cases no issues

 

[Slime]

The entire cost of 360 mile round trip shall work out roughly £40 including filling back up tomorrow at home. Which is reasonable.

The only bit where I have to do something that's not part of the trip is going to move the car. However that's just polite. Would be rude to leave it on that charger all night (there are only 2 of them)

For £40 I get over 400 miles ................................. and don't have to move my car.

 

[PJ87]

For £40 I get over 400 miles ................................. and don't have to move my car.

Very rare drive tho

Normally that 360 miles would cost me £7.70

You will never beat that unless you get a free lift

 

[bobmac]

If you can afford an EV (second hand is good) and have a driveway to charge it's worth it..great experience

That sums it up perfectly.
For those who can't charge at home and will have to rely on public chargers, things are improving all the time with another 1,642 chargers installed in April.
Even Sainsburys is joining in on the fun...

Sainsbury’s launches Smart Charge: new ultra-rapid service to build confidence in public EV charging

Sainsbury’s launches Smart Charge: new ultra-rapid service to build confidence in public EV charging

www.about.sainsburys.co.uk