The all things EV chat thread

larmen said:
We stopped for lunch in Bologna-Sur-Mar. It was surprisingly nice once we found the old city bits. Just 20 minutes to Le Shuttle, so we could time our arrival. The money we saved on the cheaper ticket went there instead ;-)
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McDonald's is perfect for us ATM. Really really cheap charger in the car park that is throwing in the fastest speed kWh into the car (80 is my limit) arrived with 30% about 5 mins ago it's already at 40% and we only need 70% to allow for a buffer to get home..tunnel is 45 mins from here

Soft play in this McDonald's aswell which the kids loved last time

(Charge beat us, got to 80% really quick. About 30 mins, it will be full full by time get the kids out of soft play)
 
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PJ87 said:
McDonald's is perfect for us ATM. Really really cheap charger in the car park that is throwing in the fastest speed kWh into the car (80 is my limit) arrived with 30% about 5 mins ago it's already at 40% and we only need 70% to allow for a buffer to get home..tunnel is 45 mins from here

Soft play in this McDonald's aswell which the kids loved last time

(Charge beat us, got to 80% really quick. About 30 mins, it will be full full by time get the kids out of soft play)
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I bet your burgers were better than mine. Roquefort does NOT belong onto a cheeseburger ever again.
 
jim8flog said:
When it comes to wider spaces for cars it is not parking places but also garages.
I live in a 1970s built close/estate of 40 houses only one person on the estate parks their car in the garage and she drives a modern Fiat 500. Her garage door is only just wider then the car.

When we moved in I owned a 1970s Cavalier. I drove it in to the garage, tried to get out and drove out of the garage again. The one and only time my car was in the garage.
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Garage are now used only for storing overflowing junk - not vehicles. in our prev place, we had a garage in a block, there was no way you could turn a Micra into the garage.
Our new place has a double garage. But it has 2 doors neither can take more than a Mini. So we knocked the 2 doors and got an up and over double gate.

Now we have a proper double garage which will fit 1.5 modern cars..
 
Mudball said:
Garage are now used only for storing overflowing junk - not vehicles. in our prev place, we had a garage in a block, there was no way you could turn a Micra into the garage.
Our new place has a double garage. But it has 2 doors neither can take more than a Mini. So we knocked the 2 doors and got an up and over double gate.

Now we have a proper double garage which will fit 1.5 modern cars..
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We converted ours in to a large bedroom with onsuite shower room and a dressing room (it was longer then the house is deep).
The drive will take 5 cars so no problems with parking.
 
Well we made it home by 2030

Left Disney at 14:00 (obviously hour ahead so 13:00)

Could have driven all way to leshuttle.. turns out they have chargers on the flex plus lounge the french side (being installed UK side) but kids wanted a break. Gave them 1 hour 15 mins but car was ready in 30 mins from 30-80% used 56% driving home .. so the extra 20% we put in just chilling wasn't required but at France prices who cares .. middle kid threw up in the lounge so I cleaned that up whilst Mrs changed her so the lounge was worth it lol

540 mile total drive

Total cost £19.28 public charging and £2.60 to fill it back up tonight

4 p per mile

I'll take that
 
PJ87 said:
Works lovely in France but boy do people drive a lot better over here
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I've done a lot of autoroute driving (Calais to Alps) and have the following observations:

1. Lane discipline is good, because most autoroutes are two lane. As soon as you hit a three lane section, it's as bad as UK motorways. Must be some kind of psychological effect, independent of the driver's nationality.

2. When overtaking, French drivers leave things to the last minute then jump out into the overtaking lane. They seem to have no anticipation, and it's quite disconcerting if you've planned ahead and suddenly get cut up. But perhaps it's just a cultural thing and once you get used to it would be ok: when in Rome... (or should that be Paris?)

3. Overhead signs about traffic conditions are absolutely spot-on. Whereas UK signs are so often wrong we just assume they're crying wolf.
 
cliveb said:
I've done a lot of autoroute driving (Calais to Alps) and have the following observations:

1. Lane discipline is good, because most autoroutes are two lane. As soon as you hit a three lane section, it's as bad as UK motorways. Must be some kind of psychological effect, independent of the driver's nationality.

2. When overtaking, French drivers leave things to the last minute then jump out into the overtaking lane. They seem to have no anticipation, and it's quite disconcerting if you've planned ahead and suddenly get cut up. But perhaps it's just a cultural thing and once you get used to it would be ok: when in Rome... (or should that be Paris?)

3. Overhead signs about traffic conditions are absolutely spot-on. Whereas UK signs are so often wrong we just assume they're crying wolf.
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I loved the speed limit updates .. or uses shall I say

Plenty of signs

130kmh .. but if raining 110 .. clear and informative

Then the signs for 90 for 3.5t .. useful

70 for this stretch of towing

Just plenty of information

The 2 lane bits your correct seemed better than the 3, but in the main we found it very comfortable, considering we were a right hand drive didn't feel pressured to drive faster
 
cliveb said:
I've done a lot of autoroute driving (Calais to Alps) and have the following observations:

1. Lane discipline is good, because most autoroutes are two lane. As soon as you hit a three lane section, it's as bad as UK motorways. Must be some kind of psychological effect, independent of the driver's nationality.

2. When overtaking, French drivers leave things to the last minute then jump out into the overtaking lane. They seem to have no anticipation, and it's quite disconcerting if you've planned ahead and suddenly get cut up. But perhaps it's just a cultural thing and once you get used to it would be ok: when in Rome... (or should that be Paris?)

3. Overhead signs about traffic conditions are absolutely spot-on. Whereas UK signs are so often wrong we just assume they're crying wolf.
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Do you know why they keep indicating left when on the overtaking lane? That’s the one thing I noticed.

And yes, they swing out last second, and back in immediately. But because they all go similar speeds and noon is racing it seems to work.
 
larmen said:
Do you know why they keep indicating left when on the overtaking lane? That’s the one thing I noticed.

And yes, they swing out last second, and back in immediately. But because they all go similar speeds and noon is racing it seems to work.
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I think it is the law there. You have to keep indicating whilst you are overtaking. The idea being you overtake and then pull back in. Indicating is not just for the initial pull out.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
I think it is the law there. You have to keep indicating whilst you are overtaking. The idea being you overtake and then pull back in. Indicating is not just for the initial pull out.
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The lane discipline was incredible

Did have one moment of heart in mouth, police came up behind us. Undercover.. I was in the right lane so correct. Doing 130kmph so right speed. Then they signalled right at the junction so we went to go off.. turns out they were pulling over the van behind us 🤣

Side note found an useful feature on the Kia (I'm sure others do aswell) when arriving in a new country (plus back in UK etc) pops up with a time change and says the limits on road types etc just for information. Useful

I did like in the tunnel each way I fiddled with the setting on the car. Set to kmph for France so everything just made sense to what the signs said out there , no miles per hour on my digital display . Nice touch
 
PJ87 said:
I did like in the tunnel each way I fiddled with the setting on the car. Set to kmph for France so everything just made sense to what the signs said out there , no miles per hour on my digital display . Nice touch
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Modern digital technology is marvellous, isn't it? Just change all your settings and viola!

In the bad old days, car manufacturers had to go to the trouble of painting both mph and kph scales on the speedo. What a terrible inconvenience for them.
 
cliveb said:
Modern digital technology is marvellous, isn't it? Just change all your settings and viola!

In the bad old days, car manufacturers had to go to the trouble of painting both mph and kph scales on the speedo. What a terrible inconvenience for them.
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Thats not the entire thing tho is it?

All the speed reminders were in kmph on the dash from the computer reading them

The dials changed to kmph

The remaining distance to a tank changed to km
 
cliveb said:
Modern digital technology is marvellous, isn't it? Just change all your settings and viola!

In the bad old days, car manufacturers had to go to the trouble of painting both mph and kph scales on the speedo. What a terrible inconvenience for them.
Click to expand...
It isn't a big deal but it is much clearer and cleaner. It removes the potential for mix ups, mistaking mph for kmh and getting a speeding fine for example
 
Lord Tyrion said:
It isn't a big deal but it is much clearer and cleaner. It removes the potential for mix ups, mistaking mph for kmh and getting a speeding fine for example
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My sat nav changes automatically to km aswell when you cross to France, so when it said 200km to Disney and there is no confusion ..hold on it says 150 miles left on charge is that enough? Much rather just oh 250 km. Plenty
 
Do the lights change on modern cars as well, or did you sticker up?
With led you might get options I don’t have on halogen lights.

I have big white miles and small red km on the dash, so I was ok there.
 
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