A short vacation in an i3ReX covering 451 miles in a five days.
One of the areas in the UK worst served by electric car charging is Devon but this is where we ventured in our i3Rex last week. When we bought the i3 it was after some considerable time spent thinking about whether this could be our only car: last week, maybe, reinforced our decision.
We had planned a short holiday in the South Hams not so far from Plymouth, in Devon, to the South West of England - we regularly travel to Plymouth from just North-East of Bristol. From there it’s a 94 mile journey to Exeter, which we can do on electric at 50mph or faster with a short burst of the Rex, and then it’s another 44 miles to Plymouth.
The first challenge for our holiday was that the Exeter rapid charger was out of action, had been for ten days and didn’t have a date for being fixed: Devon seems to be a desert when it comes to electric car chargers. The alternative was Sedgemoor which was only 50 miles from home but that left 90 miles required to where we were staying in South Hams. We decided to charge at Sedgemoor but then to stop at a Cafe on the beach at Teignmouth which had a 32A Zero Carbon Charger (as well as brewing their own beer and generating their own electricity); this meant we needed at least two-hours at Teignmouth, preferably three, so we had to set out a little earlier than originally planned. All went well and the food and beer at the Cafe was great.
We arrived at the holiday cottage in South Hams with a little under 50% charge. We had asked about charging at the cottage but had had no reply; we trailed a 13A lead out of the door and managed to pick up three hours of charge that evening and two hours the next morning. In the UK a 13A charge is fine for an overnight provided you can charge all night: in our case we had to close the door when we turned in so five-hours was the best we were likely to get (5 x 3kW = about 50 miles).
The next day we head to Plymouth (about 30 miles - so we had enough to get there and back that day) but decided to check out the new rapid charger deep in the city centre. Charges for the Chargepoint Genie rapid is £1.80 to initiate the charge and £0.30 per kWhr so together with the parking charge of £1.20 made a 60p per kWhr charge which by any standards is really quite expensive. Instead we used the 32A PodPoint, which was free but incurs a two hour parking charge of £2.40 - equivalent to a more credible 24p/kWhr (although the two-hour lunch cost us a bit more!).
Back at the cottage we charged up again on 13A and the next day was sightseeing but only 20 or so miles.
The following day involved 42 miles each way (84miles total) with no opportunity to charge and so we had to run the ReX for about 5-miles to get home.
Only five hours of overnight charging meant we set out on the way home with just enough to get us to Exeter’s CCS charger which was by now back up and running, followed by a quick boost at Sedgemoor CCS and home in time for tea.
All-in-all 451 miles with only 5 miles on the Rex - total cost £0.05p for the 5-mile ReX.
Some takeaways from the trip:
Without the ReX we wouldn’t have attempted it and I’m not sure what electric range we would have needed before we attempted it without the ReX - maybe 120 or 150 miles(?) but this is more an issue with the charging infrastructure (and available holiday-cottage charging) than with the car.
Motorway service station chargers need to be fixed quickly; fifteen days out of action is no good!
Expensive rapid chargers deep in a city centre car park is not an attractive proposition; if you’re going to battle the city traffic then you had just as well take the 32A option and enjoy the town. Car parking charges and rapid chargers don’t mix: you have to stay with the car for 30-mins otherwise you get a £10 surcharge every 30 minutes so you’re only parking to charge.
We spoke to the car parking attendants about the chargers and they didn’t speak very kindly about the rapid but they also said that the problem with the 32A chargers (2-3hrs) was getting people to disconnect after they were charged: once you disconnected then you couldn’t find a parking space. So 32A works for shoppers but not for workers who need eight-hours plugged in and parked: City centre car parks need more 13A plugs for workers and 32A chargers for shoppers.
Holiday cottages don’t necessarily need 32A chargers provided the plug is outside and is sheltered from the rain: this isn’t an expensive installation.
Our conclusion - we don’t need a second car!
One of the areas in the UK worst served by electric car charging is Devon but this is where we ventured in our i3Rex last week. When we bought the i3 it was after some considerable time spent thinking about whether this could be our only car: last week, maybe, reinforced our decision.
We had planned a short holiday in the South Hams not so far from Plymouth, in Devon, to the South West of England - we regularly travel to Plymouth from just North-East of Bristol. From there it’s a 94 mile journey to Exeter, which we can do on electric at 50mph or faster with a short burst of the Rex, and then it’s another 44 miles to Plymouth.
The first challenge for our holiday was that the Exeter rapid charger was out of action, had been for ten days and didn’t have a date for being fixed: Devon seems to be a desert when it comes to electric car chargers. The alternative was Sedgemoor which was only 50 miles from home but that left 90 miles required to where we were staying in South Hams. We decided to charge at Sedgemoor but then to stop at a Cafe on the beach at Teignmouth which had a 32A Zero Carbon Charger (as well as brewing their own beer and generating their own electricity); this meant we needed at least two-hours at Teignmouth, preferably three, so we had to set out a little earlier than originally planned. All went well and the food and beer at the Cafe was great.
We arrived at the holiday cottage in South Hams with a little under 50% charge. We had asked about charging at the cottage but had had no reply; we trailed a 13A lead out of the door and managed to pick up three hours of charge that evening and two hours the next morning. In the UK a 13A charge is fine for an overnight provided you can charge all night: in our case we had to close the door when we turned in so five-hours was the best we were likely to get (5 x 3kW = about 50 miles).
The next day we head to Plymouth (about 30 miles - so we had enough to get there and back that day) but decided to check out the new rapid charger deep in the city centre. Charges for the Chargepoint Genie rapid is £1.80 to initiate the charge and £0.30 per kWhr so together with the parking charge of £1.20 made a 60p per kWhr charge which by any standards is really quite expensive. Instead we used the 32A PodPoint, which was free but incurs a two hour parking charge of £2.40 - equivalent to a more credible 24p/kWhr (although the two-hour lunch cost us a bit more!).
Back at the cottage we charged up again on 13A and the next day was sightseeing but only 20 or so miles.
The following day involved 42 miles each way (84miles total) with no opportunity to charge and so we had to run the ReX for about 5-miles to get home.
Only five hours of overnight charging meant we set out on the way home with just enough to get us to Exeter’s CCS charger which was by now back up and running, followed by a quick boost at Sedgemoor CCS and home in time for tea.
All-in-all 451 miles with only 5 miles on the Rex - total cost £0.05p for the 5-mile ReX.
Some takeaways from the trip:
Without the ReX we wouldn’t have attempted it and I’m not sure what electric range we would have needed before we attempted it without the ReX - maybe 120 or 150 miles(?) but this is more an issue with the charging infrastructure (and available holiday-cottage charging) than with the car.
Motorway service station chargers need to be fixed quickly; fifteen days out of action is no good!
Expensive rapid chargers deep in a city centre car park is not an attractive proposition; if you’re going to battle the city traffic then you had just as well take the 32A option and enjoy the town. Car parking charges and rapid chargers don’t mix: you have to stay with the car for 30-mins otherwise you get a £10 surcharge every 30 minutes so you’re only parking to charge.
We spoke to the car parking attendants about the chargers and they didn’t speak very kindly about the rapid but they also said that the problem with the 32A chargers (2-3hrs) was getting people to disconnect after they were charged: once you disconnected then you couldn’t find a parking space. So 32A works for shoppers but not for workers who need eight-hours plugged in and parked: City centre car parks need more 13A plugs for workers and 32A chargers for shoppers.
Holiday cottages don’t necessarily need 32A chargers provided the plug is outside and is sheltered from the rain: this isn’t an expensive installation.
Our conclusion - we don’t need a second car!
But we weren't sure until we had the car that we could do so.
