Dublin to London and back in an i3 [Journey Log]

cros13

I'm heading from Dublin to London tonight for the Formula E Stage 11 & 12 this weekend. And I plan on doing it on full electric power and updating this thread as I go. For anyone who's not familiar with electric cars this journey is much easier in a Leaf because my i3 uses a better (*settle down* Mad_Lad) CCS rapid charger, which unfortunately for the moment there are fewer of than the Leaf's ChaDeMo. I'm also expecting some trouble because many of the UK CCS rapids are manufactured by DBT unlike the Irish network which is mostly ABB and efacec. DBT CCS chargers have major compatibility issues with BMW i3s and Volkswagen eGolfs (i.e. every bloody CCS equipped car on the road).

Forgot to charge so I'll be leaving home with about a 35-40% charge
I have a rough idea of a plan but haven't bothered to map specific charging stations, just a general route.

Plan in a nutshell:
Catch the 20:55 ferry, charge up to 100% on the ferry on the way over.

Staying overnight in Bangor because it will be almost 1AM by the time I get out of Holyhead

Ecotricity Charger in Holyhead not important as I'll be passing it with a full battery.The next charger in Rhyl is marked as down on the ecotricity map. Possibly not commissioned yet as it was only placed there this month.
Next CCS chargers are three chargers on the ring road/m56 surrounding Chester.

Then a quick trip down the M6 to London stopping if required at the motorway services rapid chargers and repeat the process in reverse on Monday.

nokia69

how do you charge on the Ferry, do you need to book the charger ?

cros13

On the ferry now... boarded first and pulled up to the podpoint charger.
I brought a type 1 to type adapter so I can use the tethered podpoint.

Photos to follow once i have enough bandwidth.

cros13

nokia69 wrote: »

how do you charge on the Ferry, do you need to book the charger ?

It's a 16A pod point type 1 tethered and there is a 13 Amp three pin socket available as well.
You add "Electric Car Charging" as an extra to your booking and it's worth reminding them when you check in.

Don't you have the Jenny anyway in case you run out or chargers don't work ?

How is CCS better than ChaDeMo tell me ?

Dexter1979

Rhyl actually blew a good few bits when somebody tried to charge a week or 2 ago. I used it on May 31st and it was fine. Met the Britisch Gas engineers who support the chargers at Sedgemoor North services. They were doing a CCS update when I arrived. Most Ecotricity spots have 2 chargers. 1 AC/Chademo, 1 CCS/Chademo. I had little issue with any of them on my travels. I would be more worried about queues than chargers not working. But then again, I use AC which is simpler than Chademo or CCS

Enjoy the GP! Should be a good one!

cros13

Rhyl definitely down, charger powered off. Stopped up at Chester services now charging from a DBT . Arrived here from Bangor with more than 50km left.

cros13

So... In London......totally on battery power.

4 rapid charging stops, about 20 minutes a piece:

Chester M56 services.

Stafford South Services

Birmingham Airport

Oxford Services

No issues bar some DBT tomfoolery at Oxford services. Pretty much arrived at all rapids (bar oxford) with 40-ish km still on the battery.

Spent four times as much time stuck in traffic as charging, including a great two and a half hours to do 7km on the M40 due to two lanes being closed at 17:00 on a Friday evening for apparently no reason whatsoever.

Total rapid charging en-route: 1 hour 33 minutes
Total distance covered: 582.2km
Time stuck in traffic: don't ask
Coffees: many

cros13

Photos!

Dublin about to set off, forgot to charge night before so setting off for london with about 35% charge!:

DSC_0178.JPG

On the ferry charging:

DSC_0179.JPG

My dodgy J1772 to Type 2 Mennekes adapter:

DSC_0181.JPG

Topping up the battery the last 10-15% overnight in Bangor, could have just used the rapid in holyhead... but I was knackered... it was 1:30AM:

DSC_0183.JPG

Chester:

DSC_0187.JPG

cros13

Stafford South:

DSC_0189.JPG

Birmingham Airport:

DSC_0191.JPG

Dexter1979

Great to see. Think I told you before that it would be easier to cross the UK in an I3 than crossing Ireland

I'm convinced that some rapid charger problems in Ireland are related to bad power supply. The chargers themselves are mostly fine. Had no issue with any efacec triple standard model but in Ireland some, not all, cause nothing but trouble.

Enjoy the GP. That track looked narrow from what I saw!

Dexter1979

Dexter1979 wrote: »

I'm convinced that some rapid charger problems in Ireland are related to bad power supply. The chargers themselves are mostly fine. Had no issue with any efacec triple standard model but in Ireland some, not all, cause nothing but trouble.

No problems with ChaDeMo ! :P and they charge at a higher current !

GreyDad

Well done and thanks for the pics:) Glad it's been do-able from an EV perspective so far. Enjoy the GP I'll look out for you when I watch it on the telly

There was some major snafu on the M40 yesterday but not as bad as my trip back from London to Somerset on Thursday evening which was 140 miles of stop-go because the Glasto lot were all migrating to the festival

Still, having 2 fast chargers together would be really really good, I wonder why the ESB don't do this, is it because of poor network or money or both ?

All you get from the ESB is "we will upgrade as demand grows" meaning we will upgrade when we see fit !

GreyDad

The problem sometimes in the UK with the multiple units is that if any one of the (typically 3) chargers is faulty the whole unit reports as being offline. Often this is not the case - it seems that mostly on a UK rapid the CCS charger fails but that then reports the whole unit as offline even though the AC and Chademo are still working. I've seen this myself at some Ecotricity chargers up near Bristol, Zapmap reported them as offline for over a week but in fact the Chademo was working fine when I got there and had never been down.

I couldn't possibly comment on the relative merits of CCS and Chademo

cros13

Primarily money. Part of the plan for the network expansion this summer as I understand it is doubling up at popular locations. Dun laoghaire is already doubled up but the older charger is offline for some reason. Seen that on ecotricitys network too, one charger broken...

cros13

Arrived back in Ireland tonight.

1532km driven. 8 total rapid charges. Average 7.2km/kWh (was stuck in traffic a lot so a lot of really low speed driving mixed with pulses of 110-130kmh driving)

peposhi

cros13 wrote: »

Arrived back in Ireland tonight.

1532km driven. 8 total rapid charges. Average 7.2km/kWh (was stuck in traffic a lot so a lot of really low speed driving mixed with pulses of 110-130kmh driving)

Brilliant result.
Wonder how many fast charges that would have been with a Leaf

cros13

peposhi wrote: »

Brilliant result.
Wonder how many fast charges that would have been with a Leaf

I didn't really need one of the rapid charges but Source London didn't send my card in time so I was unsure about getting access to the level 2 infrastructure in the City. I also went back via Milton Keynes (post coming on that) which meant a longer return journey (would have done an over night charge there but the premier inn only had a rapid charger)


There is only one working CCS charger inside the M25. ChaDeMo users have a lot more choice of charging stop and the Leaf gets a tiny bit more range on the motorway.

caster

As a matter of interest, how do you find the i3? I'm very tempted by it myself... but it may a bit outside my budget?

Do you find the lack of a large number of CCS chargers in Ireland to be a big issue for you?

Thx
C

cros13

caster wrote: »

As a matter of interest, how do you find the i3? I'm very tempted by it myself... but it may a bit outside my budget?

It's a heck of a lot of fun to drive. If it suits your lifestyle and you can possibly fit it in the budget it's worth every penny.

Do you find the lack of a large number of CCS chargers in Ireland to be a big issue for you?

Thx
C

The CCS network is growing quickly, since I picked up my car in February there have been at least two CCS locations added every month. So we're catching up with ChaDeMo, CCS-Map has seen the number of chargers here in europe almost triple since the start of the year. All new rapid charging locations installed in Ireland will have CCS, with 20 planned this year. I've got CCS already covering my major routes (Dublin to North Tipp & general Dublin area) so I'm happy.

I had a 141 Leaf before the i3, sure you have a lot more rapid charging but the i3 has twice the power to weight and handles a lot more sharply.

Here's the CCS map that ESB updates directly:
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zVDgdgMW7RMA.kduTOkI5y3ts&hl=en

I'm the country editor for Openchargemap so until I add a charger for Ireland it doesn't get added to http://ccs-map.eu/

Wouldn't touch the e-Golf, it's not a purpose built EV and suffers for that. It's also similarly priced to the i3 which is in a different league.

cros13

One thing to note as well is that the i3 has a 7.4kW onboard charger (more than twice the charge rate of the default charger in the Leaf).

If you ever get stuck a 22kW should give you enough power to reach the next rapid in short order.

Don't rely on times to charge to 100%, all you ever need is enough to get where you are going or to the next rapid charger with a bit of a buffer.

caster

cros13 wrote: »

The CCS network is growing quickly, since I picked up my car in February there have been at least two CCS locations added every month. So we're catching up with ChaDeMo, CCS-Map has seen the number of chargers here in europe almost triple since the start of the year. All new rapid charging locations installed in Ireland will have CCS, with 20 planned this year. I've got CCS already covering my major routes (Dublin to North Tipp & general Dublin area) so I'm happy.

I had a 141 Leaf before the i3, sure you have a lot more rapid charging but the i3 has twice the power to weight and handles a lot more sharply.

Here's the CCS map that ESB updates directly:
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zVDgdgMW7RMA.kduTOkI5y3ts&hl=en

I'm the country editor for Openchargemap so until I add a charger for Ireland it doesn't get added to http://ccs-map.eu/

Wouldn't touch the e-Golf, it's not a purpose built EV and suffers for that. It's also similarly priced to the i3 which is in a different league.

Thanks for the maps, exactly what I have been looking for. Looks like there enough chargers in the locations I would be going to.

Re the i3, I actually thought it was much higher priced than the e-Golf, I may have been comparing it to the Rex version ? I do feel that it is needed to ensure a higher re-sale value in a few years times when there may be many EV's with considerably higher range out there.

I have heard the i3 is fantastic to drive, I may try and get a test drive in the next few weeks - although I always find test drives are a dangerous (i.e. expensive) thing to do

cros13

caster wrote: »

Thanks for the maps, exactly what I have been looking for. Looks like there enough chargers in the locations I would be going to.

Only going to improve... Ballacolla charger just opened last week.

caster wrote: »

Re the i3, I actually thought it was much higher priced than the e-Golf, I may have been comparing it to the Rex version ? I do feel that it is needed to ensure a higher re-sale value in a few years times when there may be many EV's with considerably higher range out there.

AFAIR the eGolf starts at €32,500 while the i3 starts a €34,000. You do need to add €700 for the CCS (DC Fast Charge Prep is what they call it). Unless you want leather seats go for the base trim and buy the wood dash as a spare part for about €400 after delivery. Don't go for the 20" wheels as the tyres on those are very difficult to get and prone to damage.

caster wrote: »

I have heard the i3 is fantastic to drive, I may try and get a test drive in the next few weeks - although I always find test drives are a dangerous (i.e. expensive) thing to do

You will have a grin from ear to ear the first second you hit the accelerator. My times and a lot of the reviewers times show the 7.2 second 0-100 to be very conservative, realistically it's 6.5 seconds or even less if you code it!
The i3 is the fastest car BMW has ever made from 0-50 (including the i8)

cros13

caster wrote: »

I do feel that it is needed to ensure a higher re-sale value in a few years times when there may be many EV's with considerably higher range out there.

There has been some talk of a battery upgrade being offered to existing i3 owners in late 2016 / early 2017

The ReX ups the price by almost €10k due to VRT and the loss of half the SEAI grant. Also your road tax goes up €50.

I have a ReX, driven 13,700km on battery and about 200km on the ReX (mostly avoidable)

caster

cros13 wrote: »

There has been some talk of a battery upgrade being offered to existing i3 owners in late 2016 / early 2017

The ReX ups the price by almost €10k due to VRT and the loss of half the SEAI grant. Also your road tax goes up €50.

I have a ReX, driven 13,700km on battery and about 200km on the ReX (mostly avoidable)

Yeah, I figure I could personally live without the ReX, more concerned about the re-saleability without it - although 10K more to buy in the first place negates that really.

I live in an apartment, so need to look in to too. My car park space is allocated and about 10 metres from the meters so I'm hoping the management company (who are actually also the builders of the block) will be amenable to me putting in a charge point.

cros13

caster wrote: »

Yeah, I figure I could personally live without the ReX, more concerned about the re-saleability without it - although 10K more to buy in the first place negates that really.

I live in an apartment, so need to look in to too. My car park space is allocated and about 10 metres from the meters so I'm hoping the management company (who are actually also the builders of the block) will be amenable to me putting in a charge point.

Exactly the same as me. I used the same electrician as the management company use for general work and had no issues getting permission.

ESB will not do apartment installs so if you can think of somewhere else a charger might be useful have them fit it there.

No doubt the I3 is a lot more fun, however think carefully if you think the extra cash is worth it and remember the Leaf will be getting about 20-25 "miles" more range than the I3 for the 2016 model year.

The i3 is a different league, It's a BMW after all so the extra power alone might be worth the extra cash, and you can spend serious money on options, but I feel the extra range of the 2016 Leaf is worth a lot more !

peposhi

And here comes the clash of the Titans - Mad Lad and Cros13... Guys, you both are a walking EV encyclopaedia. Just from reading your posts you can learn everything about EVs...

caster

cros13 wrote: »

You will have a grin from ear to ear the first second you hit the accelerator. My times and a lot of the reviewers times show the 7.2 second 0-100 to be very conservative, realistically it's 6.5 seconds or even less if you code it!
The i3 is the fastest car BMW has ever made from 0-50 (including the i8)

I had a test drive this week of i3 - very very impressed. It drives really well and so responsive. I am not sure I am a huge fan of the design overall but the cabin (which is more important for me) is fantastic, everything is quality as you'd expect from BMW, a huge step up from the VW e-golf.

First time driving an electric car and its a whole new experience. I can understand now why people say they never want to go back to petrol/diesel cars.

Guess I better start saving !

caster

caster wrote: »

I had a test drive this week of i3 - very very impressed. It drives really well and so responsive. I am not sure I am a huge fan of the design overall but the cabin (which is more important for me) is fantastic, everything is quality as you'd expect from BMW, a huge step up from the VW e-golf.

First time driving an electric car and its a whole new experience. I can understand now why people say they never want to go back to petrol/diesel cars.

Guess I better start saving !

You could also go for the much cheaper Leaf or Zoe, they're not bad cars and the Leaf is good to drive and well built, not as much fun as the BMW, the I3 has about 70 more HP in a much lighter chassis.

The I3 as built from the ground up to be an EV unlike the E-Golf and Leaf, which are more ICE conversions. The Leaf was designed this way in 2010 to minimise production costs.

The Leaf is getting a larger battery hopefully in the Autumn 2015 it should have 20-30 Kms more range than the I3 for a lot cheaper but if the Power and build quality of the I3 suits you more then this is where you see the money better spent.

Cros13 says the I3 is getting a range upgrade in 2016 ? any links ? I haven't seen any reference to this.