Random EV thoughts.....

I can absolutely see why a Tesla, with the benefit of the supercharger network, would beat other EVs hands down on long trans continental journeys. Maybe its just a case that I havent experienced the Tesla driver assist systems yet so dont know what I'm missing. Personally I like to drive cars myself and hate most driver assist systems I've experienced to-date. I've done the 700km+ drives in a day with one stop in manual ICEs and have never felt overly tired afterwards. On a motorway a decent ICE is practically silent, except for road noise which effects all cars, so I cant see how an EV would make long motorway journeys any less stressful for me.

Not in any way criticising EVs here by the way. Look fwd to the time when I can afford a decent EV, mostly for the cheaper running costs though. Even though I'm not a fan of Tesla minimalist interiors, my preference at the moment would be an M3 because of the range and power combination which seems a step above the competition. However, I will be sad when the day comes that I no longer regularly drive a manual car. Will just have to find solace in a nice classic sporty manual petrol to take for a regular scauld on decent driving roads.

I'll use AutoPilot (adaptive cruise control) most of the time on any motorway/dual carriageway, but for AutoSteer.. yeah, I only really use that on long quiet(ish) stretches of motorway when there's not too much traffic around me, but once the traffic starts building, it's my hands on the wheel and I'm in 100% control of the steering.

It's just really sh1t lately using AutoPilot since Tesla Vision because the wipers default to auto when using AutoPilot, and at night they just wipe away regardless of whether it's actually raining or not... Tesla really fcuked up what was a reasonably well working system.... And I know that's the nature of Tesla and their software updates, always tinkering with the cars and that's mostly fine, but it's usually 10 steps forward, and 2-3 steps back...

Okay here's a bit of a bizarre charging saga which I'm wondering if anyone has seen before

Up front disclaimer, I'm missing a few key facts like the brand of chargers since I'm getting all this second hand

But anyway, here goes...

My wife's workplace recently installed additional EV charging since the current chargers were constantly in use

The old chargers were basic 7kW AC pillars and all the cars could use them without any problems.

The new chargers are marked as 22kW AC chargers but I kinda suspect they're 7kW, given there's something like 24-32 chargers in total now

Since they were installed, a bunch of cars couldn't use them. They'd plug in and the charger wouldn't start

Those cars were my wife's Leaf24, and 'the Teslas'. I don't know exactly what Tesla models, but I know there's several Model 3 and S cars there, and it seemed to be all of those

The vendor came out and fixed the chargers today by replacing a transistor. Apparently there was a hardware update a while back which meant older cars couldn't charge

I've no idea what this transistor was for or even if it was a transistor, could have been a resistor. This is the problem with hearing stuff third hand

Anyway, that's the so story as I know it. Anyone got any ideas what was going on there?

Well the strange part is the chargers seemed to work fine with other brands. There's at least one Ioniq 5 which would charge fine

After consulting Prof Wikipedia, my current theory is that the newer chargers weren't backwards compatible to J1772 which the Gen 1 Leafs and (I think) the Tesla's all use

Apparently in an update to the Type 2 connector standards, they changed how the CP pin detects the car to a different transceiver (who wants to bet this was the "transistor" I heard about earlier)

I'm gonna guess the newer transceiver was supposed to be backwards compatible but turned out not to be

The vendor spoke to the charger manufacturer and they said it's a known issue and to swap the transceiver module out for the older one

I'm guessing since all the cars are backwards compatible then they work with the older transceiver module

Sounds like a definite hardware issue, and with so many cowboy outfits making chargers now we'll probably see more of this in future

I know lots of issues with chargers and car compatibility. Myenergi and zappi are the experts on making all cars work and they had issues with ID range, Teslas and more. Often it was the car side that needed an update but myenergi often had to put in a quick fix or work around. One issue with zappi for example is that it ramps up the charge slowly and many cars get confused by this. It advertises a very slow rate for first few seconds and then advertises a higher rate, but many cars gets confused and cars like some Hyundai's would display a time to full 5 or 6 times higher than actual as they estimated time to full on first few seconds rate, not rate after that.

Many cars also struggle on the "wait for night rate or timed charging" as they constantly query the charger and so the car stays "awake" all evening and this can cause the cars 12 volt to run low. The car expects the charge to start in the first few seconds. Better to use timer in car. Myenergi was also first to really use the solar excess and many cars struggle on wait, charge slowly, charge quickly, wait. Part of the reason is cars disconnect the main high voltage battery when not charging and they have a big contactor switch that makes a clunk when charging starts. With solar only and a cloudy day it may start and stop dozens of times, meaning the contactor is switching on and off which may wear it out quicker. Myenergi have settings to reduce this issue and often tweaks are needed depending on the car. They mainly have issues with brand new cars to market that were never tested in a zappi like happened with the ID range and also Tesla. Tesla quickly pushed out an update. I had to tweak setting lso my car would display the correct time to full. It's not exactly plug and play.

All they really did was redesign the front grille and put a bigger screen in the dashboard from the looks of it. The MEB platform underneath will still be the same with a few minor improvements

They're still making the same dumb mistakes with the interior lacking much covered storage as far as I can tell

Launch is spring but first deliveries will be autumn

It's certainly a step up, but hardly a massive leap of an improvement

Each to their own but for me there is nothing to compare to pushing on a decently powered manual car on good quality country roads. Absolutely agree a decent auto for urban traffic

Obviously petrol beats diesel but for me a manual gearbox is far more engaging and enjoyable to drive. An auto and especially an EV are certainly easier but imo less rewarding to drive. Probably just a dinosaur heading for extinction

I am buying a PHEV and I agree that they can certainly pollute more. If I get my PHEV and never plug it in I am therefore lugging around a heavy battery hoping that the Hybrid mode helps. My Diesel car gets very good MPG when I'm not city driving, otherwise it is only a little better than Petrol. In the UK, as I read a similar article earlier from another publication, they want any subsidies and grants removed for PHEVs. They also argue that they don't get the advertised WLTP but arguably who does. I think most people would say that on a good day you lose x % and in winter way more.

I'd nearly see arguments being made that in fact a modern Diesel engine is BETTER for the environment than a PHEV.

Do we even have any in Ireland at all after the €2,500 SEAI was removed? Are some people still getting a small discount on toll roads(subsidised by the government as well)? That's the only one I can think of.

You are right, I did 300 km return last week I never bothered to plug in, for my budget I would have not bothered with a BEV, stopping, charging, and waiting, my time is far too valuable.

Unfortunately, I do spend 5 seconds plugging in at night, you know just for the hassle of it, and strangely enough, I am getting 120 mpg.

That's funny because I did a 300km return trip the other day too, never bothered to plug in or stop or charge or wait. My time is far too valuable. Luckily my BEV was more than capable.

There are no grants for PHEV anymore. Rightfully so.

People can perform long trips stress free. It's not 2016 anymore. The biggest stress (once you avoid ecars!) is how expensive fast charging is.