Update #7
[U]339 Mile Round Trip to Somerset[/U]
Over the weekend, we did our first longer trip in the Zoe. The story has many positives, but sadly also a couple of negatives. Both the negatives were down to charging issues.
We left Penzance Saturday morning after breakfast heading up the A30 toward Exeter. We stopped at the Cornwall Services at Victoria (near Bodmin) for a comfort break, a cup of coffee and charge up at the Ecotricity rapid charger. 25 minutes later we were back on the road with a 98% charge and all was good in the world (except the weather which was absolutely atrocious).
As Zap Map was reporting that both Ecotricity pumps at the Exeter Services were not working, I decided to stop near Okehampton at the Whitehouse Services and use the SSE pump located there to top up the battery so we could get to Taunton. This was where things started to go pear-shaped.
I offered the machine my SSE RFID card and it said the transaction needed to be authorised. So got back in the car to get out of the sheeting rain and howling wind (why is it always bad weather when things go wrong?) and phoned the help desk number. The chap at the other end found my account on his computer and said that it was in deficit, so needed to be topped up. I explained that £20 had been put on when I ordered the card a few weeks ago, but he said that cost was a fee for the card, and not credit for using a pump. “Bloody fantastic” says I, OK, I have my debit card here so can I give you the details to credit my account?" “No, sorry, that is all done by a different company which does not work at the weekends, but you can put it on using a smart phone”. Lesson #1 - Should have read the small print and maybe I would have realised the £20 was an admin fee and not credit.
So, after getting the details of what to do from the apologetic bloke at the other end of the phone, I signed off and tried to use the app to load my account with some credit. Guess what…yup, it wouldn’t work, so I phoned the help desk again to ask what my options were. He spent five or six minutes trying to remotely get the machine to put some charge into the car so I could continue the journey, but it refused every attempt. There was nothing else he could do to assist so I was left with either travelling slowly to Exeter to check if the Services pumps were working or not, or head back towards home and pick up a charge on a slow charger at the Lifton Arms on the Cornwall/Devon border.
I decided to continue on and head for Exeter Services and check out the pumps there. On arriving with 16 miles range left, one pump was being used by a Mitsubishi on the DC side, but the other charger was definitely not working at all, AC or DC. When the other car finished which was only 10 minutes or so, I thought “great, now I can get charged up”. But no, the pump refused to connect to the car and start the charging, so the fault appeared to have been on the AC side only on that particular charger. I phoned the phone number on the Ecotricity pump, only to get a answerphone message that helpfully informed me that the desk was only open Monday to Friday during usual office hours. Wonderful, what next?
With the rain hissing down in torrents I had to make a decision on where I would go next to try to get a charge. The pump at Cullompton Services was reporting a fault, but the one at Tiverton Services was reporting it was working normally. As Tiverton was 16 miles ahead I reckoned I could just about get there if I kept my speed down so headed back onto the M5.
However, as we traveled up the motorway, the range started to decrease at a rather worrying rate, so rather than run out of power on the motorway itself, I decided I would go the services at Cullompton and check the charger and ring Renault for a recovery if necessary. That was my first experience of really bad range anxiety.
I pulled up at the Ecotricity charger at Collumpton with 6 miles range left, and the screen on the machine seemed to be ok, so connected the car and crossed my fingers. Yee Ha…it worked and the charging started… thank you God! Lesson #2, don’t believe the reported faults if you are running short of power, check the pumps first.
The batteries charged to 99% in 35 - 40 minutes while we had a sandwich and drink and then we headed on our way to the Travelodge at Illminster, arriving about 14:00, weary from the anxiety, but also exhilarated that we had arrived OK. Even the rain had stopped and the sun had come out, so we were hopeful everything was now on the up.
We checked into the hotel and then after a change of clothes, we headed towards Bridgwater ready for the carnival. I decided that as we had plenty of time in hand, it would be a good idea to fully charge the batteries again at Bridgwater Services, before going to the park and ride carpark, so that we would be nearly full when leaving for home after breakfast the next day. We charged up in a short time and then drove about half a mile to the park and ride carpark
The attendants at the park and ride were very interested in the Zoe, and could not believe we had traveled from Penzance to Bridgwater in an electric car. We did explain the journey had not all been plain sailing by any means!
The carnival was fabulous, and anyone reading this who has not been before, I would encourage you to go if the opportunity presents itself. There were 145 floats, many of them three units long, the standard of each exhibit was outstanding, and the bigger floats must take many months to build. The parade took well over two hours to pass our point and we were relieved we had bought grandstand seats at £14 each, because we had a fantastic view, and a (relatively) comfortable seat each. We both agreed though, that when we go next time a cushion to sit on and ear plugs to cut down on the loud music would be a jolly good idea.
We arrived back at the hotel about 12:30 and had a good nights sleep.
After the travel difficulties of the day before, I was a little apprehensive of what would transpire on the way home when we set off after a hearty breakfast the next morning.
SWMBO had said she wanted to do some shopping in Exeter on the way back, so we headed up the A303/A30 towards Honiton and then on to Exeter where parked in the John Lewis car park where there is a Pod Point charger. We connected up and charged while we shopped for Xmas presents for the extended family and friends.
When we got back to the car, a BMW i3 had just pulled up. As only the connection I was using on the charging point was in working order, we disconnected and swapped places while having a chat about the trials, tribulations and benefits of owning an EV. The owner of the i3 had not done any lengthy trips, so was interested in our experiences.
Leaving Exeter at 16:15, we headed straight down the A30 to Cornwall Services at Bodmin again and connected up at the Ecotricity Rapid charger for a quick ‘squirt’ to make sure we had enough range, and then travelled home.
The trip back was great, although I did keep the speed down to about 60 for the majority of the way. I floored it after the last charge at Bodmin with 45 miles to go, safe in the knowledge that there was a charger ready and waiting when we arrived home.
We did 339 miles in total over the two days and learned a lot about the finer points of travelling in a Zoe on an extended trip. Would we do it again? Yes of course we would, but hopefully I will be better prepared next time with plenty of credit on various charge-point cards or apps, so some of the problems we had this time would not occur again. As the Zoe is our only vehicle other than pedal cycles, we will just have to get used to the slightly different issues and considerations of travelling outside of Cornwall, than we have hitherto done when owning an ICE vehicle.
Regards all.
