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Anyone with a non Tesla Electric car?

cutting42

Arrived at B4 Hacker Ergo
Hi All

As some know I am heading to an electric car for my next company vehicle. I had always assumed that is would be a Tesla but the deals offered to my company from Audi have put the eTron in budget. I have friends with Teslas and their first hand knowledge of charging etc but don't know any with other brands.

Is there a pink fish out there with a non Tesla electric car who can share experiences with the UK charging network especially fast chargers and dealing with all the different charge network companies etc.

Many thanks
 
Ask me again in about a month. I have a Kia E-Niro on order as a company car - they are encouraging us to go low carbon ASAP. It has a real-world range of over 250 miles.
We live next to Milton Keynes which has one of the largest charging infrastructures anywhere in the UK. I've signed up for Polar Plus at £7.85 a month which gives cheap rates on the chargeable chargers and many are free. They are pretty much everywhere in the UK and I think if I needed to I could use contactless payments to use an alternative network in a desperate situation. But with that 250 mile range I can't see that happening.
Edit: Many of the Polar chargers are fast and I wouldn't consider using a 6kW charger unless you're leaving the car overnight or having a long lunch. The availability of the fast charging network is what sealed it for me.

zap-map.com is a great resource
 
2019 i3s 120Ah (which I love). Local charging i frastructure is fine. It’s a second vehicle so we don’t use it for longer trips though. I have 4x 22KW type 2 units 5 minutes walk from my home. They’re still FOC although that’s likely to end at the end of the year. We don’t bother with any charging subscriptions up here.
 
Harry Metcalfe recently tried a load out with a view to the whole charging network thing, he wasn't very keen on anything none Tesla. Check out his videos on YT, he did a few, worth watching.
 
Of course, the availability and reliability of the charging infrastructure various enormously, depending upon where you are...
 
I used to have a Zoe: excellent.
I had to return it after three years because the leasing was over.
They doubled the monthly rent.
 
Harry Metcalfe recently tried a load out with a view to the whole charging network thing, he wasn't very keen on anything none Tesla. Check out his videos on YT, he did a few, worth watching.

Yes I have watched some of them. Whilst he is pretty honest I was curious for real owner experiences.
 
I did 20,000 miles with my Zoe. It cost me € 300 in electricity – I often used the free charger from the local supermarket while running errands.
The driving experience is great, and I hate driving!
 
this is interesting


Yes I watched that last night. Not bad looking either, a touch of the Aston Martin DB5 about it I thought. I was always a bit curious why so much of EV publicity was around the performance. Efficiency and range is far more useful.

As has been said by myself and many other on the topic of EV's it is a moving target with improved battery chemistries in development and cars with 745 mile ranges make them practical for pretty much everyone representing over 10 hours of driving. Destination charging must be improved as well as to "fill up" the EQXX 100KWh battery will take 14 hours at the usual max of 30A at hotel car parks and home chargers. Having said that the normal battery rules apply, they charge best between 20% and 80% capacity and most reduce performance under 20% and really cut it back under 10%. Even so with 745 range that gives you 450 miles even not fully charging and not dropping below 20% which is still 6.5 hours of driving at an average of 70.

Given I was the OP on this, I did go Tesla for my EV and am now approaching thinking about its replacement. Still unsure on how good the non Tesla network is 3 years later
 
Had a Polestar for 2 years and my brother in law does huge miles in his electric Mercedes EQC. Both would not go back to ICE and - with a little planning and common sense - charging, while occasionally a bit of a pain, has not been an issue. Happy to share ideas on apps and charging points.
 
Had a Polestar for 2 years and my brother in law does huge miles in his electric Mercedes EQC. Both would not go back to ICE and - with a little planning and common sense - charging, while occasionally a bit of a pain, has not been an issue. Happy to share ideas on apps and charging points.

Polestar is high on my interest list love to hear your charging strategy. I visit Scotland a couple of times a year and found their national connected network with one charge card an absolute relief after the tens of different brands in the rest of the UK.
 
I visit Scotland a couple of times a year and found their national connected network with one charge card an absolute relief after the tens of different brands in the rest of the UK.
When I was in Scotland a few weeks ago, I was offered a Polestar hie car but Ballater appears to have just 2 x 22kw charge points.
 
Charging network works well if you plan carefully. My car comes with a Shell card so I plan to use Osprey, MFG and occasionally Osprey. I’ve never queued. I suspect it’s a little more involved than using the Tesla network, I have plan A/B and C. Usually a list of chargers for the most likely routes Apple Maps sends me on. I like Osprey because usually there’s somewhere to eat.

If you’re paying yourself you have access to Instavolt. I’ve found those incredibly reliable, but as they’re not free to me anymore I’ve stopped using them.

You’ll have no problems as long as you spend a little time getting to know the chargers on your route.
 
I pick up my Polestar 2 long range next week, other colleagues have them too and have have some issues with availability of charging points in a number of parts of the country, I'll let you know how I get on but I never hear any complaints from Tesla drivers tbh, their supercharger network is comprehensive and good value it seems?
 
There was some talk last year that Tesla would be opening up its Supercharger network to other users. I presume that didn't happen. Was it just another example of Musk talking out of his arse?
 
There was some talk last year that Tesla would be opening up its Supercharger network to other users. I presume that didn't happen. Was it just another example of Musk talking out of his arse?

Strangely it has happened. Not entirely sure of the exact details but I have been charging next to non Tesla's on a supercharger several times. I believe they cannot charge at the same speed but that might be down to the car rather than any penalty throttling of the charge rate.
 


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