Road trip charging - London to North East

[captainlk]

My car is due to arrive soon, so I've been checking chargers on Zap Map to plan a journey I'll have to do fairly regularly - which is to drive from London to either Darlington or Northumberland with no charging at the destinations.

Looking at the reviews of chargers like Wetherby (new Gridserve fast chargers) or Peterborough (Ionity) and others on the way, they all either appear to be very busy, have low speeds, hard to access with a big car, or unreliable.

Is the state of the charging network really that bad? Does anyone else on here make a similar trip and where you stop off? Any general tips for surviving a road trip?

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[DJBlack]

I’m in the same boat, I live in Dunstable which is just north of London, and travel to Redcar / Whitby a few times each year and am wondering how I will do it in the Taycan when it comes.

I usually stop at Woodall services (on the M1) in my Cayenne so presumed I would do the same in the Taycan, the amount of fast chargers around the destination scares me though!

 

[BigBob]

Ionity in my limited experience is very good and fast (350kw/h) - And with the porsche charging service, cheap (30p vs 70p+ I think). I think they are expensive for everyone else, so not sure they are always busy.
Do you have the 150kw 400v/800v charger as an option? If so then the 150kw and some tesla chargers are a decent option. I think grid serve is 150kw. I think MFG also opening up some big hubs, which may be on/near your route.

If you got shite advice like me and don't have the 150kw charger, then unless you are using 800v chargers (like ionity and the porsche dealership chargers*) you're capped at 50kw/h anyway.

I wish i knew of a way to find out which fast chargers are 800v to avoid 'slow charging'. But no where seems to carry that info. Just know that all Ionity and all porsche dealerships are.

* They aren't always open, may be parked in and they charge you about 40p per minute usage charge as well as 30p for electricity.

 

[Peterw]

IONITY Leeds Skelton generally has worked well in my experience

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Interesting point about which chargers are 800V. I went to pick something up on Tuesday and stopped off at a 125kW charger to make sure my DC charging works. The screen said it was charging at 725V (or thereabouts). It was a newish 125kW charger from MFG I think. So they might all be 800V chargers. I only got 45kW but my battery was only 10 degrees so I think that is why. I don't know how to check the voltage of a charger before you get there unless someone has posted it on Zap map or the company app or website tells you. And I imagine not all chargers tell you on the screen when you are there.

 

[W1NGE]

Interesting point about which chargers are 800V. I went to pick something up on Tuesday and stopped off at a 125kW charger to make sure my DC charging works. The screen said it was charging at 725V (or thereabouts). It was a newish 125kW charger from MFG I think. So they might all be 800V chargers. I only got 45kW but my battery was only 10 degrees so I think that is why. I don't know how to check the voltage of a charger before you get there unless someone has posted it on Zap map or the company app or website tells you. And I imagine not all chargers tell you on the screen when you are there.

Don't worry about the volts its the kW that matters!

50kW - 150kW can be 400v and anything above is normally 800v.

Not something to consider (ever) so just find the highest kW DC EVSE you can and let the car take care of the rest.

This is particularly true of you have the 400v 150kW DC booster optioned otherwise you will be limited to 50kW.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Don't worry about the volts its the kW that matters!

50kW - 150kW can be 400v and anything above is normally 800v.

Not something to consider (ever) so just find the highest kW DC EVSE you can and let the car take care of the rest.

This is particularly true of you have the 400v 150kW DC booster optioned otherwise you will be limited to 50kW.

Thanks, but you miss my point. I know it is the kW that matters. My point was to anyone without the 150kW boost option that it might be important whether a 100kW charger is 400 or 800V. I was simply saying that some are, but I don't know how to tell apart from looking at the screen when you get there.

 

[Speuk]

My car is due to arrive soon, so I've been checking chargers on Zap Map to plan a journey I'll have to do fairly regularly - which is to drive from London to either Darlington or Northumberland with no charging at the destinations.















Looking at the reviews of chargers like Wetherby (new Gridserve fast chargers) or Peterborough (Ionity) and others on the way, they all either appear to be very busy, have low speeds, hard to access with a big car, or unreliable.















Is the state of the charging network really that bad? Does anyone else on here make a similar trip and where you stop off? Any general tips for surviving a road trip?

Likewise mine is due in the next 10 days and I drive from near Beaconsfield to Durham regularly. I usually cut across from M1 to A1M on the M18 but I think going via Leeds Ionity will be a better bet. Alternatively Gridserve at Wooley Edge Services or at Weatherby
Have a play with ABPR

 

[jetbox]

Ionity in my limited experience is very good and fast (350kw/h) - And with the porsche charging service, cheap (30p vs 70p+ I think). I think they are expensive for everyone else, so not sure they are always busy.
Do you have the 150kw 400v/800v charger as an option? If so then the 150kw and some tesla chargers are a decent option. I think grid serve is 150kw. I think MFG also opening up some big hubs, which may be on/near your route.

If you got shite advice like me and don't have the 150kw charger, then unless you are using 800v chargers (like ionity and the porsche dealership chargers*) you're capped at 50kw/h anyway.

I wish i knew of a way to find out which fast chargers are 800v to avoid 'slow charging'. But no where seems to carry that info. Just know that all Ionity and all porsche dealerships are.

* They aren't always open, may be parked in and they charge you about 40p per minute usage charge as well as 30p for electricity.

all chargers except the old Tesla ones are 800v in the U.K. you don’t really need the 150kw option. 2.5 years with a taycan travelling all over the U.K. and not found a 400v charger yet

 

[Jay_Walking]

Ionity in my limited experience is very good and fast (350kw/h) - And with the porsche charging service, cheap (30p vs 70p+ I think). I think they are expensive for everyone else, so not sure they are always busy.
Do you have the 150kw 400v/800v charger as an option? If so then the 150kw and some tesla chargers are a decent option. I think grid serve is 150kw. I think MFG also opening up some big hubs, which may be on/near your route.

If you got shite advice like me and don't have the 150kw charger, then unless you are using 800v chargers (like ionity and the porsche dealership chargers*) you're capped at 50kw/h anyway.

I wish i knew of a way to find out which fast chargers are 800v to avoid 'slow charging'. But no where seems to carry that info. Just know that all Ionity and all porsche dealerships are.

* They aren't always open, may be parked in and they charge you about 40p per minute usage charge as well as 30p for electricity.

IONITY are usually busy at most places I think - especially the Cobham one with it being on the M25.

Other manufacturers also offer discounts with IONITY - Hyundai and Mercedes for sure and maybe Audi and VW as well.

With the price of Gridserve and the like now being basically the same as IONITY people may just prefer IONITY - regardless of whether they can charge at a speed of 150kW+. A lot of people still don't understand that the car dictates the max rate and not the charger.

You also see Teslas use IONITY if there is no supercharger around as they can benefit from the speed.

 

[W1NGE]

Thanks, but you miss my point. I know it is the kW that matters. My point was to anyone without the 150kW boost option that it might be important whether a 100kW charger is 400 or 800V. I was simply saying that some are, but I don't know how to tell apart from looking at the screen when you get there.

I understand but the chances are you won't get anywhere near the rated output once you use anything more than 50kW. Most I've had from a 350kW 800v was 125kW for example.

Too much overthinking on the forum when it comes to charging IMHO.

 

[BigBob]

I understand but the chances are you won't get anywhere near the rated output once you use anything more than 50kW. Most I've had from a 350kW 800v was 125kW for example.

Too much overthinking on the forum when it comes to charging IMHO.

The last 2 times I've used ionity, they've given in the region of 250kw. On the other hand 150kw Osprey - only 40kw. So my thinking (may be flawed) was the osprey was 400v. Battery all prepared, similar SOC etc.

So not really overthinking, but given the absence of having the 150kw 400/800 charger in the car, I'd sooner aim for something that was definitely 800v - which doesn't seem as easy to establish away from the 350kw machines.

 

[captainlk]

Likewise mine is due in the next 10 days and I drive from near Beaconsfield to Durham regularly. I usually cut across from M1 to A1M on the M18 but I think going via Leeds Ionity will be a better bet. Alternatively Gridserve at Wooley Edge Services or at Weatherby
Have a play with ABPR

Those Wetherby chargers are in the ideal location for me but the reviews on Zap Map aren't very encouraging. Leeds would be good but there's only six and all the reviews complain about speed.

It's really hard to interpret reviews as there's no way to know which problems are user error (not understanding battery temp, charging curve, car's max rate) and which are genuine charger problems.

 

[Speuk]

Those Wetherby chargers are in the ideal location for me but the reviews on Zap Map aren't very encouraging. Leeds would be good but there's only six and all the reviews complain about speed.



It's really hard to interpret reviews as there's no way to know which problems are user error (not understanding battery temp, charging curve, car's max rate) and which are genuine charger problems.

If you could do a few test runs and let me know the best options... ???

 

[W1NGE]

The last 2 times I've used ionity, they've given in the region of 250kw. On the other hand 150kw Osprey - only 40kw. So my thinking (may be flawed) was the osprey was 400v. Battery all prepared, similar SOC etc.

So not really overthinking, but given the absence of having the 150kw 400/800 charger in the car, I'd sooner aim for something that was definitely 800v - which doesn't seem as easy to establish away from the 350kw machines.

The 150kW option is not a charger. It is simply a 400v to 800v DC voltage booster (hence the low cost).

Sounds like the Osprey unit was 400v given your experience but it could also have been due to Operator throttling, load balancing or some other restriction.

It's a disgrace IMHO that Porsche hasn't by now fitted the DC booster as standard to remove all of the guesswork. We all want to charge as quickly as possible and should not have to try and determine the voltage of a given EVSE before doing so.

Your SA should have encouraged the selection of the booster but unfortunately as we all know their knowledge is generally weak.

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