Longer Journey Advice

[Rissco]

I am new to this forum and am looking for a bit of advice for a longer distance journey. I bought my Cross Turismo 4s in December last year and am loving it, range anxiety is becoming less but still getting used to it. I am travelling from Glasgow to Nairn in the north of Scotland which is around 190 mile trip. We have enough DC charge options on route but what would be your experience in how best to get approach this? Any advice welcome. Do I use the DC charger, when I can, to 100% charge at 1 stop our stop a couple of times but not go 100%. I am looking forward to the journey as I have not done a great to deal of motorway driving. Thank you

Sponsored

 

[W1NGE]

I am new to this forum and am looking for a bit of advice for a longer distance journey. I bought my Cross Turismo 4s in December last year and am loving it, range anxiety is becoming less but still getting used to it. I am travelling from Glasgow to Nairn in the north of Scotland which is around 190 mile trip. We have enough DC charge options on route but what would be your experience in how best to get approach this? Any advice welcome. Do I use the DC charger, when I can, to 100% charge at 1 stop our stop a couple of times but not go 100%. I am looking forward to the journey as I have not done a great to deal of motorway driving. Thank you

First off, don't sweat it!

Ample DC charging - Aberdeen (Westhill, off the bypass) has 12 x 300 kW ESB Energy (Electoverse RFID or PAYG) and there are 12 x 350kW Ionity (adjacent) which aren't currently live yet). MFG stations with 6 x 150kW and so on.

Inverness has some 300 / 350 kW EVSEs.

ChargePlace Scotland should serve you ok for 50kW DC and many AC options.

I would charge to 100% and keep your min SOC to around 25% between charges. Charging to 100% is fine if using the car on the same day - becomes a possible issue if a 100% charged battery is left for days on end.

My Porsche App will locate many options but not all of the above.

ZapMap, ChargePlace Scotland, MFG, Electoverse apps are worth having handy - ZapMap likely has most things covered.

Above only makes sense if routing via Aberdeen rather than A9.

Snapshot from ChargePlace Scotland.

Nairn has 50kW DC & 22kW AC Chargeplace Scotland units at a minimum.

DC is always the better option when on a trip - faster. If you have one nearby then top up as needed to 85% and then 100% for the journey hame.

 

[f1eng]

I am new to this forum and am looking for a bit of advice for a longer distance journey. I bought my Cross Turismo 4s in December last year and am loving it, range anxiety is becoming less but still getting used to it. I am travelling from Glasgow to Nairn in the north of Scotland which is around 190 mile trip. We have enough DC charge options on route but what would be your experience in how best to get approach this? Any advice welcome. Do I use the DC charger, when I can, to 100% charge at 1 stop our stop a couple of times but not go 100%. I am looking forward to the journey as I have not done a great to deal of motorway driving. Thank you

We have family in Scotland but I haven’t been to see them in the Taycan yet so haven’t tried anything specific. @W1NGE is definitely your man for fastest chargers!

But IME whilst sat nav does tend to choose a route with fast chargers I usually want a scenic route (I have retired) and there I look for chargers when planning a route beforehand using ZapMap and ABRP on a route I like rather than let them choose a route, then I navigate to the chargers I have chosen to force the nicer route.
I always choose chargers at a cafe or farm shop so I can have a snack or meal whilst charging.
This technique often leads to odd distances between stops but a more picturesque journey.

I haven’t had range anxiety up to now.

 

[Grim]

I do the drive from Edinburgh to Inverness every few weeks. Ionity in Perth is a great place to stop for cheapest and fastest on the go charging. There is also a Tesla charger in Aviemore and another one in Inverness which are both good value.

 

[ShiftyWolf]

@Rissco if there are others waiting, the courteous thing to do is charge to 80-85% and then free up the charger for another since DC charging speed slows quite a bit near the top. Other than that, lots of people here and science people also say charging to 100% on a trip won't hurt anything.

I recently ran two DC charge sessions in the US and charged to 90% and the 85%, respectively, starting from around 50% SOC. The Taycan charged quickly and the process was very easy as well.

 

[Dr Bob]

Do I use the DC charger, when I can, to 100% charge at 1 stop our stop a couple of times

I do lots of Motorway driving both up to the north and down to the midlands. No problem with Charge place Scotland (get an RFID card) and the chargers in Perth are great.

Suggest you plan to charge to 85-90% when out and about as the last 10% will take much longer to charge. There are so many numpties out there who turn up on an Inonity 350KW charger and sit till it gets to 100% blocking the charger for others. As soon as you get to 85% - get on your way and stop again if necessary. I dont have range anxiety any more - there are many chargers to choose from......and you'll get more range now the weather is starting to warm up.

Charge to 100% before you leave. Fine leaving it overnight like that. As said earlier, try and charge when you get down to 25%. I dont go below 20% as that could cause issues in the long term.

 

[Trogdors_Peasant]

Lots of people say they charge to 85% (or some other percentage) on trips. I've found it's often a lot faster to do shorter more frequent stops where you only charge while the rate is above 180kw and move on when the charge rate starts to drop. Plug in, start at 250kw plus, and then use 180kw, 150kw or 100kw as the cut-off to move on depending on how far it is to the next charging station.

This works especially well if your charge stations are adjacent to your route. It's not worth the extra minutes to sit at a 50-70kw charge rate to get that final 10-20% you don't need.

 

[Ross]

Ionity Perth is perfect if you are bombing it. Otherwise 190 miles is perfectly doable with NO charging unless driving like a hooligan!
Stay somewhere with free charging.

 

[W1NGE]

Lots of people say they charge to 85% (or some other percentage) on trips. I've found it's often a lot faster to do shorter more frequent stops where you only charge while the rate is above 180kw and move on when the charge rate starts to drop. Plug in, start at 250kw plus, and then use 180kw, 150kw or 100kw as the cut-off to move on depending on how far it is to the next charging station.

This works especially well if your charge stations are adjacent to your route. It's not worth the extra minutes to sit at a 50-70kw charge rate to get that final 10-20% you don't need.

The issue in Northern Scotland is that ultra fast charging is thin on the ground and typically 50kW prevails (or worse). In general it's a case of top up when and where you can for fear of being caught short.

 

[Grim]

Ionity Perth is perfect if you are bombing it. Otherwise 190 miles is perfectly doable with NO charging unless driving like a hooligan!
Stay somewhere with free charging.

I find my range typically around 200 miles when doing a mixture of motorway speeds and A roads (typical drive from Edinburgh to Inverness) and charging definitely has to be planned out as good charging options are not as plentiful up there.

It could be the cold temps (impact on battery and heating) or the fact that there are more elevation changes. Any battery preheating, especially during winter also has a significant battery impact but price I’m prepared to pay for faster charging. I’m typically averaging 2.1 - 2.2 miles per kWh and I don’t have a heavy foot.

 

[Murph7355]

Ionity Perth is perfect if you are bombing it. Otherwise 190 miles is perfectly doable with NO charging unless driving like a hooligan!
Stay somewhere with free charging.

I've yet to get close in my GTS.

OP - is this a round trip, or one way?

Do you have charging at your destination?

I have a similar length trip I do every few months. I charge to 100% at home. Get close-ish to my destination and charge up to ~80-85% (or more if time allows) there at a preferred ultra fast charger (Ionity if available, Gridserve otherwise).

That typically gives me more than enough to finish the journey, use car at destination with no need to charge and get back to a similar charger...then charge up to enough needed to get home and charge up at home.

This usually sees me with up to 3hrs seat time, which these days is enough.

 

[Ross]

I find my range typically around 200 miles when doing a mixture of motorway speeds and A roads (typical drive from Edinburgh to Inverness) and charging definitely has to be planned out as good charging options are not as plentiful up there.

It could be the cold temps (impact on battery and heating) or the fact that there are more elevation changes. Any battery preheating, especially during winter also has a significant battery impact but price I’m prepared to pay for faster charging. I’m typically averaging 2.1 - 2.2 miles per kWh and I don’t have a heavy foot.

I've yet to get close in my GTS.

OP - is this a round trip, or one way?

Do you have charging at your destination?

I have a similar length trip I do every few months. I charge to 100% at home. Get close-ish to my destination and charge up to ~80-85% (or more if time allows) there at a preferred ultra fast charger (Ionity if available, Gridserve otherwise).

That typically gives me more than enough to finish the journey, use car at destination with no need to charge and get back to a similar charger...then charge up to enough needed to get home and charge up at home.

This usually sees me with up to 3hrs seat time, which these days is enough.

200 is easy, even in the cold, especially if preheated, just back off the go pedal a bit!
(Heavy rain really effs this up with 21 in wheels. like driving a snowplough)

250 easy in summer (no rain)
Depends if you have destination charging. If I did I would definitely back off a bit, take 5 mins longer journey time and guarantee getting there without faffing about.
No destination charging I would gun it and go via Ionity.
Don’t want to be faffing around charging the morning before setting off.

 

[Murph7355]

I'd have to push it to make those numbers ?

 

[philbur]

More shorter stops is what we do. So we do 15-20min stops that way if you run into a bad station you are covered.

Sponsored