Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles (EVs) have come of age. Over 2% of all new vehicle sales are EVs, which doesn't sound much but this expected to rise fast. Costs are coming down. Range is going up. And the choice is growing every month. Major manufacturers such as Volvo, BMW and Jaguar announcing that all their vehicle ranges will be electrified by 2025 (but that does include hybrids so the petrol engine is not dead yet).
EVs do have a big number of advantages including being quiet, non-polluting, cheap to maintain, and to run at a fraction of the cost of petrol. The down side for many years was range. How far could you go before you need to spend some hours recharging? And where could you do that? Well that is what has changed by 2017: range of even the lower-end EVs has now reached 120+ "real world" miles (300 for a Tesla). Given that for most people most of the time daily travel is only 20 to 40 miles, then this is more than enough and you can just plug in at home and top up overnight. If travelling further afield then the EV charging infrastructure is extensive: a recharge from pretty much empty to 80% at the rapid chargers available at all motorway services can be done in 30-40 minutes - time for a slightly extended comfort and coffee break. And there are many many fast chargers around the country that can do the same in 3-4 hours - perhaps while you are at work or shopping. Given that it is rare you to charge from empty, most recharging is a small top up, these times reduce significantly. Here at Gorge View Cottage we now have a dedicated fast charge point for guests to use, free of charge. If charging during the day it will use the solar energy being captured on the cottage roof, and at night it uses the greenest EKO electricity available from 100Green, our suppliers. To help you get a better sense of where you might be able to visit with your EV whilst here the maps below show you both day return range and max single charge range. Then a map showing the blizzard of charging points available, as shown on the free app and website Zap Map. If you do go out, with a bit of planning you'll be able to charge somewhere during the day. |
Gorge View Cottage Charge Point
Make: BMW Wallbox Connect
Type: IEC 62196 Type 2 [Mennekes] (tethered) Supply: Single phase Source: Green electricity (or cottage solar) Current: 32A (max) Power: 7.5kW (max) Full-charge time: ~3.5 to 4 hours (~30kWh) Control: Cottage RFID card controlled start/stop
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Range Map: Full charge: return trip range
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Example
Range map for a day trip, there and back, from cottage on a single full charge. Based on 28kWh nominal battery capacity (which is quite modest these days). Real world driving, but this can be reduced by driving style, sustained speeds greater than 75mph and in winter. Darker blue: standard drive setting Lighter blue: eco drive setting |
Range Map: Full charge: maximum range
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Example
Range map for a single, outbound only, journey from cottage on a single full charge. Based on 28kWh nominal battery capacity (which is quite modest these days). Real world driving, but this can be reduced by driving style, sustained speeds greater than 75mph and in winter. Darker blue: standard drive setting Lighter blue: eco drive setting |
Regional Charging Point Map (c/o Zap-Map)
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Each marker is a single or multiple charge point location. Colour legend below. Dual or triple coloured markers indicate multiple types of charger. A red outline indicates "in use" or "not working"
This image courtesy of Zap-Map a free-to-use website and app that gives one of the fullest maps of UK charging points. The map can be filtered by connector type or power, or by vehicle-type. Each marker can be clicked for more information, tariff details (many are free to use) and live comments from users their experience with that charge point. 
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