First longish drive in the I-Pace

[TimMcC]

Since it's a worry for most thinking about going the electric route, I thought I'd write up my first longish drive in the I-Pace. This was a couple of weekends ago shortly after it arrived. Obviously since the I-Pace is a Jaguar it cannot (currently) make use of the much lauded Tesla Supercharger network.

The trip was from the New Forest area of Hampshire to Southwell in Nottinghamshire. A distance of around 190 miles. Whilst within range I knew I'd only be able to use a 3-pin plug to charge at my destination so I planned a charge stop both ways. So whilst this isn't a huge trip, I think most people would consider it a proper 'journey'.

I left with my son at about 9.30 in the morning, and I drove at 'normal' speeds up the M27, M3, A34, M40, A43, M1. At almost 11.45ish we were approaching Rugby where I knew there was a relatively new hub at a brand new services just off the M1 on J1 of the M6. There are 12 Tesla chargers and 12 Gridserve 350kW chargers.



Pulling into Rugby with about 25% charge there was one free charger, although a couple of cars were finishing up and moved on shortly after. Unfortunately once I plugged in I found the card reader was dead, so I couldn't start the charge. Phoned the number on the front of the unit, and got through after a couple of rings. The person in the callcenter connected to the unit remotely and started the charge at no cost. Fantastic service and whilst initially I was frustrated, this became a good experience quickly and the whole phone call only lasted for 2 minutes.

Spent about 45 minutes at the services (about 20 minutes waiting for food!), eating it, then emptying bladders. On return to the car it was up to around 90%. I stopped the charge and we went on our way, arriving later at Southwell with still around 75% of battery. Didn't plug it in.

Later that day we made a return trip to Bardney near Lincoln, which was about 70 miles return. When we got back to Southwell that evening was going to plug it in to the 3-pin, but a neighbour with an EV invited us to use their 7kW charger overnight since their car was full already. I took them up on this generous offer in exchange for a bottle on wine which they were loathe to accept. This meant we had 100% charge the next day rather than about 50% which meant I shouldn't need to stop on the way home.

The trip home was much the same, except this time we got hungry near Highclere a bit south of Newbury. Car sat nav reckoned there was a charger there, and I found 4 high powered chargers at the Shell services on the A34. Took my son over to McDonalds to eat, where I noticed Instavolt were putting in 2 more chargers which were still in their bubble wrap. Will remember this stop for the future. In this case I didn't think I needed the charge, but since the car reckoned I'd only have 20 miles spare I thought I'd put some in anyway whilst we were eating. Car got up to about 75% again by the time we were finished and we arrived home with 50% charge.

All in all, this was an incredibly easy trip. According to the trip information the car records, over that weekend we covered 445.4 miles at a cost of £24 and a bottle of wine. In the 530d it'd have been about £100 of diesel and logistically the trip would have been identical - although we would have probably stopped at a different random M1 services rather than Rugby. Total time driving was 8.5 hours. Temperature for the drives was about 7C, and quite windy.

From a comfort point of view the Jag was phenomenal. Very very relaxing to drive, munched up the miles without any drama and was even more comfortable than the 5 series which I also rated very highly.

 

[moonstone]

What's the score with Tesla's chargers then? Can you physically not connect to them? is it some kind of proprietary connector that doesn't fit any other cars or are all the plugs the same but they recognise the kind of car connected?

How's this all going to pan out when ICE cars are a thing of the past? Will there be a bunch of different charging points that only certain brands can use?

 

[TimMcC]

What's the score with Tesla's chargers then? Can you physically not connect to them? is it some kind of proprietary connector that doesn't fit any other cars or are all the plugs the same but they recognise the kind of car connected?

How's this all going to pan out when ICE cars are a thing of the past? Will there be a bunch of different charging points that only certain brands can use?

Tesla chargers use the same connector (CCS) as everyone else now. They used to use a proprietary one, but that changed a year or two ago. At the moment Tesla chargers are locked via software to only charge Tesla cars. They have been experimenting with allowing other cars to charge on them in some EU countries. They may decide to roll this out more widely, or they may not.

However, most chargers are not Tesla chargers. The vast majority of cars these days use CCS, some of the Japanese cars use something called Chademo, but CCS became the standard for the UK a few years ago and all new type approved cars must carry this connector. At the moment most rapid chargers have both connectors, but some are CCS only.

Generally speaking, any brand car can use any charger. It's just the Tesla network which is locked to their own vehicles at this point in time.

 

[sahajesh]

And don’t get a Nissan Leaf unless your scenario is home charging only as they use Chademo and there aren’t many of those out there.

 

[saltyamigo]

Other issue with the superchargers is the short cable, they are designed for the location of the charge port on Teslas which are all rear passenger side, other manufacturers have their ports in different locations which means the cable will not reach or you need to park in a way that takes up more than 1 bay which will cause issues but that is why they are trialling in other countries. The iPace is still one of the best looking EV's and one of the few SUV style cars I like.

 

[JD6]

Interesting to hear about the experience.

What efficiency Wh/mile did you get over your journey and following on from a discussion in the other place where EV efficiency (relative to ICE) dropped off sharply with speed - can you give an idea of motorway speed?

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Interesting to hear about the experience.

What efficiency Wh/mile did you get over your journey and following on from a discussion in the other place where EV efficiency (relative to ICE) dropped off sharply with speed - can you give an idea of motorway speed?

This is the main issue with the EVs. Anything over 60mph and they seem to drop off drastically. The Model3 my mate has, anything above this and the efficiency drops off completely, especially anything above motorway speeds.

 

[sahajesh]

This is the main issue with the EVs. Anything over 60mph and they seem to drop off drastically. The Model3 my mate has, anything above this and the efficiency drops off completely, especially anything above motorway speeds.

No wonder they are mainly limited to 99 or 124mph then, even then where you can do those speeds, you’re charging frequently.

 

[JD6]

This is the main issue with the EVs. Anything over 60mph and they seem to drop off drastically. The Model3 my mate has, anything above this and the efficiency drops off completely, especially anything above motorway speeds.

I was chatting to an engineer last weekend about this. He works with jet engines and F1 engines on performance/output measurement - the question I put to him is why does EV efficiency drop so rapidly with speed compared with ICE efficiency. His answer was that while they both have the same increase in wind resistance with speed, the ICE engine becomes more efficient (power out versus fuel in) as the load increases, up to a point. The EV doesn’t have the same effect.

Having had both a 520d and a 335d, I was aware that the 520d was much more efficient at 70mph than the 335d. However, at 90mph the 520d dropped sharply and they had virtually the same efficiency. Presumably the increased power output required at 90mph puts the 35d engine in a relatively more efficient part of the curve.

 

[boba fett]

Sound great, the EV 's are starting to make sense.

I did a trip Sunday in my 320d and wanted to know what MPG I would get for a big round trip. I filled up first, then when finished I filled up again to see what it managed. I just drove it normally as I would over the speed limit when you can and so on!! I thought it did really well for the 374 mile round trip it did 46 miles to the gallon on the current fuel prices, and it did not even use half a tank!




Long live the 320d, although impressive I can't help but think an EV would do it for less than half the cost! The charging just still bothers me!

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

I was chatting to an engineer last weekend about this. He works with jet engines and F1 engines on performance/output measurement - the question I put to him is why does EV efficiency drop so rapidly with speed compared with ICE efficiency. His answer was that while they both have the same increase in wind resistance with speed, the ICE engine becomes more efficient (power out versus fuel in) as the load increases, up to a point. The EV doesn’t have the same effect.

Having had both a 520d and a 335d, I was aware that the 520d was much more efficient at 70mph than the 335d. However, at 90mph the 520d dropped sharply and they had virtually the same efficiency. Presumably the increased power output required at 90mph puts the 35d engine in a relatively more efficient part of the curve.

I'd of said that mirrors my experience too, I'd of said our Cayman is more efficient at faster speeds than pottering about. Where as the EV would be much better just around town. When we came back from Gretna our car didn't have an impact on fuel usage, where as the EVs miles just dropped off.

The main issue is you want the efficiency at motorway speeds, as that's when you're usually traveling a distance and want to get somewhere quick!

 

[TimMcC]

Interesting to hear about the experience.

What efficiency Wh/mile did you get over your journey and following on from a discussion in the other place where EV efficiency (relative to ICE) dropped off sharply with speed - can you give an idea of motorway speed?

So for the two legs on the way there and the first leg on the way back I kept to the speed limit precisely as I was unsure of the impact of speed on range. The second leg on the way back I was more comfortable and paid less attention. On an unrelated note I've heard 80mph is considered a sensible speed on the autobahn.

Outbound leg 1
Duration: 2 hours 17 minutes
Average speed: 61mph
Distance: 134 miles
Consumption: 44.7kWh/100miles
Energy regenerated (instead of braking): 3.7kWh

Outbound leg 2
Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes
Average speed: 54mph
Distance: 54.1 miles
Consumption: 44.1kWh/100miles
Energy regenerated (instead of braking): 1.4kWh

Inbound leg 1
Duration: 2 hours 32 minutes
Average speed: 58mph
Distance: 141 miles
Consumption: 42.1kWh/100miles
Energy regenerated (instead of braking): 4.1kWh

Inbound leg 2
Duration: 45 minutes
Average speed: 61mph
Distance: 43 miles
Consumption: 43.5 kWh/100miles
Energy regenerated (instead of braking): 1.8kWh

Didn't appear to make a huge difference, but was obviously traffic constrained. I think weather is probably a bigger factor.

 

[TimMcC]

To compare, today's drive to work in 11C over a mix of A roads and dual carriageways was:

Duration: 23 minutes
Average speed: 39mph
Distance: 14.5 miles
Consumption: 37.7kWh/100miles
Energy regenerated (instead of braking): 1.4kWh

 

[TimMcC]

I was chatting to an engineer last weekend about this. He works with jet engines and F1 engines on performance/output measurement - the question I put to him is why does EV efficiency drop so rapidly with speed compared with ICE efficiency. His answer was that while they both have the same increase in wind resistance with speed, the ICE engine becomes more efficient (power out versus fuel in) as the load increases, up to a point. The EV doesn’t have the same effect.

Having had both a 520d and a 335d, I was aware that the 520d was much more efficient at 70mph than the 335d. However, at 90mph the 520d dropped sharply and they had virtually the same efficiency. Presumably the increased power output required at 90mph puts the 35d engine in a relatively more efficient part of the curve.

I think one of the main overlooked factors is idling and braking. Whenever you brake in an internal combustion engine car, the kinetic energy the car carries is transformed into heat by the brake pads which they dissipates into the atmosphere. In an EV most braking is performed by the motors pushing that energy back into the battery. There are efficiency losses of course, but it's generally much more efficient.

Likewise, idling in traffic even with stop start means wasting a lot of energy to turn the engine over. Pulling away you don't get full power transfer to the wheels until you're going fast enough to fully lift the clutch etc. In an EV this doesn't apply.

Generally motorway driving doesn't involve much of the above, so the inefficiency of these activities disappears and you're left with the base efficiency of the engine.

Since an EV is extremely efficient at all speeds, the aerodynamic penalty of drag is directly applied and has a huge impact at higher speeds.