Do you charge?

[Daff]

On an EV forum that I read, some of the pure EV fans claim that most PHEVs are never charged, that people get them simply for tax benefits etc and then drive it like an ordinary ICE car. Well I certainly don't and from what I have read on here most other Outlander owners don't either. But I am interested to get some data to refute these claims. Anyone want to say what their charging habits are?

I charge at home with the aim of starting journeys with a full or almost full battery. Having had the car only a few weeks I haven't done any in-trip recharging yet, and to be honest I can't see myself doing that a great deal as the number of electrical miles gained probably doesn't justify the time and hassle. But I would certainly recharge while parked up at a destination if that was available.

Do we have any of the reputed non-chargers here?

-- Steve

 

[Tipper]

We charge every night....all night!

Seriously, we very quickly came to the conclusion that charging when the car is at home is the thing to do so that we start every day with a full battery. The car is plugged in on return from a journey but not unplugged until the next trip even if the time at home is as short as a couple of hours or indeed as long as a couple of days.

We never charge when on a long trip or when away from home as it's not worth the time, cost and hassle. I run the car on B4 so as to gain as much regen as possible particularly in stop/start traffic without too much engine braking. It's a shame the car cannot be set up with preferred settings as you lose B4 when reversing, etc.

 

[Bladevane]

As soon as I return from a trip I recharge from the grid (if the weather forecast is overcast) or wait a bit if the weather looks sunny to recharge using my solar PV system. I used to recharge using the free Ecotricity chargers at service stations but since they started charging silly money have never taken up their kind offer. I may be wrong but paying for a charge away from home seems to be far more expensive than the cost of domestic electricity so why do it?

 

[Sumpy]

I charge at home for running around during the week, but on longer journeys start with a home charge and don't charge again until home. I never use rapid chargers. So to answer your question, yes I do charge, but only at home. (I'm beginning to forget where the petrol station is )

 

[jaapv]

Same here, with the addition that I will charge when visiting friends and family and at work or in a hotel. Or to gain a parking spot.

 

[Titan]

Interestingly enough, I moved house at the beginning of the year and at the moment don’t have a drive, so no charger installation. Been running the past 9 months without charging Petrol consumption has gone through the roof.

However, hopefully, in the next month a driveway will get constructed and I’ll be able to get hold of a charger and resume nightly charges.

 

[user 1877]

I charge at home every morning between 3am and 7am except when the battery is more than half full the night before. Then I don’t charge because of Mitsubishi’s warnings about frequent top-up charging. Probably an unnecessary precaution. I have only once used a public type 2 charger which worked fine and cost the same as charging at home.

I spend about £25 a month on petrol compared with the £150 I used to spend on my LR Discovery 3. Ain’t PHEVs great!!!

 

[AndyInOz]

My charging profile is very similar to WAH64,

I drive to work everyday (5 day week), but only need to recharge approximately twice per week. (It may be every three days, I'm not exactly sure). I typically don't use the car at all on Sundays, so that reduces the amount of time on the road.

Also like WAH64, I use the charging timer to start the charge in the wee small hours of the morning, that way the car is fully charged the morning after the charge.

It's possible that this slightly increases the range, but you'd probably need scientific instruments to prove it.

:lol:

 

[user 816]

Any time I am home the car is plugged in charging, even if for quite short periods.

I used to rapid charge during the day, sometime twice a day until Ecotricity spoiled that.

There is no chance for me to do so away from home, my destination is different most days and there are no facilities available at any of my destinations, not even a 13amp socket and I am not anywhere else long enough to make any useful gain from a slow charger.

A few exceptions of locations where I could charge, but they are so infrequent, I wouldn't gain the membership cost of joining the network in fuel savings so I would lose money.

-- I would love to charge more! the juice just ain't out there! ---

 

[greendwarf]

I also charge only at home overnight and weekends when I get cheaper electricity (EDF 20:20). Occasionally have charged away from home from a 13amp socket, as I carry a heavy duty extension cable, just in case. :lol:

 

[hedleyw]

Always charge at home overnight. Mine is a company car, primary reason for choice was low BIK but I have become much more environmentally aware since I took delivery of it. I hate running the engine and my next car (my own purchase on retirement 2019) will be a BEV.

 

[ChrisMiller]

My usage pattern and experience is very similar to BobEngineer's, except with far less mileage. I don't know whether he's visiting domestic or commercial premises, but the latter often have 'hidden' 13A external plugs for various purposes, and a kindly facilities manager may let you recharge (if you're there long enough to make much difference).

 

[DrSlackBladder]

I charge every night at home and every day at work. Being only 14 miles between work and home, I don't use any petrol during the week, only at weekends for longer trips. Apparently I have the highest mpg figure of my company's entire fleet! Currently just passed 40k miles and planning to order another one next summer......

 

[Daff]

Thanks for the replies. It is what I expected, people do charge them, often quite diligently, but mainly at home, and make good use of battery range. I got the same impression from chatting with random owners in car parks when I was pondering the purchase.

Next time someone makes the "they never get charged" claim I'll have some evidence against it! (I suspect what they really mean is that they don't see them plugged in at public charging stations, which is plausible given the comments here.)

Steve

 

[user 816]

Thanks for the replies. It is what I expected, people do charge them, often quite diligently, but mainly at home, and make good use of battery range. I got the same impression from chatting with random owners in car parks when I was pondering the purchase.

Next time someone makes the "they never get charged" claim I'll have some evidence against it! (I suspect what they really mean is that they don't see them plugged in at public charging stations, which is plausible given the comments here.)

Steve

Its easy to spot the smallish number of 'can't be bothered' drivers. They are the ones when you are driving gently at 66mph come hammering by at 88mph! you know they are not 'chargers' because the battery isn't going to make much difference to 26mpg they will be getting!

(They are also the ones in my company that moan the fuel reimbursement rates the company pays don't cover the cost of the fuel they have to put in :roll: )

 

[user 816]

My usage pattern and experience is very similar to BobEngineer's, except with far less mileage. I don't know whether he's visiting domestic or commercial premises, but the latter often have 'hidden' 13A external plugs for various purposes, and a kindly facilities manager may let you recharge (if you're there long enough to make much difference).

Sadly almost entirely at sites with pay-and display public parking, your lucky to get a space let alone one within quarter a mile of any outlet.

I agree though, a few more 'EV preference' spaces with even a mere 13a socket would help as its usually a several hours visit... and would require minimal infrastructure.

 

[Tipper]

.....people do charge them, often quite diligently, but mainly at home, and make good use of battery range.

Diligence has nothing to do with it...it's the thought of a few pence/mile! :lol:

 

[maby]

These days, I charge once a week - occasionally twice. We are only in the house a couple of days per week and the rest of the time there is no convenient power source to recharge the car. We got back this afternoon (Monday) and I'll put it on charge tomorrow morning - that will last me till Thursday - I may give it a quick top-up if I drain it significantly - then we'll be back on the road running as a petrol car. It's not really laziness - we just don't have the opportunity to charge. That said, the 20-odd miles that I get on EV is too short to make much difference to the 300-odd miles that we do from Thursday morning to Monday afternoon, so I don't worry too much about it. We definitely did buy the car for the BIK and other tax advantages.

 

[pedroucos]

I charge once or twice a day on the public charging network.

 

[Sailordoc]

I charge every night at home. I don’t charge from public chargers as the costs are too high in the UK.