The Wilted Leaf - Leaf gives me a Christmas present ...26/12/2024

[rainagain]

I was looking at chargers on eBay, the regs say they have to either have a local earth rod or built in PEN protection. Most of the cheaper ones don't have PEN but don't mention this in their ads. Something to watch out for. 

[320touring]

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Would Octopus not do you one of their fancy EV tariffs just on a granny charger/smart meter? Wouldn't cost anything to get that setup https://octopus.energy/ev-tariffs/ and you'd get some cheap rate overnight

I honestly couldn't decipher if that was an option...

@Kiltox can I get some sweet cheap kWh on a granny charger? We're with Octopus.

[loserone]

Yes you can get Go with a granny 

https://octopus.energy/smart/go/

Still need a smart meter obviously.

 

Where has £1200 come from? The octopus installation prices are meant to be inclusive though in your case you may need to provide an erection for them to mount it on if you want it at the gate

[320touring]

31 minutes ago, loserone said:

Yes you can get Go with a granny 

https://octopus.energy/smart/go/

Still need a smart meter obviously.

 

Where has £1200 come from? The octopus installation prices are meant to be inclusive though in your case you may need to provide an erection for them to mount it on if you want it at the gate

Good to know cheers. Day rate about 1p higher than current. 5hrs charging would get a max of what, say 10kwh into the car on a granny charger, so only about 33% of a full charge

 

The £1200 is a guess based on a standard install being about £1000 from octopus 

https://octopus.energy/order/ev-charger/products/?utm_campaign=Pmax_EV_Chargers&utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=adwords&_gl=1*kx8tp0*_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtsy1BhD7ARIsAHOi4xYkaQ9spJUdsuafmWZhwdPc7omItOkLvnEF03zfefyZUpulktT0wtsaAgskEALw_wcB

My installation wouldn't be standard.  I'd likely be best with a remote mounted charger on a pole . Untethered. 

[beko1987]

My dad's on octopus now their a fully eV household (stepmum has an id3) and (when it works) their charger times itself to the cheapo eV tarrif when it kicks in. (automatically I think, it all gets linked) 

Dad alternates the cars each night to charge them, although says he doesn't have to do them every night. Says it's saving a noticeable amount vs petrol for the ioniq that said it did 57mpg average for the driving they do

[Kiltox]

It’s unlikely to be worth going onto Go just to dribble in a handful of volts on a granny charger, your savings will likely disappear in your peak usage and increased standing charge 

[320touring]

3 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

It’s unlikely to be worth going onto Go just to dribble in a handful of volts on a granny charger, your savings will likely disappear in your peak usage and increased standing charge 

Looks like no increase in standing charge, and 1p increase in the per unit cost for day rate

Currently on this

 

Octopus Go rates in my location.

[320touring]

Time for some number crunch action...

 

We know from earlier on in this thread that it took 8h 24 mins to put 14kwh into the car on the granny charger

0845-1045 3.8kw added so at 21.3kwh 62% (+14%)

1045-1245 3.7kw added so at 25kwh 76% (+14%)

1245-1445 3.6kw added so at 28.6kwh 88% (+12%)

1445-1709 2.9kwh added so at 31.5kwh 100% (+12%)

That works out at roughly 1.75kwh/ per hour whilst charging.

 

In the 5hr charging window for Octopus go, that would mean a max of 8.75 kWh at the cheap rate of £0.085/kWh, so a cost of about 75p.

Assuming I charge at about 33% left in the battery and charge to full, then I'd be putting about 21.5kwh into the car in total. (The car claims 100% at 31.5kwh in the battery)

On the current tariff that would be 21.5kwh x £0.22/kWh = £4.73.

On octopus Go it would be (12.75kwh x£0.22/kWh) + (8.75kwh x£0.085/kWh) = £3.55

 

[bangernomics]

Have you considered some battery storage and a BFO inverter/charger? You could do a lower tech lead acid/gel setup depending on funds available although lithium is getting much cheaper these days.

I’m going to move onto a cheap rate overnight deal for winter as the U.K. solar drops off. For 6 months of the year we can tan the cheap to charge/launder/dishwash then dribble it back out during the day.

In summer we don’t need a supply that much as the panels do a good job.


Gzongenflatch
In memory of Phil.

[320touring]

I was up and out this morning at about 8.10am. this was partly so I could have some time to add additional charge to the car...

I drove to a country park and applied my new Electroverse RFID card to a charger. The card is a revelation - significantly less faff than trying to use the chargeplace Scotland app.

It's interesting to note that despite @Kiltox telling me to always connect to the car last, the chargeplace Scotland app says to connect to the car first. 

I followed these instructions and it worked flawlessly - I'm not sure if it's maybe the specific type of chargers that require this process - a lot of the chargeplace Scotland infrastructure is old tech.

 

Anyway, whilst it was sooking up some kWh, I decided to do an helf.

With electric car charging being a passive activity, I had ample time to do a walk round the country park.

I was mildly shocked at how pretty this place was - it sits wthe the M8 to the north, Harthill to the west and Whitburn to the east.  Right in the middle of shite hole country..

There's also a couple of bits of public art kicking about. First up, THE HORN

This should be well known to anyone who has traversed the M8.

 

Then something significantly more shite worthy

The adventure will continue shortly...

[hairnet]

On 07/08/2024 at 08:07, loserone said:

Yes you can get Go with a granny 

https://octopus.energy/smart/go/

Still need a smart meter obviously.

 

Where has £1200 come from? The octopus installation prices are meant to be inclusive though in your case you may need to provide an erection for them to mount it on if you want it at the gate

At his age

Mibbe

[320touring]

Part two of the adventures..

He's only gone and taken it hillclimbing...

 

I'm pleased to report its holding up well so far..

[Dave_Q]

My DIY install of a second hand podpoint was about £300-350, obviously you absolutely shouldn't do this as it's Notifiable under building regs, unless that's different in Scotland.

I also found a free charger yesterday in the car park of our local B&M, it said on it a provider name but the providers website didn't admit to it's existence and I plugged in and got free kW. 

Might be worth investigating if B&M is a thing up there 

[Kiltox]

2 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

My DIY install of a second hand podpoint was about £300-350, obviously you absolutely shouldn't do this as it's Notifiable under building regs, unless that's different in Scotland.

I also found a free charger yesterday in the car park of our local B&M, it said on it a provider name but the providers website didn't admit to it's existence and I plugged in and got free kW. 

Might be worth investigating if B&M is a thing up there 

I think rather than these being chargers B&M have installed the retail park landlord will have been told to for planning!  Probably long forgotten about. 

[Dave_Q]

Quite possibly.

https://evcharge.online/ was the provider on the label but their website didn't have it on and it just worked, I wonder how many other orphan chargers there are out there. Probably just need to keep your eye out locally. 7kW type 2 it was.

[320touring]

Thanks for the link, have had a look and only free ones near here show as unavailable.. the other ones are 40p + 50p connection 

[Dave_Q]

What happened with the one I found was that the providers website didn't have it on at all but it still worked.

So I meant if you see one in the wild it might be worth checking if it's on there as it might not be and could therefore be free

[tooSavvy]

@320touring.. Who has the gIMP 🤔

 

Neetz ♥️👍

🚙💨

[somewhatfoolish]

On 18/08/2024 at 10:40, 320touring said:

With electric car charging being a passive activity, I had ample time to do a walk round the country park.

I was mildly shocked at how pretty this place was - it sits wthe the M8 to the north, Harthill to the west and Whitburn to the east.  Right in the middle of shite hole country..

 

 

Bit of a state, needs beavers on the case.

[320touring]

22 minutes ago, tooSavvy said:

@320touring.. Who has the gIMP 🤔

 

Neetz ♥️👍

🚙💨

Nae idea but I know it has a 998 in it

[hairnet]

so you didnt post any thing about the hill climb

did you get beasted by the transit

 

[320touring]

4 minutes ago, hairnet said:

so you didnt post any thing about the hill climb

did you get beasted by the transit

 

It's in the news 24 thread🤣

[hairnet]

57 minutes ago, 320touring said:

It's in the news 24 thread🤣

if yer mate was driving would it huv gun quicker

did ya do solo

that first crest - sounded like it didnt like that the other bigger crest it seemed ok

did ya get air?

[320touring]

18 minutes ago, hairnet said:

if yer mate was driving would it huv gun quicker

did ya do solo

that first crest - sounded like it didnt like that the other bigger crest it seemed ok

did ya get air?

He'd have been quicker or on the grass. He was both in his Clio...

It's a bit more tricky than mine

The traction control and the "Funrun" tyres meant grip wasn't optimal..

I've been informed that the leaf is more like 1600kg (and that Parkers, where I got the figure of 1176kg is wrong). If that's the case then

 

A- the performance is even more impressive than I thought and 

B- at 1600kg, no it didn't get airborne 🤣

[EyesWeldedShut]

57 minutes ago, 320touring said:

A- the performance is even more impressive than I thought and 

B- at 1600kg, no it didn't get airborne 🤣

Tbh when you mentioned it in the news thread I just assumed you’d travelled over in it to watch the automotive fun.

Top banana for taking part 👍👍

[320touring]

Some action shots of it on the way to the next fare

 

Taken from this album 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87711400@N04/

 

[320touring]

Since we have had the car the weather has been relatively reasonable (for Scotland).

Temps have been 15-24 degrees, and most days have been reasonably dry when the car has been in use.

These are the ideal operating conditions for the car - battery at decent temp, no drag from wet surfaces and no need to run the heater..

Today was not like that.

It had rained all night, and temperatures were in the 8-12 range - much colder and damper.

This was obviously the ideal time to test the car on a long(ISH) run on higher speed roads!

This was the route - mainly A roads that were up hill and down dale.

The result was this

It was a bit odd - despite taking it steady to avoid mullering the battery, I was frequently frustrated by dawdlers!

These numbers are pretty damn good as the car has been averaging 4.8miles per kWh.

I decided to look closer at what it was actually consuming so fired up Leafspy:

Starting kWh 

Arrival kWh 

So that's 31.5-18.1 = 13.4kWh to do 65 miles.

That's 4.85miles per kWh or about 160mpg equivalent.

The car was connected up to a fast AC charger (though the Leaf can't use the full 22kw  speed - only having 6.6kw on board charging)

And off we went for a right good stoat in the rain..

We found a new path to try and were glad we did - beautiful if wet!

 

Then it was back to the pier and the town for a bowl of soup before heading home...

Great times!

[320touring]

The return leg was more wild - much more rain and significant gusts of wind. Add in the fact that both the Burd and I were DROOKIT (soaked to the skin) and the car was misting up, and we can expect consumption to be worse..

When you switch on the heater/blower and AC to clear the screen, the mileage estimate drops by about 15-20miles. This is obviously just a guess, but we decided that we'd use it only as needed.

It heats up quicky and clears well -though I think the cabin filter could do with a change.

We also figured out we could use the heater for "free" going downhill when the car was using regenerative braking to keep the car at the desired speed😬

Based on our experience today, the Leaf is adequate re heating/ventilation, but we think more modern electric vehicles would be much better and more efficient.

The scores on the doors?

What does that actually mean?

Well, the charger had filled the car right up to start

But heater use and the drag of the rain/headwinds meant we used more juice to get home...

32- 17.2 = 14.8kWh to do 64.2 miles.

That's 4.34m/kWh or about 146mpg

Stella pretty damn good!

The overall average is 28.2kWh to cover 129.2miles, so 4.58m/kWh or 154mpg.

 

All on all we're bloody pleased by the performance of the car - especially for a high mileage car with pretty basic battery management.

The next adventure will be seeing how it does going further into the battery pack - maybe running it down to 15% and seeing what the performance and consumption is like..

[EyesWeldedShut]

20 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Great times!

Blew your cover there - you are Para Handy?  

[320touring]

3 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Blew your cover there - you are Para Handy?  

I have the beard for it, but not the sea legs🤣