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Charging on the 'go'
- Thread starter Cymro
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As I understand it, the only economical option on the motorway network is Ecotricity - which is currently free. I think that Polar Network have some charging points in motorway service areas, but their pricing structure means that it is cheaper to run an Outlander on petrol.
Personally, I haven't bothered subscribing to any supplier - I did the sums and came to the conclusion that, with my pattern of usage they just did not make sense - the savings are too small to justify the inconvenience. Depending on your usage pattern, you may come to a different conclusion.
Personally, I haven't bothered subscribing to any supplier - I did the sums and came to the conclusion that, with my pattern of usage they just did not make sense - the savings are too small to justify the inconvenience. Depending on your usage pattern, you may come to a different conclusion.
Ecotricity seems excellent so far. I have done four long runs and used Ecotricity at several motorway services. All worked perfectly and took about 20mins to give me 80% charge. Their effect was to take the Outlander from worse than my BMW 318d MSport touring with repsect to effective MPG to better than the BMW. This was on long motorway drives and I had not expected the Outlander to achieve that as we don't normally do that many long trips. So very happy as a result. At quite a few of the charge points you do spend quite a lot of the twenty minutes explaing to passers by what is going on!!! I quite enjoy that.
CJ
CJ
chindley
Well-known member
I wasn't going to bother with a type 2 to type 1 cable as the pricing just wasn't worth it. I have used the Ecotricity fast charge points a few times and they are great. However last week I had to take my wife to Hospital for an appointment, we all know what a nightmare Hospital parking is like. After riding round for 10 mins with no success I noticed 2 EV parking bays so I pulled into one of them :mrgreen: to the envy of all the other people looking for spaces :evil: The parking officer was quick to notice and came bounding over to ask me to move. When I showed him it was an electric vehicle and that the sign doesn't state that it has to be charging to park there he let me off. I am now thinking of getting the cable even if I don't actually need to charge the car . A bit selfish? maybe, but what are the chances of 2 Nissan Leafs coming along and needing the spaces. I'm now looking for excuses to go to Hospital so I can park there again. :lol:
jaapv
Well-known member
But - as stated in the manual, fast charging on a regular basis will reduce the lifespan of your batteries..... 
Even if you plan to trade it in after two or three years, the battery condition check will reveal the state of the battery, which in turn will certainly affect the price.
Even if you plan to trade it in after two or three years, the battery condition check will reveal the state of the battery, which in turn will certainly affect the price.
dukeinlondon
Well-known member
maby said:
I completely agree that it's hardly worth it to try to charge on the go purely on a cost basis. But the car is at its best when relying on its electric drive train so it's a nice indulgence if there is the opportunity.
dukeinlondon said:
But it never allows the battery to go so flat that the electric drive train cannot function - that would leave you with an unusable car since the mechanical drive train cannot engage at low speeds. You do need additional charge if you are going to climb significant gradients, but for motorway runs on the (relatively) flat, the handling difference between a full and flat battery is small.
Well I found that Ecotricity was a winner all round. It is completely free. I was pulling into motorway services anyway to either have a morning coffee or my lunch. The EV charging points were right next to the main cafés and the car was charged about 2 minutes before I finished my coffee. I then have a free 25 miles of driving. What is not to like!
CJ
CJ
jaapv said:But - as stated in the manual, fast charging on a regular basis will reduce the lifespan of your batteries.....
Even if you plan to trade it in after two or three years, the battery condition check will reveal the state of the battery, which in turn will certainly affect the price.
You need to read the manual more carefully - the issue with fast charging is that it charges to 80% not 100% like slow charge so if you ONLY fast charge the battery gets used to this. As the manual states if you then do a slow charge to 100% it reconditions the battery. There is no issue with using fast chargers from time to time but they should not be used exclusivlely!
CJ
jaapv
Well-known member
Actually nil....maby said:
CJ1045 said:jaapv said:But - as stated in the manual, fast charging on a regular basis will reduce the lifespan of your batteries.....
Even if you plan to trade it in after two or three years, the battery condition check will reveal the state of the battery, which in turn will certainly affect the price.
You need to read the manual more carefully - the issue with fast charging is that it charges to 80% not 100% like slow charge so if you ONLY fast charge the battery gets used to this. As the manual states if you then do a slow charge to 100% it reconditions the battery. There is no issue with using fast chargers from time to time but they should not be used exclusivlely!
CJ
Not true - I was researching this a few days ago and engineers at MIT have tested it. They have come to the conclusion that repeated fast charging does not do as much damage to EV batteries than was originally believed - 1,500 fast charges resulted in an excess degradation of the capacity of just 10%. But in a car with the EV range of an Outlander, 1,500 fast charges could equate to relatively few years of use. The mechanism of the degradation is damage at the crystalline scale of the electrodes.
Bilbo59
Well-known member
I charge every time I have a break at a motorway stop, it seems daft not to!! If it is on the way home I use save until I hit the road works and urban roads on the last part of my journey.
Since 90% of my charging is at home I would hope that the system and batteries are robust enough to cope with this limited amount of rapid charge. Also - The five year warranty on the batteries could be taken as a demonstration of trust, in the technology, by Mitsubishi.
Since 90% of my charging is at home I would hope that the system and batteries are robust enough to cope with this limited amount of rapid charge. Also - The five year warranty on the batteries could be taken as a demonstration of trust, in the technology, by Mitsubishi.
greendwarf
Well-known member
I agree - this has become something of an urban myth, I'm surprised jaapv (who seems to talk a lot of sense) has repeated it. But at the end of the day we all have to make our own minds up about what the manual actually means. Personally I'm going for fast charge when I can get it, otherwise it rather defeats the purpose of the car, but then I don't intend selling the car for a very long time.CJ1045 said:jaapv said:But - as stated in the manual, fast charging on a regular basis will reduce the lifespan of your batteries.....
Even if you plan to trade it in after two or three years, the battery condition check will reveal the state of the battery, which in turn will certainly affect the price.
You need to read the manual more carefully - the issue with fast charging is that it charges to 80% not 100% like slow charge so if you ONLY fast charge the battery gets used to this. As the manual states if you then do a slow charge to 100% it reconditions the battery. There is no issue with using fast chargers from time to time but they should not be used exclusivlely!
CJ
jaapv
Well-known member
From the official Mitsubushi FAQ: ( http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/outlander/phev-faq.aspx )
steve2001
Well-known member
Well my ecotricity card arrived in the post today. Just need the car now! It's due at 11am tomorrow, so one more sleep to go...
I will also be rapid charging whenever I get the chance, as it is a lease deal so goes back in 2 years. Having said that most of my journeys are local and I do not use motorways regularly. Am not aware of other rapid charge points I think the nearest one is Ikea about 8 miles away.
I will also be rapid charging whenever I get the chance, as it is a lease deal so goes back in 2 years. Having said that most of my journeys are local and I do not use motorways regularly. Am not aware of other rapid charge points I think the nearest one is Ikea about 8 miles away.
jaapv said:
Your quote is indeed what the manual says and the key word in it is 'only'. As I said in may message if you ONLY rapid charge (which charges to 80%) then the battery gets used to this. As Mitsubishi says you should slow charge to 100% every two weeks if you are just rapid charging in order to keep the battery operating best.
It also says that slow charging again when you have only used a small amount of the battery is also something you should not do for the best performance from the battery.
As I said you have to read the Mitsubishi guidance carefully
CJ
gwatpe
Well-known member
I have recently driven my PHEV in some mountainous conditions. I observed that the car recorded 45kWh of REGEN and 90kWh of USAGE in a 3 hour period of driving. The USAGE would have included energy sourced from the ICE as well as from the battery. Don't recall the %EV driving number. I was wondering if any other forum members had observed their PHEV recording such large amounts of battery energy? Europe has some decent hills, so many who drive their PHEV in such places should see similar records in the car history.
This may be some other anomaly with my PHEV, but if it is common then we should not worry too much about fast recharging as the car allows it while driving with REGEN.
here is a pic of the recorded evidence, sorry about the poor picture quality.
This may be some other anomaly with my PHEV, but if it is common then we should not worry too much about fast recharging as the car allows it while driving with REGEN.
here is a pic of the recorded evidence, sorry about the poor picture quality.
Ozukus
Well-known member
Can anyone tell me how long it takes to charge on a rapid charge once the battery is depleted and it has started running in series hybrid please.
greendwarf said:...
I agree - this has become something of an urban myth, I'm surprised jaapv (who seems to talk a lot of sense) has repeated it. But at the end of the day we all have to make our own minds up about what the manual actually means. Personally I'm going for fast charge when I can get it, otherwise it rather defeats the purpose of the car, but then I don't intend selling the car for a very long time.
I just take the view that a fast charge will take you 20 miles if you are lucky - at motorway speeds, probably not much more than 10. That saves you somewhere between £1 and £2.50 in petrol and requires you to stop for half an hour - even if the risk of battery damage is small, is it worth it? I would say no. The battery in an Outlander works for short, local commuting - for longer distances and higher speeds, it's a petrol car. I charge overnight at home and occasionally top-up at home during the day - charging "on the go" simply does not make sense to me.
The situation is a bit different for genuine electric cars like the Tesla - you can cram in enough charge in half an hour to take you more than a hundred miles - though there is evidence of them losing significant battery capacity after a few years of that pattern of usage - one owner is suing them at the moment because his range has dropped from the initial 200 miles to around 150 miles and does not have the range to complete a regular journey that he has to make.
