8 Tips for a smooth EV Holiday Road Trip!
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
- During the holiday season lots of us are going to be doing longer road trips and some of us will be in our electric cars. I thought this video may be helpful with some tips on how to make it as pleasant a trip as possible. ☺️
If you'd like to know more about this channel you can check out my website - www.notacarguy.io
00:00 - Intro
00:48 - Be kind
01:24 - Planning
02:02 - RFID cards
03:00 - Get all the apps
03:47 - Leave early or late
04:05 - It’s not a race
05:27 - No need to charge more than 80% on a roadtrip
06:35 - Charge while you stop, don’t stop to charge
07:23 - Chargers share power - Auta a dopravní prostředky
It’s not a race!
In my 50+ years of driving near and far, I have never arrived at my destination to find a bikini clad swimsuit model waiting with a 2 meter tall trophy, a bushel of roses, and a massive check made out to me in the amount of a 7-digit value. Never, no matter how fast I drove.
It’s not a race, indeed. I’d rather arrive at my destination as relaxed as possible, meaning I’m not driving like Mad Max.
EVs are great for that, as you’ve got to stop and charge now and then. Get out, walk around, grab a snack, enjoy the sights. Or take a nap.
Happy and safe travels to all from the US!
Simon would say you're clearly not driving fast enough. 🤣
Haha! Yes. must try harder! :D @@notacarguy_au
Happy Road Tripping people. Enjoy the driving and charging experience
Here, here! ☺️
Be Kind? Yesterday a man wandered over while I was charging and asked how long I would be, and said this was their first time charging. I said let me check, and I was at 98% (I was busy doing other stuff), so I moved my car, helped them get close enough to the charger, told them about the ChargeFox RFID card, and the procedure of which plug went where, what order to do it in, when to press the GO button etc etc. They were sure happy little Vegemite's - it made their day.
🙏🏻✊🏼👍🏻
A thoughtful list. Thanks Lee.
Thanks. Hope you found it useful. 😀
Lee That is good advice since the national road toll isn't good and EV's sre great for the 2 hour rest stops.Have a lovely Xmas
And don’t forget bladder breaks. 😉🤣
So far since buying my MY I've done one long road trip, and only had a couple of minor issues. Both were in very small regional Qld towns where one site there was already someone charging (was at 18% SOC so didn't expect he was moving any time soon) so I just plugged into the slow AC 11kWh charger for a while while I had lunch, no big deal. The second was in another nearby small town (only one Chargefox charger) I plugged in, went to visit the nearest toilet (about 200m away) and discovered the charger had suddenly stopped charging, so I had to go back to the car and restart the charging process. Then the charger only peaked at 40kWh or thereabouts, BUT since it took a while to charge I was able to catch up on a Netflix movie in lovely AC comfort and had some time to relax. So yes it prolonged the overall trip by a couple of hours, but like you said it's not a race and there's no prize for getting to your destination sooner rather than later.
I hope you washed your hands before going back to start the charge up again. 😉🤣
@@notacarguy_au haha actually I didn't even make it that far before I got the alert on my phone!
I did Melb-Cairns via Dubbo, and back via the coast, and the Hume Hwy (7500km). I had only ONE time when someone was using a charger and I had to wait for 30 minutes (their car was plugged in, but not charging). I'm off to Coffs Harbour in a few weeks, returning via Lightning Ridge, Bourke and Broken Hill - just don't tell the missus ;-)
Very wise words
Thank you. 🙏🏻☺️
I haven't been on a road trip as yet, I am too new to the scene. My worry is that I'll have to deal with some obnoxious motorist, but every EV driver I have met have been great so far. Nothing planned as yet but one thing I learned early on is the 20-80 rule, so that will always be at the top of my mind if there are people waiting.
I've found that the road trips have been pretty easy and stress free overall. Though I can imagine that this time of year it can be a bit more challenging. But as I said in the video, I think the key is to try and be kind to each other and I think we'll all get on just fine. ☺️
yes the 20-80 rule is good, but if you want to make really good time, charging from 10 to about 60 is the fastest speed charging, so you get on the road quicker and can take advantage of the higher charger speeds.
The 20-80 rule is only a suggestion. If you have watched Lee & Mandy with their 15 minutes stops running back from the toilet to get going ASAP, trust me, it's just them. I often (at lunch time) plug in, set charging to 100% and have a relaxing lunch. Unless... the chargers are busy, then I do the opposite.
Great advice Lee. Just be a good citizen of Earth.
ps. Just had to get a tyre replaced after getting a nail it, Model Y was 2 weeks old. The Tyre company had to order a Hankook tyre, but it had deeper tread than factory fit tyre? Have you seen this before, I understand the factory fit tyres could be a special version to save on costs? I haven't heard anyone talk about this before.
I had not heard that. I’ve been told that EV specific tyres are better. But really don’t know enough about it to have an opinion. 😀
The Chargefox RFID card is $10 and the EVIE one is free.
After the recent Optus outage, I was reading a forum and it was said that each individual charger needs to do some sort of "authorization" of the RFID card the first time you use it and this cannot be done without mobile service.
I'm not sure how true that was but it makes sense.
When our MY arrives, I'm going to use each charger I come across (even if it's just for a couple of minutes) just incase it's true.
I think you’ll be fine. 😀 but can’t hurt to be prepared. 👍🏻😀
Evidently both RFID cards are interchangeable, but I don't know how to set it up. Lee will know...
@@greghudson9717 You are correct.
I have my Evie card setup with Evie, Chargefox and BP Pulse.
I have tested and it works just fine with all of them.
You just go into the app and add the number off the card.
Good advice
Thank you, glad you found it helpful.
Also on the topic of advice we have the same model Tesla with an LFP battery can you do a video on how much do you charge especially if you do 600km weekly in driving. Do you charge to 100% and if so how often, or do you apply the same rules as the long range and charge to 80% and leave the 100% charge to once a week? The owners manual is fine if you only drive 2-300km/week. I find it really confusing.
As they state charge to 100% once a week.
Yes, it is a bit confusing. It will depend on the weekend have. Most weeks we drive the car to about 50%-60% battery over a one week period and then charge it back up to 100% once per week.
Though other times if it’s really sunny and want to make the most of our solar panels we may charge the car up from 80-100 just cause we can. 😀
I think you can almost charge it like you filled up your old petrol car. Sometimes you fill it up and sometimes you only need to top it up. 🤷🏻♂️😀
@@notacarguy_au your right it’s probably the best way to think about it
Just get the EVIE one and add it too other charge networks
So I’ve heard.
I just tried and was able to add my EVIE card to Chargefox and vice versa.
All I need now is for the car to be delivered so I can test 🙂
@@goneincognito6275 Good to know, hope the car doesn't take too much longer. ☺
@@notacarguy_au Sometime in Jan at this stage but that's starting to not look too good.
Be patient to the chademo batallions 😂
That’s a good point. 🤣
@@notacarguy_au I have a different opinion... chademo cars should be banned from entering the country because it adds complexity, and extra cost to the chargers. IMO each site should only have ONE chademo plug, and SEVEN CCS2 plugs, simply because there are gazillions of CCS2 cars, and bugger all chademos. IMO it is stupidity to put chademo on every charger when they are hardly ever used. Plus they charge VERY slowly, which is another reason to move them away. Just my opinion...
Re queuing up to charge. Do the cars line up then move up to take the next available fast charger or is a bit of a free for all? I’ve not used a fast charger yet so is it easy to determine where you are in the queue?
At the moment it's pretty much a free for all. In my experience everyone is pretty cool and it's been really good experiences. But there aren't "official" rules that I know of.
AFAIK Goulburn NSW is the busiest Tesla station in Australia. In busy times like school holidays, Tesla has been known to HIRE someone to direct traffic at that location. (So I have heard).
snacks. Evie card is free.
Yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention snacks. I'm going to go with the theory that it's so obvious to pack snacks that it's not even worth mentioning? 🤷🏻🤣
@@notacarguy_au I think padkos deserves a video all of its own.
@@goneincognito6275 Will have to be a short video, I'm trying to lose weight. 😜
@@notacarguy_au Haha..
On that note, you are doing well!
Honestly sounds a bit miserable
What does?