IronGiant
Moderator
After just over 4 years of EV ownership and being spoiled by having a backup oil burner with a range of 700 miles we finally dipped our toe into the water of charging on the move (don't laugh). Under current conditions and the way we drive our MG it had a quoted range of 144 miles on the onboard display. We had a round trip of 187 miles so a charge would be needed at some point. We found a genie point CCS 50kW charger 9 miles from our destination and to our joy it was empty. Then the problems started. We tried half a dozen times to connect to the charger using their app and each time we got a connection error. We had one last try, unplugged, replugged, locked the MG and the app still said nothing. But suddenly, there was a click, the charging station started humming and the green light on the side of the charger went from green to blue.
The MG will only charge when the doors are locked, so we couldn't check whether it was charging as we thought this might interrupt the charging and we didn't know if we could get it back again. So we wandered over to the Superstore's "Ready to go" section and picked out a really good meal deal and sat on the grass under the trees next to our car to eat our lunch. We also included a toilet break. At no time did the app give us any indication as to how many kW we had had or if it was even connected. There was just a small stop button next to the empty time, kWhrs and cost columns. We guessed we had enough charge as the unit had been active for 40 minutes so Mrs IG pressed the stop button. Nothing happened. She pressed it again and still nothing despite getting a sent notification both times. We unlocked the car, at home this would cancel charging and a big connected but not charging screen comes up. Nothing. Pressed the start button in the car and a small charging icon came up amongst the warning icons. And the bar chart under the main battery symbol looked near to full. So we were good to go. But we couldn't as we were tethered to the charging station and they were locked together and wouldn't let go. Getting a bit worried at this point I spotted a big red button on the charging station and thinking it looked like the panic button on industrial machinery pressed it. The lights on the station changed from blue to red and a small LED screen announced the "emergency stop". I was able to extract the cable and replace it in it's holder but the machine was now to all intents dead. I examined the red button and it was embossed with, "turn to restart". It was recessed after me pushing it in so I manged to pull it out and turn it clockwise and the red lights turned green and the original status was restored, phew. We were pleased to see that we had 135 miles under the bonnet and on arriving at our destination had 126 miles left, meaning we had a 26 mile buffer to get the 98 miles home. When we left the in built sat nav picked a different route, which looked a lot easier, but seemed to be the same length, but due to very recent roadworks was 104 miles. So our buffer was now 20 miles. Due to the better roads Mrs IG was able to drive faster (while remaining within the speed limit) and before long our buffer had declined to 10 miles. Then it started raining and the wipers came on. I started worrying at this point and suggested we could turn the air con off. Mrs IG agreed and we gained another 6 miles of range. Once we got within 12 miles of home and were driving at 50-60 and still had 16 miles in reserve we went for broke and turned it back on again. Crept onto the drive with 16 miles left. Phew.
The MG will only charge when the doors are locked, so we couldn't check whether it was charging as we thought this might interrupt the charging and we didn't know if we could get it back again. So we wandered over to the Superstore's "Ready to go" section and picked out a really good meal deal and sat on the grass under the trees next to our car to eat our lunch. We also included a toilet break. At no time did the app give us any indication as to how many kW we had had or if it was even connected. There was just a small stop button next to the empty time, kWhrs and cost columns. We guessed we had enough charge as the unit had been active for 40 minutes so Mrs IG pressed the stop button. Nothing happened. She pressed it again and still nothing despite getting a sent notification both times. We unlocked the car, at home this would cancel charging and a big connected but not charging screen comes up. Nothing. Pressed the start button in the car and a small charging icon came up amongst the warning icons. And the bar chart under the main battery symbol looked near to full. So we were good to go. But we couldn't as we were tethered to the charging station and they were locked together and wouldn't let go. Getting a bit worried at this point I spotted a big red button on the charging station and thinking it looked like the panic button on industrial machinery pressed it. The lights on the station changed from blue to red and a small LED screen announced the "emergency stop". I was able to extract the cable and replace it in it's holder but the machine was now to all intents dead. I examined the red button and it was embossed with, "turn to restart". It was recessed after me pushing it in so I manged to pull it out and turn it clockwise and the red lights turned green and the original status was restored, phew. We were pleased to see that we had 135 miles under the bonnet and on arriving at our destination had 126 miles left, meaning we had a 26 mile buffer to get the 98 miles home. When we left the in built sat nav picked a different route, which looked a lot easier, but seemed to be the same length, but due to very recent roadworks was 104 miles. So our buffer was now 20 miles. Due to the better roads Mrs IG was able to drive faster (while remaining within the speed limit) and before long our buffer had declined to 10 miles. Then it started raining and the wipers came on. I started worrying at this point and suggested we could turn the air con off. Mrs IG agreed and we gained another 6 miles of range. Once we got within 12 miles of home and were driving at 50-60 and still had 16 miles in reserve we went for broke and turned it back on again. Crept onto the drive with 16 miles left. Phew.