{"id":6974,"date":"2022-01-17T15:44:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T15:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chevinfleet.com\/en-us\/?post_type=training&p=6974"},"modified":"2022-01-18T16:56:26","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T16:56:26","slug":"ashleys-ev-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"training","link":"https:\/\/www.chevinfleet.com\/en-us\/learning-zone\/ashleys-ev-road-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashley’s EV Road Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In October our CEO and Founder, Ashley Sowerby along with his wife, Tracey, and our\u00a0Chief Morale Boosting Officer, Archie,<\/a>\u00a0the Bearded Collie, took his Tesla Model S on a road trip from Belper, within the heart of Derbyshire in the UK to the island of Mallorca in Spain!<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t his first EV adventure, he has previously driven to Copenhagen, Brussels, Madrid and Paris. Now, Ashley wants to share his experience of a long-distance road trip with an electric vehicle and some of the tips he\u2019s picked up while on the road.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Leaving the UK<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The journey to Palma took a total of 3 days and consisted of 1 train, 1 ferry and 2 overnight stays. The route was selected as a touristic route, allowing time to visit places along the way, rather than a simple point-to-point shortest\/fastest route.<\/p>\n

First things first\u00a0\u2018It might seem like a no brainer, but I always start a long trip with the car charged to 100%.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Ashley states.\u00a0\u2018Whilst travelling during the day, it rarely makes sense to charge back to 100%, as the rate of charge typically declines once over 80%. It\u2019s a bit like pouring a pint of beer, you can fill the majority of the glass quite quickly, but then need to slow down to top-off the glass. So on the road, aim to have enough in the battery for the next leg, or couple of hours, and then get moving again. However, when charging overnight it is useful to aim for return to 100% fully charged just to carry that extra charge into the following days travel.\u2019<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After setting off from home his first stop was South Mimms Services, just off the M25 in Hertfordshire, for a coffee break and the first charge of the trip.<\/p>\n

Ashley comments\u00a0\u201cUsing a high-powered Charger means that whilst I use the Service Facilities, the car is quickly restored to a significant state of charge, and no additional time is spent at the Services than would be in any other car. Indeed, as there\u2019s no need to also visit the Service Station, arguably I could be back on the road before a driver of a Petrol or Diesel vehicle<\/em>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Eurotunnel<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Back on the road again, he heads to Folkstone in Kent to catch the Eurotunnel to France. He plugs in again at the Passenger Terminal, quickly recharging whilst sorting out the Pet Passport paperwork for Archie.<\/p>\n

These on-site chargers are great for topping-up prior to boarding commencing, again using what could be considered \u201cwaiting time\u201d to charge-up and avoid interrupting the next leg of the journey.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Rouen, first overnight stop in France<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After the Eurotunnel to Calais and with the Battery in a good state of charge, it was an uninterrupted next leg, 130 miles to Rouen, a city on the River Seine in northern France.<\/p>\n

Here Ashley stopped overnight in a hotel that had on-site charging. The plan was to leave the car in the underground car park to fully recharge whilst exploring the historic city centre and had dinner.<\/p>\n

It was an incredible \u2018squeeze\u2019 to get the car parked, with the space itself hardly any wider than the car, and the charging point was in the back corner of the parking bay.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Ashley states:\u00a0\u201cI managed to park and plug-in, but no power was coming from the charging unit. A quick trip to reception and they gave me a card to swipe to activate it. I did that, but given the tightness of the space, didn\u2019t open the door to double check that charging had started (I\u2019d heard the usual \u2018clicks\u2019 from the charger unit so figured all was OK). Next morning when we loaded up, rather than the 100% I was expecting, the car was still sat at the 15% I\u2019d arrived with. So unfortunately, our first stop came sooner than planned with a minor detour to a fast charger on the outskirts of Rouen.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n