Preparing for long journey

[Eyeofthetiger]

Hi everyone.

I am due to take delivery of my new skoda enyaq this week. I am due to make a 180 mile journey and back shortly. I had a few questions I would be grateful if someone could answer.

1. What type of charger does this car use? I have been told there are different types of chargers. Is there a universal one?
2. Is there any app that shows where I can charge the car and is there any recommended charging stations on m6 between Manchester and London?
3. Do I need a special app or account to use these stations or is it like a petrol station, for anyone to use?

This is my first EV car so just wanted to check as switching from disal with 600-700 mile range.

Thanks

[Eyeofthetiger]

One more question I wanted to ask.
Does anyone use the 3 pin chargers to charge their cars if staying at a family members house, or do you prefer to use superchargers?

Thanks

[Lorttrol]

The Enyaq has a type 2 CCS connector.
This means it can charge at home on a 7kw charger, or 11kw if you have a 3 phase electrical supply. It will charge at 11kw on a public AC charger.
The fast or rapid chargers use DC, this is the two plugs under the AC connector on the car. They are usually larger handles. A lot of 7 or 11kw public chargers let you use your own lead.

A lot of them are a tap and go type system. Plug in, tap your card and it will charge. Some require an app to start the charge. Personally i hunt out gridserve chargers as you can tap and go. Also i used the rugby services on my way to Manchester last year. They have a bank of rapid gridserve chargers. Ive had 3 free charges from gridserve due to card readers not working. 2 of which were at Rugby.

If you have a problem with any charger just call the customer service number. In my experience they have always been helpful and resolved all issues.

Charging at home is the cheapest. So a lot of people do use their 3 pin granny leads to top up when visiting friends and family. They do the same on holiday. It will take about 24 hours on a 3 pin to charge or 10 hours on a 7kw charger or 40mins on a rapid charger.

I'd had my enyaq about 2 months when i took a 1500 mile journey to orkney. In the middle or winter with -3 degree weather. I learnt some lessons on the way, such as follow your route plan and dont assume you know kore than the car. Now i wouldn't even think twice about doing the same journey. Range anxiety exists at times but you'll get over it fast once you've public charged a few times.

Hands down the enyaq is the best car I've owned and the change to electric hasnt been scary or hard for me.

[Eyeofthetiger]

Thanks for your help. I did think the 3 pin charger will be helpful when visiting family/friends but skoda have quoted me £230 which seems excessive for journeys I might do 2/3 times a year!

[livingforever]

I would also say there’s a pretty good chance you can do that 180 mile journey without having to charge the car… (certainly if it’s an 80?)

[Eyeofthetiger]

I would also say there’s a pretty good chance you can do that 180 mile journey without having to charge the car… (certainly if it’s an 80?)

I'm certain I can make the journey in 1 charge, it's the return that is the concern. I have ordered 80 model.

[Panagon]

The SatNav will also show you available rapid chargers and if necessary direct you to one on route. With the new version of the software I have found this to be pretty good.

[CrowSysE243]

Thanks for your help. I did think the 3 pin charger will be helpful when visiting family/friends but skoda have quoted me £230 which seems excessive for journeys I might do 2/3 times a year!

The Skoda charger is rather expensive. There are plenty of third party ones available new at under £200 and even some at about £100. Some are available with longer cables than provided by the Skoda charger and with the ability to vary the charging current. I believe that the Skoda charger provides a fixed 10 amperes and is about 6 metres long. I chose a Third Rock charger with a 10 metre cable after looking at the comments on this forum and from experience with our Kona EV. It has the advantage of being able to charge at 13A, 8A and 6A as well as 10A.

180 miles without charging should be easy at this time of the year in an 80. A 211 mile round trio to Stansted used 54% charge. I covered 311 miles using 93%. Generally this was using ECO/B mode with ACC at about 60 mph where possible and with aircon off. Heating was on inadvertently in the evenings for part of this as well as the heated windscreen and aircon for about half an hour. In the 4 weeks I have had the car it has averaged 4.6 miles per kWh, although now I have set aircon and heating off it is generally 5 or better.

In preparation for a 450 mile trip next week I have checked that charging from a rapid DC CCS charger works as the journey is not viable using only AC charging. As we normally charge each time we stop for a break it does not cause a problem if there are no available working chargers at one of the stops. The ZapMap app is very useful for finding chargers along our route. I have not tried using the car map yet in a journey but I have noted that some chargers I know of are not shown on it but are on ZapMap. REcently installed rapid chargers can be used with a contactless credit or debit charge, however there are still some round the country that can only be used with an app or in some cases a network specific RFID card, particularly in more remote areas. There are some multinetwork cards available without a monthly fee but the charging costs vary. For example the current rate for using an Ionity rapid charger with a credit/debit card or usingsubscription free Skoda PowerPass is 74p/kWh. Using Octopus Electroverse without linking to an Octopus account is 66p/kWh.

[Ken3966]

One more question I wanted to ask.
Does anyone use the 3 pin chargers to charge their cars if staying at a family members house, or do you prefer to use superchargers?

Thanks

I bought a granny charger off Amazon with an extra long cable and managed to charge the car enough each day to keep going for the 3 weeks or so until I arranged for a wall charger to be fitted.
Basically it will put in up to about 10 miles per hour into an 80 averaging 4m per kWh.
A wall charger will do about 30 m per kWh.
I could have managed most of time with granny charger but if you can go onto an off peak tariff then you need the faster charging of a wall charger to get it done in the time available.
We go to our daughter about once a month 160 miles away and now take granny charger and use that there instead of local Tesla charger at 57p per kWh, so less than half the cost.
Only issue is she lives in a rented house without an outside power point so charger cable has to go out through an upstairs window and drop down to car. OK in summer but not possible in winter.

[Aragorn]

I've had a granny charger for a long while (this is my third EV). I've never used it since getting the Enyaq.

It got a bit of use with the LEAF and B250e due to their limited range when visiting relatives etc. Its generally a faff to use (getting the car close enough, finding a suitable outlet etc etc), and you run the risk of damaging the electrics of the place your visiting if they arent up to handling the constant high power use.

So i wouldnt be rushing out to buy one unless you have a specific need. Its ofcourse handy to have as a backup, but there are plenty rapids around these days that it feels like much less of a necessity.