Upgrade from iV60 to iV80

[andym69]

Hi there

I guess I'm looking for experiences from the iV80 community here. I have had an iV60 since September, have done 6000 miles and really love the car, the quality and drive is excellent and some of the packs really add to an enjoyable driving experience.

My main issue is range, in that I regularly do longer journeys and am finding it necessary to stop and charge at public chargers. I'm achieving around 160 to 180 miles from a 100% charge; this is calculated as I'm not regularly charging to 100% - but have been charging to 90% in preparation for some longer journeys - (this is something I don't want do be doing on a regular basis). At an 80% charge a journey of approximately 120 miles can sometimes become tricky and have resulted in me arriving home with 7% charge remaining which is a little unnerving.

We all are learning that temperature, AC use and driving style make a difference to range - however as I intend to keep the car for a while, I don't want to be too compromised by range for these journeys.

I have been investigating the benefits of upgrading to an iV80 with heat pump - as for me, the issue is very much about range that can be achieved. My dealership has come up with some reasonable figures.

I also need to think about residual values if I decide to make a bigger investment in a Skoda and as a result have also been looking as the Tesla Y - however this is a big leap in cost that I'm not sure I want to make.

I'd be interested to hear any views of users who have an iV80 with or without heat pump that have experience of longer journeys.

Thanks
Andy

[Goaty]

Hi,

Not done many really long journeys but here’s my experience with my iV80 last November.

(No heat pump).

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=652&hilit=IV80+range

[andym69]

Thanks for this - I do remember seeing the original post and in some ways it did get me thinking that the iV80 would be a better option - I've no other issues with my iV60 at all and really enjoy driving it - however I think my driving requirements mean I need a better range.

Hi,

Not done many really long journeys but here’s my experience with my iV80 last November.

(No heat pump).

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=652&hilit=IV80+range

[DazF05]

Hello

I have a 80 with heat pump

And I have covered 4600 miles in 7 weeks

I have been working away from home since just after Christmas, my drive to work each week is 220 miles (from Diss to Hull) I always leave the house with 100% charge and the range displayed is always around the 250 mark.

If I drive at 63 set on the cruse control I have been arriving at Hull with around 40 miles left to go so nearly always get better than the displayed 250 miles, the outside temperature will effect the miles left quite a bit, I have had a couple of journeys at 1 deg all the way and a couple of journeys at 6 deg which made quite a significant difference to the remaining range (about 15 miles difference)

I have also had one journey at 70 - honest it was at the speed limit all the way which was this Friday as I was desperate to get home, and 3 hours into the journey the car told me I had to stop and re charge, so speed is a real factor in range.

I really have no idea what range anxiety is with my 80 it really has just been a pleasure to own and drive

Oh and also my total running costs for 4600 miles is about £120.00 (I have managed to get quite a few free charges) which is absolutely amazing

I hope that helps

[Erakettu]

I'm not the most reliable person to comment, as I don't have my Enyaq yet but have done extensive research before making the purchase decision.

I went with the 80 because I often travel to see my relatives 200-400km away and travel to northern Finland (1000km+) couple times a year. Choosing 80 over 60 was a decision over how often I'm willing to stop for charging. The same consideration was to be made when choosing EV over ICE.

Just now I calculated my 420km trip (one way) in current weather: -10c with snow. Iv80 managed the trip with one 20min stop halfway. With iv60 there was 2 stops 20min each. All the stops were made with plenty battery (20-30% left) due to avaliable chargers on the route.

The drive/charge ratio with iv80 was 2.5h drive to 20 min charging, which is ok on a "short" trip like this. The iv60 had 1.5h/20min which tends to be quite low in my opinion. On a Lapland trip I usually aim for something similar 2hour/30min. Food and bio breaks, dog needs walking, etc. With an ICE you dont need to stop for gas, but still have to satisfy basic needs. So I think it's pretty much about state of mind.

I recommended the smaller battery to my grandparents (on pension). They do travel occasionally, but have the time to stop and take trips as part of vacation. No need to hurry.

What comes to charging, I think you have the basics covered. Home charge to 80% is fine and recommended for battery life optimization. Occasional charging to 100% is fine aswell, when preparing for a longer trip. There's no reason to sacrifice 10% range for pre-emptive bttery-saving procedures.

When on the road and using fast- and high power chargers you should arrive with as little power as possible (atleast in the cold weather). When on low charge the charging current is the highest and it will heat the battery faster allowing more charging power. Also the overall charging speed is higher on lower percentages (see charging curves on google or this forum).

Sorry for a little uncohesive text. What I'm trying to say is don't make hasty decisions. I'm sure you will do fine with the 60, but you should be prepared to stop a little more often or for longer periods. I found "a better routeplanner" extremely useful when comparing cars, and will keep using it when traveling out of my comfort zones.

[BioHzrd]

Just a note to add to this as i own a 60.

There is no reason not to charge to 100% when using a fast charger 3.6kW up to 22kW, the 80% charge "Reminder/Warning/Recomendation" is only valid in use of rapid chargers !

[gap998]

Hi Andy,

As someone who's been driving EVs since 2015, arriving home with 7% seems fine (our Smart ForFour used to read zero once it got to 9%!). However, if you're new to EVs I can see how it would make you nervous.

While it's best practice to run the car between 20 and 80%, don't worry about charging to 100% if you are going to do a long run the next morning as the management system will look after the battery - The actual capacity is 62kWh but the useable battery is 58kWh, so there is a buffer at either end to protect the battery. I used to do a 50mile each way commute in our Zoe and charge to 100% either end on a 7kW charger and there was no battery degradation after 2 years.

If you're doing regular long journeys, then public charging is inevitable - I currently do around 25k miles a year between commute and business mileage and I've got an iV60 on order. My company car for the last 4 years has been an Outlander PHEV, but as it's always been my intention to replace it with another full EV, so I've always analysed my journeys with that in mind and always charged when I've stopped (usually every 1.5 to 2hrs), which is well within the capabilities of the iV60.

That said, if I had the budget I would have gone for an iV80, even though there is a fair bit of competition in that price range.

Even so, my advice to anyone buying an EV is, if you can afford a Tesla, get one - They're far from perfect but they're still way ahead of anyone else and the supercharger network is the trump card.

Just my opinion.

Cheers
Gary

[DazAutomatic]

Before switching, I'd be trying out charging to 100% for the longer journeys if you're using a home wallbox. On average, the 80 might add 50-60 miles to your range, or reduce the length of charge by however long that takes. We love our 80, and it's good to have that extra flexibility, but if we had a 60 we'd not be switching within just a few months.

[Goaty]

/ \ Good points above. I personally probably wouldn’t switch out a 60 which you already have, for an 80. That’s surely got to be at least a £7k exercise just to get an extra 60 miles?

Although that said, I cancelled my iV60 order and went went for a lower spec iV80 - but my main reason for doing so was based around my regular commute to Birmingham; I realised I would not be able to get there and back without a charging stop somewhere in a 60, whereas an 80 would enable me to do this return trip of about 240 miles all from a home charge. Same with my longer commute to Manchester; one charge stop in an 80 instead of two in a 60. As it turns out, WFH has meant I haven’t had to do either of these trips since getting the Enyaq last November, but when things are back to normal, I’ll be doing them every week. Unfortunately!

[andym69]

Thanks to everyone who has commented and provided some very interesting views - it has helped a lot. I'm definitely going to do more charges to 100% and see how that works on the regular trip that has been causing me issues - one of the main problems has been that with an 80% / 90% charge a journey that should only take just over an hour is taking longer due to to stopping to charge - generally at midnight, so it's not like I have any problems getting to a charger - I just want to get home to bed!

The 60 was a preconfigured purchase; I was very lucky as needed a new car and wanted to try an EV, walked into the showroom and it arrived the following week - I guess I am now being tempted into configuring the car to my own spec and looking to that being a longer term purchase.

Thanks again for the comments.
Andy