Charging and Caring for your Battery
The difference between the cars and vans that we have driven for years with petrol or diesel engines and an EV or a PHEV (Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) in many ways is not great but the terminology and management of them is different. There is a bit to learn, but not too much!
EVs are fitted with a specific connection by the manufacturer. In the UK and Europe there are two types of connection, CCS (Combined Charging System ), and CHAdeMO . They incorporate AC and DC charging. CCS is the most commonly used. Tesla have a unique fitting and their own charging points with an adaptor available for later models to enable using CCS chargers. The CCS connector is made up of a Type 2 AC current part, the 7 pin upper section in the image below and a two pin DC part, the lower section.
CCS Socket and plug
CHADeMO plug
Charging an EV takes much longer than putting fuel into an ICE vehicle therefore some thought and planning is required but it quickly becomes familiar and can be planned around your life-style. Take advantage of coffee and meal breaks while on a journey to top-up!
Looking after your battery
This is the 80/20 rule. Where possible don’t charge your EV to more than 80% and don’t let it run below 20%. Also the slower you charge the better. Most batteries are guaranteed for 7 or 8 years not to drop below 70% of their as-new capacity and the manufacturers build in a bit of extra capacity that they don’t tell you about. Thrash it by charging to 100% on rapid chargers constantly and you will degrade it quicker. If you are off on a long journey it is fine to charge up to 100% and drop below 20% and use fast charging to facilitate your journey but otherwise the 80/20 rule is better for the battery. Most owners do not test the range of their EVs to the limit but will do a splash and dash charge while on a coffee and comfort break. 15 to 20 minutes on a 50Kw charging point will keep your blood pressure down later in the journey!
Suggested category to read next is …. Charging your EV at Home
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I took delivery of the first VW ID.3 1st Edition on day it was released 29/9/21. I have persevered with many frustrations up to now. I did not realise it would take 5 months to get a Smart Meter and Home Charger. The VW Vertu dealership did not give me much help with this highly tech facilities. The manual is awful. It went in for recall amendments to Vertu this week and they would not give me any details of the software changes made. Staff said “I am not trained on electric vehicles”! I still need to research some facilities. The car is heavily dependant on using Mobile Phone interface. The available mileage reserve is a mystery. To travel a distance of 30 miles the reserves deplete by 50 miles. Not helpful when you are setting out on a 100 mile journey. VW have not been able to give me an explanation. So, a brilliant car now that it has got over these hurdles …. but it is very over-specked. Charging over night costs me 1 p per mile (compare to Petrol car 15 p per mile). My energy supplier Octopus (GO tariff) have been very helpful – although the log jam of 5 months to get their Smart Meter and Home Charger could have been more alert. Hope this helps
Thanks Martin. Much appreciated. We also had the ID3 1st Edition and returned after three weeks as not fit for purpose. Hugely disappointing after waiting 15 months. The dealers put up a bit of a smoke screen re updates as basically they know nothing and are simply connecting to a server in Germany. I have to say that our dealer was very helpful as far as they could be. I am currently looking at the Kona electric 21 model as it has physical controls for most features which are much less fiddly than the ID3. I am sure that VW will get it sorted sooner or later and you are enjoying EV motoring!