PHEV Slow charging

[spicyhotone]

Have just returned from a week touring around the Scottish Highlands (a trip I make every few years, and especially when I have a new car - great place to see what it's capable of). Driving was great, and really enjoyed the instant power.

I did have some problems charging the Battery though. I had one occasion when I rocked up to a Tesco's (free) pod-point charger with about 20 miles charge remaining, hooked up, but then returned 90 minutes later to find it had only added 3 miles of range. MyT showed remaining charge time >5 hrs. This was a 7kW charging post, and I was the only person hooked up to it. Previous to charging I'd been driving 2-3 hours in mostly HEV mode, the last 10 miles or so in EV mode, and much of that in fairly slow moving stop-start traffic (eg.nothing too stressful on the battery).

A few days later, I'd been doing many hours in HEV mode, then the last 20 miles or so in EV mode, and hooked up to a similar pod-point charger, and it charged absolutely fine. I drove another 30 miles in pure EV mode at 60-70mph  to another pod-point charger, where I hooked up, and again charged at the normal rate.

When I returned home today, Carlisle->Reading in almost all HEV mode, last 5 miles in EV to use up what Battery I had left. After an hour or so to unload the car, I plugged in to my home charger (7kW) and after 4 hours it had only got to about 40 miles range. Normally I'll do a full charge from empty in a 2-3 hours, so again it appeared to be charging more slowly than normal.

In a BEV slow charging like this can be related to a hot Battery. However, both times I experienced slow charging I'd not driven in a way to particularly stress the battery, and indeed when I did stress it more (two contiguous 7kw charges interspersed with a  fairly rapid discharge) I saw no sign of charging slowdown. There was no obvious noise of the battery cooling fan working hard (I did notice it one day when I was driving over the Applecross peninsula with some very steep ascent/descent sections)

Anyone else noticed slow charging at all? Is there any way of monitoring battery temperature - with an OBD reader perhaps?

[Flatcoat]

I have given up bothering charging away from home due to the need for umpteen apps, unreliable network and cost. However we were in the highlands earlier in the week (currently in Melrose for Jubilee weekend) and also saw very few charging locations (not that I went looking). Out of interest what mpg were you getting? 

[Mike2222]

I haven't experienced this, tho two thoughts come to mind:

 

Re pod point - are you certain that you went into the app after plugging in and "confirmed" the free charge? Otherwise the charger will stop after 15 mins automatically. I'm assuming you know this because of tge other successful charges you describe, but could you have forgotten in the first described occasion? 

 

As for the slow home charge, this obviously can't be the same reason. Do you have the hive wallbox from Toyota l/British gas, or something else? My hive app is constantly crashing, and the box & matt:e device regularly make a variety of interesting noises & flashing colours, so perhaps a temporary fault? (I should note, the box has only once failed to get me to 100% overnight, and in that case it got me to 97%,so I was more curious than annoyed) 

[ernieb]

No experience of fast charing as I've not bothered to wade through the confusion of apps and get put off by the constant reports of problems so I charge at home. However, you might like to check you have the heat/cool Battery ticked in the MID just in case it was a hot Battery. Even in HEV mode it's working hard delivering and receiving energy.

[spicyhotone]

21 hours ago, Flatcoat said:

I have given up bothering charging away from home due to the need for umpteen apps, unreliable network and cost. However we were in the highlands earlier in the week (currently in Melrose for Jubilee weekend) and also saw very few charging locations (not that I went looking). Out of interest what mpg were you getting? 

Up in Scotland you need a Chargeplace Scotland RFID card in order to use many of the public chargepoints (some free, many charge, still cheaper than petrol mostly!). Unfortunately the Chargeplace system is crap. Despite twice applying for a card, I've still not received one. They say you should still be able to activate a charge via their app, but that didn't work at any of the chargers I tried. So the only charges I used were a BP Pulse on a campsite I was staying on (which was free and just required the BP pulse app) and a few Tesco Podpoint chargers, which are always free (for the Type 2 "slow" 7kw chargers).

MPG varied between 40-60mpg depending on the terrain, and driving speed. Also, I was using EV mode in places, which skews the MPG. According to MyT my average over last 7 days (which wasn't the entire trip) and includes EV use was 54mpg. Driving up on the motorway at 60mph I was seeing 50+mpg. Coming home at 75mph (indicated speed) it was around 43mpg. This was driving early morning with very little traffic, so maintaining a fairly constant speed.

[Cyker]

This is something that needs to be banned - It is ridiculous to need a proprietary card/dongle/app just to use an EV charger!!

Esp. in an age where they've already forced contactless credit and debit cards on us!

[spicyhotone]

13 hours ago, Mike2222 said:

I haven't experienced this, tho two thoughts come to mind:

 

Re pod point - are you certain that you went into the app after plugging in and "confirmed" the free charge? Otherwise the charger will stop after 15 mins automatically. I'm assuming you know this because of tge other successful charges you describe, but could you have forgotten in the first described occasion? 

 

As for the slow home charge, this obviously can't be the same reason. Do you have the hive wallbox from Toyota l/British gas, or something else? My hive app is constantly crashing, and the box & matt:e device regularly make a variety of interesting noises & flashing colours, so perhaps a temporary fault? (I should note, the box has only once failed to get me to 100% overnight, and in that case it got me to 97%,so I was more curious than annoyed) 

Yes I'm a regular user of pod point at Tescos for me free electrons! The charge was confirmed, and I could see on the app the car was charging, just extremely slowly. Home charger is via a 7kw Rolec charger we've had for several years (we also have a BEV Nissan Leaf). Never seen a slow charge speed before on either car (not that we'd notice it, as it's usually on overnight and we don't monitor it regularly). It's a fairly un-smart charger, so it's really only the car that would regulate the power it's taking I think.

[spicyhotone]

Just now, Cyker said:

This is something that needs to be banned - It is ridiculous to need a proprietary card/dongle/app just to use an EV charger!!

Esp. in an age where they've already forced contactless credit and debit cards on us!

Agreed. I believe (may just be England?) that all new EV charge points must be able to work directly from a credit card, not requiring app or special card. Of course, the rates doing this will likely be more expensive than signing up for an account (and possibly paying a monthly fee).

[Cyker]

Yeah I thought that was the rule now, but from what I've seen the majority still need some sort of proprietary widget or account to work or get reasonable rates - The ridiculous gouging that someone using a contactless card is subjected to ALSO needs to be banned IMHO.

But this is why I'm not going near an EV until they make a Yaris-sized one with minimum 300-miles at 70mph, as I want as little to do with the public charging network as possible if this is the level of customer abuse they're going to try and get away with.

 

[Flatcoat]

If govt want more take up of EV’s by private buyers (and encourage PHEV’s to help drivers with the transition), simplifying the payment system has to be part of the process. Retailers and other business all seem to manage using a common payment system without each needing an App so shouldn’t be difficult. 

[spicyhotone]

On 6/5/2022 at 6:21 AM, ernieb said:

No experience of fast charing as I've not bothered to wade through the confusion of apps and get put off by the constant reports of problems so I charge at home. However, you might like to check you have the heat/cool battery ticked in the MID just in case it was a hot battery. Even in HEV mode it's working hard delivering and receiving energy.

Yes, heating/cooling both ticked, so it's not that.