[Alsmith]

Hi, I’m driving down M74/M6 & onward to Southampton early February 2023 & according to the official MB figures I should get 328 miles in my EQA on a single charge. Which I don’t trust btw!!
should I trust satnav to get me suitable (& cost effective) EV charging stations? Is there a better app that zap map to locate best EV charging stations?
also, has anyone done this route & would recommend suitable EV charging stations/stops including a hotel stop over that has EV chargers?
many thanks

 

[FDR]

Hi, I’m driving down M74/M6 & onward to Southampton early February 2023 & according to the official MB figures I should get 328 miles in my EQA on a single charge. Which I don’t trust btw!!
should I trust satnav to get me suitable (& cost effective) EV charging stations? Is there a better app that zap map to locate best EV charging stations?
also, has anyone done this route & would recommend suitable EV charging stations/stops including a hotel stop over that has EV chargers?
many thanks

In average February temperatures in Scotland and the north of England you will be lucky to get much more than 3 miles per KWh at motorway speeds, maybe a bit more as you get further south or if it’s above about 10°C, so around 200 to 220 miles total range for the first part of the trIp, maybe 240-250 miles at best. You won’t want to cover that distance between charges as you will probably want to be starting to look to recharge when you get about 20% left in case your preference charge point isn’t available and as the EQA charger slows down after about 85-90% it’s quicker to set off again at that level unless you really need 100%

ABRP is the most useful app for route planning as you can enter various parameters such as temperature, road conditions, how much charge you would like to have left at on route charge points and at your destination. Etc.
I haven’t been much further south than Penrith myself and towing a trailer my consumption was around 2.7 miles per KWh in early May (but cold, rainy and windy) but from Fife I used Fastned at Hamilton ( lots of connectors available and rapid charging, ) and Ionity at Gretna ( fewer connectors and busier but rapid enough to have a quick turnover of cars). Can’t help with anything further south.

 

[PeterJohn]

With respect to ABRP (I do use it occasionally), I personally find Zap-Map (with the appropriate filter set see picture) more useful because when traveling distances I do not want my travel map apps cluttered with Fast chargers. I, I just want Rapid chargers (100 kW upwards) for 30 to 40 minutes from 10% to 80% and then be on my way.

 

[FDR]

You can set the “type of chargers” filter in ABRP to show CCS connectors only which removes fast charge points, it still shows slower rapids unfortunately and could do with having the same filter as Zap-Map.
The EQA satnav suffers from the same problem with regard to lack of charge point filters, you can restrict what it will show to those working from the Mercedes me card but no selection based on power, which is strange as planning a route using the Mercedes me app allows more filters.
The nearby charge stations function in the car satnav should be a real necessity but it’s not updated often enough and it doesn’t give much information on the chargepoints it brings up, if you are driving alone it not easy to switch to other apps to find what you need to know. With regard to BPpulse charge points in particular it seems to show all BP points including some not for public use.

 

[PeterJohn]

You can set the “type of chargers” filter in ABRP to show CCS connectors only which removes fast charge points, it still shows slower rapids unfortunately and could do with having the same filter as Zap-Map.
The EQA satnav suffers from the same problem with regard to lack of charge point filters, you can restrict what it will show to those working from the Mercedes me card but no selection based on power, which is strange as planning a route using the Mercedes me app allows more filters.
The nearby charge stations function in the car satnav should be a real necessity but it’s not updated often enough and it doesn’t give much information on the chargepoints it brings up, if you are driving alone it not easy to switch to other apps to find what you need to know. With regard to BPpulse charge points in particular it seems to show all BP points including some not for public use.

Yes, I did say with appropriate filters. In this case, I always set CCS. Further to this, there is certainly appropriate information with regard to charging points in the me app. The chevrons give the speed so to speak. See pictures again.