[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Chuckyarla

It’s 10km to work, then 10km back home at lunchtime, then 10km back to work after lunch, then 10km to home in the evening. I can just about get the first 3 trips on electric but the final 10km trip home uses petrol. I really thought I’d get the full 40km per day on electric. But it hasn’t happened yet.

What sort of driving profile? (Speed, traffic density, etc.).

[Vogal]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

What sort of driving profile? (Speed, traffic density, etc.).

And outside temperature? The cold weather didn't help either.

[tn1krr]

Originally Posted by Vogal

And outside temperature? The cold weather didn't help either.

Yes. Despite not being terrible cold such temperature means heating car 3 times, starting each time with cold battery etc.

My current driving conditions are a bit colder (0 to +4 celcius), but I can pretty easily 40 km single drive when starting plugged in/climatized, but only get between 25 and 28 km when I'm driving 3-4 shorter trips. There is no waste heat in the electronic system (unlike ICE) so all the heating comes from battery so every start with cold car means real loss in range.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by tn1krr

Yes. Despite not being terrible cold such temperature means heating car 3 times, starting each time with cold battery etc.

My current driving conditions are a bit colder (0 to +4 celcius), but I can pretty easily 40 km single drive when starting plugged in/climatized, but only get between 25 and 28 km when I'm driving 3-4 shorter trips. There is no waste heat in the electronic system (unlike ICE) so all the heating comes from battery so every start with cold car means real loss in range.

This is how I'm seeing it, it is not simply about miles driven, EV is about how we use the vehicle, energy use shows up in a different way than ICE.

Had an interesting chat with a sales guy at my local BMW dealer, just yesterday, on how 330e users find driving them in the Highlands of Scotland. Besides not being the ideal vehicle for long distances, (diesel still rules), he made an interesting comment. Users are finding it is best to keep EV use to less than 50mph, use the ICE for higher speeds, then they have the best use of EV for local (in town) driving.

[Chuckyarla]

Originally Posted by Vogal

And outside temperature? The cold weather didn't help either.

It’s rural - ie no traffic. Temp about 5c.

[Jkwon]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

This is how I'm seeing it, it is not simply about miles driven, EV is about how we use the vehicle, energy use shows up in a different way than ICE.

Had an interesting chat with a sales guy at my local BMW dealer, just yesterday, on how 330e users find driving them in the Highlands of Scotland. Besides not being the ideal vehicle for long distances, (diesel still rules), he made an interesting comment. Users are finding it is best to keep EV use to less than 50mph, use the ICE for higher speeds, then they have the best use of EV for local (in town) driving.

Interesting comment but from my own testing I would disagree with the salesman, if you keep a constant speed (not town driving) I get a far better return on electric only miles. Example: my office is about 7 miles from home, I can just about make the return journey on electric only but it is constant stop start bullshit driving, if I go to site and hit the motorway within 2 miles of home and let the adaptive cruise drive me (at 70mph) I can easily achieve 30 miles of electric, and more if there is no traffic at all. I haven't worked out if it's cheaper to run ice vs ev for stop start but I know that I use "22-28 miles" predicted ev range to do 14 miles in town but loose less miles from overall range if I run in hybrid or even sport mode to drive in traffic to the office return. Makes no sense to me. The key is to keep as constant a speed as possible.

Edit: obviously south east London traffic is different to Scottish Highlands but the principle is the same

[DevSK]

Originally Posted by DevSK

Thanks for your reply.

I did Leicester to Nottingham today with no charge at all and on Hybrid Eco Pro mode. Only managed to eek out 41mpg and that was utilising cruise control wherever possible. My 2ltr TFSI A4 that has an MHEV setup manages around 45mpg so comparable given the extra battery weight.

Yeah, unfortunately the SE will be the best I can go for even though the difference in cost of having the Sport would outweigh the cost of additional options. Go figure.

I haven't opted for the private fuel BIK either... What I meant was that I get given a fuel card that ALL my fuel is paid for using. The total fuel cost for the month is then divided by the TOTAL mileage to give me my ppm rate, this is then multiplied by the number of private miles I've done in the period. This is then cut off my wage... i.e. purchased back off the company. If that makes sense?

So charging at home will actually subsidise ALL of my mileage, including business.

I didn't know you could filter zapmap by free to use chargers. I'll take a look thanks.

One more question... (I actually posted this elsewhere on this forum but no reply)... I LOVE the exhaust note on my test drive model. Is this exclusive to the Msport or will my SE have the same? Any ideas?

In case this helps anyone in the same fuel predicament as me...

Doing a bit of maths today, and assuming I'm on the Octopus EV tariff - which is 5p/kw, I was able to figure out that charging at home just might be worth it for me. Bear with me here...!

Ok so looking back at one of my previous heavy mileage months I did 2817 miles that cost £419 in petrol. That works out to (£419/2817 = £0.1487 pence per mile). This is in my petrol 2ltr A4 so I'm sort of assuming the same fuel economy.

Out of that total mileage, my private mileage was 633 miles, which cost me (£0.1487 x 633 = £94.13). This is what I had to "buy back" from the company.

Now, knowing that the 330e never actually depletes it's 12kwh battery let's assume that 0% = 10kwh. On the Octopus tariff, this would cost (£0.05 x 10kwh = £0.50) for a full charge. Let's also assume that the 330e gives you a slightly poorer electric range than advertised, say 25 miles.

That month I figure I had 20 real opportunities to charge from empty to full overnight from home. This takes into account still having charge left over during weekends etc, hence why I've not charged every night in this scenario. So that's £10 in electricity based on that above (£0.50 x 20), and 500 pure electric miles (25mi x 20 charges)

So, given that my pence-per-mile rate is linear, the total petrol cost for the period would now be ((2817miles - 500ElecMiles = 2317 petrol miles) x £0.1487ppm = £344.54)

Therefore my private mileage contribution would be ((£344.54 / 2817 = £0.1223ppm) x 633PrivMiles = £77.42))

Plus my cost of electricity (£10) means my private fuel cost for the period would now be £87.42 instead of the initial £94.13.

Is it worth the hassle to save £6.71 that month? I think it could be, purely for the fun of driving electric, the environment, and also this all doesn't take any public free-to-use chargers into account either, and assumes a fairly poor elec range. So could be better in practice!

Thoughts?

[wassap]

I think the general concensus is that charge as much as you can. Factor in the BIK savings and the fuel savings, PHEV can make for very sensible cost motoring.

[-Nick]

Originally Posted by Jkwon

Interesting comment but from my own testing I would disagree with the salesman, if you keep a constant speed (not town driving) I get a far better return on electric only miles. Example: my office is about 7 miles from home, I can just about make the return journey on electric only but it is constant stop start bullshit driving, if I go to site and hit the motorway within 2 miles of home and let the adaptive cruise drive me (at 70mph) I can easily achieve 30 miles of electric, and more if there is no traffic at all. I haven't worked out if it's cheaper to run ice vs ev for stop start but I know that I use "22-28 miles" predicted ev range to do 14 miles in town but loose less miles from overall range if I run in hybrid or even sport mode to drive in traffic to the office return. Makes no sense to me. The key is to keep as constant a speed as possible.

Edit: obviously south east London traffic is different to Scottish Highlands but the principle is the same

This is my findings exactly. Straight long roads with no traffic and you'll get loads better economy.

Anything with a moderate amount of traffic lights/roundabouts/junctions and the range suffers.

Also take into consideration elevation - If you're driving in rural areas there might be a lot of tight turns which means lost energy.

My experience with only being able to charge at work is an average of 20-24 miles which will comfortably do my 7 mile commute each day with preheating.

30-35 miles of motorway seems the best for economy if you can charge at both ends.

[DriftymcDriftFace]

No worries Dev. Thats interesting about your fuel and it probably doesnt make sense to charge the car in that case but im sure there is artistic license with the number of private miles lol. Could you negotiate to take your electric miles off and have a separate payment? It would save them but would be general i guess. eg say you charge 5 times a month at home and get 30 miles average on an electric charge and they give you a set amount for those miles? Youd have to do some maths working out your private miles a month but it might be better to do what i do, log my work miles and just claim them back at 14p per mile (google Advisory Fuel Rates for the current price companies have to pay). That way charging is going to make you money especially if you can do it at hotels and tesco or sainsburys mid journey.

Yeah Zap Map and Pod Point are the ones i use but there may be others that are free. i need to look into it more tbh.

No idea on the exhaust note im afraid. All i can say is that the M Sport has a setting to be quiet or sporty

[DevSK]

Originally Posted by DriftymcDriftFace

No worries Dev. Thats interesting about your fuel and it probably doesnt make sense to charge the car in that case but im sure there is artistic license with the number of private miles lol. Could you negotiate to take your electric miles off and have a separate payment? It would save them but would be general i guess. eg say you charge 5 times a month at home and get 30 miles average on an electric charge and they give you a set amount for those miles? Youd have to do some maths working out your private miles a month but it might be better to do what i do, log my work miles and just claim them back at 14p per mile (google Advisory Fuel Rates for the current price companies have to pay). That way charging is going to make you money especially if you can do it at hotels and tesco or sainsburys mid journey.

Yeah Zap Map and Pod Point are the ones i use but there may be others that are free. i need to look into it more tbh.

No idea on the exhaust note im afraid. All i can say is that the M Sport has a setting to be quiet or sporty

Yeah you're probably on to something. To be honest, this is how I assumed most companies handled fuel usage for their company car drivers. It was the same at my previous job too.

It sounds like you get a company car as well as claim back the money-per-mile? Or is your 330e your own that you use for business trips occasionally?

[DriftymcDriftFace]

its a company car they provide and i just log my miles. so last week i did

470miles
at £0.14 paid to me per mile is £67.20.
172.4 total electric miles for £1.86 (1 charge at home and 3 free whilst away)
This mean that 307 miles that i had to pay for fuel.
At 50mpg which seems easily doable on these long trips then thats 6.14 gallons at £5.60/gallon or £34.38. Add the £1.86 to it and i have paid a total of £36.24 and i am getting paid £67.20. Pretty good really.
if it were 40mpg it would be costing me £44.81 and id still get the £67.20

No brainer this way really and the more you charge the more you earn.

[Chuckyarla]

Only 20kms today from a full charge.

[rf3000]

Can you see your past trips history at ConnectedDrive? At the app or website? I can’t find anything on my app and at the website last trip info appears empty.

Originally Posted by DriftymcDriftFace

its a company car they provide and i just log my miles. so last week i did

470miles
at £0.14 paid to me per mile is £67.20.
172.4 total electric miles for £1.86 (1 charge at home and 3 free whilst away)
This mean that 307 miles that i had to pay for fuel.
At 50mpg which seems easily doable on these long trips then thats 6.14 gallons at £5.60/gallon or £34.38. Add the £1.86 to it and i have paid a total of £36.24 and i am getting paid £67.20. Pretty good really.
if it were 40mpg it would be costing me £44.81 and id still get the £67.20

No brainer this way really and the more you charge the more you earn.

[-Nick]

Originally Posted by Chuckyarla

Only 20kms today from a full charge.

12 miles seems low - What kind of trip was it? Was there much traffic? Stop start? Hills?

18-20 miles is my average and I have all of the above.

Long straight no stop driving is what suits best - 35 miles achievable

[Mazman]

New PB yesterday

[joselrl]

My record over the past 3 weeks (last refuel). Going to refuel today to see if the consumption corresponds to the car infotainment information.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Chuckyarla

Only 20kms today from a full charge.

What's the actual consumption? (00.0kWh/100km)

What you are indicating by 20kms, your consumption must be extreme, something in the region of 50kWh/100km. Guys on here, even in cold climates, are posting displays showing less than 20kWh/100km.

[joselrl]

Just to complement my previous post, pumped 27.58L, 672km, 4.10 L/100Km, preety much bang on with the car infotainment.

[Chuckyarla]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

What's the actual consumption? (00.0kWh/100km)

What you are indicating by 20kms, your consumption must be extreme, something in the region of 50kWh/100km. Guys on here, even in cold climates, are posting displays showing less than 20kWh/100km.

How do you get it to display the kWh/100km? I have it selected in the units options but mine only shows the amount of kms driven on electric. Also how do you see what software you’re on and what’s the latest?

[DevSK]

Hi all, I know I need to look at buying a Type 2 cable, but can anyone confirm if it needs to be a Male-to-Female cable? I have a feeling it does.

Also, any recommendations on where to buy from and an idea of price?

[Codez]

Originally Posted by DevSK

Hi all, I know I need to look at buying a Type 2 cable, but can anyone confirm if it needs to be a Male-to-Female cable? I have a feeling it does.

Also, any recommendations on where to buy from and an idea of price?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254216033741