Oh dear! I've only gone and bought a Milk Float.

[Ditcha]

I just checked for my 2021 Sprinter-based coachbuilt, which has MBUX installed, and it's not available for my vehicle.

You need to ask your dealer to update the MBUX software it's after 2022 it came in standard but after the negative feedback I ain't going to bother.

https://shop.mercedes-benz.com/en-gb/connect/pdp/navigation-for-trailers-and-oversized-vehicles/550

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Fitting a charger sounds like financial suicide to me. Just doesn't add with around £600 to fit a charger when I will probably only charge the car once a fortnight then take off the weeks we are away in the van I would be hard pushed to charge 20 times in a year.

Lenny, it was interesting that my KIA didn’t come with a granny charger. KIA no longer supply them as they have decided that they are dangerous. I presume they have had problems somewhere. Also in the UK now Granny chargers should be limited to 10amp by law. I bought a refurbished KIA one from eBay and used it for the first couple of weeks until the Zappi was fitted and monitored the socket temperature, it became quite hot even at 10amps for 6 hours. If you are going to permanently use one it would be prudent to cut the 13a plug off and use a commando plug and socket which is rated at a continuous 16a. Also check the tightness of the socket and fuse wiring on that ring. I would suspect that in the event of a fire most insurance companies would try to wriggle if they found you had an EV but not an approved charger ( they are intended for occasional use after all). For me the Zappi brought so many advantages and reduced costs that the £1,049 to Octopus was insignificant. Especially as it may well be our last car. Incidentally, I specified exactly how I wanted it fitted and Octopus did it exactly as I specified in writing before installation.

 

[The Wino]

Lenny, it was interesting that my KIA didn’t come with a granny charger. KIA no longer supply them as they have decided that they are dangerous. I presume they have had problems somewhere. Also in the UK now Granny chargers should be limited to 10amp by law. I bought a refurbished KIA one from eBay and used it for the first couple of weeks until the Zappi was fitted and monitored the socket temperature, it became quite hot even at 10amps for 6 hours. If you are going to permanently use one it would be prudent to cut the 13a plug off and use a commando plug and socket which is rated at a continuous 16a. Also check the tightness of the socket and fuse wiring on that ring. I would suspect that in the event of a fire most insurance companies would try to wriggle if they found you had an EV but not an approved charger ( they are intended for occasional use after all). For me the Zappi brought so many advantages and reduced costs that the £1,049 to Octopus was insignificant. Especially as it may well be our last car. Incidentally, I specified exactly how I wanted it fitted and Octopus did it exactly as I specified in writing before installation.

For us part of the attraction of the EV charger is we can let our son charge easily when they visit and we have two cars I suspect we won't be buying anything other than electric as time goes forward. For one car on occasional use a granny charger could make sense though

 

[Two on Tour]

Lenny, it was interesting that my KIA didn’t come with a granny charger. KIA no longer supply them as they have decided that they are dangerous. I presume they have had problems somewhere. Also in the UK now Granny chargers should be limited to 10amp by law. I bought a refurbished KIA one from eBay and used it for the first couple of weeks until the Zappi was fitted and monitored the socket temperature, it became quite hot even at 10amps for 6 hours. If you are going to permanently use one it would be prudent to cut the 13a plug off and use a commando plug and socket which is rated at a continuous 16a. Also check the tightness of the socket and fuse wiring on that ring. I would suspect that in the event of a fire most insurance companies would try to wriggle if they found you had an EV but not an approved charger ( they are intended for occasional use after all). For me the Zappi brought so many advantages and reduced costs that the £1,049 to Octopus was insignificant. Especially as it may well be our last car. Incidentally, I specified exactly how I wanted it fitted and Octopus did it exactly as I specified in writing before installation.

MG no longer supply a "Granny" charger with new cars, so I have been on the lookout for one on eBay, but of course the secondhand price has been bumped up as they are no longer supply with new cars.
I did buy a low-priced V2L cable off of Aliexpress, and fitted a weatherproof switched RCD twin socket in place of the European 4 way non-waterproof sockets that it came with in case of a long power cut to power the house fridge/freezers and the MH while it's stood on the driveway.

 

[Guigsy]

I had a granny charger plugged into a 10m extension cord that was rated to 13A. It got pretty warm. I've switched it for a 5m extension that's got much beefier cables.

It's pretty common for the wall socket to get warm, even at 10A. It often throttles itself down. Or you can manually set it to 6A, but then it gets seriously slow.

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[Lenny HB]

Lenny, it was interesting that my KIA didn’t come with a granny charger. KIA no longer supply them as they have decided that they are dangerous. I presume they have had problems somewhere. Also in the UK now Granny chargers should be limited to 10amp by law. I bought a refurbished KIA one from eBay and used it for the first couple of weeks until the Zappi was fitted and monitored the socket temperature, it became quite hot even at 10amps for 6 hours. If you are going to permanently use one it would be prudent to cut the 13a plug off and use a commando plug and socket which is rated at a continuous 16a. Also check the tightness of the socket and fuse wiring on that ring. I would suspect that in the event of a fire most insurance companies would try to wriggle if they found you had an EV but not an approved charger ( they are intended for occasional use after all). For me the Zappi brought so many advantages and reduced costs that the £1,049 to Octopus was insignificant. Especially as it may well be our last car. Incidentally, I specified exactly how I wanted it fitted and Octopus did it exactly as I specified in writing before installation.

I got a Granny charger off my mates company it's a good quality one they have made for them, branded Simply. It has settings of 8, 10 & 13 amp. I've had it plugged into my commando socket via short extension but the commando is only wired to a 13 amp socket in the garage.
On charge Saturday from 9:30am until midnight could barely detect any warmth in any cables after 10 hours, Pins on the 13 amp plug barely warm. The car reports charging between 2.3kw to 2.8kw. The fact that it wasn't charging at 3kw or a bit more was what made me check the cables.

This is the one I have, my mate company supplies the wholesalers so I got it at a very good price.
In this link Amazon are selling it very cheap, it good quality with very heavy cables.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simply-EV009-Adjustable-Amperage-Fast-Charging/dp/B09VPLBBKR?tag=mhf04-21

 

[gpat]

I thought the charger was on the car and all you need is the lead.

 

[Guigsy]

I thought the charger was on the car and all you need is the lead.

There's AC charging that you do at mostly at home with a granny charger or a dedicated EV charger. They're effectively passing 230v AC into the car. They just use the Type2 bit of the car's charge port. The car's onboard transformer charger converts the AC to something the battery can use. There's also slow public chargers that use just the Type2 connector. AC chargers can have a captive cable, or you have to use your own.

Then there's DC charging at public charging points, which is generally much faster. It gives the external charger a direct connection to your battery. And the car tells the charger what to supply without cooking the cells. These use the larger CCS connector (which I think is technically CCS combo Type2?). These are always captive cables.

 

[Concorde]

I couldn’t talk myself into buying a full EV so went PHEV. Majority of our mileage is trips under 50 miles. This thing saves me a fortune, just under 7k miles in 13 months and £205 in petrol. Charging overnight at 6.7p a kw. Best thing no range anxiety if I do have to make a long trip

 

[Wh05apk]

View attachment 1059229

I couldn’t talk myself into buying a full EV so went PHEV. Majority of our mileage is trips under 50 miles. This thing saves me a fortune, just under 7k miles in 13 months and £205 in petrol. Charging overnight at 6.7p a kw. Best thing no range anxiety if I do have to make a long trip

Phevs always concern me , it sounds like you have not done much more than 1,000 miles over the year, so I'm guessing the ice part can go weeks without running, and then when you give it some Welly a cold engine then cuts in and is working hard, can't do the engine much good over time?

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[The Wino]

Phevs always concern me , it sounds like you have not done much more than 1,000 miles over the year, so I'm guessing the ice part can go weeks without running, and then when you give it some Welly a cold engine then cuts in and is working hard, can't do the engine much good over time?

But if it's only running for a seventh of the time how many miles before that wear becomes a problem? If it wears twice as fast but only runs a seventh of the miles the total mileage before there's significant wear will be 3 1/2 times as much as a conventional car. I think it's like stop start people worry about battery life and the starter motor but on modern cars they're designed to work that way.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

But if it's only running for a seventh of the time how many miles before that wear becomes a problem? If it wears twice as fast but only runs a seventh of the miles the total mileage before there's significant wear will be 3 1/2 times as much as a conventional car. I think it's like stop start people worry about battery life and the starter motor but on modern cars they're designed to work that way.

Yes but can you really trust designers? After all, some idiot decided it was a good idea to drive the cam shaft of an interference engine with a rubber band! Then some other idiot decided they were still lasting too long so let’s run them in oil!

 

[Wh05apk]

But if it's only running for a seventh of the time how many miles before that wear becomes a problem? If it wears twice as fast but only runs a seventh of the miles the total mileage before there's significant wear will be 3 1/2 times as much as a conventional car. I think it's like stop start people worry about battery life and the starter motor but on modern cars they're designed to work that way.

But my point is that the engine will only kick in under hard acceleration, would you normally start an engine then accelerate hard, or let it warm up first? If normally the car is driven within ev range, the engine will only kick in when extra power is required and may then only be used for a minute or so, causing a lot of moisture etc as well in the exhaust, as the engine may never get up to temperature.

 

[The Wino]

But my point is that the engine will only kick in under hard acceleration, would you normally start an engine then accelerate hard, or let it warm up first? If normally the car is driven within ev range, the engine will only kick in when extra power is required and may then only be used for a minute or so, causing a lot of moisture etc as well in the exhaust, as the engine may never get up to temperature.

I totally get your point but if the engine if treated that way in a conventional car might only last for say 30 k miles it would be a problem. If though the ice engine in the hybrid is only running a seventh of the miles covered it's going to expire at 210k miles is that so much of an issue?
I actually think given the very low petrol spend a full EV would be a much better bet than carting around a petrol engine and drivetrain that's hardly ever used.

 

[Carpmart]

I’d assumed with hybrids one could select the preferred power source (ICE or Bat) so you can warm the engine before switching back to ‘normal’ operating with a mixture of the two?

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[Two on Tour]

I’d assumed with hybrids one could select the preferred power source (ICE or Bat) so you can warm the engine before switching back to ‘normal’ operating with a mixture of the two?

Two types of hybrids, self charging and plugin.
Hybrids normally use electric for the start of driving, and low speed and the engine comes in on higher power demands such as harder acceleration and higher road speeds.
Not aware that any are driver selectable for ICE or battery other that the way the vehicle is driven.

 

[Lenny HB]

My BIL his first long trip after Covid in his hybrid, car came back on a transporter. Turned out to be condensation on sensors because the ICE had hardly been used.
Main reason I wouldn't buy a hybrid as most of our car journeys are only a few miles.

 

[dash300]

I’d assumed with hybrids one could select the preferred power source (ICE or Bat) so you can warm the engine before switching back to ‘normal’ operating with a mixture of the two?

Only on PHEV's I believe from my research.

 

[PP Bear]

I did buy myself a cordless mower, which is great, but what I didn’t know about leccy cars, was how versatile they are in the garden and how they can be programmed to help trimming the trees and hedges, probably from the app.

Here’s one trimming the trees.

 

[The Wino]

My BIL his first long trip after Covid in his hybrid, car came back on a transporter. Turned out to be condensation on sensors because the ICE had hardly been used.
Main reason I wouldn't buy a hybrid as most of our car journeys are only a few miles.

Same as us we do very few journeys over a hundred miles. As we have two cars the short journeys are ideal for an EV. That being said now we have it it's fine for the long journeys too it just needs a little planning. I can't at the moment see us every driving anything other than an EV in the future

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[Lenny HB]

Same as us we do very few journeys over a hundred miles. As we have two cars the short journeys are ideal for an EV. That being said now we have it it's fine for the long journeys too it just needs a little planning. I can't at the moment see us every driving anything other than an EV in the future

Nearly all our journeys are less than 10 miles in the car. I said I'd never buy an EV but unbelievable how great they are to drive.
Range is not really a problem now, still playing with it on Sunday we did 147 miles still had 93 mile range left.

 

[Guigsy]

The people I know that have plug-in hybrids seem to be in a competition to never use the ICE... What they've bought is a short range EV with a couple of hundred kg of paperweight and future check engine light. "But I've got the option to do a long trip"... But if you had an EV, you'd make it most of the way with the bigger battery. And charging is easy!

My last generation EV only has a 200 mile range and a very slow charge speed. Drove 300 miles at the weekend. Stopped twice. Plugged in and went to the loo and grab a takeaway coffee. Both times the stop was less than 16 minutes by the time we'd got back to the car, we'd still charged more than needed.

So total cost of power was about £20 for the trip because I used quite a lot of rapid charging. Sure, a diesel might get close. But 95% of my trips are completely with home charging range, so those miles are way cheaper.

Even with my short range EV, I can road trip long distances before it becomes slower than ICE. With a current generation EV, it's not an inconvenience at all. Mercedes got one of their EVs to drive 2300 miles in 24 hours (looping a test track), so long distances are easily achievable. Sure, EVs make you think about refuelling in a different way, but once you've got your head around it, it's easy. Just different to ICE.

 

[MichaelT]

Nearly all our journeys are less than 10 miles in the car. I said I'd never buy an EV but unbelievable how great they are to drive.
Range is not really a problem now, still playing with it on Sunday we did 147 miles still had 93 mile range left.

Is the range left the same as an ice car, says 93 miles left then 2 minutes later the low fuel warning light comes on

 

[The Wino]

Is the range left the same as an ice car, says 93 miles left then 2 minutes later the low fuel warning light comes on

I know exactly what you mean but so far ours seems very accurate. Of course you wouldn't really be sure unless you're brave enough to run it to nothing! I think the last few percent it goes into limp mode so you can park up safely but hopefully I'll never find out

 

[M-J]

Is the range left the same as an ice car, says 93 miles left then 2 minutes later the low fuel warning light comes on

Some can be in extreme hot and cold (using unexpected % to warm up or cool down)

The eqe has two ranges displayed, one is based on ideal conditions and the other is more realistic based on current working conditions. Both seem accurate.

Using the sat nav helps as the car works more efficiently with regens and the like based on the route it’s expecting to take. It’s also handy as it also tells you the range left after your journey which has always been accurate.

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[Guigsy]

I know exactly what you mean but so far ours seems very accurate. Of course you wouldn't really be sure unless you're brave enough to run it to nothing! I think the last few percent it goes into limp mode so you can park up safely but hopefully I'll never find out

Some EVs are better than others. Particularly when it's cold. But others are pretty accurate, particularly the smart ones that, when you feed your destination into the satnav, it uses the road speeds, traffic conditions, hills and current weather to improve the estimate.

 

[ontheroadagain]

I’d assumed with hybrids one could select the preferred power source (ICE or Bat) so you can warm the engine before switching back to ‘normal’ operating with a mixture of the two?

Yes - I used to do that when I had my Mitsubishi PHEV.
I did it to avoid the engine starting from cold when I joined the motorway (which is only a few miles from our house)

 

[Miggs]

I looked at going electric but the premium over the same petrol version was 5k!
I spend approx £900 a year on petrol, so it would never pay off plus depreciation is horrendous.
I'll stick with petrol for now!

 

[ROCHESB]

Yes but can you really trust designers? After all, some idiot decided it was a good idea to drive the cam shaft of an interference engine with a rubber band! Then some other idiot decided they were still lasting too long so let’s run them in oil!

..... and someone else decided that routine checking engine oil levels could not be trusted to the owner and replaced the dipstick with an oil level sensor. I know who the dipstick was in this case.

 

[Guigsy]

..... and someone else decided that routine checking engine oil levels could not be trusted to the owner and replaced the dipstick with an oil level sensor. I know who the dipstick was in this case.

Sorry, but that is due to users. The vast majority of vehicle owners never check their oil levels. So the sensor is required. And in pretty much every case, the sensor is good enough because vehicles have become so reliable. There's sound logic to why the dipstick has disappeared.

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