Just some thoughts on my first 4 months on Tesla ownership and how I got there . I am not new to EV’s we have a 2021 Leaf which is just for day to day usage and my wife now calls it her car.
I support IT several sites across the UK and Ireland . During lockdown this still needed to be done but I could not fly due to company policy and the lack of flights .
So I drove everywhere and racked up a lot of hire car expenses, in December last year I got on the company car program and started to look at options.
Tesla was top of my list but I decided to have a fair look (we have 3 already) and came to Polestar 2 dual motor or BMW i4 M40 as the only other options I wanted to look at.
Tried the Polestar first a week before Christmas , had a hour drive from Glasgow Polestar . Good drive Motorway A/B roads liked it but the route was picked to give it a lot of regen and made it look like 260 range was possible …. Its not as one of my colleagues has one and he struggles to get 200.
BMW next from Aberdeen BMW it was an i4 M50 but my budget could only stretch to a M40. Got it early January on an over night test. Its was seriously quick and fully specked out which was unfortunate as there were so many good options that even a base model was out of budget once they had been added . Put on 150 miles fast and slow roads but it used a lot of power. Last test was a slow drive to work from my house 10 miles , I could get no more than 2.2 Miles/kW .
So to the Tesla I was fortunate enough to get a short term hire from Leaseplan , a 2019 SR+ with 22k miles.
Got it on the 10th January… 11th I drove from Aberdeen to Tilbury via Hounslow that’s about 550 miles . It was a test , If I go for a Polestar could I charge on one of my trips. As you all would expect a SR+ in a wintery Scotland .. with hills and wind does not get anywhere near the published range .
I departed with about 90% charge , quick stop at Aberdeen TC to enquire about getting the car on my app for supercharging . They could not help but said it was Leaseplan that was paying for now and I should contact them … email sent and im off . Charged at Perth other chargers available then on to Abington . Not so good here two cars charging and a sad looking guy in a Polestar waiting ( Im thinking that could be me) . I should have taken photos and I will on my Belgium / Amsterdam trip but it was a Zoe and a Niro I , nobody with the cars .
On I went to Tebay , one non Tesla charge place free in then on to Keel didn’t check the chargers there as this is turning in to a long trip and I had made my choice the M3 was for me
Last drive to a stop was Oxford services … Stayed at a Ramada.. cant be many in UK . Got there about 1 am.
Mistake one I should have charged when I got there as is was so slow in the morning
So a slow 20kW charge started at 7am .. it got faster but not by much
On to London and a charge at my office which has 22KW 3 phase though we can only use 11kW of that only got short charge as it was blocked and had to be cleared … then I made it to try a Model Y at thorp park
It was a bit harsh with the big wheels and I did not like the driving position , I drove the same road with my SR+ 3 and it was OK. So going forward my son said the 3 had enough room … I went with a 3
Days work there and stayed in Richmond Hill Hotel nice but no charger
On the road again at 7:30 heading for Tillbury , charged at Lakeside center and I got the message when I unplugged no method of payment … feck said me I have to wing it and tried Leaspan again but no answer after 20min on hold but I need to go ...on to my work site which has an 11 kW charger
Luckily the app sprung into life while I was there and welcomed me to my car , including charging woo hoo I can get home .
Set off about midday going to Grantham Abington and Dundee for charging
It was a big first trip of just over 1100 miles but it made my decision and I got a new Model 3 on 29th of March
And I have just done over 1600 mile in the month since I got the new one … but I was on holiday for 10 of those days
Plans are a trip to my office in Belgium and Netherlands but Im going back to London and Immingham before then
The car is great we would replace the leaf with this but its that usage thing my wife never does more than 50 miles in a day so why pay for a big battery ?
Just back from Immingham office to Aberdeen , I did it Via A1 420 miles and one charge stop (4.4 Miles/kWh) ) … but I did two as I needed arrest
Attached photos of old 3 in black and new in white ... could not keep the black one clean with road dirt but birds *sugar* on the white one all the time now.. why cant my cat keep them away
I support IT several sites across the UK and Ireland . During lockdown this still needed to be done but I could not fly due to company policy and the lack of flights .
So I drove everywhere and racked up a lot of hire car expenses, in December last year I got on the company car program and started to look at options.
Tesla was top of my list but I decided to have a fair look (we have 3 already) and came to Polestar 2 dual motor or BMW i4 M40 as the only other options I wanted to look at.
Tried the Polestar first a week before Christmas , had a hour drive from Glasgow Polestar . Good drive Motorway A/B roads liked it but the route was picked to give it a lot of regen and made it look like 260 range was possible …. Its not as one of my colleagues has one and he struggles to get 200.
BMW next from Aberdeen BMW it was an i4 M50 but my budget could only stretch to a M40. Got it early January on an over night test. Its was seriously quick and fully specked out which was unfortunate as there were so many good options that even a base model was out of budget once they had been added . Put on 150 miles fast and slow roads but it used a lot of power. Last test was a slow drive to work from my house 10 miles , I could get no more than 2.2 Miles/kW .
So to the Tesla I was fortunate enough to get a short term hire from Leaseplan , a 2019 SR+ with 22k miles.
Got it on the 10th January… 11th I drove from Aberdeen to Tilbury via Hounslow that’s about 550 miles . It was a test , If I go for a Polestar could I charge on one of my trips. As you all would expect a SR+ in a wintery Scotland .. with hills and wind does not get anywhere near the published range .
I departed with about 90% charge , quick stop at Aberdeen TC to enquire about getting the car on my app for supercharging . They could not help but said it was Leaseplan that was paying for now and I should contact them … email sent and im off . Charged at Perth other chargers available then on to Abington . Not so good here two cars charging and a sad looking guy in a Polestar waiting ( Im thinking that could be me) . I should have taken photos and I will on my Belgium / Amsterdam trip but it was a Zoe and a Niro I , nobody with the cars .
On I went to Tebay , one non Tesla charge place free in then on to Keel didn’t check the chargers there as this is turning in to a long trip and I had made my choice the M3 was for me
Last drive to a stop was Oxford services … Stayed at a Ramada.. cant be many in UK . Got there about 1 am.
Mistake one I should have charged when I got there as is was so slow in the morning
So a slow 20kW charge started at 7am .. it got faster but not by much
On to London and a charge at my office which has 22KW 3 phase though we can only use 11kW of that only got short charge as it was blocked and had to be cleared … then I made it to try a Model Y at thorp park
It was a bit harsh with the big wheels and I did not like the driving position , I drove the same road with my SR+ 3 and it was OK. So going forward my son said the 3 had enough room … I went with a 3
Days work there and stayed in Richmond Hill Hotel nice but no charger
On the road again at 7:30 heading for Tillbury , charged at Lakeside center and I got the message when I unplugged no method of payment … feck said me I have to wing it and tried Leaspan again but no answer after 20min on hold but I need to go ...on to my work site which has an 11 kW charger
Luckily the app sprung into life while I was there and welcomed me to my car , including charging woo hoo I can get home .
Set off about midday going to Grantham Abington and Dundee for charging
It was a big first trip of just over 1100 miles but it made my decision and I got a new Model 3 on 29th of March
And I have just done over 1600 mile in the month since I got the new one … but I was on holiday for 10 of those days
Plans are a trip to my office in Belgium and Netherlands but Im going back to London and Immingham before then
The car is great we would replace the leaf with this but its that usage thing my wife never does more than 50 miles in a day so why pay for a big battery ?
Just back from Immingham office to Aberdeen , I did it Via A1 420 miles and one charge stop (4.4 Miles/kWh) ) … but I did two as I needed arrest
Attached photos of old 3 in black and new in white ... could not keep the black one clean with road dirt but birds *sugar* on the white one all the time now.. why cant my cat keep them away
