Scotland Roadtrip: feasible?

[arg]

Hi,

I am working on the UK Roadtrip itinerary and I see something strange happening. When I plan a route from - say - Leyland south to the Charnock Richard Supercharger with Google Maps, it creates a detour, going all the way to the crossing of M6 and A5209 and then coming back, see this map. When I zoom in, I see normal motorway exits from both sides near the Supercharger. Does anyone knows if this is just an error in Google Maps?

The in-car nav will do that too (unless they've fixed it recently).

The Superchargers are at the northbound service area only; there is a private road linking the two sides, but ordinary drivers are not allowed to use it (the signs say "hotel only" because the hotel is also on the northbound side). Tesla drivers are allowed to use the service road to access the Superchargers.

The same applies at several other sites, although at Keele the service road is closed by barriers: Tesla briefly put the barrier code on the screen in the car, then took it away and are now building more Superchargers on the other side.

 

[cezdoc]

Hi,

I am working on the UK Roadtrip itinerary and I see something strange happening. When I plan a route from - say - Leyland south to the Charnock Richard Supercharger with Google Maps, it creates a detour, going all the way to the crossing of M6 and A5209 and then coming back, see this map. When I zoom in, I see normal motorway exits from both sides near the Supercharger. Does anyone knows if this is just an error in Google Maps?

Thanks!

Dimitri

EDIT: I missed arg's post above before basically repeating the same information below!

It is possible to access the Charnock Richard Supercharger from the southbound service area but you have to use service roads to get there. I believe access is allowed for hotel guests at the Days Inn (the supercharger is located in the hotel car park). There are barriers on the access roads but I haven't heard of them being closed recently (occasionally there is a crack-down to reduce the number of local drivers using it as a short-cut). If they are closed I believe there is an intercom so you should be allowed access if you explain you want to use the Supercharger.

A description of the route is available here: UK Supercharger Guide

You can also see the access roads on Google Streetview, for example. The access road is signed "No Entry" but there is a Days Inn Hotel sign to help guests spot the turning.

I don't think the Tesla Nav can include the service roads at Charnock Richard so you would need to manually set the southbound service area as a destination to get a realistic distance/energy estimate for route planning.

 

[timidri]

The in-car nav will do that too (unless they've fixed it recently).

The Superchargers are at the northbound service area only; there is a private road linking the two sides, but ordinary drivers are not allowed to use it (the signs say "hotel only" because the hotel is also on the northbound side). Tesla drivers are allowed to use the service road to access the Superchargers.

The same applies at several other sites, although at Keele the service road is closed by barriers: Tesla briefly put the barrier code on the screen in the car, then took it away and are now building more Superchargers on the other side.

EDIT: I missed arg's post above before basically repeating the same information below!

It is possible to access the Charnock Richard Supercharger from the southbound service area but you have to use service roads to get there. I believe access is allowed for hotel guests at the Days Inn (the supercharger is located in the hotel car park). There are barriers on the access roads but I haven't heard of them being closed recently (occasionally there is a crack-down to reduce the number of local drivers using it as a short-cut). If they are closed I believe there is an intercom so you should be allowed access if you explain you want to use the Supercharger.

A description of the route is available here: UK Supercharger Guide

You can also see the access roads on Google Streetview, for example. The access road is signed "No Entry" but there is a Days Inn Hotel sign to help guests spot the turning.

I don't think the Tesla Nav can include the service roads at Charnock Richard so you would need to manually set the southbound service area as a destination to get a realistic distance/energy estimate for route planning.

Thank you very much! This totally makes sense. I will include the supercharger in our southbound route.

 

[timidri]

Charnock Richard supercharger is at the services only on the Northbound side of the road I'm afraid. So the route takes you South to the next junction, then back up North to get to the Northbound services, and when you leave there you will have no option to go North again, all the way back to Leyland

It turns out there is a private road available which Tesla drivers can use (see other reply).

A Better Routeplanner

Actually didn't know this one, checking it out! Thanks.

 

[WannabeOwner]

It turns out there is a private road available which Tesla drivers can use

There's one of those at Newport Pagnell too ... coming West my phone running Waze said to use that to get to the (Southbound only) supercharger, which was a significantly shorter/quicker route, but I didn't have confidence that I could creep in by that access road! so I went further North to Northampton junction to then come South.

Sure enough when I got there the access road was fine, and lots of cars using it ... but a No Entry sign, or similar, so really pretty daft that us Brits invent stupid workarounds like that rather than doing a proper job in the first place ... I have no idea what foreigners make of some of our junctions that look like they were thrown together? and then some years later millions (Billions?) spent doing the proper job that should have been done int he first place.

Why is the joke of the original Stanstead roundabouts still there? I have driven it many times and yet I still get confused as to which lane I need in order to avoid some filter-only option ...

 

[timidri]

Our roadtrip is underway! 18 days England, Scotland and Wales. I will try to write about it here: UK Electric Roadtrip 2017.

 

[tonyj01]

Our roadtrip is underway! 18 days England, Scotland and Wales. I will try to write about it here: UK Electric Roadtrip 2017.

Have a great trip, you will enjoy fantastic mountain scenery!

Regards,

Tony

 

[timidri]

A new day: Canterbury - Oxford

 

[timidri]

And another one: Oxford - York

 

[timidri]

York: York

 

[timidri]

We are in Scotland! York - Peebles

 

[timidri]

2 days of rest: Peebles & Edinburgh

 

[timidri]

Due to sparse internet connectivity on the Isles, here some belated blogs:

Peebles - Iona
Iona
Iona - Fort William

I can't believe CYC CHAdeMO charging here is actually free! Or am I overlooking something? The last time we paid something with CYC was £3 connection fee in York. What's the business model?

Tip for island travel: download the Google Maps areas you will be needing to your phone since internet connectivity will often be non-existent.

 

[timidri]

Another couple of overdue blogs.

Teaser: read how our b&b host in Portree considers to offer electric charging!

Portree - Skye is the Limit

Portree - Grantown On Spey

Grantown On Spey - Ireby

 

[timidri]

The road trip has ended, we are safely home!

The data:

• Distance traveled: 4641 km
• Energy used: 897,3 kWh
• Average efficiency: 193 Wh/km

The trip has been recorded by TeslaFI. If you are interested in more information - for example energy data per day - let me know, I will try to make a separate technical summary article.

The missing blogs:

Ireby - Porthmadog
Porthmadog - Cardiff West
Cardiff West - Winchester
Winchester - Den Haag

It was an unforgettable experience, not in the least thanks to the best road trip car there is!

 

[WannabeOwner]

Enjoyed reading your blog, glad you had a good trip

 

[arg]

Re your half-speed charging at Porthmadog, how old is your car and if pre-facelift do you have the 2nd charger fitted?

Some destination charging locations on the UK will have three-phase, but that one appears to be single-phase 32A. Original EU Model S have chargers accepting 16A per phase (so 32A per phase if 2nd charger fitted). The UMC has/had a kludge to link together all three phase inputs when used with the blue single phase adapter, so single charger cars could charge at 32A using the UMC, but not at standard single phase chargepoints. Tesla have chosen not to put the same kludge into the WC, probably because it can cause damage if used with non-tesla vehicles.

Since there are a lot of 32A single phase chargepoints here, Model S in the UK were all delivered initially with dual chargers whether you had paid for the upgrade or not (with the three-phase performance limited in software if not). I believe the on-board wiring was later redesigned to allow single charger cars to use 32A, though I am not certain of that; the facelift cars have an entirely new charger where this issue doesn't arise.

 

[timidri]

Re your half-speed charging at Porthmadog, how old is your car and if pre-facelift do you have the 2nd charger fitted?

Thank you, your explanation makes total sense. My car is from 2015 and it has a 'single charger'. I am able to charge 3x16A / 240V resulting in 11kW. I will update the blog article.