Skoda Enyaq Forum

Hi guys, I’m looking at purchasing a enyak but have not had or even driven electric, other than my mothers mobility scooter but my concerns are about charging when away from home? I’ve watched just about all the vids on YouTube and noted how many chargers are out of service on things like the zap app also a lot of chargers are marked as private?? At hotels, guests houses ect
So what’s your opinions on the charging and availability of charging points
What do you charge the car to when out and about, I see some vids they only charge the car enough to get to the next charger or home
Is there anybody charging at home though a 13 amp socket or is that a waste of space
Many Thais in advance

Half of my charging has been at home on a 7kw charger overnight, the others have been public chargers. Generally speaking i've not 'waited' anywhere for charging to complete, and have charged whilst i was stopping anyway for a break (fast chargers) or at a destination for at least a couple of hours (on slower 7kw / 11kw chargers). Certainly don't wait for the 80% mark every time, but do tend to make sure i have a buffer of 30 miles or so from where i'm heading. Have only charged to 100% twice.

I have found Shell, Geniepoint and Gridserve to be excellent. I have had three failures to charge where I have had to drive away and find somewhere else, all were on BP Pulse. Annoying in all cases yes, prohibitive to owning an EV or causing significant disruption to my journey / day... Nope. In two out of the three cases there were other chargers within a small radius.

Some planning advisable and some patience required with apps etc... RFID and contactless payments appear to work quicker and more reliably

So far all of my charging has been at home on a 7.4 Kw/h charger. I do plan a trip away mid October that will need a recharge as it is nearly all motorway however I can use one of the 20 free charger in the car park at Bordeaux airport where the usual charging customs do not apply and you are expected to hog a bay for the duration of your trip.

It really depends on what are typical journeys for you and there frequency. Charging at 7.2 Kw/h at home for say 5 hours will add 35 Kw/ to your battery, if like me, you are going for an IV60 then that is a significant percentage of a 58 Kw battery. If you frequently make long journeys that you will need to recharge on then go for the 100 Kw/h charging option. I may need to recharge away from home perhaps only on a vacation. I did not upgrade the charging.

Charging at home is also much cheaper. I went for a self install but you do need to know what you are doing ! Make sure you get a charger you can set charge times on as the Enyaq scheduled charger is buggy.

As above, get a 7.2kW charger fitted at home using the government grant. That'll cover you for most trips that are under 250 miles or so. Yes you can charge from a 'granny charger' from a 13A socket, but be aware that to charge an Enyaq 80 from empty it'll take more than a day. They're best used to top up about 20-30 miles of range to get you to a faster public charger.

The public charging network is nowhere near as bad as some doomsayers make out, and it's improving all the time. You just need to make sure you plan a bit, so aim to stop for a break (tea/toilet/snack/lunch) every couple of hours where there's a charger, and have a couple of backup locations nearby should that place be busy or out of service. Often you'll find something if you leave the motorway in most towns, either at a petrol station or supermarket, that you can charge at for 15-20 minutes to get you back on track.

You may need to change how you think about 'refuelling'. Instead of filling to the top and running until the warning light comes on every time, try driving like a teenager with no money - put in just enough to get you to where you need to go (with some spare in case of unavailable chargers), and only charge fully at home where it's a lot cheaper.

Charging at home with a cheap overnight tariff will cost you about 5p per kWh. Charging at public chargers will be at least 30p per kWh. So you should always aim to charge at home whenever possible as it'll mean it'll cost under 2p a mile to run the car (rather than the 15-20p per mile for most petrol/diesel cars).

In terms of actually driving an electric car - it's just the same as driving any automatic gearbox car. Stick it in D and drive it. The difference is that there's no stepping through gears, and all the torque is available all the time, so acceleration from a standstill is much quicker. Plus of course it's all much quieter and smoother If you're really not sure about making the move, consider buying a PHEV for a year or so to get used to charging at home.

Well said RichR, it's common sense, although there is not about in this day and age ha ha.

Well said RichR, it's common sense, although there is not a lot about in this day and age ha ha.

Hi
Due to my iV80 turning up 4 months earlier than I had been advised (!), I have been using a 13A charger for the last 6 weeks. I have done around 2500 miles, only needing to use a public charger 4 times. On each occasion the experience was quick and easy.

The car tops up overnight at 9mph on 13A, to a level that meets my needs and then I ve used the public chargers on longer trips

As you don't get a 13A cable with the car, its worth getting one - buy the longest one you can. My 10m cable is only just long enough to get from the socket at the back of my garage. Many people only sell 5m lengths which will be very limiting

RichR wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:49 am
The public charging network is nowhere near as bad as some doomsayers make out, and it's improving all the time.

It does depend so much on where you are in the UK.

I'm looking at getting an Enyaq sometime in the next 18 months, however I live in South Somerset near Yeovil and according to ZapMap, my options to find a 100kW+ CCS Combo charger anywhere nearby are somewhat limited (nearest is 28 miles / 48 mins away according to Google Maps):

Hi scratch113

I notice you have only 100-350kW CCS chargers selected, I think these are quite scarce throughout the UK at present, 25-50 kW CCS chargers are much more common at the minute. I only had the 125kW charging option added on to our enyaq as I was hoping 100kw + chargers would become more common further into our 4 year lease.

Had my Enyaq about a month and found it great in traffic and around town but on the open road, the battery falls rapidly even though I'm driving conservatively.
Used 50kW chargers successfully but a new 8 bay 150kW station wouldn't charge at the chargers.
Talking to other EV owners at work, it's imperative to have a charging point at home, a) cheaper b) takes the stress away in the morning...