4 Counties Sunday Drive
My First Tesla Super Charge
Today we decided to go for a Sunday drive in my fully electric Mini, our destination being Banbury and the Tesla Super Chargers that are open to the public. This was to be my first use of Tesla super chargers.
We fully charged the Mini overnight, even though the Agile prices were not that good, and planned the route to enjoy the English countryside, of just under 100 miles each way. It will be just one charging session for the journey today.
Cost of charging?
The cost of charging was £15.82 and I arrived home with 23% remaining, almost a quarter of a tank. Plenty of energy to spare.
What would this have cost using a petrol Mini Cooper S at its claimed 48 mile per gallon UK? With the current average price of £1.55 per litre, it would have cost £27.86 for the 196 miles driven, and then we need to allow for the quarter tank of fuel.
The EV cost half the price of the petrol Mini Cooper S.
How Long did it Take to Charge?
We were not waiting for my car to charge, it took as long to charge my Mini as it did to walk across the car park to the nearest Costa and have a coffee and walk back again. That was not really much of a break to be honest, but, trying to test to abilities of public rapid charging meat we did not have a longer break.
The total charge time was 34 minutes, charging from 23% to 92%
This is typical of charging sessions with an electric Mini, my average rapid charge is around 20 minutes. I will often move my car away from the rapid charger as we have enough power for the next leg of my journey, but, we want a bit more time to wind down.
Efficiency
How efficient is the Mini electric?
Today we averaged 4.5 miles per kWh, giving a cost of less than 8 pence per mile, remember i had 23% battery remaining at the end of this journey.
At home i have seen the energy price vary from 65 pence per kWh down to -18 pence per kWh. Tesla are priced very competitively, charging 49p per kWh today. Thank you Tesla.
Was it Fun without Engine Noise?
Yes, driving an electric Mini Cooper S is a very engaging experience. You get all the fun and performance of the petrol Mini, but, without the fuss of the engine. You also get an almost perfect 50:50 weight balance for better handling. Remove the annoying noises and vibrations that create fatigue and you end up with a great Sunday out driving. When someone moves from manual to automatic, they soon say they will never go back. The same is also true of the switch from automatic to electric, most people never go back.
Did you ask which 4 counties? Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire.
