MINI Cooper Forum banner

PHEV Charging times UK 13 amp

5K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  Matteo Cifelli 
#1 ·
I know there is already a thread with a similar title, but I was wondering what charging times / distance they are getting from UK 13amp sockets?

We are about 5/6 charges in now and it only ever shows 21 miles and by the morning it is down to 19 miles before I have even started the car.
This is also taking 4 hours each time.

What times / distance are other UK owners getting ?
 
#2 ·
My experience is in Portugal,
I found that when you choose different voltages in my mini menu, it takes different times and consumes different amounts of KWh.
In low voltage it takes 6:30 hours
In mid it takes 4 hours
In high it takes about 3 hours.


Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk
 
#3 ·
Only had mine less than a week, but haven't had a chance to try charging it yet. Doesn't help that my father in law left the back garden a mess, which is the only place that I can park the car close enough to a socket. Need to clean it up and try it over the weekend. Manual does mention 150 minutes? I smell a waft of BS...

Can also see I'm a big PHEV noob, I turned up at a museum yesterday and they had charging points. Took an age getting to the right place to create an account and activate the charging point...only to find that I didn't have a type 2 to type 2 cable. Bloody embarrassing...
 
#9 ·
Edit...ok that idea is out of the window, apparently normal type 2 to type 2 cables are designed and cannot be used as an extension. Need to buy a dedicated extension cable...wow more money
Do you mean a dedicated type 2 to type 2 cable ? I bought a 15m water resisitant single plug extension from Wickes for £16, I just kick all the connectors under the car if the weather looks a bit iffy
 
#4 ·
Just checked mine and it is set for maximum charge. Not feeling the love for the PHEV part of it yet really.
School run, bit longer than usual, 12 miles in total, car only showing 3 miles of electric left when I got home.

Love the car and how it drives, just sure of the PHEV part yet.
 
#6 ·
I only have about 850 miles on my odo since June and the petrol consumption is not that great but I put it down to me hardly using petrol at all in the distance - one motorway run 60 miles each way and some short runs about 10 miles coming home from the local town when the battery is low. I have a type 2 to type2 cable but have yet to use it as the car parks with the charging points in my local town are not in locations where I would normally go to park. The engine is not run in at all.
I have a similar problem to Shiki with the charging cable length too and use a heavy duty extension lead as well as the charge cable with the 13amp plug on it until I have cleared 30 years of accumulated junk from my garage when i’ll Be able to get the car parked right next to the socket!
It is also worth having a play with the various modes for driving, all the videos I have watched say that the default mode on start up is the best but I find that on the motorway Save+Green works well as it will charge the battery quite well on low load down hill sections. I didn’t find the user manual at all helpful for learning about the different modes- in fact it wasn’t helpful for anything!
 
#7 ·
It is also worth having a play with the various modes for driving, all the videos I have watched say that the default mode on start up is the best but I find that on the motorway Save+Green works well as it will charge the battery quite well on low load down hill sections. I didn’t find the user manual at all helpful for learning about the different modes- in fact it wasn’t helpful for anything!


I’ve been playing with modes too and, after testing different modes in my daily commute I decided to opt for MAX edrive as the standard mode when the car starts so I can leave town. When I choose freeway I put it in auto edrive (witch I found better than save mode as it shuts the engine more times and I end up with same battery and less consumption than in SAVE).

As strange as it may seem, I found Mid to be better than Green in my journey by regular roads that I can get to work only on battery (about 35km). In green it ends up using the same amount of fuel but I ended up my journey with 5% battery and the engine starting like a minute away from work. In mid I end up with about 8 to 10%. After a close look I found that in green, when descending it uses coasting and the pointer stays in idle. When in Mid mode it charges when going down the hill. May be a special case...
 
#14 ·
Default is low because it’s the best mode to work everywhere. From what I learned those modes will have nothing to do with damage to charger or car (that will happen anyway if your installation is poor. You have to test if your house handles reduced and maximum. The worst that can happen is your house power will go down.

I used maximum in several places and it never had problems. When I tested a BMW i3, that uses the same charger, general power went down in one place. Mini requires less power.

If you go up in charging modes, time will be reduced, but it will also be more expensive.
 
#15 ·
Wow it is not quick is it. Nearly got into and out of the city on pure electric power alone. Trip just over 20 miles, however on the way in, I did have the AC off. AC on, on the way back cut the range a little.

Got home and started charging at about 5pm, am told on the dash that my car will be fully charged by 11pm....hmmmmm. Guess no big rush, since wife will only be using it to get to work in the morning. Will be an interesting test there, as it is only just under 5 miles. So in theory, my wife should be able to last on electric power for two days without a charge.
 
#17 ·
Yeah, fingers crossed. Saves the hassle of having to back the car into the rear garden. The road running behind our house isn't in great condition and the space right outside our garden gate is pretty tight. So the less I have to do it, the better.

The more I learn about the car and PHEVs, the more I think charging the car on public points is too cost prohibitive and difficult. The standing charges for subscribing or even 'instant' use chargers, out weighs the benefits. Especially due to the slow charging time and capacity of the battery in the Countryman. Most benefits are found when charging it at home, assuming that you are on a good electricity tariff. ( I actually need to switch providers, existing one are charging silly money per kWh ). That is also assuming that the places you frequent, have easy and good access to public chargers in some shape or form.
 
#18 ·
Yeah, fingers crossed. Saves the hassle of having to back the car into the rear garden. The road running behind our house isn't in great condition and the space right outside our garden gate is pretty tight. So the less I have to do it, the better.

The more I learn about the car and PHEVs, the more I think charging the car on public points is too cost prohibitive and difficult. The standing charges for subscribing or even 'instant' use chargers, out weighs the benefits. Especially due to the slow charging time and capacity of the battery in the Countryman. Most benefits are found when charging it at home, assuming that you are on a good electricity tariff. ( I actually need to switch providers, existing one are charging silly money per kWh ). That is also assuming that the places you frequent, have easy and good access to public chargers in some shape or form.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top