Opportunistic Charging

It is easy to think “I fill the my car once I reach a quarter of a tank, and to keep that attitude once you get an EV. With faster charging cars this works well but with others the concept is flawed.

Today I drove to Geneva and back to drop into Digitec to drop off the Garmin Forerunner 570 because I noticed that transparent plastic of some sort was trying to escape from between the glass, and the rest of the watch. In the process I drove an EV.

I left home with 87 percent charge or so and I got to Geneva with ten percent less. I didn’t bother to charge as I had 76 percent and charging four percent is not worthwhile.

Part of the reason for the EV charge economy is that I went via the countryside for part of the journey, and the speed was limited on the motorway. Both of these helped me save on battery charge.

On the drive back I could drive faster, for the entire journey so I got down to 62 percent, and rather than go to Signy Centre I went to Porte de Nyon. The chose was based on the 39 centime “slow charger”. Now it was worth charging, so I did, from 62 percent to 74 percent. I took the opportunity to finish my coffee to gain extra time to charge.

With the Leapmotor T03 it took 1hr18min to charge 4.337 kWh whereas with the Fiat 500e it took 19min to charge 3.317kWh. The Fiat 500e chargers much faster on 22kw so it’s more forgiving of less frequent charges.

Today I drove to Geneva and back, and within 20 minutes I had offset the battery usage for that journey. More to the point, I spent more on parking, 2 CHF, compared to 1.29 CHF on charging.

If you have a quick task to do in Geneva, then the EV is the most convenient, and I parked at the Park and Rail parking. It’s 4 francs, compared to almost 10 francs with the train, and with the train I need to walk along roads that punish pedestrians because the measures to encourage walking forgot to account for road work increases in traffic.

Cycling as an Alternative

I considered cycling as an alternative way of getting to Geneva, and doing what I had to do. I didn’t for the simple reason that bicycle theft is not treated as seriously as it should. I know that I can easily cycle to Geneva and back, and that it would take around the same time as I spent with the car and walking, but for a few minutes the bike would be vulnerable and I am not willing to take that risk.

Fast and Slow AC Charging

When AC charging is fast you can charge every so often and two hours are enough but with slow charging, the bigger the gap between chargers, the longer the car is stuck. That’s why, with slower cars it makes sense to charge them opportunistically at cheap chargers. I know that I can park for one and a half to two hours, not more, so by charging opportunistically I park long enough to get back to eighty percent, and then move on.