Maintaining the charge

21 December 2022

When Genquip Groundhog’s sales and marketing manager Peter Beach told me that he had recently moved house from Sheffield to Gloucestershire, I initially wondered if this was a drastic move to reduce ‘range anxiety’ when travelling in his electric car to the welfare cabin manufacturer’s headquarters in Neath. 

As regular blog readers will know, I’ve been following Peter’s real-life experiences since switching to a Jaguar I-Pace nearly two years ago. 

A particular frustration has been the inadequacies in the scale and consistency of public charging facility provision, hence my initial thoughts about his relocation. However, the move was driven (no pun intended) by Peter’s wife having taken a new job in the region. 

As a result, his previous 200-mile each-way journey has been cut to around 90 miles. 

“Fully charged, the car shows a range of 210 miles in winter and 230 in summer, which is less than the manufacturer’s claimed 290 miles,” said Peter. “And that reduces by around 30 miles with the heater and heated windows on, which isn’t exactly great for what is certainly not a cheap car. 

“I’m able to charge mainly at home now, but the cost is steadily going up. It originally cost me around £90 a month but now it’s around £230 as the tariff increases. That’s still not as expensive as petrol or diesel. However, if I had to charge away from home it would be much more.” 

And Peter believes that the infrastructure is still not good enough. “In my experience, a lot of chargers being installed are only 7kW and too slow, giving the equivalent of about ten miles in an hour of charging. You really need a minimum of 50kW when out and about.” 

Mind you, he is very impressed with the vehicle itself. “I’ve now travelled 47,000 miles and I’m still on the original tyres and brake pads,” he says.

Photo: Peter Beach