[Mharp]

Hi everyone,

We're visiting Mazda this week and looking at their hybrids (3, CX-30) and possibly an MX-30
Our regular miles per week is well under 100 as we both work locally.

We're in North East Wales and A few times a year we may venture a couple of hours driving away (Manchester, York, Blackpool etc)

And less often further afield e.g. Edinburgh, South Wales.

We are interested in this as 95% (or more) of the year it would cover our needs on a single charge. For the occasional trips however, is the UK charger network decent if you plan ahead?

Many thanks

 

[AJDT10000]

Hi everyone,

We're visiting Mazda this week and looking at their hybrids (3, CX-30) and possibly an MX-30
Our regular miles per week is well under 100 as we both work locally.

We're in North East Wales and A few times a year we may venture a couple of hours driving away (Manchester, York, Blackpool etc)

And less often further afield e.g. Edinburgh, South Wales.

We are interested in this as 95% (or more) of the year it would cover our needs on a single charge. For the occasional trips however, is the UK charger network decent if you plan ahead?

Many thanks

Hi.Most of my journeys are less than 100 miles and the MX-30 is perfect for them. Great specification and I just charge at home overnight.

I’ve used my MX-30 for longer journeys. Did 400 miles on holiday near Mold using public chargers with no problems.Use the Zap-map app and stick to networks like InstaVolt, Osprey and Gridserve which are all very reliable. The network is getting better all the time. E.g Gridserve putting in a rapid charge hub in Swansea before the end of the year with 8-12 chargers.

We have a a CX-5 as well but now use the MX-30 for most journeys.

For Longer journeys you just have to plan around where the chargers are and make them part of the journey (and you get to drink more coffees!)
have fun choosing…

 

[Mharp]

Thanks for this - so in general on longer journeys you'll need to recharge/stop after approximately 2 hours? (which we always do especially with a young son)

 

[ElectricMonkey]

Thanks for this - so in general on longer journeys you'll need to recharge/stop after approximately 2 hours? (which we always do especially with a young son)

Hi Mharp,
Not from UK here, but from my experience, you cannot count on two hours drives on long journey.

First of all there is the actual range of an EV when driving around, especially at some speed.
The MX-30 has indeed approximately 200km range, but you never drive from 100% to 0%.
More realistically, you are going to stop when you have about 20% left, so your segments will be shorter (about 80/90 km). In addition, you have to consider the shorter range with cold temperatures.

It is also not time efficient to drive more to stop less, because you will spend more time recharging than driving. This is because it is faster to charge from, let's say, 20% to 80%, than from 80% to 100%.

This means stop more often, but have quicker recharges, which translates in shorter segments behind the wheel, but overall faster journey.

 

[Mharp]

Hi Mharp,
Not from UK here, but from my experience, you cannot count on two hours drives on long journey.

First of all there is the actual range of an EV when driving around, especially at some speed.
The MX-30 has indeed approximately 200km range, but you never drive from 100% to 0%.
More realistically, you are going to stop when you have about 20% left, so your segments will be shorter (about 80/90 km). In addition, you have to consider the shorter range with cold temperatures.

It is also not time efficient to drive more to stop less, because you will spend more time recharging than driving. This is because it is faster to charge from, let's say, 20% to 80%, than from 80% to 100%.

This means stop more often, but have quicker recharges, which translates in shorter segments behind the wheel, but overall faster journey.

Ah I see, so more like 50 - 60 miles with faster charging times. That makes sense - as someone said above it just means more coffees which isn't a bad thing
Thank you

 

[AJDT10000]

Totally agree with ElectricMonkey about charging. Stop more often for less time.

On Zap Map, don't just look for chargers on the motorways. Most of the time, the best chargers are just off the motorways or worth a very small detour. Much more relaxing to have a coffee in a Marston's pub mid-afternoon (they have a partnership with Osprey charging) than battling a busy motorway services.

I get approx 100 mile range at 70mph on the motorway. When I drove through the Peak District and motorway in the summer I got 135 mile range.

The more I drive my car, the more confident I get in it's range. I've taken it down to 4% remaining but I knew there were 3 different sets of rapid chargers so had a fall back just in case the first weren't working.

 

[Mharp]

Totally agree with ElectricMonkey about charging. Stop more often for less time.

On Zap Map, don't just look for chargers on the motorways. Most of the time, the best chargers are just off the motorways or worth a very small detour. Much more relaxing to have a coffee in a Marston's pub mid-afternoon (they have a partnership with Osprey charging) than battling a busy motorway services.

I get approx 100 mile range at 70mph on the motorway. When I drove through the Peak District and motorway in the summer I got 135 mile range.

The more I drive my car, the more confident I get in it's range. I've taken it down to 4% remaining but I knew there were 3 different sets of rapid chargers so had a fall back just in case the first weren't working.

The car sounds like a perfect fit for our use-case so we've put a deposit on one today - only a two week lead time too

 

[Paul]

Hi Mharp, I took a lot of time considering an ev. Thing is Mazda are honest & say it’s for city or local driving. I had a Niro & in 4 years I did 10k mile. I didn’t need to pay another 10k to 12k to lug a massive battery about. Love the car.

 

[Mharp]

Hi Mharp, I took a lot of time considering an ev. Thing is Mazda are honest & say it’s for city or local driving. I had a Niro & in 4 years I did 10k mile. I didn’t need to pay another 10k to 12k to lug a massive battery about. Love the car.

Hi Paul, we're in a similar boat - probably less than 70miles a week and sub 100 even pre covid. Mazda seem more serious about their green strategy, I read somewhere only Tesla beat them (obviously)

 

[Paul]

Hi Mharp I did look at the Tesla but that one big screen put me off, talk about keeping your eyes on the road. I also saw one after a year of use & the panel gaps were terrible. Engineers put it down to the fact that they use 3 different materials on the body so you have temperatures that affect the materials differently. No happy with the 30, I think Mazda will do well & people who do not do high mileage will be happy. Happy motoring Paul…