After the great success of our trip to the South of France, a trip to the North of France was planned this weekend. This week the weather changed to your typical autumn showers with the inevitable wind gusts. In short, ideal conditions to take a closer look at the consumption of the Polestar 2.
Planning the trip
The reason for the trip to Northern France was a team building event with almost all colleagues from Europe. The activities started in Boulogne-sur-Mer at 14:00 but our hotel was in Calais so I had to foresee those extra kilometres as well. This is an aspect of electric driving that you are not used to when driving a petrol or diesel car. Unexpected "trips" do raise your blood pressure a little, whether you want to or not.
When making a trip, one of the first things I plan is the amount of SoC (State of Charge) needed to get from the furthest point to the next.
With A Better Route Planner, I can see perfectly that I can get home if I leave the hotel in Calais with 30% SoC, with a stop at an Ionity Charger in Veurne (almost halfway through the route).
If I arrive in Boulogne-sur-Mer with 50% SoC, I would arrive that evening with 30% SoC at the hotel in Calais... if the calculations are correct.
Unlike usual, this time I wanted to use ABPR in the car instead of Google Maps. Mainly because ABPR knows the entire route and I want to get to know the application better. Maybe it will eventually be easier to use than Google Maps.
Day 1 : Antwerpen - Calais
Antwerpen - Veurne
The journey started immediately with a traffic jam on the Antwerp ring road and on the way there were also several road works that caused the necessary delays. The temperature had dropped to 14 degrees Celsius and there was a fairly strong wind (26km/h) from the south. You could feel the car moving slightly with each gust of wind. Near Veurne, it also started to rain hard.
When I arrived at the, not covered, charging point in Veurne it was time to put on my waterproof jacket. The first of the four charging points refused to charge but luckily the other ones worked. These are the moments you are less happy with your choice to drive electric but it is better for the environment which is in worse shape than my charging stress.
And how was the consumption? Quite a strong wind and a lot of rain at the end made the consumption peak at about 25.4 kWh/100km. But the average consumption (thanks to the traffic jams) was 23.7 kWh/100km.
Distance: 145 km
Average consumption: 23,7 kWh/100km
Travel time : 1:55
Average speed: 79 km/h
Soc : 45%
Time of Arrival : 13:40
Due to the traffic jams, I lost valuable time and only made it to Veurne after a 2-hour drive.
But the biggest disappointment was yet to come... The promised charging time of 20 minutes can easily be doubled. Although this is a 350 kWh charging station from Ionity, the Polestar 2 only achieved an average charging speed of 60 to 80 kWh. After half an hour of charging, a Porsche came along and left before me!
TIP FOR POLESTAR
1. Make sure that the promised charging speed of 150 kWh is actually achieved.
2. Provide a "Boost" function so that you can indicate that you want to charge at the maximum speed, even though this is not good for the battery life.
Fortunately, I was driving alone because the organiser of the event had asked me to carpool. But I would have felt very bad if I had to tell the passengers that they had to wait 40 minutes for the Polestar 2 to recharge.
Veurne - Boulogne-sur-Mer
During those 40 minutes, I of course had time to call the organiser and explain that I would be in Boulogne-sur-Mer at 15:00 at the earliest. 20 minutes extra delay due to the Polestar's low charging speed (this was not caused by the Ionity Charger) and 40 minutes delay due to traffic jams.
In the meantime, it is raining cats and dogs, the temperature has dropped to 15 degrees and the wind is blowing at 27 km/h. And how do I know it was blowing that hard? Just ask the question "Hey Google, how strong is the wind here?".
And with all that rain, it also became clear again that the water drain at the loading point does not drain water....
I was about to take the highway to Calais when A Better Route Planner locked up completely. There were no more instructions and the map was frozen. Fortunately, I had already saved the destination in Google Maps and could switch immediately. Game over for ABPR in the Polestar 2.
From Veurne onwards, there are no more traffic jams, but in France the speed limit is 110 km/h when it rains. At 15:01, I entered the car park at Nausicaa in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Despite the lower pace, the average consumption has risen to 24.9 kWh/100km.
Distance: 242 km
Average consumption: 24.9 kWh/100km
Driving time: 1:06
Average speed: 81 km/h
Soc : 47%
Arrival time : 15:01
Boulogne-sur-Mer - Calais
After some activities at Nausicaa and sailing on the beach, it was time to leave again for Calais.
In the meantime, the worst of the showers had passed and the weather was now dry.
47% SoC is still sufficient to arrive with at least 30% SoC in Calais which is only 70Km away.
The consumption had dropped slightly to 24.2 kWh/100km and with 37% SoC I arrived at the hotel.
Day 2 : Calais - Antwerpen
For the return journey, I had to charge again at the same charging point in Veurne as during the outward journey. This time, I was sure to try another charging station to see if the problem was not with the Ionity Charger.
The consumption during this short trip was 23.3 kWh/100km with an average speed of 92 km/h.
Distance: 70 km
Average consumption: 23.3 kWh/100km
Driving time: 0:45
Average speed: 92 km/h
Soc : 13%
But unfortunately for Polestar the charging speed was bad again. Instead of charging for 27 minutes, I sat here for 45 minutes. Now I was really glad that I did not share my ride with my colleagues! I did see a peak of 96 kWh, but for the rest, the Polestar 2 fluctuated between 65 and 80 kWh. This has to be improved by Polestar! Otherwise, this will be a breaking point for choosing another brand in the future.
Overal Stats
From Veurne it went reasonably smoothly, some traffic and a bit of rain with still a wind of 26km/h from the south. Arriving in Antwerp I had 30% SoC as predicted.
These are the final statistics of this autumn ride in reasonably bad weather:
Distance: 458,9 Km
Average consumption: 24.4 kWh/100km
Driving time: 5:51
Average speed: 86 km/h
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