Can I take an electric car on vacation? Impressions from the Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin

With the permission of Volvo Poland, we decided to test the Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin, previously: P8 Recharge, the manufacturer's first electric vehicle. The test was a trip on the route Warsaw -> Krakow, local driving around Krakow and return. We are in the middle of an experiment, but we already know quite a lot about this machine.

Specifications Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin:

segment: C-SUV,

drive: both axles (AWD, 1 + 1),

power: 300 kW (408 HP)

battery capacity: ~ 73 (78) kWh,

reception: 414 WLTP units, 325 HP EPA,

PRICE: from 249 900 PLN,

configurator: HERE,

competition: Mercedes EQA, Lexus UX 300e, Audi Q4 in tron, Genesis GV60 и Kia in Nigeria.

Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin - impressions after the first long journey

As you probably already know, the test was to take place on the route Warsaw, Lukowska -> Krakow, Kroderska. It was a cold fall day (13 degrees and falling), so the experiment was realistic. It was also made more realistic by the fact that the whole family was traveling with luggage, not just a short and light Norwegian born in Thailand 😉 We went exactly as Google Maps told us, we planned a stop near Jedzheyuv, at Orlen charging station. station.

In Warsaw, I fully charged the battery, but I had one thing to do, so we started our journey with 97 percent. To be honest, I was a little concerned that I was able to use 3 percent of my battery in just 6 kilometers. The car has hardly traveled 200 kilometers? How long will it be on the road ?! Ouch!

We left at 17.23: 21.22, Google Maps predicted that we would be there in almost four hours, at XNUMX: XNUMX.... But pay attention to the timing: everyone just gets home from work. In Warsaw, of course, there were huge traffic jams, outside the city it was also crowded, in the Gruc area it was really looser, and beyond Radom it was empty.

For the driver of an internal combustion car, the most amazing thing would be that we jumped over the crowd in bus lanes. As a result we managed to avoid the estimated travel time of 20 minutes... Of course: Google calculates it on a regular basis, takes into account the situation in different places along the route, so the answer to what we actually saved is only a small approximation, but without a doubt: we were driving, the rest were in traffic jams.

Driving style

I drove through the city and beyond, along with traffic jams, i.e. dynamically... I will not tell you the exact speeds because they were different, but if you have ever traveled from Warsaw to Krakow or Zakopane, you know that this route was not chosen very literally. The goal of the experiment was to try to simulate driving an internal combustion engine car without worrying about the range.

On the expressway outside Radom I set the cruise control to 125 km/h, which corresponded to the real 121 km/h. check the position of the foot on the accelerator pedal and both modes of recuperation on descents ("strong" or "not on descents"). All"). I did not go below 120 km / h, unless it was impossible to go at that speed.

Only charging, or “Orlen, a”

The developer Better Route Planner recently advised us to stop at the charging station in Bialobrzegi for just 6 minutes. I decided that I would either go to Kielce or stay near Jędrzejów. I really hate leaving the expressway and going to townSecondly, I have planned a stop at the Orlen charging station in Lchino (PlugShare HERE).

During the trip, it turned out that we did not take a single item from home, and Kielce will be more convenient for us, because we can buy it in the mall. In addition, my children started signaling their fatigue (spinning in car seats, repeating question “When will we get there?”, Bumping on the back) exactly at Kielce, so the city would be an ideal place to stop. But well, the word was spoken, or in fact: it was written

Echin, Orlen station. My wife and kids went to get something to eat, I connected. Oh, holy naivete, I expected it to be a moment. Did not have! One attempt failed Communication error. The second, with tightening the cord - did not work. The third, with the undermining of the cord - did not work out. The card belongs to the Publisher, I already saw his face when the bill reached PLN 600, so I implemented an alternative plan. I decided that I would try to start charging from the AC mains, and if it didn’t work out, I would go to Krakow.

Plugged the plug into the port: clicked, clicked, it started to move... I will not quote to you the words that then crossed my mind. In Kajek i Kokosz, they will be symbolized by a skull, lightning, etc. Of course, the projected charging time was not very optimistic, but to be honest, I planned to stand there as long as my family needed. Since it had to be realistic, we couldn't wait for the car.

At this stop, I noticed an interesting fact: at McDonald's it takes 10-15 minutes to prepare food. When there is a queue, the time increases to 15 minutes. Even if I wanted to continue my journey with a cutlet bun in hand, these 10 minutes of stopping would give me at least 20-25 kilometers of distance. At least in the worst case.

Superficial calculations showed that I would have made it to Krakow without even stopping, but I would have had to slow down.. At the speed of a typical internal combustion car, on 20-inch wheels, at this temperature - I would not do it. I confess that this bothered me a little, but I was more annoyed by the XC40 itself: it cannot display the predicted range, there is only the battery level.

Over time, I figured out this decision, although not a reason for joy. With my driving style on this route full battery covers 278 kilometers... The Volvo XC40 Recharge knows this very well and regularly converts these values ​​because it showed me the predicted range at 18% battery charge. Why not earlier? Unless to scare me:

The stop at Orlen station lasted from 20.02 to 21.09, the charging itself takes almost 49 minutes, for which I took a crazy 9 kWh. I emphasize: we did not wait for the car, we returned to the car after I had eaten. From my observations it still seems that a fast food break always means I need to add 40-60 minutes to my trip... This is who we are "fast" 🙂

When we started, Google Maps predicted that we would arrive at 1:13 pm, we should have arrived at 22:21 pm. Soon, about 70 kilometers before Krakow, I entered the S7 expressway and had to adjust to the traffic. It's hard to go crazy in this episode, there are regular double solid, settlements, trucks and buses. Overtaking didn't make much sense (I checked), because after a kilometer I caught up with the next line of cars, pulling behind a larger and slower car.

At the destination, ie. Total: 4:09 hours drive alone, PLN 27,8 for electricity.

Except for the adventure with Orlen (which is what I expected) and one reset of the middle display, the journey went fine. It was quiet, comfortable, there was a lot of power under my feet, which came in handy in traffic jams. Disappointed with energy consumption. I tested the car the night before, knew what to expect at different speeds, for example, I checked that at 125 km / h (129 km / h), the energy consumption was 27,6 kWh / 100 km..

Yes, there was wind that day, yes, the night was cool and there was a little rain on several occasions, but whoever runs the electricity knows that it is a lot of energy. Let's say this in plain text: Volvo XC40 Recharge consumes a lot of energy, this must be remembered during excursions. This 73 kWh under the floor corresponds to approximately 58 kWh for a Volkswagen ID.... It seems to me that this is influenced by the silhouette of the car, behind which, by the way, quite a lot of people are watching.

Let's go back to the summary:

• arrived at 22.42: 13, the next 22.55 minutes looking for a parking spot (XNUMX: XNUMX),
• total travel time with a stop 5:19 h,
• the stop in Orlen lasted 1:07 h, the exit to it was about 2 minutes (I turned to McDonalds, because I thought it was the entrance to the station), we return to the high-speed road for about 1 minute, so:
• effective driving time - 4:09 h.... Google Maps predicted that I would arrive in 3:59 hours, so the difference was +10 minutes.

The car took exactly 300 percent of the battery to cover the 100-kilometer route.... Given that we were 97 percent at the start, we were 3 percent below the mark at that speed. Not good. But there is some good news: The cost of the trip was PLN 27,84. (PLN 15 in Warsaw for a day ticket to use the P + R car park plus PLN 12,84 in Orlen), so we went for PLN 9,28 per 100 km. This is the equivalent of 1,7 liters of diesel fuel.

City driving is best for me Good dynamics (I don't know how long the tires of this car will last...), the ability to enter areas without traffic (but not for electricians, ha!) And skipping entire blocks of streets in bus lanes is a revelation. Since until now I had only driven internal combustion vehicles in Krakow, everyone thought that I had to go to the parking meter and pay for the stop.

I just didn't have to

Volvo XC40 Recharge in Krakow. Thanks to the officers for their help in creating this photo.

When I think about the experiences of people from the autoblog, I see that they were very negative (see the picture below) and mine were positive, and when I think about the possible costs of parking tickets, they were even VERY positive 🙂 They were driving with a larger battery and much more fuel efficient, but they had to cover a greater distance (albeit with one stop).

It's hard for me to judge where the estimates come from, perhaps it's a matter of attitude or planning: in a car with an internal combustion engine you are just driving, but in an electric car you need a little preparation... Maybe the problem is in the model, because when I get into this Volvo I feel so energized? 🙂

That's all. I write these words when I upload to Galeria Kazimierz ("[Dad] when are you coming to us?") And I wonder if I should go slower on the way back to see if I can get there on one charge, or he can ok again. Because we will stop, I'm sure ...

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