Citroen C-Zero 'almost' owner question

Hello.
Fantastic forum and a loyal but 'eyes open' following it seems. Just wondering how you'd react to a C-Zero driver contributing? I can't see anything approaching this in terms of breadth and depth of knowledge and discussion for a C-Zero.
I've put down my 3 upfront lease payments here in the UK and I'm expecting a delivery date (5-7days away) tomorrow.
In terms of driving profile it's been a bit of a quest of research to 'estimate' how well this car is going to fit my needs! The CZ (I have to shorten everything but this now reminds me of an Eastern European motorcycle manufacturer ) doesn't enjoy the benefit of E and B modes on its 'gearbox' so I feel range might be somewhat shorter than the I gets. This in conjunction with my daily 31mile each way commute, with 220kg of commuter (484lb) , just 2 of us! and 1000ft of decline in the morning and the reverse in the evening have had me scratching my head.
I guess the simplest answer is, 'you need to charge at work', but as the first EV on site and some risk averse senior management, that is proving a little difficult to confirm as an option.
My current plan is to drive very very carefully on my first trip, and probably there after, and keep my fingers crossed! I've had a good read of the hypermiling section as well.

So in summary, if its ok with you I'll post back on how life in the Welsh Valleys with an EV goes as soon as it arrives. Not an I, but a very good deal, and of course 220/240v as std!
Thanks.

Have a look at lemnet.org and others and be prepared to change the plug at your EVSE. I guess your charging places might hide in other networks and maps.

Dont look at

http://www.piraten-fraktion-bergstrasse.de/AETC/GorillaCharging.html

beware of my big images. They take a bit downloading.

Karin and me made up our mind last night to say goodby to our Volkswagen Golf Variant. We are driving purely electric for 4 month now and it will be our first day with deep snow today. Tax and fuel (98 ROZ) have become far too expensive.

Wellcome aboard Beefy!

Thanks! I've got a 'blue' camping set-up with rcb protected sockets and had thought of these previously, although forgotten again! We go camping within 60miles quite a bit so that idea will work sometimes.

Hello Beefy, and welcome to the forum! We're trying to encourage everyone to update their Profile (User Control Panel) to show their location as it's so interesting to see our iMiEV/Ion/C-Zero community diversity.

Having only one forward drive setting (I thought there were two in the C-Zero) should not affect your driving efficiency/range - it simply puts more emphasis on your featherfoot driving skills.

It looks as though the C-Zero battery capacity is the same as ours. A daily commute of 62 miles (100km) with the return trip going up 1000ft (>300m) is a little bit of a stretch, especially if much of this driving is on the motorway. Speed is your greatest enemy, and I would be super-conservative at the outset and also not run the heater until you've become familiar with your trip energy consumption. For you, simply plugging in your car at work for even a couple of hours would relieve you of having to be continuously watchful and would make your commute much more pleasant and also allow for trip deviations. Be sure to start with a full charge, and I would try to suss out a charging spot along the way (e.g., a friend's house) in case you start getting into trouble on your way home. On your first trip don't be misled as when you get to work as you will probably be at 10-11 bars with a very high RR due to the elevation drop. Payback time will be your trip home.

Do let us know how your commute turns out. Keeping your 'fingers crossed' is not how EV commuters should drive even if it does add a sense of adventure.

Very appreciative of your comments thanks. My commute involves 10 miles of m-way at 60mph, I don't go fast (motorbikes do that for me) the rest is 30/40mph stuff and I'm well versed at driving carefully! I'm currently driving a VW Caravelle (multivan) 2.5t 2.5diesel that I can get 37mpg (British) out of on average. I'm told this is very good considering the driving profile and needs to be at £1.40/litre.
I'll keep in touch, thanks for the welcome.

Glad to have a C-Zero on the forum, gives us more information about the different variants of the i. We have some Peugot i-On forum members some in France and I know of one in Poland.

I think you'll be fine with this range. You'll just have to be nice to the CZ and save the fun stuff for your days off. Your best bets will be that 1000ft decline in your AM, keep it in neutral as much as possible like JoeS recommends. You won't be using much of the battery at all. Your next best bet is the short motorway stretch of only 10 miles. Sixty isn't bad thats only like 100kmh, though try to keep it around 90 kmh/55 mph - you'll stretch your mileage a bit doing that. The rest of your commute is all surface - so you'll get a lot of regen.

My daily commute is 43km/27 miles each way, just 4 miles short of your commute and mine is 95% flat highway/motorway. Right from my front door to my office door, I'm on the highway and I have a hill climb in the morning that usually eats my first bar. I keep it between 90kmh and 100kmh while preferring the 90kmh. The ICEs are flying around me but I don't care because I'm not paying the gas that they are. In the summer months when I'm not using the heat, I can make it on six bars - in the winter its between 7 and 8 bars depending on the temperature and how much heat I use. I found a source of electricity to recharge during the day, I'm not running it down so much now and I can use the heater more and have plenty of range left when I return home.

Check out local Plug In sites in your area - PlugShare is popular around here and there are others. I don't know whats available in your area. But, get to know your public charging infrastructure. You may be surprised how close to your office a public charger is. I would keep working over your office, its part of the early adopter role - pioneering EV support. Figure out how much the electric cost is in your area and offer to pay for the electricity at your office. Show them your portable EVSE that comes with the car and how it works. Explain to them how much electricity it uses and how it helps their image.

Finally, compare your daily temperature averages through your coldest months. Cold weather slows the chemistry in the batteries and you get a bit less range until it warms up again.

Enjoy your gas-free miles. Post some pics of your C-Zero, love to see it.

Great info again, thanks. My company should be interested, they used to have Electric in their name but shortened it to two initials!!! But that may be a Generalisation!

Almost had a delivery date today! (Yes, that's as exciting as it got!) My 'All White' C-Zero will be here is sleeting/snowing Wales before Christmas I'm sure, can't wait!
Only slight concern is interior width, my car share commute friend must be 52in chest, I'm 47in, I guess we'll be rubbing shoulders?

Beefy said:

...my car share commute friend must be 52in chest, I'm 47in, I guess we'll be rubbing shoulders?

Click to expand...

Most of us here have the wider and longer North American version, we won't be able to answer that question. In our version there is plenty of room for four inside. Let us know how it goes for you.

Beefy said:

Almost had a delivery date today! (Yes, that's as exciting as it got!) My 'All White' C-Zero will be here is sleeting/snowing Wales before Christmas I'm sure, can't wait!

Click to expand...

Ah, Cymru. I have fond memories from 1971 when I was a Research Demonstrator in the chemistry department at the University College of Swansea.

Beefy said:

Only slight concern is interior width, my car share commute friend must be 52in chest, I'm 47in, I guess we'll be rubbing shoulders?

Click to expand...

Better to keep you warm this winter

Beefy, you are facing 2 problems.

My wife and me very often have to drive with both windows open, because our electric grin will not fit inside when the doors are closed.

Should you ever cross the Menai Strait, leave that street sign alone. It wont fit inside. :lol:

All other problems can be solved.

Only street sign we want is 'Llanddewi Brefi' , I can get there on a charge. (This may not mean a lot to all of you). Always thought we'd look a happy couple in my Smart car, this could be closer!
Swansea 1971! The year I was born
Confirmed as getting delivery date tomorrow....wide grins to follow closely behind.
Thanks all.

Beefy said:

Llanddewi Brefi

Click to expand...

I see St. Daffyd has been there and now it is even more famous than that 51 letter password town on the Isle of Anglesey.

There is more about Wales and the i-MiEV than meets the eye.

No bloody date :-( sounds like I'll have to wait till Monday, damn delivery firms!

Dealer comment this morning;

"It was decided that we would bring the vehicle via the dealership and we are awaiting it’s arrival. Should know today when it will arrive. Once here we just need to see whether it has been through its battery conditioning process already. If so, then we could get it to you this week. If not, then it may drop over into next week. Will know more later today"

Umm...guess that means they might, but they haven't told me :-(

The wait continues...

"Battery Conditioning Process" HUH :?: I'd be very interested in knowing exactly what this consists of. Hope it's not a fancy expression for simply plugging in the car and charging it up ... and it may consume a week?? Beefy, I'd be inclined to to have them tell you exactly what they're doing and do ask them for a copy of any printout detailing the state of your battery pack (this might come in handy in the future).

Hey JoeS,
Thanks for the advice, I'll take it! Seriously good point, a report on battery state sounds a useful thing to have.
Regards

I suspect they just intend to drive it around for a week!

Tell them if it has more than 50km on it when you get it, you expect to be reimbursed at 5 marks per Km for everyone over 50 . . . .

Don

Hey Don!
What's the km thing? And marks? It's a whole foreign language you're speaking, or at least I'm hearing. But I get your gist.
Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

My bad!!

I thought you were in Germany . . . . not the UK!

Sorry!

Don