A remarkeable claim for Partner on ebay.

[timpootle]

I have seen and ridden in this very Partner. The owner was making the same claims then (last spring) and commuting in it along the motorway.

It is certainly the nicest mulitspace conversion I have seen. Lucky you.

Tells us what you can get out of it, Rob. And welcome, by the way. Have you joined the ev-charging network?

[ChrisB]

But do you really think it can do 70miles on a single charge ??

I must admit I find it exceedling hard to beleive

ChrisB

[Flying John]

Its gone very quiet....

[ChrisB]

I thought that, I wonder what happened ??

ChrisB

[gwing]

I thought that, I wonder what happened ??

ChrisB

OK, time for an update I guess.

I have a nice shiny Blingo with all the vinyl 'signage' that was on it removed, purchase cost was (to answer the previous question) £6750. That's not at all cheap, but its a nice one and the ebay bidding reached that level despite the 'sold,do not bid' statements on the auction - so I guess the price wasn't too far off market value.

I haven't done any long trips in it and don't really intend to run it right down just to find out what its range is either. So far has been used for one or two 10 mile trips a day and then gets recharged overnight so range isn't normally an issue and the batteries are getting an easy life.

Despite the advertised claims I am not expecting anything extraordinary in battery performance, and if it turns out that I have good condition batteries performing the same as might reasonably be expected I shall be happy. To give an idea running 22.5 miles in a day takes the charge down from fully charged to an indicated 55% giving a theoretical range of 50 miles if the charge meter is telling the truth. This is travelling at lowish speeds (30-45 mph) on mixed country roads, single track roads and town streets, all in rush hour traffic (i.e frequent speed changes and halts), and on hilly terrain which seems to account for most of the battery drain (50% of the charge drain for my 5 mile commute to work is taken going up one hill, 40% of the charge going back is taken getting back up the hill to my house).

I don't know how this compares with everyone else's vehicle but it seems to indicate reasonable condition batteries to me. I think if I drove at sensible speeds on the flat I might get the official 60 mile range out of it. Maybe even the 70 mile claimed if I ran it dry, on the flat, at 15mph, in daylight, on a warm day straight after a charge and with a following wind The guy selling it did say that the 70 was a test only, and that I can expect 50 in normal use with 40 pretty much guaranteed in any conditions - which sounds pretty fair.

[Flying John]

Sounds about right to me. The E meter is just a guess really and the true test will be at what point the yellow light comes on. This yellow light is driven by the actual terminal voltage of the battery pack and when this comes on it probably has less than 4 miles left. This may happen even with 20% shown on the E meter in some cases.

Just remember to get the batterys maint charged and watered at regular intervals and check those brushes !.

John

[ChrisB]

OK, time for an update I guess.

I have a nice shiny Blingo with all the vinyl 'signage' that was on it removed,

Yeah welcome to the berlingo gang

purchase cost was (to answer the previous question) £6750. That's not at all cheap, but its a nice one and the ebay bidding reached that level despite the 'sold,do not bid' statements on the auction - so I guess the price wasn't too far off market value.

mmmm its one of the higher priced ones but if its a nice one and your happy then really it dosnt matter how much you pay for it

I haven't done any long trips in it and don't really intend to run it right down just to find out what its range is either. So far has been used for one or two 10 mile trips a day and then gets recharged overnight so range isn't normally an issue and the batteries are getting an easy life.

You may want to drop them below 50% say once a week, they mention this in the manual, not 100% sure why but I'm thinking it could be that it wont carry out propper balancing possibley ?

Despite the advertised claims I am not expecting anything extraordinary in battery performance, and if it turns out that I have good condition batteries performing the same as might reasonably be expected I shall be happy. To give an idea running 22.5 miles in a day takes the charge down from fully charged to an indicated 55% giving a theoretical range of 50 miles if the charge meter is telling the truth. This is travelling at lowish speeds (30-45 mph) on mixed country roads, single track roads and town streets, all in rush hour traffic (i.e frequent speed changes and halts), and on hilly terrain which seems to account for most of the battery drain (50% of the charge drain for my 5 mile commute to work is taken going up one hill, 40% of the charge going back is taken getting back up the hill to my house).

All sounds normal in the range side of things

I don't know how this compares with everyone else's vehicle but it seems to indicate reasonable condition batteries to me. I think if I drove at sensible speeds on the flat I might get the official 60 mile range out of it. Maybe even the 70 mile claimed if I ran it dry, on the flat, at 15mph, in daylight, on a warm day straight after a charge and with a following wind The guy selling it did say that the 70 was a test only, and that I can expect 50 in normal use with 40 pretty much guaranteed in any conditions - which sounds pretty fair.

Must admit I'm with you on the 70 mile thing, best I've managed was 63.5 miles being "very" careful on a warm day and keeping to 30mph and lower with a few bursts of 40ish.
That day I managed to run the energy meter to zero and still did a further 2 or 3 miles before the recharge light came on, this did mess the energy meter up for a few cycles as it didnt re-charge to 100% for at least 3 cycles.

As John says keep an eye on the over charge Ah and those brushes and above all enjoy the vehicle

ChrisB

[gwing]

Thanks guys. I have just checked the battery overcharge abd that is at 550 hours so I guess its time to think about a service - just waiting for the watering kit & brushes to arrive.

We have had a couple of longer runs this weekend, first was 31 miles, up and down hills at night, maintaining 45mph most of the time and resulted in 40% charge remaining.when we got home. The second was 34 miles, again over hills and again left us at 40 %.

[ChrisB]

Yep sounds like the sort of range I would expect from a Blingo

The other guy must have pushed it everywhere

ChrisB

[Grumpy-b]

That sound very similar to what we get with both of ours. (At least when my batteries are sound).
Our normal daily comute is about 20 miles each way, and with a fully chared set and decent weather I can do a varied terrain journey (including Dual carriage way and and estuary scale bridge) of 40 miles and get home with just under 30%. If the batteries are not well charged and the temp is very low then it can go to below 20% or I just dont bother and do a 1.5 hr top up just to have a feeling of certainty.
One of mine has now started to get the amber light come on at 40%, and its got a low voltage on the rear pack.

So sounds like the wonder van is really only a good Van. Im glad that you didnt have huge expectations based on the original sales blurb. What you have will give you some great travelling, and should give good service if treated well.

Grumpy-b