Public Charging
Discussion
AyBee said:
I'm seeing charge points pop-up all over the place right now but wondered if there's still anywhere that people are thinking "that's where I really want a charger" that isn't there yet? Or does everyone charge at home?
While there will be plenty of owners (usually Tesla due to their network) that just charge using public chargers, the majority of EV owners charge up at home - even if its just a top-up each night or something. Given that you are usually at home for something like 6-8 hours at a minimum, thats sufficient for a significant increase in charge and hence eliminating the need to use public charging. Its also cheaper (assuming you dont get free public charger usage) given that you can take advantage of off-peak rates etc. Public charging is a convenience aspect - top-up if needed or for going further afield on a longer journey. But when you factor in that a lot of people dont have the capacity to charge at home, its going to shift. There is a significant percentage of the population that home charging isnt an option, so if they want to sell EV's to them, they really need to sort something out.
I'm part of the "haven't-got-any-method-of-charging-at-home" brigade.
Will be dabbling with an EV from next month.
We'll have to see how it goes....fingers, and wires, firmly crossed.
I expect it's mostly a state of mind thing that will cause a drag on individuals' perceptions - personally I want to get the EV experience BEFORE it's all too common. Looking forward to the odd chat at the Charger - after all, none of us have water coolers at work any more, do we?
But, yes, there needs to be far greater pressure, both to get charging consistently reliable (BP!) and to swiftly provide capacity - I envy Normay every time I watch Bjorn Nyland's trips on YT.....
Will be dabbling with an EV from next month.
We'll have to see how it goes....fingers, and wires, firmly crossed.
I expect it's mostly a state of mind thing that will cause a drag on individuals' perceptions - personally I want to get the EV experience BEFORE it's all too common. Looking forward to the odd chat at the Charger - after all, none of us have water coolers at work any more, do we?
But, yes, there needs to be far greater pressure, both to get charging consistently reliable (BP!) and to swiftly provide capacity - I envy Normay every time I watch Bjorn Nyland's trips on YT.....
AyBee said:
anywhere that people are thinking "that's where I really want a charger" that isn't there yet?
7KW chargers on at least 1 in 10 spaces at supermarkets, shopping centres, arenas; basically anywhere my car spends more than a couple of hours sat doing nothing, I want to be able to charge it.Rapid charging is getting the focus but destination charging will take the need away for a lot of circumstances.
SWoll said:
Because barely anyone lives there and it's not a route to anywhere either?
Disagree 
Right across mid-Wales is the shortest (most efficient) route to the coast, where my parents live.
Can't use it now, and have to go via the M4, which has been until very recently deficient in chargers and even now isn't great.
It's not a huge problem for me, as parents have no issue with me borrowing leccy when I'm there
My comment was regarding the lack of Tesla Superchargers, I agree there should definitely be a few more 50kW+ rapids dotted about.
Heres Johnny said:
Wales, as said, is terrible. It’s a travesty the Welsh assembly haven’t done more, a couple of rapids at the electric mountain would have been a start. Scotland used to be brilliant but the chargers are now falling behind the times a little at 50kw.
As a backbone its not bad though? 150-200 miles per hour of charging at least gives you a fighting chance.Edited by SWoll on Saturday 23 October 08:19
I came back from Milford Haven yesterday in the V8 :-) long life and that, anyhoo, I stopped at Sarn services and parked in the mum and baby space which I enjoy doing, there were three EV charging points in front, all occupied with one of the cars had two gents sat in with what appeared to be a reference to my parking. I assume they thought I was trying to avoid dings, which I was but, when I craned junior spoon out of the rear of the car I noticed their smile....
anyway, I stopped, had a BK, a Starbucks and changed the baby, came back out, they were still there, sitting charging, blocking the point from someone else, and watching me leave in the dolphin killing machine that I have...
Oh and the point, if you drive an EV and were hoping to charge at Sarn, for the 40 minutes I was there, two of the spaces remained with the same car in, only one had swapped.
anyway, I stopped, had a BK, a Starbucks and changed the baby, came back out, they were still there, sitting charging, blocking the point from someone else, and watching me leave in the dolphin killing machine that I have...
Oh and the point, if you drive an EV and were hoping to charge at Sarn, for the 40 minutes I was there, two of the spaces remained with the same car in, only one had swapped.
Mr Spoon said:
I came back from Milford Haven yesterday in the V8 :-) long life and that, anyhoo, I stopped at Sarn services and parked in the mum and baby space which I enjoy doing, there were three EV charging points in front, all occupied with one of the cars had two gents sat in with what appeared to be a reference to my parking. I assume they thought I was trying to avoid dings, which I was but, when I craned junior spoon out of the rear of the car I noticed their smile....
anyway, I stopped, had a BK, a Starbucks and changed the baby, came back out, they were still there, sitting charging, blocking the point from someone else, and watching me leave in the dolphin killing machine that I have...
Oh and the point, if you drive an EV and were hoping to charge at Sarn, for the 40 minutes I was there, two of the spaces remained with the same car in, only one had swapped.
Only 2 chargers at Sarn according to Zap Map, one 50kW CCS and the other a 50kW chademo. The M4 is a joke for rapid charging (unless you're in a Tesla which has 8 chargers at Sarn)anyway, I stopped, had a BK, a Starbucks and changed the baby, came back out, they were still there, sitting charging, blocking the point from someone else, and watching me leave in the dolphin killing machine that I have...
Oh and the point, if you drive an EV and were hoping to charge at Sarn, for the 40 minutes I was there, two of the spaces remained with the same car in, only one had swapped.
SWoll said:
Because barely anyone lives there and it's not a route to anywhere either?
Disagree - Wales has some of the best mountain bike visitor centres/bike parks in Europe. Along with some amazing family outdoor centres.Currently I can’t drive to anyone of them and charge easily (whilst I’m doing something else) because the destination charging doesn’t exist..
Hopefully in the near future this can be improved.
We had a holiday on the Lleyn peninsular last July and the two most common kinds of vehicles I saw were (by far!!) VW t5/6 camper vans and then secondly, high end EV's. Being from peasant stock, I include in that Polestars and Teslas, but we also saw lots of Porsches.
Pretty much all of the touristy type of places didn't seem to have any obvious charging points which is why we thought it so strange seeing so many EV's about.
Pretty much all of the touristy type of places didn't seem to have any obvious charging points which is why we thought it so strange seeing so many EV's about.
K12beano said:
I'm part of the "haven't-got-any-method-of-charging-at-home" brigade.
Will be dabbling with an EV from next month.
We'll have to see how it goes....fingers, and wires, firmly crossed.
I expect it's mostly a state of mind thing that will cause a drag on individuals' perceptions - personally I want to get the EV experience BEFORE it's all too common. Looking forward to the odd chat at the Charger - after all, none of us have water coolers at work any more, do we?
But, yes, there needs to be far greater pressure, both to get charging consistently reliable (BP!) and to swiftly provide capacity - I envy Normay every time I watch Bjorn Nyland's trips on YT.....
I have had a Kona for a couple of months and haven't charged at home yet, public charging has been much easier than I expected. Most of my use is local with a couple of 150+ mile runs. Will be dabbling with an EV from next month.
We'll have to see how it goes....fingers, and wires, firmly crossed.
I expect it's mostly a state of mind thing that will cause a drag on individuals' perceptions - personally I want to get the EV experience BEFORE it's all too common. Looking forward to the odd chat at the Charger - after all, none of us have water coolers at work any more, do we?
But, yes, there needs to be far greater pressure, both to get charging consistently reliable (BP!) and to swiftly provide capacity - I envy Normay every time I watch Bjorn Nyland's trips on YT.....
Luckily I have a little used Osprey charger in the local town car park. Free parking whilst charging so just use that whilst I go to the bank/doctor/shops etc.
On the longer runs I just find a convenient charger, last time found a charger in a retail park with an Axminster tools, that was quite an expensive charge though by the time I left the shop loaded with things (edited to add, as we are talking about Wales, this was Cardiff).
Edited by Russ T Bolt on Sunday 24th October 15:02
Heres Johnny said:
Wales, as said, is terrible. It’s a travesty the Welsh assembly haven’t done more, a couple of rapids at the electric mountain would have been a start. Scotland used to be brilliant but the chargers are now falling behind the times a little at 50kw.
Not sure the Zap map is correct - Dragon Charging are starting to put points in all over Wales, especially westCouncil locations:
18 locations at the end of 2021 planned in Council locations
https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/newsroom/electric...
28 chargers in Carmarthenshire council locations
https://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/home/council...
Every Tescos supermarket has at least 4 points, Lidl has points although I think the last Tesla superchagre is Bridgend services
I think the councils have been forced in to a 'tick in the box' exercise, which some will follow to the benefit of EV owners, however the reason I think this is my local council, Watford, have been very anti-car for over a couple of decades, suddenly about 4 months ago announced the installation of some new 7kW chargers by them, except ..... none of them were usefully placed for either shoppers or residents, and they are charging 30p per kW, so I suspect they will be little used and when the next requirement comes along the council will claim that as the present ones are rarely used they will not need to install more.
Friend of mine is a mechanic at the local Kia dealer, he's recently been on EV training and they installed some rapid charge points at the dealership (no idea what KW) but he did comment that they can't run at anywhere near their limit due to the underlying cabling to the premises not being able to cope and that's in a city (small one), so what chances have we of getting fast(ish) chargers in the sticks?
Freakuk said:
Friend of mine is a mechanic at the local Kia dealer, he's recently been on EV training and they installed some rapid charge points at the dealership (no idea what KW) but he did comment that they can't run at anywhere near their limit due to the underlying cabling to the premises not being able to cope and that's in a city (small one), so what chances have we of getting fast(ish) chargers in the sticks?
It shouldnt need to be a fast charger, though some would probably be a good idea. I live in the sticks and there are no fast chargers around. Its wine country, so an economy that is very biased towards tourism. Up until early / mid 2019, there were no chargers here at all (actually, one, but that was at the local OAP home, so not used at all TBH). We are a good 40-50 miles from a couple of large (and relatively wealthy) cities. Tesla put in a few 'destination chargers' at a few wineries and hey presto - people with Tesla's started coming. Then they dropped in a few more at venue locations and guess what? Yep, more people with Tesla's came.
None of these are high capacity ones, but the ability to top-up makes all the difference. We can explain that the range of any Tesla is sufficient to get here and back without a charge, but in reality, we are talking about people and they like to be confident about things. Do the chargers get used all of the time? Yeah, not really. But are they there and do they make it easy? Absolutely. Even if its for an hour or so, a top up of 20+ miles makes all the difference.
Do you need a full network of high speed chargers into the sticks? Probably not. But having a better spread of available L2 chargers makes all of the difference. If you can top-up some of the charge you just used, thats more than sufficient. If you are talking 75+ miles, thats a different discussion, but since most places are accessible on an approx 100 mile round trip, that probably fits most situations without a problem. The challenge is getting people to take the plunge - build the network and they will come is a valid statement, but might not be the case for all.
What I do know is that Tesla owners like to drink wine, attend weddings and go antique hunting.....
There are still too many gaps in the network. I have the option to change to a new BMW iX3 EV next year - but I will admit the range issue is a concern. I spend a lot of time in the Lakes - and charging provision is poor. The points at the Booths supermarkets in Windermere / Keswick are always full in the summer and the charge points in the public car parks (e.g. Glenridding) are few in number and frequently out of order. I know I can get there ok - I just don't fancy a 1 hour round trip back to Tebay services from Ambleside to 'fill up'.....probably won't stop me switching to full EV (currently in 530e) but may result in having to use my wife's car for longer trips.
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff